Are you holding on to your car for all the wrong reasons?

Cost vs. Value — The most important thing to consider when deciding to hold on to a vehicle is what it costs to repair it versus how much it is worth. Let’s pretend your current daily driver has a Blue Book value of $2,500 and suddenly the transmission fails. A likely $5,000 repair bill just doesn’t make any financial sense. A used vehicle with a retail value of $2,500 that undergoes $5,000 worth of repairs isn’t going magically be worth $7,500.  

Predict the Future — Now that you have sunk $5,000 into a vehicle that isn’t worth that much, what are the odds another high-dollar repair is likely to happen again. We can’t overstate how financially dangerous it is to keep fixing things that don’t add any actual value to a vehicle.  

Drops in Efficiency — Old vehicles use more fuel. This is just a thing that happens. Sometimes this can be fixed with a few simple and worthwhile repairs. However, sometimes a new fuel filter and fresh tires won’t fix anything. If you find yourself spending more and more on gasoline each month, it might be time to move on to a newer vehicle.