Can we talk about used cars, and the near future of the car market in the US?
I will admit this is somewhat of a selfish topic as I am struggling to make a decision about selling or keeping a used car I own. I have two vehicles, a relatively newer model crossover which is our primary family car, and my daily driver when running errands with the baby. Our second car is an '06 Acura RSX which is a little coupe (although, it's quite practical and spacious for a coupe)
Our current situation is that my wife works less than a mile from home, and I am a stay at home dad. My wife generally walks or rides our electric scooter to work, while very rarely (extremely snowy or rainy days) we will load up and drive her down the road. The result of this is that the RSX sits unused a lot of the time, except for specific times like when she takes the baby somewhere on the weekend and I have errands to run as well, or when the crossover is otherwise occupied (oil changes, tire rotation etc)
For these reasons, we have been considering selling the RSX. Since used car prices have been spiking it would pay off all of our remaining debt on the crossover, and leave us with a few thousand in the bank. It's not a huge amount of money but it will save us a few hundred a month. We are not well-off on a single income, but we're not struggling by any means.
My hesitancy is basically two economic reasons and one personal:
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With the tariff insanity, used car prices do seem to be spiking and I don't think (or know if) we're necessarily at the price peak. I would regret selling it and having the price jump 25% a few months later.
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Because of the same reasons, replacing it in a year or two when I want to go back to work might end up costing us more than we made from selling it. My daughter is 18 months now and we'll probably be looking to get her into daycare by 2.5-3 years old.
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As for the personal reason, I just really like this car. I bought it outright from the insurance payment on my first real car getting totaled, and it has gotten me through some tough times in my life. I have done a lot of work on it to make it "my" car. I love the fact that it's from the era where cars were just machines, but its still modern enough for tech upgrades, and parts for it (both OEM and third party) are basically everywhere. It's cheap to work on and barely needs work to begin with. That being said, it does need a few things done that might be outside of my skill set in the next year or so. I might be able to manage a serpentine belt replacement, but the front control arm bushings are wearing out and it seems like you need a lot of specialized tools for that replacement so I'm not sure I'm confident in doing it myself.
As for the less "me specific" portion of the conversation, I'm just curious what the smart people of Tildes think about what's going to happen in the near/mid future in the US regarding the car market, used cars, the transition to electric vehicles, and what you're thinking about in regards buying, selling, or holding vehicles in these uncertain times.
Howdy.
I'd say, keep the RSX. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that; you know the car, you know what it needs and you clearly have an emotional connection to it, which suggests you'd be quite regretful after getting rid of it, especially as they become more and more rare and it gets more difficult to buy a clean example.
As for the work it needs? A belt is very simple. Given it's a transverse mounted motor, you'll probably be removing your right front tire and inner fender liner to access the the tensioner pulley and belt itself. It takes that little bit of extra work to get there, but it's not bad.
Bushings in control arms are definitely more of a project, but you have a couple options here.
It probably wouldn't be too expensive to take it to a mechanic and get the job done. Bushings themselves, even specialized ones above OEM are pretty cheap and you're likely looking at 3 per arm. An experienced mechanic could probably do all three bushings in the arm in 45 minutes, not including pulling the control arm itself off and reinstalling it. Say at $100 an hour, I bet they'd quote you 3 hours of work, so maybe $400-$600 depending on if you're going to do both arms or not. I'd call around and see what that runs.
If you're a hobbyist mechanic, it's not too difficult. Get the car in the air, remove tire, then 3 bolts to get the control arm out (there may be other stuff in the way, so maybe a few more) and from there, you need the following tools:
* Torque wrench - $100 or less. You're going to need to make sure the arms are torqued to spec when you reinstall them.
Doing the bushings is a pretty straightforward job, yeah it requires some tools, but you'll get a lot of use out of those if you do regular automotive repair.
I thought I had more suggestions, but I had a brain fart between beginning this post and now, so I'll update if I remember. But yeah, my vote would be to keep the car and do the repairs and keep driving it until the wheels fall off; this is currently my plan with my two vehicles, a 2013 and a 2004 vehicle respectively. I'm thinking my 2004 might be in need of a transmission replacement sometime soon, as it's been acting funny, but a junkyard tranny is only about $500 shipped and with an extra set of hands, I could likely do the job myself. It's a pain in the butt, but as a stay at home Dad myself, I'm looking for ways to save us money, as we're in a very similar position, where we don't have an extravagant lifestyle, but we can be comfortable, especially if I'm doing stuff that saves us from dropping thousands on mechanics or home contractors.
I have a question that's tangentially related to what you wrote.
How does a person become knowledgeable about fixing and maintaining their car?
I've tried participating in online forums for my specific car make and model, but there's a level of assumed knowledge that I just don't have.
I'd love to learn how do do things like change brake pads, change oil, etc. My car was making a weird noise a year or so ago and someone recommended just putting some more grease into the sway bar grease reservoir... but like... what? I ended up paying the OEM mechanic about $500 to do some simple things I'm fairly confident I could do myself.
Is there some kind of pathway to becoming a very basic hobbyist mechanic beyond accumulating knowledge as problems arrise via YouTube tutorials? Essentially, how did you become so wise?
I think just having an interest is a good place to start.
My family never knew or taught me anything about cars--well,my Mom showed me how to check oil--but I started as a teen by getting a set of tools and a Haynes manual and going from there. I honestly wasn't super successful, but I learned somethings here and there.
Later in my 20's I was on forums for the particular cars I owned and I lucked out in that a very active poster also lived in my city, so I ended-up hooking up with him and he taught me a whole lot.
After that, I kind of dropped off for a decade and only picked it back up again around 2017 and yeah, it's basically just been Youtube and forums. Yes, people will assume you know your way around and in that case your best teacher is experience; I know it can be daunting, but for myself, the best way I learn is to get hands on. Once I'm doing that, taking things apart, I begin to understand how they work and how they all interlink and from there, if I have specific questions, I'll ask it on a forum. In my early years as a Teen and even as a 30-something, I spent a lot of time just lurking on forums for particular cars and trying to soak-up knowledge about things, but that really only got me so far until I just dove in head first.
Honestly, if I had a recommendation, I'd say pick-up a junker and get to work. It sucks to work on your daily, because it means you're stressed trying to get things done quick and right, which just leads to frustration and throwing-up of hands. This is a big reason I stopped in my 20's and just started buying cars that didn't need me to work on them and only picked it back up again in my 30's when I had disposable income and was able to buy something I didn't need to get to work everyday. Building up the knowledge on that allowed me to get where I am now where I can pull in one of my daily vehicles and crack out a project over the course of a day or two and then have it back on the road.
Maybe this is a rather nebulous answer, but I guess what I'll say is my order of operations:
Get a junker or if you have an extra car you don't need, start there.
When you get stopped up by a project, begin your Youtube search "2001 Dodge Stratus Brake Pad Replacement"
If you get further stopped-up, start looking at forums and asking questions.
Once you get the hang of things, cars are generally pretty similar. Though, I tend to favor particular brands, just because there are a lot of resources available, as well as just being simple to work on. Anything European is going to be awful to work on and Ford as well--though I assume this is because there newer cars are European designed--so I'd suggest figuring out what's available in your area and what of that availability is a simple car to fix. And yeah, start with the simple basic stuff; especially if you don't have money or space for a project. Get in there and change your brake pads, it's a very simple job that's hard to screw-up and there's no need for any special tools. When you're in there taking things apart, just take a light and look around, you'll see your brake rotor, the caliper where the pads sit, the brake lines, your sway bar links, struts, etc.
Also, I know another poster recommended ChrisFix and I'd second it. He''s a great way to get started and he takes it slow and points things out and explains himself, so you'll begin to get an understanding.
Hopefully that answers your question a little better, feel free to ask more if you have any. I'm just a hobbyist mechanic, but I enjoy doing it and it's fun to learn. Just remember, you'll screw things up, you'll think all is lost, but most stuff is recoverable and all of us struggle with stuff, even if we have experience. A few weeks ago I was bleeding the brakes on my van and I was trying to do the rear drums (old style of brakes, versus newer which are disk) and struggling with my methodology; I ended-up swearing up a storm and throwing things around my garage, just generally being pissed off. I took a break from it for a day, came back to it with a more level head and tried a different method which worked great and allowed me to get it done and move on.
I was wondering if you were going to mention ChrisFix, nice job. He is the best car basics channel out there, with out all the added flair.
You tube has a lot of great resources.
It's hard to know where to start in the beginning but I would look up general maintained, oil/fluid changes, Air filter.
Sometimes you can just Google your cars symptoms and it'll point you in the right direction.
Chrisfix is a popular YouTuber that has videos on super simple to As complicated as you want
Also he's super positive!
"Hey guys!!"
Not the original commenter, but in my experience, YouTube or dedicated forums can be super helpful. As you mentioned however, it can be difficult to know where to start.
I would begin by finding a vehicle specific manual and just having a bit of a read on how the components work together. For example, your brake pads are held by a brake caliper which is a hydraulic system using brake fluid to compress the system around your brake rotors. The rotors are attached to your axles which are propelled by the drivetrain and on and on.
For me, just seeing diagrams that show how the parts work together made things "click". After that, it's really just getting the courage to start taking things apart! I take photos religiously before I even use tools so that I can see how it was before I attacked it.
I highly suggest giving it a go.
You may look into something like AllDataDIY to get detailed instructions on your vehicle as well (if unable to find a free FSM (factory service manual - thing that tells you almost all the information that dealerships have)
It helps if you can find the service manual online, but as everyone else has said YouTube + forums are great. Just like anything, you just have to start somewhere and stick with it. You pick things up as you go.
Beyond normal maintenance, diagnosing problems yourself can be hard when you're starting out. What you can do is find a garage that will diagnose your problem(s), and then armed with that knowledge + quote to fix it go back to the manual/YouTube/forums and decide if it's something you can do or something you'd rather pay someone else to do.
Just to add, you don't always have to buy tools outright. Some places offer loaner tools for free or a nominal fee.
Never have used (or found!) any of these around me, but this would definitely be a good option! I certainly didn't need to buy a cam bearing setting tool I'm only ever going to use once.
Do you have an autozone, oreillys, Napa, or advanced auto parts nearby?
If so, you have access to loaner tools. With the exception of possibly locations in bad areas, all of those places lend out loaner tools. You pay the cost of the loaner tool, but then when you bring it back and you get a full refund
Unfortunately, none of the auto places around me do that. But I live in a very populated area with a variety of income levels, so I'm not sure if that's a component or not.
Thank you for your thorough reply! I've definitely been considering the serpentine belt replacement to be something I'll do manually. The parts and tools are less than $50 total, its the labor cost that makes it super expensive to pay someone else to do it.
One of the things I love about the RSX is that it is so accessible to work on. If I pared down to only my other car, I'm much more limited to what I can do with it. I do the oil changes and basic care and maintenance but it's much more complicated (and expensive) to get down to the nitty gritty with it. A TON of the parts on new cars are completely proprietary and there's very little aftermarket.
I'll probably also do the other work myself or at least attempt it, especially if it costs a little less than a mechanic would after buying new tools. Working on my cars and the house are my primary methods of obtaining new tools and selling it as an "investment" in my mind.
I think I'll at least keep it long enough to do the work myself and then re-evaluate how I feel. I have this long-term dream of also using it to teach my daughter about cars (she is obsessed with them! "Cah!" She says every time we see one). If I do ever get rid of it I'd probably buy something similar in a few years anyway even if it was just to be a project car.
You can sometimes get control arms (and similar parts) with new bushing already pressed in for not much extra money, which takes care of the worst part of that job. Ive done my 04 crv with these and had no issues.
For the impact, if you don't already have other tools / batteries the Hercules 20v impact from Hobo Freight is more then enough for those of us on the shade tree end of the scale, and will go on sale for cheaper then list fairly often.
Oh that's not a bad deal at all for that impact. I bought a Milwaukee, which is why mine was so damn expensive!
But yeah, I did the same with the CA bushings on my 04 Dodge Grand Caravan and it was pretty painless. I looked around on his RSX though and only found one place selling CAs with bushings and they seemed to be more performance oriented and also $599, I believe. Think mine from AutoZone or wherever I got them were like $75 a piece or something.
Yup I'm all Makita tools at home and my impact was closer to $400. Wish I had seen that one earlier!
Rockauto have a few control arms for their 06 RSX that have the upper bushing, but no ball joint, so you are still stuck needing a press. Just an idea either way.
Seconding keeping it. It's basically not possible to replace the car for less than $20K at this point, and the uncertainty is likely to make the used market even less favorable. Not having two vehicles in an atypical or emergency situation is not a situation a household wants to find themselves in.
Edit: to expand on this a bit, we're a two car household and recently lost one car that was totaled in an accident (a teenager ran a red light), resulting in some injuries but nothing too major.
Before this, my girlfriend's daughter had already had a string of hospitalizations at a major children's hospital that's several hours away by car, and this has continued since due to the illness not being resolved yet. So for several weeks, I had to drive back and forth, and use PTO, to drive them to and from the distant hospital. Eventually we got the insurance payout and I was able to drive there and back in one day, and buy the replacement car together the next.
If you have a situation like that, only having one car is rough.
I won't comment on the hobbyist mechanic side as BeardyHat already did an excellent writeup and I agree with his estimates on both time and money.
However, the RSX is quickly becoming a rare vehicle type. Lightweight, fwd, snappy motor and great handling. If yours is a manual, that's even better.
I was in a similar position you were in a few years ago. An opportunity came up to purchase our first home and we were slightly short on the deposit. I have two mx-5s that I picked up cheap at uni and have kept them, even since moving across the country twice. I was faced with the decision of getting rid of the car/cars to make the rest of the money up for the deposit. Now I have worked on every part of both cars, I know every sound and creak they make and I know pretty much exactly what they're worth. At the end of the day, we were able to make a few cuts to other parts of our life and sell some other things to get the money but I am SO happy I didn't decide to take the easy route and flick the car just for money.
From how you described the car, it's clear that you enjoy having it in your life. Simple cars/motors/machines can bring some of the greatest happiness to those who enjoy them.
In my opinion, it would be heartbreaking to sell a loved vehicle just for money. I have regretted selling vehicles before and the memories I've had in them stay with me for life. Taking my wife out to her favorite beach to propose, track days and even general zoom-zooming around are all things I would regret losing the vehicle over.
Sorry I can't comment on the US side of things or how the car market looks over there. In NZ, the used market has almost tripled in value since COVID. But if you are already knowing that you will need to replace the car in 2-3 years, I would absolutely make the effort to keep the cheap, happy, fun RSX.
Oh man, if it was a Type-S I wouldn't even be considering selling it - they are rapidly becoming cult classics (and for good reason)
Regarding your situation, I would probably keep the car. IMO cars are too important in the US to only have one if you can manage it. You never know when one car will need to be in the shop, in which case having a second will be a god send.
In general, here are my broad thoughts/opinions.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but take some issue with number 3. Electric cars today are harder to work on than ICE cars from 1995 not because they are electric, but because they are from 2025. A 2025 ICE car is just as difficult to work on and has similar amounts of specialized/electronic parts as an electric or hybrid one. The reason a lot of people know how to do an oil change or replace their brake pads today is because they grew up with cars that use those parts. Who's to say that in another 30 years we won't have an entirely new generation of people who grew up on electrics and hybrids and feel similarly comfortable replacing motherboards and batteries.
Because the people growing up today simply can't work on their cars. They are too expensive to play around with. They are more binary in working or not, and the specific OEM electronics are more expensive and complicated often with a lot of protections to make it hard to repair outside of a dealership.
Handling batteries is also quite dangerous.
Valid points, but that lack of repair-ability applies to ICE cars as well. I just meant that familiarity comes with time, and 30 years is a long time for batteries to become safer to handle and for people to become more familiar with fixing the electric components of their cars.
I strongly doubt batteries will become safer to handle. If anything, they'll become more hazardous and more energy dense.
In the past 30 years, we went from NiMH and Ni-Cad batteries barely being a thing to Li-Ion and then Li-Poly batteries of increasing size. The trend is higher energy density in lighter packages, with chemistry that's more volatile. That shift is what has enabled laptops, phones, cars, quadcopters, et al...and the obvious demand present is for storing more energy and charging faster.
Contemporary car cells can already trivially kill someone mishandling them in multiple ways, whether it's discharging or damage causing a runaway thermal event.
In fairness the point of Li-Po is that it's less volatile than Li-Ion. Who knows about carbon or whatever's next. ICE aren't exactly free of hazards either though it tends to be more of a toxicity/chemical burn nature.
Like anything you need to know what you're doing and the safe way of doing it. Enough people manage to crush themselves from misusing jacks/stands as it is but that's not a reason EV maintenance can't be done safely.
I recently replaced my used truck, and part of the reason for buying vs trying to get another year or two out of the old one was expecting prices to be higher then than now. The car I bought initially was posted online with nothing but the VIN and a generic picture. The salesman told me that this is because their backlog for doing the checkups/service/detailing is several weeks long, and they only bumped it to the front of the line when I committee to buying the car. During the test drive, he told me they are buying used cars like crazy because they expect the prices to spike.
How likely do you think it is that you can get by with one car for the next four years? If you're really confident that your jobs and situation are stable, I'd pick a number that you'd be happy selling the car for, post it on craigslist (or wherever), and wait for somebody to buy it. After you sell it, don't check prices (comparison is the thief of joy).
If you're not confident about your jobs, or you just want to hedge your bets, I think having a car that you know in hand is worth more than the money you'd get for it. If you sell it and suddenly need to buy a second car, it will be because something unexpected happened, and you likely won't have much time to shop around or wait for a great deal.
If the latter sounds right, but you don't like the idea of the car just sitting there, you could rent it out on Turo.
So,
Don't do this. You can't time the market. (This is true at the best of times, but especially when economic policy is being driven by, very charitably, a random number generator.) Some people, obviously, do sell at the peak, and some of them will definitely tell you they knew it was the peak, but they're pretty much all wrong and just got lucky. Sell it because you think it's the right financial decision and a good return right now; don't keep it because you think you might get a better return later.
On the other hand,
is a good reason to hold on to it. Acknowledging that you can't predict a volatile market also means acknowledging that it could go even crazier than it already is, and hedging against that is totally rational.
Don't undervalue sentiment! Liking the car you drive is worth a lot. And also, the repairs you've described are (a) routine, and (b) even done at a mechanic will cost you a small fraction of what a decent-quality used car would.
It sounds to me like you're anticipating about another year of only needing one car, followed by expecting to sometimes need two. (This is the situation my family is in, which I describe as needing "one and a half" cars—at least 90% of the time, we only need one and the other sits in the driveway, but the remaining 10% would be very inconvenient to work around. So, we own two cars, one of which sits a lot. =P) Barring creative solutions to the one-and-a-half-car problem (which are worth thinking about—e-bike with a trailer for the kid? Car share service a la Zipcar?), my guess is that the savings from a year of no car expenses wouldn't be negligible, exactly, but wouldn't be enough to hedge against volatility in the used car market, and even in the best case would be a lot less than the bottom line sale price of your second car (which you only get to realize all of if you never replace it).
For car market predictions: just to be clear, predicting this sort of thing is a fool's errand, but here's what I think. =) I think tariffs will drive up new car prices, which will continue drive up used car prices, for the foreseeable future. (I think the thing that breaks this trend will be political, not economic. Reducing demand for cars requires functioning mass transit, which isn't happening in the next decade in the US even if there was political will for it.) EV market share in the US will continue to expand gradually, mostly from the top down. Subaru will release a new generation of WRX, everyone will claim to hate it, and it will break sales records.
Me personally? My family needs one-and-a-half cars, and both of ours are still going strong, so we're going to keep them for the foreseeable future. If we find ourselves needing a replacement and our needs, finances, and living situation still look like they do now, we'd probably be looking at a small EV, Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf or something like that. (If you'd told me five years ago that Hyundai would have the best selection of EVs in the US market…)
I'd sell it.
Sounds like you're not using it, and it's costing you money to keep around. If I'm interpreting your post correctly, it seems like you still wouldn't use need two cars that often even if you go back to work in a few years (assuming your wife's work situation doesn't change).
It's a depreciating asset. If you end up needing a car in a few years, you could probably buy something equivalently good for less money.
As far as sentimentality, only you can decide what that is worth. I suggest that since you mention that your budget is a bit tighter right now, the extra money you would have from selling could be used to do activities that could generate even more meaningful memories.
Although not exactly the same situation, this reminds me of how people often keep their previous phone after upgrading. Say you upgraded from a Samsung S23 to an S25, and you just chuck the old one in a drawer. Well, a used S22 is currently about $100 less than a used S23 on the market, so we can assume that the S23 will be worth about $100 less a year from now. After thinking about this topic for a while, I started imagining that instead of a phone, I had a stack of $1 bills on my dresser, and every 3 days I threw one into the garbage can. After that, I started immediately selling the old phone, and I haven't needed a backup phone since. Well, one time I broke my phone while on vacation, but it's not like I would bring a backup phone with me when I'm traveling.
So basically, I'd suggest adding up all the current costs of owning the extra car, all the estimated opportunity costs of not selling it, and see how you feel about that. Those numbers might be higher than you'd think.
Thing is, you actually wouldn't be able to replace this vehicle with something similar as carmakers nowadays don't produce cheap, fun 2 door coupes.
"Fun" wasn't really mentioned in OP's criteria. But if it is a factor, I'm just saying to consider the costs.
Also, while coupes can work fine, they are often not the best for families. Everyone I know who had coupes swapped them for four door cars after having a kid. It could be that in a few years OP finds themselves in a situation that they feel they get a lot more utility out of some different type of car. If not, maybe just buy another 20 year old coupe.
Hey, no doubt about the family thing and you're right he didn't specify fun. In fairness, the entire point of 2-door coupe is fun so I went with the underlying message I received.
As you mention, if the 4 door crossover is currently getting all the use, then they have already satisfied the utility aspect for those needs. My point was that if they don't need to use it and it's not costing them to just exist in their possession, then there's no reason to sell it except for money. Especially because "just buying another used one later" will mean that the money earned now will result in paying more later for the same vehicle and no known service history.
(I'm just a car nut/hoarder, so my opinion is biased against selling)
Edit: For what it's worth, I really appreciate your opportunity cost argument. This has been solely focused on whether the money from the car is worth it or not in terms of another car. If he's got a young family and wants to do more to provide for them using that money, then I think it is definitely worth looking into.
Sure, I think we are just different. We prioritize maximizing different things. Your opinion is that there's no reason to sell it except for money, and I think there's no reason to keep it because money is a great reason to sell.
Another way of thinking about it is one commonly suggested for deciding whether you should sell a stock. If OP had only one car and an extra $8,000 (or whatever the sale value is), should they buy this RSX? Maybe imagine it was sold to a trustworthy friend some years ago and there's an opportunity to buy it back to account for sentimental value and confidence in condition/history of the car. There are other factors to mentally adjust for like the effort required to perform transactions and whatnot, but I think it's a worthwhile exercise.
If anything, I appreciate that while we may have different ideas on the sentimentality of certain things, we both approach the idea of 'true value' in a similar way.
Your thoughts on exercising mental and financial planning for different outcomes in life is true for me as well.
I already replied to your top level comment but I really like this way of thinking as well. Gives me some stuff to mull over because the answer is no, I probably wouldn't buy it for the price it currently is. The thing is, the part that's hard for me is imagining how I'm going to feel in a couple of years when I will need a second car, what the market's going to be like, and whether I will have wished I HAD bought the RSX for the current price (which is extremely close to your guess, so good job)
I appreciate your comment - it basically sums up my worry about keeping it and why we're considering doing away with it. As much as I don't want to sell it and then regret it, I also don't want to KEEP it and regret it.
It's kind of funny you mention the phone thing though - I have two phones I keep meaning to sell but haven't gotten around to it. It's not even that I'm trying to keep a backup - I'm just lazy 😭
Its hard to say if you'd regret it too much or not, that's really up to you.
From a money standpoint based on THE PAST I would say sell it.
I would still consider it a depreciating asset
it has a cost to own (insurance, registration, maintenance, tires)
even if you don't drive it maintenance will become a factor as certain parts degrade
debt costs you money, investments make you money (maybe)
Regarding how the current political/economic situation factors in? I have no clue. You could see some radical changes in the US that could make it a bad decision or maybe everything goes the other way and suddenly everyone gets their shit together and realizes we should be producing and buying affordable cars. More likely nothing extreme happens.
Lots of good comments here... my only relatable anecdote is that when we had a kid I got rid of our two door 'sports' car - a classic Nova with a throaty 350 - because it was ridiculously hard to put a child in the back seat. That was the beginning of my 'malaise years' of automotive ownership leading up to the inevitable Dodge minivan purchase. Necessary, but painful for an avowed gearhead.
Many years later, I have reacquired my testosterone and need for driving joy by getting a classic Corvette although I have yet to purchase the obligatory New Balance white sneakers. But the intervening years were the price to be paid for practicality. Ouch.
....Dad?
Lol. Not likely but we're probably related.
I have a similar question.
In Canada we have a less good company called Clutch which can offer online car buying quote. Last year, I got a quote for ~$9000, for a 10 year old American car, and we all thought it might stay the same. It hasn't, the quote is now around $6000 probably factoring in the car getting older by 1 more year.
Crystal Ball anyone's guess: with tarrifs craziness, will I see higher prices again or should I cut my losses and sell it before it gets even older, worth less, and have more problems.
I guess my question would be is it a unique American car, that you can't really get from other avenues (European/Asian)
Like, if it's a fairly standard sedan, minivan or truck, then probably the price of that specific model won't go up much because people will just look for alternative versions that are not tariff-inflated. If it's something uniquely American, it might gain some value from people who really want that specific model.
But I'm from the country with all the tariffs on everyone so everything is going up here, I guess in some ways it's less complicated but worse 😂
Absolutely not a unique car it's a run of the mill starter sedan. Dang it should have gotten rid of it t last year
Keep it. Regardless of the financial piece, or the fact it's a cool car, that story alone makes it priceless in my mind. The work you mentioned isn't near as bad as you think, doubly so when you aren't daily driving the car and don't need it up and running by Monday morning. Also, having a working 2nd car can take the stress off when your main car has issues.
I would keep it as a hedge against insane car prices due to tariffs.
You expect to need a car again soon. You can always sell it when you want to buy a new car.
Keep it. I have a very similar story where I bought a car outright after another was totaled. I customized it and made it my own. But we needed money for a home improvement project, and I work from home so it made financial sense to sell. We have since sold that home, and I'm left wondering what my sacrifice bought me. :/