Letting go of a Financial black hole

[jphanna]

This applies to old daily drivers only. I have always used the rule of, if the repairs cost more than the market value of the car, I dispose of it, any way I can.

For example, many years ago, I had an old mazda 929 1800 auto run about. The day I had the front disks machine and new pads put on it, I drove it out and on the way home, noticed it idling lumpy at the lights….a little further on and steam out the exhaust. I knew I was gone with a head gasket failure, and a quick check under the bonnet confirmed this. I drove it straight to a wrecking yard and they ‘gave me’ $150.00 for it.

The market value for one of those was $500.00 at the time….a head gasket repair, minimum $500-1000. plus an engine is never the same once they have been repaired. I walked away, and used my XE Fairmont every day, from that point on.

Now my son has bought a 1983 BMW 318i, with complimentary 80’s rust that inflicted on most cars back then, he has already spent $500.00 on brakes, the tyres are gone, and you cant buy replacements easily. (One size fits only and it’s a special order. cant buy new rims either) The Temp gauge sits on ¾ on a cold day….this is before we start our regular 40deg summer days. i can smell head gasket failure before summer is out.

He had a mint, one owner (my dad) EA with 120,000 on the clock, that’s could be fixed easy, and parts every where, but he had to get a ‘cool car’….He will learn soon enough that looking 'cool' may not be good for his wallet.

At what point do you dispose of a daily driver, or will you keep pouring money into it, no matter what?