Your financed primary car: Keep it once paid, or Upgrade regularly?

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Car ownership is one of those interesting financial decision and I've come to realise that we each have different motivations for ownership of our primary vehicle.

My primary car, a Ballade, is about to be debt-free in four weeks time as I decided to throw 20% of my salary into the monthly payments. My life has changed a lot since I bought it and while the intention had been to trade it in next year, I'm now keeping it till it gets stolen or my kids write it off once they get their licences.

Looking at current deals, it's tempting to upgrade but all those little things about my car no longer irritate me as I get closer to owning it. The squeaky dashboard, the bumper held in place with cable ties (I forgave my wife for that incident), the scratches, the dents, etc are all things that no longer bother me. Not owing the bank money on our cars makes me happier.

So I'm interested in what your current intention is with your financed primary car?

 

[azbob]

Why do you need to upgrade it regularly? It’s a car, not a wife. Keep it till it falls apart then get a new one.

 

[pinball wizard]

Other. It's always other.

Where's the other option in your poll by the way?

 

[pinball wizard]

It’s a car, not a wife. Keep it till it falls apart then get a new one.

Meh, the same principle applies to wives...

 

[Gtx Gaming]

Keeping mine until it catches fire lol

 

[azbob]

Meh, the same principle applies to wives...

Watch out then, Chinese products generally fall apart sooner.

 

[3WA]

First car went twelve years before being written off.

Second car currently five years old, was paid off after 2.5 years.

I'd like to drive the current car at least until the house is paid off. Really don’t like car installments but may change my mind if I ever have a large salary and live bond-free.

 

[Lupus]

I generally aim to keep my car after it's paid off. Then a year or 2 later I buy a new one.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Other. It's always other.

Where's the other option in your poll by the way?

OK, you got your "Other"

 

[pinball wizard]

Keeping mine until it catches fire lol

The car or the wife?

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Why do you need to upgrade it regularly? It’s a car, not a wife. Keep it till it falls apart then get a new one.

"Why do you need to upgrade it regularly? It’s a car, not a wife." ... I'm in my mid 40's, I'm on my second car and my second wife. I will get back to you in a decade as current I'm not qualified to comment on your statement.

I did borrow a car at one stage in my life and it was a complicated agreement, just like my relationship status back then.

 

[Binary_Bark]

Think it depends on your personal fiscal status at the time. Can you afford a new automobile, do you need a new automobile and or do you need that capital you used to pay to the automobile premiums for something else

 

[Gtx Gaming]

The car or the wife?

Just the car, the wife does not have insurance

 

[Binary_Bark]

The car or the wife?

Yes

 

[Neuk_]

It depends on the car, I was never going to keep my previous daily drive long term but I plan to do with this one, I have never cared for the latest and greatest and have only ever owned one brand new car in my life. I would rather spend the money elsewhere and plan on getting something more exciting for the weekends.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

It depends on the car, I was never going to keep my previous daily drive long term but I plan to do with this one, I have never cared for the latest and greatest and have only ever owned one brand new car in my life. I would rather spend the money elsewhere and plan on getting something more exciting for the weekends.

Same with us.

We saw some nice family car options but I'm slapping a tow bar onto the Ballade for our camping trips and instead of a new car, we are buying a flat in a seaside town we often visit for the same price as demo/low km entry-level SUV.

 

[ToxicBunny]

I generally intend on keeping my car after its paid off... my current set of wheels I will probably keep until it starts to fall apart.

 

[duckgray]

after it's paid off keep it and drive it till the wheels fall off.

 

[Craig_]

I'll drive my current car for the next 10 years still, it's close to paid off. Then I'll give it to my son and replace it. Same with my wife's car, she'll drive it for 9 more years and then give it to my daughter, by then we'll hopefully only need to own one car. Way too expensive to buy cars nowadays, no way can I justify paying the kind of money they want for new cars.

 

[SykomantiS]

Car ownership is one of those interesting financial decision and I've come to realise that we each have different motivations for ownership of our primary vehicle.

My primary car, a Ballade, is about to be debt-free in four weeks time as I decided to throw 20% of my salary into the monthly payments. My life has changed a lot since I bought it and while the intention had been to trade it in next year, I'm now keeping it till it gets stolen or my kids write it off once they get their licences.

Looking at current deals, it's tempting to upgrade but all those little things about my car no longer irritate me as I get closer to owning it. The squeaky dashboard, the bumper held in place with cable ties (I forgave my wife for that incident), the scratches, the dents, etc are all things that no longer bother me. Not owing the bank money on our cars makes me happier.

So I'm interested in what your current intention is with your financed primary car?

It's a Honda, keep it, look after it and it will go on forever.
Besides, if you no longer have to shell out 20% of your salary to finance the vehicle, it stands to reason you should have funds available to fix at least most of the things, if not all, that are wrong with it.