Sell my '07 Prius before hiiting 60,000 miles?

The most financially sensible thing to do is to drive it until it dies of old age. It could easily have another 200,000 miles of life in it. Meanwhile you could be saving up to buy your next car for cash.

 

I really have no idea if that is true or not, but I do know that the salesperson would really like you to buy a car from them again in the shortest interval possible. They would be happy to sell you a new car every 3 months if you were willing to buy.

I plan to keep my 07 until it is no longer viable to repair it.

 

One simple way of looking at this: the amount of depreciation your car will take in going from 60,000 to 70,000 miles driven is substantially smaller than the depreciation a new car would take the instant you drive it off the lot.

Financially, it's a no-brainer to keep driving the 2007 for quite a while.

The fact that you'd be financing a new car further reinforces this.

 

What is your $depreciation/mile so far? Include unplanned repairs that extend car longevity.

The target for my 1986 Honda was $0.10/mile. It depreciated out long ago, so that figure is now the repair allowance. It is still staying under budget, without an inflation allowance. It will likely get replaced by a hybrid this year, for non-financial reasons.

My household also includes a 1997 car, with a $0.15/mile target. It is not quite down to that target, but has plenty of life left.

My suggestion is that you set a similar sort of target, probably in the range of $0.15-0.20 per mile. If your cost so far is much higher than that, and the car is running fine, then the financial benefit of trading in now is realized by the dealer, not you.

Maintenance and other periodic costs that don't change significantly when changing rigs are excluded from this figure of merit, but should still be considered. But in a Prius-to-Prius exchange, these should not be much of a factor.

 

i have sold many cars in the past years, but never sold my 01 prius of 7 yrs and my 05 prius of 3 years, now im racking up the miles and you realize how dependable these vehicles are in the long run.

i hope in 20 years i still have both priuses and still running

 

I'm not sure why you should figure trade in value into this. Dealers will always give you too little for your trade in compared to what you can get if you sell it on your own.

If there's nothing wrong w/your 07 Prius, I don't see why you'd bother with an 09. It's the same generation w/almost no changes. If you were considering a 2010 Prius... that's another story.

From a financial point of view, I'd say keep your 07 Prius.

 

Brad,

If you keep your 07 (you should), have the tranny fluid exchanged at 60k miles even though this is not in your maintenance schedule. Your dealer should charge less than $100 for a gallon of type WS ATF installed.

JeffD

 

Unless you've got a lemon, it's out of warranty, and you're spending a small fortune on repairs, it's always best financially keep a car until it falls apart or becomes unsafe.

My suggestion is, once your Pri is paid off, continue to put the same "payment" away into a new car fund. When your Pri finally dies of old age, you can buy your next car for cash. I did this "way back when" and haven't had a car loan since.

 

Keep a Toyota until it breaks, yeah right. Who can keep a car that long?

 

Putting $10k down, financing for 18 months, you'll still pay quite a bit in interest.

Wait, put down as much as you can, pay off quickly.

Better to keep the car you've got.

 

Yeah, car loans stink. Finance charges like a disease until paid off.

Glad only $6k left.

 

I had a day in November where I really thought I'd bought the wrong car, a Matrix being the right car. So, went back to dealer, test drove a Matrix, said would like such package and color.

After a while, a manager came over and plainly said -

'Well, the trade-in value on your car would start off negotiations at about $15,000 ...the market is bad, not what it was (4 long months ago)'

To which I immediately broke into laughter ...

that cured me of any desire to trade in my car.

A $12k to $15k loss after 4 months and 3k miles on ODO ...

Nnnnnnever

 

Brad, sounds like you need to inflate your tires. Try max. pressure as listed on the sidewall. Harder tires last longer. I've kept cars for 17 years so I expect my Prius to run as long as there is gas.

 

yeah good choice!