Ask Bark Brief: Should I Buy New Or Keep On Fixing?

Brian writes:

Hi Bark,

I’ve been a TTAC reader for a couple of years now and you seem to be the guy for the right advice here. The wife’s six-year-old CUV with 160,000 kilometers is showing signs of a problem that the dealer couldn’t reproduce, but said will cost upwards of $1,800 for parts (if I am right about it). This is after a different repair last year that cost over $2,000. I am wondering if now is the time to replace the car while it still has some trade value. My wife’s argument is that a repair still costs less than a year’s worth of car payments, but my counter is that a predictable car payment is easier to deal with than an unexpected large repair bill. This is especially true given our first child is due very soon.

I understand some people are serial leasers, but we tend to keep our cars well beyond warranty. So, when is the right time to replace a car?

Thanks‎!

160,000 kms? Hold up — let me get my Canadia-to-Trump calculator. Whoa — that’s only 96,000 miles! Which FCA CUV does your wife own?

I kid, I kid. But this is a great question that deserves a solid answer.

You may remember a post my brother wrote over a year ago entitled “You Gotta Be Rich To Own A Cheap Car.” One of the most popular posts in our recent history, it outlines all of the issues that having an unreliable car can cause somebody on a budget. I could recap all of that, but you’re better served to just go read it and come back.

Back? Okay, good. So let’s talk about when you should pull that trigger. Ultimately, that decision lies with you and your comfort with risk — but this is an advice column, so I’m prepared to give you some guidance.

First of all — do you want a new car? People often forget this part of the equation. If you want to buy a new car, if you want the sight and smell of new metal in your garage, then we can find ways to help you justify it. Trust me, I’m the king of rationalizing financially questionable behaviors.

I assume that you’re writing to me because you’re asking for permission to buy something. So let’s figure out how you can give it to yourself.

1. Two expensive repairs a year could total as much as $3,000-4,000. That’s money you’re throwing down a hole that you’ll never get back — you’re not retaining anything in value by spending that money. Your car’s black book value assumes that it’s working perfectly.
2. The expenditures are random and unpredictable. So if you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, like apparently 289-plus delegates worth of people in America are, it’s much harder to come up with $1800 at once than it is to pay $300 a month for which you’ve made room in the budget. I honestly don’t know many people under the age of 40 who have that kind of a rainy-day slush fund. Or many people over 40, for that matter.
3. You’re going to be genuinely mad every time that you have to write a check for a repair. Would you rather be spending that money in anger or in happiness with your new car?
4. Who wants to pay money for a car they’ve already bought outright? Isn’t the point of owning a car to eliminate/reduce payment obligations?

Okay, so there’s four reasons to buy new. Here’s something you weren’t expecting, though — four reasons to keep it.

1. You hate yourself.
2. You like abdominal/chest pains.
3. You’re putting all of your money in the artificially low stock market today.
4. I can’t come up with a fourth reason.

Seriously, man — go get your new car. Don’t worry about breaking down with your newborn in the car, or your wife breaking down when she’s nine months pregnant. If you can fit your new car into your budget, I say do it. After you’ve talked the missus into it, write back to me with advice on what to get (leader in the clubhouse: Ford Escape).

Bark M. is an enabler. Write to him with questions about bad decisions that your wife won’t like at barkm302@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.