No issues. One guy was actually the previous owner of one of the cars I sold and saw it listed and decided he wanted it back (03 Lexus IS300). The other drove 90 minutes up from Lexington look at my old truck, gave me a $200 down payment, and then drove back up 2 days later to buy it. No issues with either. I sell a ton of my old crap on Craigslist and Armslist, including several cars and motorcycles, and unlike Stevelord I don't think I've ever had a problem worth complaining about.

 

if this was the case i should have dumped my 2013 f150 5 months after i bought it

 

I have been keeping my vehicles for shorter periods. 1998 Explorer was 15 years, but part of that was a child who then sold it back. 2010 Fusion Hybrid was 9 years. F-150 is now 6 1/2 years old, but only 41,000 miles. Fusion Energi is a lease, we'll dump it at 3 years when the lease is up and hopefully find that Ford has the Explorer or similar as a PHEV.

 

+1 4-5 trips to the dealer for an airbag light still on
2-3 for a transmission fluid pump
several for random stuff.

in my experience stuff you buy used needs repairs. Stuff you buy new needs repairs. The diff is I fix the issues on the used trucks myself and they work. They new vehicles go to the dealer where they don’t/can’t fix crap and ford reps tell you it’s you should be lucky they graced you with you with their presence. So the cheaper vehicle is a used one that I can work on and figure out.

 

Wow you are very loyal to Ford , why ? :-) Working for Ford, or family, or you never bother looking elsewhere , or , they are the best vehicle for you ? No jugement here Im just curious

 

Good read, I am in the same boat with my wife's 2008 MDX. 12 years old and 153k miles. I am sick of working on it less easy maintenance at this point past air & cabin filter, oil change, etc. Just paid a mechanic to find squeaky bearing on accessory drive and it was the belt, fml, this really got under my skin. He thought it was funny because he knew how annoyed I was and said don't worry Gates belts are notorious for looking great visually and making a ton of noise. Wasted time and money for a $20 replacement part I could have swapped in 10 minutes in the driveway, getting old sucks. Just paid to have the oil pump resealed a hidden honda engineering gem for a g note, not doing in my driveway. All in still way cheaper than a car payment, it still looks great with no rust to speak of and she only drives 300-400 miles a month now prior to covid. Have a feeling stuck with it a few more years until it starts to rust.

 

If you break it down, a truck (either bought or a loan payment) is about $500-$600 a month. Unless you are spending $6000 a year on repairs, it will always be cheaper to keep repairing, plus the older vehicle will hit near bottom of price and you will loose value on the newer vehicle, so in reality you'd have to spend more than $6000/year on repairs. Note: This could mean you spend $10,000 one year for a rebuilt engine and then don't have many expenses for a couple years to where it works out to less than the $6,000/year.

Once you start doing that, then it is time to replace. Or if you can afford a new vehicle (to me that means paying cash up front, I don't do loans anymore) and the current vehicle is starting to take up more time than it is worth for you. For me, that would mean more than a few days a month in the shop repeated for many months.

 

For me, the point when the annual repair bill exceeds 75% of the vehicles trade in value.

 

Strictly on financial terms, you are correct. But you have to factor in your time. When I had 2 vehicles (which wasn't financially smart to begin with) it wasn't a big deal that both of them were older, because I always had a spare when one needed a repair. But now that I've just got one vehicle again, it means when something breaks it either has to wait until a weekend when I have time, or I have to take off work to fix it immediately (and hope parts are available), or I need to put it in the shop and get a rental.

 

+1. I’d hate to see a truck that’s down all the time cost someone their job because they can’t get there. Then the used truck is finically much more than a new truck. Being stranded on the road in the middle of a family vacation would be terrible too. You gotta have balance IMO.