At what point do you decide to stop spending money on your car?

[timaishu]

My Altima is nearing 10 years of life. It has many paint issues and it bums me the heck out. The roofs clear coat is failing (the first bit of white cc and coming out), the hood is also showing signs of failure, some jerkoff backed into my car and luckily only hit the hood, but the lip got bent(paint cracked) in and now the hood doesn't sit flush, rear bumper is a shoddy repaint from before I bought it and the right front fenders clear coat delaminated about 2 years ago and I attempted a DIY repair with awful results(would look far better if I never touched it and let it peel srs).

I would love more than ever to get this all fixed, but there is no way my car is definitely <10k in value at this point; probably around 7-8 I would guess (116k miles). I got a quote from a body shop that did excellent autogeek quality work on my front bumper, and they wanted 1k to fix the hood. Im sure to do the rest would be way to expensive, unless I went to cheap shop, and then get crap results. If I were to do it, I would want it done right. And this shop will do it right.. for a price..

I love my car to death, but I don't want to dump any money into fixing the paint issues on a friggen Altima that isn't worth much at this point. I feel like I should just let it take its course and enjoy the car. Just sucks cause I enjoy the appearance as much as the drive itself.

The best idea I have come up with that I am thinking of doing is checking local wrecking yards to see if I have any luck scoring factory painted panels that aren't jacked to hell, and replacing mine with them to solve the paint issues. I could do that with the rear bumper and fender atleast. Cant fit a hood in my car haha.

[StangFan25]

Is trading/selling an option and getting something new(er)? I had a 97 mustang that I absolutely loved. Was my first car. Every weekend I was out washing and cleaning. Then it started to fail around 2010 and I slowly lost interest, bad oxidation and clear failure on the roof, scratches from aholes in parking lots, tranny was starting to go, among other mechanical issues. Only had 102k miles on it! So in 2012, I decided to trade in and get a 2011 mustang convertible. New to me and a huge improvement and now I have something to keep clean and enjoy doing it, all over again!

[Desertnate]

I stop putting large amounts of money into a car when the repairs are more than the overall value of the vehicle.

Appearance wise, I'll do my best to mitigate the damage and keep it looking as good as possible. From a mechanical standpoint, I'll go a bit farther as all our vehicles are daily drivers. However, when the big ticket items start to crop up, I start hunting for a replacement.

[Calendyr]

For me it's a math question. How much would it cost me to fix it compared to replacing it.

Here in Canada, a new car purchase is usually in the 300$ per month and up for the monthly payments on a 5 year plan. Then you have to calculate the higher cost of insurrance on a new car.

So even if you put say 1500$ into yours to fix it, it's only a few months of payment on a new car. It's usually way less expensive to fix an existing car than buy a new one.

For the Hood, it depends what is bent. If it's the Hood itself you can surelly buy a replacement in a scrap yard for really cheap. It's a good option if you are gonna have the car painted.

If your clear coat is faillling, that means a paint job. You can do it yourself if you want or have it done for you. Depending where you live you might be able to find a place that does it really cheap, or not.

The cheapest is to do the work yourself and use rustoleum paint with a roller brush. This can range anywhere from 50$ to 200$.

Then you can find a chop that does a quick paint job. I cannot remember the exact price but it was in the 500$ range (either 399$ or 499$).

Finally you can get a normal paint job, this is expensive. Usually 1500-4000$ depending on the work they need to do.

I did a paint job on my current project car about 2 months ago. I used spray paint rattle cans to do it (color matched paint). It cost me about 300$ to do the whole thing. Result is ok. Not great but way better than it was before I did the work. Hardest part with spray paint is to achieve a good finish with the clearcoat. The cans have an uneven flow so it's hard to have a good looking clear. Wet sanding and polishing afterwards helps a lot.

[CDot]

Seems like the '02-'06 paint process unfortunately dropped in quality.
I have an Altima as well ('01 that is almost 14 yrs old by build-date with 192k) that is showing her age, but I intend to keep her for a little while longer. I'll list my current issues and tell you why I'm keeping her--for now at least.

-Front bumper cover (drivers side) screw flange has broken and the bumper would hang off had I not taken a couple toothed washers + wide washers and screwed the bumper back in. It holds as long as I don't bump it hard.

-Front fender wells have dry-rotted and the driver's side remnants scrape against my tire when I make a right turn.

-Sunglass holder broken, armrest console hinges broken, headliner in the rear is beginning to detatch.

-Tranny had a Torque Converter Clutch solenoid value replaced by the dealer and now the RPM drop happens anywhere from 1-2.5 seconds behind almost every tranny shift. They tell me that it can't be fixed as it's a mechanical problem with the tranny (that conveniently happened after they replaced the valve), so I should drive the car until I can't anymore. I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place because only the dealer or an transmission shop will do tranny work and I'm NOT replacing or installing a rebuilt/salvaged one.

-Minor oil leak coming from some place or places--not sure. I know the distributor cap seal is worn out but that can't be replaced separately, I'd have to buy a new distributor.

-Condenser/Evaporator box was plugged by years of debris entering the lower windshield intakes and clogged the evaporator drainage tube, causing literally CUPS of water to leak back into the passenger compartment. After having them externally clear the tube twice per summer for the past 3 years, I just had them take out the dash and clean the compartment--for $550...sigh.

I've spent close to $2,700 on her over the past year--which included new brakes I did myself. This is more than my car is worth market-wise, BUT it averages out to $225/month.

If I get a new-to-me-car, I'd have to put money down (my target DP is $3,500-$5,000 depending on the price I get) and then pay car payments for 4-5 years--which would most likely be anywhere from $250-$300 = $3,000 to $3,600 a year. Add/average that up and I'd be paying $3,700/year on the lower end of those estimates. Now there are other trade-offs--like the intangible feeling a newer car, cosmetics, newer safety features, less time spent getting service/repairs, etc. But I also have other life expenses like a 5-week old that will now be taking a nice chunk out of the budget for diapers/daycare. Your situation varies of course, but that's how I look at it.

[actuator_mz3]

It really depends on how much longer you plan on having the car. You stop putting money into the car, when you stop loving it. If you are going to love this car for another 5+ years, then go get it fixed the way you want it because the car is more than just what it's worth on paper. If you are planning on getting rid of it in the next couple of years, either let it run it's course or find a cheap temporary solution (maybe even vinyl wrap)

[Kamakaz1961]

I stop putting large amounts of money into a car when the repairs are more than the overall value of the vehicle.

Appearance wise, I'll do my best to mitigate the damage and keep it looking as good as possible. From a mechanical standpoint, I'll go a bit farther as all our vehicles are daily drivers. However, when the big ticket items start to crop up, I start hunting for a replacement.

:iagree:I had 2 cars that started costing me more to repair than to trade-in or buy a new vehicle. I will never buy those car brands again. The 1st car I loved and actually got a custom paint job. It was a piece of Doggy Doo doo.

It was a Triumph TR8. I learned to be a mechanic on that thing because the parts were expensive, the car broke weekly. It looked nice but that was it.

The other was a Dodge GLH. After the 3rd time having the car break down on the freeway (I worked at a far place using the freeway). It was time to take it out to pasture. But the paint was perfect.

Just get a new ride or trade it in as a down payment. Once you get it you will forget your current ride.

[Zelfiris]

It really depends on how much longer you plan on having the car. You stop putting money into the car, when you stop loving it. If you are going to love this car for another 5+ years, then go get it fixed the way you want it because the car is more than just what it's worth on paper. If you are planning on getting rid of it in the next couple of years, either let it run it's course or find a cheap temporary solution (maybe even vinyl wrap)

I think wrapping the car could be a nice alternative. Cost less than repaint, you can DIY it, choose a different colour and gives some protection from the elements

[jamesboyy]

Checking local junk yards sounds like a good idea you could also check online too, me personally I don't stop spending money on my cars cause I don't want to give up none of my cars I own in my lifetime cause they are family, and one of these days ill be the only one with them in pristine shape with that said, you have to think about do you wanna keep him/her forever, restore it, etc, cause if you love that car that much then the market value couldn't touch the personal value of that car

[timaishu]

I guess should have been more clear. For the mechanical bits, I have no plans to stop fixing it as I want to keep this car for many years to come (its already paid off). Its just appearance wise. I would love to get the whole car repainted or just the parts in trouble (rear bumper, hood, roof, fender), but to get it done right and with a good color match, its going to cost me a bit.

I don't make enough money warrant such a purchase when I have other priorities like student loans I need to take care of.. Just sucks because I love the car, but paint bums me out.

[The Guz]

Searching your local salvage years is a good idea. I'm starting to do the same thing for my 99 Pontiac Grand Prix that has the begining signs of clear coat failure on the fenders front and rear bumpers.

[jamesboyy]

With that said why dont you get a quote for the whole car to be fix then break it down in smaller affordable sections basically what I am saying is if the front bumper and hood is 2k then save it up then get that done till finshed

[oldmodman]

I have the same quandary with my 1992 Ford explorer.

I am now replacing a part in all four window motors, the AC condenser, compressor, dryer, and all AC hoses.

After all that I will be looking for a new factory seat cover for the drivers seat.

After that I will be replacing both front brake rotors, bearings, and calipers with pads.

I do almost all the work myself with parts from Rock Auto. And as a finale I will be trying to re-paint the Explorer myself.

Total cost. Appx $800.00

Since the Explorer is only used as a tow vehicle or as a junk mover. It's well worth keeping it running. Absolutely not worth replacing it with a new vehicle.

[Calendyr]

I guess should have been more clear. For the mechanical bits, I have no plans to stop fixing it as I want to keep this car for many years to come (its already paid off). Its just appearance wise. I would love to get the whole car repainted or just the parts in trouble (rear bumper, hood, roof, fender), but to get it done right and with a good color match, its going to cost me a bit.

I don't make enough money warrant such a purchase when I have other priorities like student loans I need to take care of.. Just sucks because I love the car, but paint bums me out.

Well here's the thing. If you clear coat is peeling, there is no protection left. So unless you get it painted, it will start to rust.

Now, if it's peeling on the roof, all of the horizontal pannels clearcoat is probably done for. So you should look into painting at least the roof, Hood and trunk.

The most expensive part of having a car painted is the preparation work. Painting really doesn't take much time. Spraying a whole car for someone who knows what they are doing takes about 10 minutes per coat. So if you do something standard like 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of color and 3 coats of clear it's a 2 hour job. The paint is expensive, cost usually is around 500$ for a whole car. Dépends on brands and quality.

So if you can do all the prep work yourself, and only paint the parts that really need it, you could save quite a bit.

You will have to be willing to learn how to do it, so a lot of time involved.