Should I spend $1500 to repair my '90 Honda Civic?

That could happen. He could buy a 5 year old car and have the same thing happen. Or he could buy a new car and 3 months later get totaled in accident. Even with insurance you will lose money.

X-Runner wrote:

If $1500 will get you through another couple years then great.

But here's what could happen:

A few months later another $500 repair comes up. You're gonna do it because you just invested $1500 in it.

Then something else happens and you feel you have to fix that as well.

It becomes an obligation to keep it on the road once you have sunk this much into it which is more than the value of the car even if you fixed it and tried to sell it.

Cowboy Bob wrote:

Boy, I sure like where I live, no junk cars within 50 miles of me....

Wow. Insecure much?

If you're ok driving a beater anyway, the axle is probably the only thing that really needs to be replaced as it's a safety issue. I'm presuming that when you say valve cover you really just mean the gasket to fix a small oil drip. Unless your state has an emissions inspection requirement the car will run fine without the catalytic converter.

But a 5 year old car would be worth more than the cost of an average repair.

An average repair costs more than a 20 year old car is worth.

And the chances of something needing repair soon are much greater in a 20 year old car than a 5 year old car.

How are the tires? How are the brakes/rotors? How is the A/C, the timing belt, the wiper motor, electronics?

Right now is the time to weigh the options of using $1500 to fix the car vs putting $1500 towards a newer car.

No turning back after this.

You either go for the newer car or commit to pumping money into the older car. You can't fix this car now and then decide on getting a newer car within a year. That's a true waste.

Dollar wise it makes sense to keep an old car going.

But you have to weigh your own value of time, convenience, reliablity, safety and even coolness.

Yeah, we have an emissions inspection--the only reason I passed was (I think) because the rear exhaust came apart and it wasn't blowing the fumes out the back.

I agree with you on the rest of the issues. The only reason I took it in is I'm going to have to commute 45 minutes three times a week on the interstate next spring, so I'll be driving my wife's car. She'll be driving the beater those days, and she's got a different tolerance for those little things than I do.

Might as well do a total tune-up anyhow, once every 20 years or so, right?

buying a new car is just stupid, in my humble opinion. a car is useful as a means of transportation and for hauling stuff. anything beyond what runs is money thrown away. used cars are obviously a question mark, but you go with a reliable type of car and take it to a mechanic before you buy.

hatchback wrote:

The only reason I took it in is I'm going to have to commute 45 minutes three times a week on the interstate next spring, so I'll be driving my wife's car. She'll be driving the beater those days, and she's got a different tolerance for those little things than I do.

In that case your wife has veto power so it doesn't really matter what LetsRun thinks you should do . . .

Who cares about the value of the car? The value of a car (when you are 10+ years old) is in its ability to be driven around not some trade in value. If you can get 1 year of driving for 1500 bucks, that is hard to beat. He might get 6 months, he might get 5 years. Repair costs don't really shoot up as a car ages. In most cases you just get one expensive repair (i.e. need a new engine or transmission) and people decide they would rather get something newer but a lot of that is emotional rather than economical.The reason the OP should get a new car is that he is afraid to drive on the highway.

You could spend three times the amount you're talking about and it's still way less than a new or even a late model used car would cost you and if you spent that amount on another beater you could well end up having to fix the same things on that car as you need to fix now.

When my oldest son started driving a couple years ago I decided to give him my '01 Accent with 100,000 plus miles. It decided to fall apart right then and needed about $4500 in repairs. I wasn't going to do it, that's about twice the Blue Book value. But in looking at what was available for $5,000-$6,000 I found that everything was about as old and had about as many miles and it struck me that any of those cars could need similar amounts of work. So I had the Accent fixed and my son's driven it since with, knock wood, no problems. He has it at college now, about 300 miles away, and has been back and forth three times in it.

I'm very glad I had the car fixed. If the body is decent I'd say to do the repairs.

Well if you spend $1500 it really won't take you all that long to recoup your cost when you consider the opportunity cost of purchasing another vehicle.

One question that I have, and this is only because I drive an old Civic, how did you know you need a knew axle? Was it only because the mechanic told you, or was your car driving weird?

It sounds like you are on your original alternator. I am impressed that it lasted 20 years.

How many timing belts have you replaced?

HGHed wrote:One question that I have, and this is only because I drive an old Civic, how did you know you need a knew axle? Was it only because the mechanic told you, or was your car driving weird?

It sounds like you are on your original alternator. I am impressed that it lasted 20 years.

How many timing belts have you replaced?

Original alternator, far as I know. I had to replace the timing belt once about three years ago. I have had the car for 10 years, so maybe stuff was done before that. The timing belt and fuel pump were the two repairs I've had to make in the 10 years I've had the car. I also put in a new radiator a couple of years ago. Each of those repairs was less than $300.

Re: the axle. When I made sharp turns, there was a weird groaning and creaking sound under the front driver's side wheel. I didn't know what it was, but it sounded pretty bad. Drove fine, but I was a little nervous I'd lose that wheel or something.

YES. $1500 is nothing.

Much cheaper than buying some new, overpriced piece of sheet metal.

Go for 300K miles.

Just drive in the right hand lane on highways and laugh at the people who are still dealing with car payments!

I laugh at them every day.

HA!!!

Yes, spend the money to repair it now. Drive this car into the ground, but start setting money aside now for the replacement in 5 years.

I'd repair the axle, ignore the valve cover gasket, and get a second opinion on the catalytic converter from a mom and pop muffler shop. Ask around and get a recommendation. You might find a creative solution. Those guys who do nothing but mufflers can be pretty sharp. My guy fixed my emissions check problem by putting the oxygen sensor in another location. Cost was about $75. Not sure if that would work for you.

Airbags?

How did I ever get along the the 25 years I drove before they even had airbags?

Maybe those seem like fair prices if you're talking about a dealer or a premium shops' rates, but it's a 20y/o Civic. The OP needs the thing to keep running and not much more (it doesn't take much to get achieve that). Do some research if you want to fix this stuff:

Cat's for this civic are ~$50-100 online. Get rebuilt axels put on; you don't need new. It should take a decent mechanic more than 90min total to replace both. Granted, I'm a bit lucky, but I found a hole-in-the-wall shop which had decent rebuilt axels and cheap labor rates (Aurora, CO).

Not sure if this is directed at me or the OP, but either way: I had a cheap, old car, that I spent as little on as possible (thrifty) to keep running. I've got a nicer, "safer" car now, but I don't know if it really matters. What are you so bitter about? The OP was looking for some advice/help, bossman.

Dude, major corps are laughing all the way to the bank with this consume at all cost mentality. You are a moron.

You are the reason SE Asia has the US by the nuts. Everything is disposable, just buy a new one.

never went thru a windshield wrote:

Airbags?

How did I ever get along the the 25 years I drove before they even had airbags?

Well, I've always primarily driven a car without airbags and yes have driven cross country several times in a car without airbags. So, I understand your point.

My point was simply that my wife's car has airbags. Being the sensible person that I am, when I take a long trip on the interstate I use that car. She doesn't mind occasionally driving the '90 Civic.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. This has been an interesting discussion.

Since the thread's already taken a kind of taken a sociological turn, I'll admit that one reason I am fixing the car up is because of a general reuse ethic that I've got going. Financially, it sort of seems like a wash, so it seems like the "better" decision is to put the money into a local mechanic who employs skilled labor and keep this hunk of metal rolling around instead of asking the world to fabricate a whole 'nuther hunk of metal.

Is it just ridiculous to make the decision on these grounds?

I agree about supporting the local mechanic argument, I also totally get the fun in having an old car.

For me when I pull up to my work parking lot with my mid 90's Civic and see all of their new cars I get a lot of satsfiction in a) that I am saving $$$ b) I don't care what they think of me or feel the need to impress anyone and c) that I have zero stress about my car...if someone wants to key scratch it, go right ahead.

There is something to be said about living a simple life.