Decisions, Decisions

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HOUSTON RICK

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Does it make more sense to put $5,000 of repairs into a 2006 Yukon or is it time to get something else used to hold me over instead? Not the time for a new car. Leaning toward the repairs, I hate buying cars.
 
great question.
$5K is a sizable amount of coin in my house.

are you handy w auto repairs and maintenance?
a 12 yr old vehicle , assuming it has a decent amount of miles , will eventually require additional financial love.

will the car be used for local travel?
driving only to church on Sundays or are ya gonna run it hard?
A working vehicle? (this will create additional stress on the vehicle , yet you may be able to use as a tax deduction)

myself, I have zero mechanical skillsets , Id buy new.....
good luck!
 
HOUSTON RICK said:
Does it make more sense to put $5,000 of repairs into a 2006 Yukon or is it time to get something else used to hold me over instead? Not the time for a new car. Leaning toward the repairs, I hate buying cars.
Click to expand...

To me that is a lot of money to put in a truck so old (it is not considered a collector item) Is that money for parts and labor or is it only parts and your doing the work? If its you doing the work it sounds like you will have a lot to do!
 
The truck is about 13 years old and probably not worth $5,000. I'd personally sell or trade in the truck and use what ever money you get to put towards a new vehicle. To put that kind of money into a vehicle that old is only asking for trouble. At the age it is anything could go next like the Cats, engine, tranny, computer, etc.

As much as you hate buying new vehicles, at least something new will have a warranty and at least for 5 or 6 years should not need much maintenance so even though you will be paying more money, you will have a reliable truck and not have to worry about what will break next - at least for a while. I do not buy used cars/trucks and would really avoid doing so unless you have absolutely no other choice. When you buy used you are looking at maintenance headaches, repairs, and worst of all no warranty. Yea it's cheaper, but you always spend plenty for unseen or hidden problems. The last used car I bought was in 1976 - and I've learned my lesson well.

Then again, no one here knows your financial position so that is only something you could answer.
 
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Well, I look at it as what is it worth to you after you fix it (how long will you keep it) versus what it's going to cost to replace it. You should know what you have afterward, versus buying a used vehicle with an unknown history. Mileage comes into play here too. If it's already in the upper 200's or low 300's, it may not be worth it. I don't buy new either. My current truck is a 2003 F-150, with 165K on it. I've had it for 6 years and I'll keep it a while longer, then eventually move up the ladder. But I get to drive a company truck home everyday. Best of luck which ever way you decide to go.
 
chief38 said:
The truck is about 13 years old and probably not worth $5,000. I'd personally sell or trade in the truck and use what ever money you get to put towards a new vehicle. To put that kind of money into a vehicle that old is only asking for trouble. At the age it is anything could go next like the Cats, engine, tranny, computer, etc.

As much as you hate buying new vehicles, at least something new will have a warranty and at least for 5 or 6 years should not need much maintenance so even though you will be paying more money, you will have a reliable truck and not have to worry about what will break next - at least for a while. I do not buy used cars/trucks and would really avoid doing so unless you have absolutely no other choice. When you buy used you are looking at maintenance headaches, repairs, and worst of all no warranty. Yea it's cheaper, but you always spend plenty for unseen or hidden problems. The last used car I bought was in 1976 - and I've learned my lesson well.

Then again, no one here knows your financial position so that is only something you could answer.
Click to expand...
I'm with you.
$5000 for repairs? Time to go.'Cept we can't afford anthing new and we've had pretty good luck buying used.
 
HOUSTON RICK said:
Does it make more sense to put $5,000 of repairs into a 2006 Yukon or is it time to get something else used to hold me over instead? Not the time for a new car. Leaning toward the repairs, I hate buying cars.
Click to expand...

At 12 to 13 years of age a car in Houston will start to show heat, humidity, and U/V wear on synthetic components. If the five grand includes a new set of tires, a new top end battery and you feel certain you'll get three to five more years out of the old Tahoe, I might go for it.

Five thousand is also a good down payment, toss in the Tahoe that needs a good deal of work and you might be better off.

If I had a vehicle that needed $1,000 a year in repairs for three years in a row, I'd be trading. A $5,000 bill in one year and my trusty old truck is a piece of junk, and needs a new home.
 
snubbyfan said:
I'm with you.
$5000 for repairs? Time to go.'Cept we can't afford anthing new and we've had pretty good luck buying used.
Click to expand...

If one has no other choice than to buy used - then I'd suggest buying a car that is just being turned in because the 2 or 3 year lease is up and for no other reason - there are PLENTY of those!! Many of them are still under the manufacturer's warranty and other than maybe some minor maintenance should be fairly good. If you know someone turning in a leased car and he will agree to turn it over to you - at least you will know where it came from. how it was maintained and if it was garaged or not.
 
HOUSTON RICK said:
Does it make more sense to put $5,000 of repairs into a 2006 Yukon or is it time to get something else used to hold me over instead? Not the time for a new car. Leaning toward the repairs, I hate buying cars.
Click to expand...

I used to drive 20 year old cars, so right now you are ahead of what I used to have to do. It's not the buying of cars that bothers me, it's the going into debt and paying interest. There is a value in having running vehicles that are paid for. Right now I am facing a $1500 bill to fix up the HVAC and cooling system and I will pay it because I figure on putting another 100K miles on the Batmobile #2. I have 2 "Batmobiles", both 2008 Mercury Grand Marquiss, one with 232K miles and one with 117K miles and to me they are worth putting money into to keep them running since they are no longer made.
 
Are you talking 5K on the Yukon across a bunch of smaller repairs or one big one like a transmission or major engine/trans. repair? Replacing a Yukon or truck even with a used one will cost 15-20K min.. Buying a newer used vehicle with all the **** they have on the engine and control modules could easily put you in a 5K repair bill on your new vehicle if it winds up being a lemon. Add to that if you buy a newer used one you'll be in the car payment trick bag for a couple years. Fix your Yukon
 
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Worked with a guy for over 20 years and he never paid more then 500 dollars for a used car .. would drive them till they stopped .. had one for 5 or 6 years ..

When they would quit he would take the tags off and sign the title leaving it on the dash .. then calling the junk guy to go get it ..
 
No way!

$5 large on a 12 year old ride? No way.

Had a similar decision last year...$4 large on a 6 year old Range Rover. Easy decision=new Rangie.

Be safe
 
We had the same decision recently with my wifes 10 year old Buick, with only 150K miles we decided to sell it and we would have saved many thousands of dollars if we had sold it at 120K miles. My Toyota Rav with 190K miles has only needed one small repair, a front wheel bearing so I don't think quite as highly of GM products but some people have great luck with them. Since you live in Texas you might check out Drivers Select in Dallas, they only have 1-3 year old cars that are still under factory warranty and in great condition. They have "no haggle pricing" and we recently bought a new condition, one year old car with very low mileage for a little over half the price of a brand new one. It still had 3 years and 43,000 miles of bumper to bumper factory warranty left so we will pay for zero repairs for at least 3 more years. They must have pretty good pricing because they average selling 65 cars per day and 85 cars per day on Saturdays.
 
Depends on goals. If the $5k in repairs will buy you another 100k miles and that's your plan, it makes since. If you are going to sell it or buy a new car, the $5k is a bad choice. All my opinion of course.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
I recently faced a similar problem. My 2003 F-150 needed timing chains and a new head. Big bucks even If I did all the work myself. :(
I seriously considered trading it or selling it "as is" for whatever I could get out it and buying something else. A few trips to local dealers put an end to that idea. A good used truck was going to be a lot more than I wanted to pay. Besides, I really hated the idea of having a monthly truck note again. :mad:
So I bit the bullet and went to work on it. Just the parts alone ran about $1500. I'd hate to think what it would have cost if I had had to have a shop do it. It would have easily hit the 5 grand you're talking about. :eek:
Luckily for me I did have another vehicle to drive in the meantime. So I took my sweet time about doing the job. Frankly, it was a major pain in the rear end. There I was trying to do major repairs in my carport with nothing more than hand tools. Not to mention that Ol' Murphy was there with me and puttin' in overtime. Nothing went right. :mad:
In the end, I got the old girl fixed up and avoided having a new monthly payment. That alone made it all worthwhile. ;)

One thing I have learned over the years is that if you do buy a used vehicle, never buy anything more than 2 or 3 years old. If you do get something older, 9 times out of 10, you just end up buying somebody else's problems. :(
 
Craver said:
Depends on goals. If the $5k in repairs will buy you another 100k miles and that's your plan, it makes since. If you are going to sell it or buy a new car, the $5k is a bad choice. All my opinion of course.
Click to expand...
Mine as well.

Some critically important questions that figure into the decision.
1) How many miles are on the Tahoe? City or Hiway miles?
2) What are repairing for the $5k?
3 What kind of shape is the rest of the vehicle in? Has it been well maintained and well treated?

I drive vehicles until they drop. But I can and do work on them myself. Mine is a 2003 Chevy Tracker (rebadged Suzuki Vitara) and my wife's is a 2009 Kia Borrego. I also have an old 1986 F250 diesel, and a 1995 3/4 ton diesel Chevy Suburban, but they are tow vehicles that only rack up a couple of thousand miles a year.
 
Years ago I used to listen to a financial counselor who was on Christian radio named Larry Burkett. This was a common question from callers and his answer was always the same! "It is always less expensive (and cost effective) to repair the car you have instead of buying a new car".


If you are asking about buying a different used car than the one you own, what are your guarantees that the used car will not need at least as many or more repairs as are needed for the one you already have?
 
The car that I have driven for nearly 7 years was a lease car with 12K plus miles. Saved a bunch of money and had no problems. Take that back, the dealer fixed a problem that I didn't know I had. It was still under warranty.
 
I have a 1980 F-150 that I bought new, and do maintenance on myself-or have it done. The other car is a lease car that will be turned in before it is out of warranty. The newer stuff is just to expensive to fix-to much computer stuff, so, because we don't drive any where near what we used to, leasing is a good option for us. We currently have a Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring, and we are very fond of it. If we had to buy, I would look for stuff just coming off lease that had a full warranty on it. Bon Chance.
 
Grayfox said:
I recently faced a similar problem. My 2003 F-150 needed timing chains and a new head. Big bucks even If I did all the work myself. :(
I seriously considered trading it or selling it "as is" for whatever I could get out it and buying something else. A few trips to local dealers put an end to that idea. A good used truck was going to be a lot more than I wanted to pay. Besides, I really hated the idea of having a monthly truck note again. :mad:
So I bit the bullet and went to work on it. Just the parts alone ran about $1500. I'd hate to think what it would have cost if I had had to have a shop do it. It would have easily hit the 5 grand you're talking about. :eek:
Luckily for me I did have another vehicle to drive in the meantime. So I took my sweet time about doing the job. Frankly, it was a major pain in the rear end. There I was trying to do major repairs in my carport with nothing more than hand tools. Not to mention that Ol' Murphy was there with me and puttin' in overtime. Nothing went right. :mad:
In the end, I got the old girl fixed up and avoided having a new monthly payment. That alone made it all worthwhile. ;)

One thing I have learned over the years is that if you do buy a used vehicle, never buy anything more than 2 or 3 years old. If you do get something older, 9 times out of 10, you just end up buying somebody else's problems. :(
Click to expand...
Great example.

Here's mine. My 95 Suburban blew a head gasket in the middle of our cross-state move from Seattle to Spokane. At the time I had a shattered knee and couldn't stand for more than a few minutes at a time. I ended up having to get a local shop to replace the head gaskets, and while the heads were off they discovered they were cracked. Milled and installed a good set of used ones to replace them. Total bill was $2800 IIRC. But with only 160k on the clock, it was worth it, and she's been running like a top for 4 years since. Should keep plugging along for years to come - probably longer than I'll be needing to drive it - since I only put a few thousand miles a year on it.
 
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Maybe lately but so far the 2006 GMC Sierra I bought new hasn't given me any problems. Just normal stuff like oil changes, batteries, flushing out the radiator and stuff like that. Only 25K miles on it and plan to be driving it for many years to come. Used as a daily driver when we first go it as had two daughters in school and weekly trips to the rifle range. Now it's Dads taxi when me and the wife go food shopping every two weeks. Frank
 
ANOHER POSSIBILITY:

You might also look into a "demo" vehicle at the Dealership. Sometimes you can fins one with 2 - 5K on it that was only used as a demonstrator and is sold with the Factory warranty starting at the current milage. You can save a lot on that and still have all the benefits of a new vehicle.
 
Rustyt1953 said:
If 5 grand gets you a Yukon 2.0 and you get another 12 years out of it I think you win as a $5K used car is gambling.

After your overhaul you will know the condition of every nut and bolt.

Caj is still driving Old Blue, isn't he?
Click to expand...
Yes I am. Replacing her would be a 60,000. lick. Putting in 1,000 or so per year is, imy opinion better than a $1,000 plus a month note. Cars/trucks are NOT assets in spite of what the dealerships tell you. They are a rolling expense pure and simple. I' at the point (1999 model with 409,000 miles) that a $5k lick would prompt putting her out of her misery, but I'd do a $1,500 lick for another year or so. Remember, you are looking for reliable transportation at the cheapest price possible. A 2006 tahoe (that I owned from the start and knew it's history)with less than 200k miles, I'd pay the 5k in a heartbeat as the alternative would be wayyyy more expensive to me. As far as buying new, I'll always let the other guy take the depreciation lick and buy late model used. I've done enough bankruptcy work over the years to know what a drain vehicles are and that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever buying new, when you can buy just as good a car used . You just gotta do yer homework.
 
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2005 IS OLD???

Mileage now & how many per year, type of use, how many more years of driving R-U planning on??? My 96 T-100 has under 200,000 mi & I'm expecting to get 300,000. IT AINT PRETTY, but does what's needed. I've never put more than app 750$ into it. IT DEPENDS. :)
 
Here is how I view it. If you can drive the 06 for 2 more years spend the 5k. If you doubt you can get 2 years without big inconvenience (stranded, tows, repairs) then sell it off and buy a nice recent model used/CPO.
 
Rick, what is the main problem with it? Are there other problems which will need to be addressed in the next year or two?
If fixing the main problem will get you a few more years out of it, fix it. But if its showing its age and could likely develop other problems within that time, sell.
 
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