What makes more sense...driving a long paid for old truck, or making huge payments??

[Retiredguy2]

We average 10-12k miles per year on our vehicles, one of the guys at work has a child on a traveling ball team and IIRC, he and his wife is average 30-40k miles per year between their two cars, but she has a 45 minute drive to work on top of all the running around for the ball team.

Aaron Z

Actual miles put on my Y2K GMC last year: 1620....and my '04 Saturn: 3680. And 1500 of the miles put on the car because one of spouse's kids needed the vehicle while hers was having major repairs done. Used to average maybe 7,000 miles a year on the car and maybe 2,500 on the truck when I was working.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I don't think 15K miles per year is the norm any more for 90% of the folks. I consider me and the wife to be a way below average drivers and we still have a lifetime average of about 11K per year on our 3 cars (2003, 2007 and 2013). Our driving has slowed way down since I retired in 2013. I bought the 2013 as a retirement car but wife prefers to drive her 2003 so the 2013 only has 11K on it now which is mostly from 1000 mile trips to Houston to visit the kids.
We now live 20 miles from either of the 3 small towns near us and 70 miles from the nearest airport. If we were working around here it would add at least 11K per year for each of us (21K) which I think is more of a realistic average for modern living. Many folks drive much further to work each day which is why there are many fairly new used cars on the market with 150-200K on them. It is a good thing that cars do last much longer than they did 40 years ago, with exception to rust belt cars I suppose that still rust out rather than wear out.

I agree. We added a Honda Civic to or fleet last July. I looked for a month for a decent buy on a used one. The Turbo model with leather and all the bells and whistles was MSRP of $25,595 new.

Looking at 2 year old ones with 45,000 miles they were still asking $18,500 to $20,000. I ended up with a brand new one for $22,045. It made no sense to buy used considering the small price difference, the miles left on warrant, most i looked at need tires in the next 10K and brakes would be short to follow.

Getting back to your point, I did not find a used one with less than 30,000 miles and as much as 80,000 miles with 45,000 miles being the average on a 2 to 2.5 year old car.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Actual miles put on my Y2K GMC last year: 1620....and my '04 Saturn: 3680. And 1500 of the miles put on the car because one of spouse's kids needed the vehicle while hers was having major repairs done. Used to average maybe 7,000 miles a year on the car and maybe 2,500 on the truck when I was working.

You are fortunate. It does not work out that way for the vast majority of us.

 

[jack707]

My plow truck has over196xxx 2500HD 6.0 engine when that goes I will have the engine rebuilt! Don't want payments.

 

[CADplans]

My plow truck has over196xxx 2500HD 6.0 engine when that goes I will have the engine rebuilt! Don't want payments.

What year is your truck,,? my 6.0 at 175K miles acts like the engine will outlast the rest of the truck.
I think expensive rust will be my truck's demise,,,

Brake lines,, the "wax" coated frame eek: , no paint!!) etc,, some body issues, but, not major.
I expect the engine will be in some hot rod some day,,
someone else's hot rod,, not mine,,,

 

[Haoleguy]

I agree. We added a Honda Civic to or fleet last July. I looked for a month for a decent buy on a used one. The Turbo model with leather and all the bells and whistles was MSRP of $25,595 new.

Looking at 2 year old ones with 45,000 miles they were still asking $18,500 to $20,000. I ended up with a brand new one for $22,045. It made no sense to buy used considering the small price difference, the miles left on warrant, most i looked at need tires in the next 10K and brakes would be short to follow.

Getting back to your point, I did not find a used one with less than 30,000 miles and as much as 80,000 miles with 45,000 miles being the average on a 2 to 2.5 year old car.

I'm seeing the same thing with used vehicles. My sister and BIL were in a head-on collision recently that totaled their 2008 Toyota RAV4 which had not more than 40K miles on it. They are getting up in years and don't drive much.....~2K/ year. To help them out I've been looking online for them and have come to the conclusion that a new car is a better deal for them as 1-4 year old cars have mileage near or passed the warranty conditions. The other thing I find is that in the last few years car manufacturers have added terrific safety features that can help them. One thing that goes against newer cars for elderly folks is that the electronics can be very confusing. They are not ready to pull the trigger yet as they are still in recovery mode.

 

[tractorshopper]

I will admit to having become spoiled with automatics over the past 10 yr or so, but most of my life I've preferred manual ("standard") too. Lotsa luck finding anything other than a cheapo econobox with one nowadays though.

Ram HD trucks have them. Drove a 3500 SRW loaded diesel with one a couple months ago. A different dealer told me there's no real advantage to them anymore though so they really only keep selling because there is still demand from people who prefer a stick.

 

[jack707]

What year is your truck,,? my 6.0 at 175K miles acts like the engine will outlast the rest of the truck.
I think expensive rust will be my truck's demise,,,

Brake lines,, the "wax" coated frame eek: , no paint!!) etc,, some body issues, but, not major.
I expect the engine will be in some hot rod some day,,
someone else's hot rod,, not mine,,,

Mine is a 01 chevy/ k series

 

[MossRoad]

My wife and I average about 4500 per year with our Suburban, but about 25,000 on our car. That puts us at close to the 15Kmiles per vehicle average. We've always averaged about that. Sometimes 12K, sometimes 20K, but over the past 38 years, its been about 15K annually per vehicle.

 

[Oaktree]

Many folks drive much further to work each day which is why there are many fairly new used cars on the market with 150-200K on them. It is a good thing that cars do last much longer than they did 40 years ago, with exception to rust belt cars I suppose that still rust out rather than wear out.

Even here in rust country cars are lasting a lot longer. The newest vehicle we own is an '02 (wife's Taurus), and while it's had some rust it was repairable. Other than that, car is still going strong with almost 200k on it. She likes it and plans to hold on to it as long as it's still running well.
40, even 30 years ago 10 year old cars were a lot less common...on average you'd get maybe 8-10 from an American or European car, a couple less on something Japanese before you had to junk it for structural rust.

I don't know that people drive more per year than they did back then (any statistics?), but with better rustproofing they last longer. It wasn't mechanical problems that killed the old cars, it was rust (at least around here).

The other thing I find is that in the last few years car manufacturers have added terrific safety features that can help them. One thing that goes against newer cars for elderly folks is that the electronics can be very confusing.

Depends on what you consider "elderly". I'm in my 60s, and find the touchscreen-based controls to be confusing too. And this is coming from someone who worked in a tech field most of his career.
I have mixed feelings on most of the safety "improvements", and with the possible exception of ABS brakes find them as much of an annoyance as a blessing.