Ladies & gents - I am trying to decide which way I want to go. My car has 154,000 (give or take a few hundred). It is a 2001 Toyota Camry. Great car. But last year we had to put a new transmission in it and this morning my check engine light came on. The only other time it has done that was when the transmission went out. I know I can't decide for sure until we find out what the problem is. If it is something that won't cost but a couple hundred dollars we will of course get it fixed and go on. BUT if it is going to cost a thousand or more I am thinking about trading it is and getting something newer with fewer miles on it. We won't be getting a new vehicle but a used one. What would you do if you were in this situation ? Go ahead and spend big bucks to get it fixed or trade it ? Just thinking and asking for opinions....
Thank you everyone for your thoughts & opinions ! My hubby took a look last night at it and drove it. He didn't see anything off the bat wrong. I did have one battery cable that was corroding. He unhooked the battery and cleaned it off. The light has been off ever since. Crossing my fingers that that was it ! If the light comes back on, we will go from there !
Look up the retail value if the car and don't spend over that on repairs. So, yeah, if its a few hundred bucks, I'd fix it.
I'd also try to bank a monthly car payment so when it no longer responds to life support, I'd buy another used car outright--with cash.
Good luck.
The check engine light is referred to as and 'idiot light' for those in the industry. Auto makers tie that light to a million things on your car, some that would never ever have any effect on the operation of the car and some that would be catastrophic. Just FYI.
How long have you owned the car? From day one? Then you know the history and it may be worth sticking with it if the transmission was the only major fix in 12 yrs of it being on the road.
If the transmission comes with a long list of other repairs, then a newer vehicle may be in your cards.
Keep in mind the 12 yr old Camry is only going to be worth $1500-$2000 as a trade in at a dealer, regardless of how well it's running. It's all a numbers game at that point. Good luck.
We have a 2001 Maxima. It has roughly the same mileage as yours, a bit less.
We have had some months of high bills on it. Just got finished with replacing belts and a seal for about $400.
We bought it new. It's been my H's car and come Sept it will be my son's car for going to college. How old are your kids? That should factor in your decision. Keeping a car for a long time is the only way to make money on them.
Those cars are meant to go at least 250,000 miles. It is a pain when they keep having problems. But $2,500 over a yr is a little over $200 a month.
That's much less than a car payment.
You might have some kind of warranty on your transmission.
My vote, keep the car.
I WAS in this situation!
I had a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan - that I loved EVERYTHING about - EXCEPT the maintenance on it....My husband was unemployed for 10 months and in that 10 months we spent about $4K in repairs...the last repair was just too much AGAIN - $2500 - so we traded it in - got a whopping $1875 for it!! (how exciting!!! NOT!!) and bought a Honda Odyssey.
Do research on the cars you are considering - get the ConsumerReports.org subscription and find out the best years to get and what the cars might be worth - then double check your findings with Kelly Blue Book!
Good luck!
See what problem is if anything. Just because light came on does not mean a problem. Might just be a short in wire. Was transmission covered? Wait to see if there is a problem. Then de IDE. I would not put big bucks into it
I wouldnt expect to need a new tranny that quick, but I would go for something newer if its something like that again. I bought a used Prius at a good price and so far its been great, certainly cheaper on gas, but I will warn you it is a small car! (prob the same size as what you have)
I agree with checking KBB, also look into CarMax if there is one near you! Good luck!
Trade. It's getting old and will only continue to fall apart little by little.
My husband and I pay cash for everything so we don't have debt. We just bought a 2001 F150 with 148k miles. My car is a 2000 Mitsubishi and has 106k miles on it. A couple years ago we decided to get rid of our van payment that was $444 per month. We got rid of that and our other newer car that was paid off, used the money to buy the 2 older cars. I feel like I would rather fix repairs than pay over 5k per year in car payments. I figure it's still LESS to repair than to make consistent car payment AND repairs on top of that. Toyotas can go for hundreds of thousands of miles, if it still looks good and fits our needs, I would continue to repair it. JMO. Good luck.
Hey -
I am actually in a similar situation and I decided to spend the money to fix my vehicle. My vehicle may not be worth much money to anyone else (ie I may not get more than a $1000.00 for it), but it is worth much more than that TO ME. I would much rather put a $1000.00 into my vehicle than to pay $300-$500 a month on a new vehicle (not brand new, but new to me). So, I think you need to make that assessment. I am trying to put off buying a "new to me" vehicle for at least 18 months - while I put away cash for that newer vehicle. I want to be in a position to put at least $10,000 down on the new vehicle.
Also, just FYI, if you put in a new transmission last year, it should still be under warranty.
Good luck,
L.
Start looking arond. I was really surprised at the prices on used cars right now. I can't believe how expensive they are. We've been looking and looking for a vehicle for me. I wanted an SUV or a crossover that has a 3rd row.
I couldn't hardly find anything for less than $1000 with less than 100K miles on it and newer than 2005. So look around before deciding what to do.
BUT I would certainly be looking to upgrade at this point.
I will mention to you what I have found out by accident.
With all the rain and storms Oklahoma and the surrounding states have been having there have been a LOT of floods. Nearly all the vehicles they are seeing at auction to buy for their used car lots almost all of them have flood damage or were actually floating in the water and have been cleaned up in the body shop/detail shop. So do not buy anything without doing a car fax check or better on it.
My Toyota Avalon check engine light came on and it cost $60 to have it fixed. My car was 10 years old at the time. We had it fixed but it came back on about 3 months later so we bought a new car because the hassle wasn't worth it to us. Things just start to go at a certain point. Sounds like your car does not owe you anything at this point. I would get a new car.
With a car that old and with that many miles, I wouldn't put another $1000 into it. Why don't you go onto Kelly Blue Book and figure out how much it's worth. I doubt it's worth more than about $2500, so spending $1000 to fix it is too much.
In December, we sold my husband's 1999 Explorer with CarMax and got $1000 for it. His mileage was similar to yours.
Cost comparisons should be done when considering keeping vs. buying another vehicle.
Not having payments at all is awfully nice.
