> People replace vehicles because they want and can afford replacement ones, not because they are mileage limited.

That isn't quite true. It is often because it is uneconomical to keep.

The issue with many older vehicles is that it just starts costing more to repair it than the car is worth. You are constantly putting in good money, after bad and the the costs keep going up over time. At that point it is often better to buy another vehicle.

I could have kept my 2007 Vauxhall Astra going for another 100,000 miles. The issue is that the car was worth £600-1000. Each repair was costing upwards of £300.

I could buy another second hand Vauxhall Astra with the amount of money I was spending on the car yearly. It just wasn't worth it.

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sidewndr46 2 days ago | parent [-]

This is just a bad application of sunk cost. The reason why you spend 300 pounds to repair a 1000 pound car is because it is a known item. If you buy a used one for 600 pounds, it may need even more repair than the one you already have.

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extraisland 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Repairing a known item makes sense when the costs are small compared to a replacement. I have old bicycles that are worth nothing and I am quite happy to spend maybe £50-£150 in components to fix. Costs are much lower than buying a new good bike or trying to find another good second hand bike (which I would need to fix anyway).

However that frequently isn't the case with car. It is £300-1000 every time I need to get it repaired. This happens at an increasing frequency as the car ages. This can then add up to several 1000s quite easily.

e.g In the last year I owned that Astra I had to to fix the following issue (all costs include labour):

- New Clutch (and it needed to be towed to the garage as the clutch wouldn't engage). £1000 for clutch replacement, £150 for the tow. I also needed to rent a car to drive to a funeral. That cost me another £100-200 IIRC. So we we are up to £1350.

- Car would randomly go into Limp mode. New sensor cost £300. Vehicle was never really fixed. It just went into Limp mode much less, so there was another problem somewhere. Which would need another trip to the garage.

- Service. This flagged several issues with the car. All these small repairs was another £800.

I am already upto £2,450 and I know I've forgotten stuff. I bought the car for £4000 originally.

If it was something like a classic barn on wheels Volvo which are bullet proof, or a classic Rover like a Rover P5. I might be willing to keep dumping money into it. But it isn't, it is a Vauxhall Astra.

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dazc 2 days ago | parent [-]

With 4k I would to go for a Focus or Fiesta, I think you're always risking trouble with a Vauxhall? The Focus of around 12-14 years ago, particularly, was seriously over engineered which is why you still see so many of them around.

I had one for 4 years, approaching 200k miles, it came to grief at the hands of a 95 year old lady driver. Her car was wrecked, the Focus stood up well but, alas, even the minor repairs required were deemed uneconomical.

No help to you, admittedly, but if it assists anyone else avoid a similar issue...

	▲	extraisland 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		The Astra G and H 1.7 cdti variants were really good. Newer ones not so good from what I have heard. Ford Focus around the same time period are indeed decent. Going to try to get one at some point.

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rcxdude 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If the rest of it seems solid, then it can be worthwhile. But if you start spending 300 every 3 months then you're just throwing money down the drain.