How long do you plan to keep your next car?

"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
05/14/2014 at 12:46 • Filed to: Oppo Poll

Say you are going to be buying/leasing your next DD today , how long would you plan on keeping it? I ask this because when I was at a car show with some fellow SHO owners on Saturday, they stated they usually keep cars about 2 years. I on the other hand have kept my last 2 cars for 4 years and I am planning on keeping my SHO probably longer than that.

Personally I am excited for the day that I will be car payment free. The amount of money I'll be keeping every month excites me!

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DISCUSSION (35)

Jagvar > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:50

Given my track record, I keep my cars forever. In the 14 years I've been driving, I still haven't gotten rid of a car.

NinetyQ > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:51

I've been DDing my '96 Grand Prix for 8 years with no plans to stop anytime soon.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:52

Pretty much I keep my vehicles until I don't love them anymore, or they become more trouble then they are worth. If I have to do so many repairs on them (with the exception of scheduled maintenance), that they are costing me what would amount to a car payment anyways, I'll just get a new car.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:52

5+ years for sure. Not just because I don't have money to trade in every two years, but because I'd either buy something I really liked, or something that would grow on me in the long run ro the point where I wouldn't want to get rid of it.

Nothing > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:53

I've had 23 cars over the past 26 years. A few of them projects, so they skew the average. My average does tend to be 18-20 months for my DD.

When I bought the ST 2 weeks ago, the finance guy (in their typical attempt to upsell) began the "how long do you planning on keeping your car?" pitch. I told him 18 months and not to try and sell me the extended warranty.

RotaryLover > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 12:55

So far, the longest time I had a car was 4 years. I think there's way too much cars that are interesting right now. I dunno if I can keep a car more than 5 yrs now...

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
05/14/2014 at 12:57

I'm the same way, I let my last two cars go because they became more expensive to fix than they were worth. They were cheap cars, so they only lasted 4 years. This time I went for a nice car, so I am hoping for at least 5 years, haha.

I'd much rather have my DD and be car payment free, so I can buy a cheap, more shall we say tempermental, second car to have fun with.

Sn210 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:02

I might try leasing my next car. In the 5 months I've had my current car, I've only put on 2500 miles. I haven't leased yet because I'm afraid of the milage charges.That will go down even more once I finally am able to get a weekend car.

CalzoneGolem > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:02

I plan to keep my cars forever. They have other ideas. I'm dumping the Bullmobile as soon as I can. I just bought it because I needed a car right now .

Hoccy > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:03

Voted for 5+ years, mostly because I don't see why I would want something else as a daily driver if I could get what I want. Planning on having a DD and then one or two enthusiast/project cars, so I guess buying new a DD is quite far down the list..

CalzoneGolem > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:03

~$20k more for one extra year of ownership? The math checks out.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > CalzoneGolem
05/14/2014 at 13:05

lol is this in reference to an expensive repair?

toomuchcommuting > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:06

I commute about 110 miles a day so a reliable DD is important, my next one will be around for a while to make it worth having. Plus I have my truck for something to tinker with.

jariten1781 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:09

I keep my DDs for about 10 years or until I start doing more repairs than maintenance. Toys go from 'forever' to 'Why did I buy this POS...need to sell it tomorrow'.

CalzoneGolem > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:09

You said you had cheap cars that lasted four years and you plan on keeping the SHO for five years. I figure you're paying ~$20k more to drive the SHO for one more year than those other cars.

Rico > Sn210
05/14/2014 at 13:11

Only 125 miles a week? I thought the TL was your DD? Unless your commute is just not that long.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > CalzoneGolem
05/14/2014 at 13:12

lol I said "hoping for at least 5 years" I imagine it will be longer than that.

Sn210 > Rico
05/14/2014 at 13:16

Lol yeah it is my Dd, my commute is only like 9 mile round trip...

CalzoneGolem > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:18

Also, after 5 years your SHO will be worth more than your 4 year beaters.

Rico > Sn210
05/14/2014 at 13:18

Ah I see, figured it had to be short. If you do look into leasing, I'll tell you one thing don't sell the TL. That thing is going to be a collectors item if you keep it well maintained, trust me.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > CalzoneGolem
05/14/2014 at 13:19

Haha yeah, I would hope so!

Volvosaurus-Rex > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:20

Purchasing only makes sense if you drive the wheels off the car. If you want a new car every few years, you'd be better off leasing.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Volvosaurus-Rex
05/14/2014 at 13:22

I suppose I should reword it as "getting a new car" or "buying/leasing a new car", I meant it to include any new car in your stable if you needed a DD today.

Sn210 > Rico
05/14/2014 at 13:25

It won't be any time soon. Mrs. Sn210 has instructed me that I will have the TL for at least 10 years. I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen...

sourlemons > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:27

I have a small fleet. I keep one "good" DD for about 5 years. I trade the other ones around at least one per year.

Rico > Sn210
05/14/2014 at 13:36

Sure you can keep it for 10 years, but she never said it had to be your only car :-p. Loopholes man

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:46

I drove my last car for 7 years and 90k miles, and would have kept it as my daily had my wife been okay with me getting a "fun" car to go with it. Instead, I got a fun car to daily. I've had it for two years, and I'd honestly love to keep it forever. Looking forward to pairing it with some thing lower, lighter and raw-er in few years. We've had my wife's car 5 1/2 years (130k miles) and it's still running strong. Will probably get at least a couple more years of use out of it before we get something else.

Sn210 > Rico
05/14/2014 at 13:46

I <3 loopholes

BoulderZ > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:49

I got my first car, a Toyota pickup, in high school. I just turned 40, and I still have the truck. I bought my Z in 2002 (I think?), spent about 6 years building it up, and still have that. I'd never sell it. I put less than 5,000 miles/year on the truck, and about 2,000 miles per year on the Z, max. Those are the only two cars I've ever owned. At this point, I have to be very careful, given my history, of picking up a new project car. It'd probably be sticking around a long, long time, and I would have to consider a new house as part of the deal.

Meatcoma > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 13:57

Personally I am excited for the day that I will be car payment free. The amount of money I'll be keeping every month excites me!

You will find something else to spend it on... trust me you will.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Meatcoma
05/14/2014 at 14:18

oh yeah, my plan is to increase my retirement contribution though, so there's money I won't be able to touch :D

I do however want a boat though... That's where my money maaay disappear to, lol.

Matt Urban > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/14/2014 at 17:13

13 years on the current one. Hope to get 20 before she gets too tired.

SerialThriller > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
05/14/2014 at 17:27

When I buy new I intend to keep it 10 years (enjoy 5 or 6 years of no note and get out before any serious expenses pop up). But sometimes shit happens.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/26/2014 at 10:35

There ain't gonna be a next car. I'm keeping the Ranger until it dies. Then rebuilding it and keeping it til it dies again.

I have no interest in 10 airbags, tire monitors, touch screens, and all the other bullshit that comes with new vehicles.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/26/2014 at 11:08

Ideally I like to keep a car for as long as possible... until the thing has too much rust or too many expensive issues or it's developing too many issues too often mainly because it's coming to the end of its life.

Though I put myself down for 5+ years, the longest I've owned a car was 4 years.

Mind you I've never spent more than $3300 on buying any car.

I've had my current car for almost 2 years and I think there's a good chance it will last me another 3 years. I spent $900 last year doing the timing belt and recently put in a new radiator. I want to get my money's worth out of those repairs.

And the longest I'll own my current car will be another 8 years. By that time, the two very minor surface rust spots will have turned into full blown stage 4 cancer I predict.