when is it time to trade it in?

[NewCreation435]

My daughter's cars transmission was replaced about a year and six months ago and seems that it is already going bad again. It was under warranty last time, but the dealership said they do a one year or 12,000 mile warranty on their transmissions so the one they put in is already not under warranty. So, when do you decide if a car or truck is paid off that it is time to go get another one instead of putting more money into the old one?

I had no idea that Nissan had such poor warranties.

 

[psalms 91]

Look around, what I have found to be a great car for holding up is Buick

 

[tango]

Often with an older car a dealership will use reconditioned parts, or generic parts, to save you money. If you want the branded part you can get it, it just costs a lot more. The trouble with replacing one part of a system is that everything often wears faster because it doesn't always mesh as well as if the entire system was replaced. I think it's pretty standard to get a one-year warranty on parts fitted to cars. It seems pretty lame to offer a fairly short warranty on an expensive part but that seems to be par for the course these days.

As to when to trade it in, a lot would depend on your appetite to put more money into this car compared to your appetite for putting a lot more money into buying another car. Of course if you buy another car there's no guarantee you won't be buying a different collection of problems. Part of that will relate to how much you use the car. Where I used to live I put maybe 2500 miles on my car in a year and at a push could have lived without a car at all, so it was cheaper to just keep the old car running than to buy another car. Now I'm in a more rural area and getting around without a car isn't a sensible option any more, so it's more important that my car won't let me down.

For me if the cost of fixing something is disproportionate to the value of the car I'd look to trade it in. My wife's last car had a strange issue that we thought was the transmission, and a new tranny would cost more than the car was worth with no guarantee that it would solve the problem. As it turned out it was a remarkably cheap fix but we only found that out after we bought her another car. Thankfully because it was a cheap fix I could then sell it as a fully operational car and still get a reasonable price for it.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

For me I think it would come down to a couple of things - maybe have a trusted mechanic give you the "plain English" version on how long the car/transmission has left and what it would reasonably take to fix it - if at all. Then budget out what you or your daughter can afford. There may be some reasonably affordable trustworthy cars on the road that are not necessarily newer. I'm driving an '09 Pontiac G6 that was an "as is" at a local dealership. It was at about 80,000 miles when I bought it for $5500. That was over two years ago and "as is" has been just fine. I've replaced brakes and the battery. It's never left me stranded, runs like a charm. I'll need to hang onto it for another few years before I can consider something else so I was fortunate to make the find. Sites like "AutoTrader" ( I don't know if they're in the states, but I'm sure there's something similar) can help for searching.

Best of luck!

 

[Lamb]

I'm assuming she's the only owner of the car and there have been no other issues? If it's been a good car I'd just invest in a new transmission. But if there are other faults with the car then consider trading it in.

My 2009 Hyundai Sonata is having some random noises and since we're the only owners of the car and it has had nothing major with it, if it's something big we'll pay the price knowing we still have a good car. It's better than getting someone else's headache.

 

[Forgiven1]

I would start with number of miles on the car. Whenever we have had transmissions go out it was well over 100,000 miles. If this is the second one in a year and a half, I think I would also think about replacing the car. Just my thoughts.

 

[NewCreation435]

I'm assuming she's the only owner of the car and there have been no other issues? If it's been a good car I'd just invest in a new transmission. But if there are other faults with the car then consider trading it in.

My 2009 Hyundai Sonata is having some random noises and since we're the only owners of the car and it has had nothing major with it, if it's something big we'll pay the price knowing we still have a good car. It's better than getting someone else's headache.

They told us today that the fuel pump is also failing. So, she is using it as a trade in.

 

[Lamb]

They told us today that the fuel pump is also failing. So, she is using it as a trade in.

How old was the car?

 

[NewCreation435]

How old was the car?

5 years old

 

[tango]

5 years old

5 years old with two shot trannies and a shot fuel pump already? What make was it?

 

[Frank]

I think the time to trade it in, is when the problem (in this case the transmission) outweighs the cars overall value. I'm not sure if that hits the same situation as your vehicle since we don't know the make, but if it costs $2000 for a new transmission (CVT assuming), and the vehicle is only worth $1000 at best, I'd say it is time to trade it in for a vehicle that has a better warranty (Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia, etc. with 10k powertrain warranties). If the vehicle is still worth more like $2000 or even $3/4000, I'd probably say it's worth it to replace it again (but if it fails once more time within a given time period, I'd trade it in ASAP).

 

[Lamb]

I think the time to trade it in, is when the problem (in this case the transmission) outweighs the cars overall value. I'm not sure if that hits the same situation as your vehicle since we don't know the make, but if it costs $2000 for a new transmission (CVT assuming), and the vehicle is only worth $1000 at best, I'd say it is time to trade it in for a vehicle that has a better warranty (Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia, etc. with 10k powertrain warranties). If the vehicle is still worth more like $2000 or even $3/4000, I'd probably say it's worth it to replace it again (but if it fails once more time within a given time period, I'd trade it in ASAP).

We have a Hyundai and they definitely stand by their warranties! It's more expensive to insure though where I live but we haven't had a major problem with the car in 10 years so it might be worth getting another one.

 

[Josiah]

Nissan USED to be very solid, dependable, durable make (for decades)...

BUT the company was bought out by the Chinese some years ago and that company is turning the make into pure JUNK as it replaces the good with the bad.... and that company lacks the consumer focus that the Japanese are known for and the Chinese communist are not. NISSAN has pretty much replaced the auto transmissions that were Japanese designs with new ones - and they are very unreliable.

Go with Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura or Subaru. The two Korean cars (now the same company) have evolved into excellent makes, as well. And both GM and Ford are slowly improving (sadly, not Chrysler), although it's very mixed (some excellent cars, some terrible ones). And they all have solid warrentees and pretty good customer service. BTW, my parents have owned Toyota Camrys since 1983...and NEVER, NOT ONCE, needed the warrentee because NOTHING went wrong with them. I "inherited" the 1999 Camry and finally gave it away with 213,000 miles on it - and it had NEVER (not once!) had ANY repair - just maintainence. My wife had a 2003 Corolla and also NEVER ONCE had ANY repairs with it. We now have a Honda Pilot and Subie Forester - both have been perfect so far. Start with a solid make, IMO. Check out Consumer Reports.




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[tango]

Nissan USED to be very solid, dependable, durable make (for decades)...

BUT the company was bought out by the Chinese some years ago and that company is turning the make into pure JUNK as it replaces the good with the bad.... and that company lacks the consumer focus that the Japanese are known for and the Chinese communist are not. NISSAN has pretty much replaced the auto transmissions that were Japanese designs with new ones - and they are very unreliable.

Go with Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura or Subaru. The two Korean cars (now the same company) have evolved into excellent makes, as well. And both GM and Ford are slowly improving (sadly, not Chrysler), although it's very mixed (some excellent cars, some terrible ones). And they all have solid warrentees and pretty good customer service. BTW, my parents have owned Toyota Camrys since 1983...and NEVER, NOT ONCE, needed the warrentee because NOTHING went wrong with them. I "inherited" the 1999 Camry and finally gave it away with 213,000 miles on it - and it had NEVER (not once!) had ANY repair - just maintainence. My wife had a 2003 Corolla and also NEVER ONCE had ANY repairs with it. We now have a Honda Pilot and Subie Forester - both have been perfect so far. Start with a solid make, IMO. Check out Consumer Reports.




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My wife and I just recently sold a 17-year-old Toyota that was still running. We thought it might have had a bad transmission so were looking to replace it and then, after buying a replacement, found the problem could be fixed for less than $200. Still, the guy who bought it got a good deal once it was fixed up. We both have a Toyota. With few exceptions they are all but indestructible. In the past I mostly drove Hondas and they just did not stop.