Anyone who owns a car has probably wondered at least once how they will know when it is time to get a different car. Please note that I said “different”, not “new”, because getting a different car does not necessarily entail buying a brand new one. There are plenty of wonderful used cars out there and if you do your research and inspect any prospective purchase thoroughly, you can score an awesome car for a budget price. New car vs used car is a different topic for a different day, though. Today’s post is about how to know when it is time to get a different car.
There are some situations in which it is obvious that it is time to get a different car, such as if your car just got totaled in an accident or washed away in a flood. There are also plenty of situations that do not indicate that you need a different car, as much as you might like to think that they do. For example, thinking that “because I have had my current car x amount of years” it is time to get a different one.
Cars are not made to last forever. That is a sad realization for many of us, considering how much they cost to buy and to operate. If the following two warning signs apply to your vehicle, it is probably time to start looking for a different one:
When you go to get your car inspected, the mechanic hands you a two page long list of all of the things that you must repair in order for it to pass inspection. This is cause for concern, but to be certain that it is not more cause to get a new mechanic, take it to one or two other places to get it looked at to make sure that all of those repairs are truly necessary. If it seems like you are constantly replacing piece after piece of the car just to get it to run and/or be deemed road worthy, it is time to find a different car.
Rust. I’m not talking about a spot or two here or there, but even if you only have a few that you can see you should check all over the care to see where there may be more. Make sure that you wear gloves and check for weak spots or areas where pieces are rusting all the way through. Make sure to look underneath, too. Some geographic areas are notoriously tough on cars and rust can begin to appear within a couple of years of the car’s manufacture. In these places, a car’s body and underside often rust so badly that the car needs replacing long before the engine is ready to expire.
Photo by xenia on morguefile.com.