Help Evaluate My Pros and Cons
I could really use some help evaluating my options about what to do with my car. I have an old 90s Honda Accord with about 143,000 miles that needs a lot of repairs—about $4,400-7,000 worth of repairs based on the quotes I have received. I’ve had it a long time, and up to this point haven’t really had any work done on it other than standard oil changes and a window repair. I’m trying to decide if I should fix it, or just replace it.
Does anyone have any insights that could help me figure things out. What are reasonable price to mileage expectations to have when looking for a used car? Also, are there any considerations that I have overlooked in my pros/cons list shown below?
As I see it my current options are:
- Buy a new car
- The current cost of new cars that I’ve seen in my casual browsing is horrifying, so I think that option is out. Unless my quick Google result is unreliable, it seems the current average is $40,000-60,000, and I just can’t stomach dropping that on a car. - Fix the Honda
Pros:
- Old Honda engines are supposed to last a long time based on what I’ve heard, so I might be good for quite a while longer with some repairs
- The insurance cost on a super old car is low
- Way less research and decision making needed for this option
Cons:
- What if I just run into more repairs that need to be done and it ends up being more expensive?
- This would be a very poor choice if I could find a newer used car with a longer expected lifespan for a lower or equivalent cost - Buy a newer used car
Pros:
- Maybe potential for lower cost to expected lifespan of car with the right deal?
- There are known minor annoyances with my old car that could be solved with a newer car (for example it only has a tape player so my phone can’t hook into the speaker system, and there is no cabin air filter which is probably somewhat of a health concern when the outside air is bad as is prone to occur where I live)
Cons:
- I don’t even know where to start with buying a car and the thought finding one stressed me out a little
-Who knows what potential problems different used car might have, at least I know my Honda’s current issues list
- Some used cars have a similar or more miles compared to my car for an equivalent or not much lower price than my repair estimates
- Some nicer used cars are fairly expensive based on my initial casual searching, and could require quite a bit more money upfront than repairing my Honda
- The insurance on a newer car probably costs more
I would really appreciate any thoughts and advice you can share with me.