- May 24, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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## Deciding on Repairing or Buying a New Car
My wife and I have been proud owners of a 2008 Toyota Matrix that we bought brand new. Despite its 80k mileage, the car still runs smoothly, thanks to our average of only 3.5k miles per year. However, we are facing some minor repairs along with a significant amount of body rust and dents that have developed over time. The unexpected expansion of the rust has become the primary concern, demanding a hefty $7k for repairs, while the car itself may only be worth $3.5k.
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Our family and friends are divided in their opinions – some believe it is unreasonable to spend more than the car’s value on repairs and suggest buying a new car, possibly pre-owned. However, we view it as investing $7k rather than the $20-$30k required for a new vehicle. We aim to keep our cars for as long as possible, although I acknowledge my mistake in letting the rust progress to this extent.
### Making the Final Decision
After considering all perspectives, we are inclined to proceed with the repairs, believing it to be the most sensible choice. However, seeking validation, we turn to Reddit for a second opinion.
**Edit Update:** Following the valuable feedback received, my wife and I have decided to postpone the rust repair for now. Instead, we will prioritize the $2k needed for mechanical work. While we will explore the used car market, we may ultimately wait until the rust becomes unbearable before considering selling the car.
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****** just grabbed a
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I am driving my rusted Hyundai Elantra into the ground. No way in hell i am paying thousands to make my rusted shitty old car look like a shitty old car sans rust, and neither should you. Especially not at 3.5k miles a year
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Without pics I can’t assess the body rust. If it’s not structural and you don’t care so much about looks, there is a rust arrestor in a spary can. Turns the surface rust black but stops the corrosion. If the rust is more internal in the metal, it will continue to spread and bubble the paint. There are other DIY options for a better fix and increased mitigation if you’re inclined (angle grinder, bondo, primer). You could check a place like Maaco or some local grassroots bodyshop for a quote aimed more at mitigation than aesthetic restoration. Highly reputable body shops want to only allow repairs that return a car to like new aesthetic status, and this is not your fit for this vehicle – perhaps that’s where the $7k quote generated from (just speculating). You’re probably nearing the bitter end, but potentially could drive with rust or invoke some DIY or serviced mitigation to buy more extra time avoiding the $7k. While you save for another vehicle.
lets say a new car costs 20K – 30K and lasts 16 years like your Matrix. That’s about 7K per 4 to 5 years more or less
do you think your Matrix has another 4 to 5 years or so left in it to make it worth it?
do you think there will be no other major repairs in that 4 to 5 years?
The issue you run into is that you spend the 7k, then the car gets hit by a deer/teen/tree/whatever other mayhem, get $4k in damage, and insurance will total your title, and only pay you out $3,500.
Do not spend $7k on a car that’s worth $3.5K especially since the car is completely drivable. You are better off investing that money and then using the money to buy a new car when the old one dies.
You seem to know what you are going to do and came here looking for someone to tell you that you aren’t crazy so you could point to what internet people are saying to get your family off your back.
It also seems like this is your first time on this sub because you obviously have some views that are very different from the majority opinion / conventional wisdom here.
Do what you want with your car and your money, but this is the wrong place to find someone to make you feel good about making what is most likely a bad financial decision
I have a 2006 Matrix, haha! Great cars, but mine is a wee bit underpowered. 😂
A lot of the body rust you might be able to repair yourself (or delay the inevitable) — Rustoleum is cheap! I do this all the time. My dad has an older 2000’s car (he bought it for $50 lol) with tons of rust that runs just fine. When it falls apart, it’s done… but it’s really nice to have a beater when you’re driving because you don’t worry about scratches.
I’d keep the Matrix if I were in your same situation… though honestly, I’d repair my car even if it needed a replacement engine. Used cars are outrageous right now and my car currently costs very little in gas/insurance/tax. A new engine means it’s basically just a new car in my book, haha!
Once you Rustoleum — during the winter, wash your car once a week (especially on the undercarriage) to prevent road salt from eating away at everything. Northern climates wreck cars with salt.
> Ideally we want to hold cars until the bitter end.
That’s not ideal to many people. We don’t live in a fantasy world where a car will last forever in great shape with no problems. Most of us understand that there is value in giving up the car before it starts costing more than it’s worth.
I drove my 2003 Toyota Matrix to 268,000 miles. It finally quit on me in 2016. I loved it so much, and I’d buy another one in a heartbeat. I’d fix what NEEDS to be fixed, and drive her into the ground if I were you.
>Yeah the repair shop warned us the rust may return
No, not may.
The rust **will** return.
It’s a car. It’s made of metal. It **will** rust.
It’s one thing to keep a car for decades and preserve it. But see people who do that don’t actually use them as everyday cars.
The nice old cars you see are collected and pampered or they are used sparingly as race cars and kept in optimum condition with extremely (expensive and) regular checks and repairs no normal person would do.
You’re spending $7K on a car half its value.
Repair it enough times, in fact, repair it three times more and you could buy an entirely new car that won’t need $7K worth of repairs in a good while.
“But it’s $7K not $20K”
Yeah, and guess what – after your repair the car isn’t going to be worth $10K. It’s still $3.5K. You’re paying $7K so that it remains worth $3.5K and not zero when it’s rusted to pieces.
**You’re only thinking the AMOUNT of money going out of your wallet.**
**You’re not thinking of the VALUE of the money** going out of your wallet.
Yes, $20K is a bigger amount of money. But that car will run better, be safer, run faster, not rust in months, save you more money in fuel, be more comfortable, and save you from periodical repair expenses just to keep it running.
*We rather avoid buying pre-owned.* Well, that kinda makes the decision for you, doesn’t it? You could look at Prius. Good reliability, might give you a sense of whether full ev might be in your future, although it sounds like you don’t like change.
Minus the rust repair you are doing the right thing.
I would advise you to not stick 7k into rust repairs of cosmetic items. Every person that I know who has rust repair work (at least where they salt the roads in winter), in a few years the rust comes back or the repair is obvious. Unless they are going to warranty the repair, you are better off to do what you can to slow it down (Rust-Oleum, chassis saver, fluid film, etc) and save and invest that 7k and have a great down payment saved. The value of your car won’t be much either way when you go to sell it in 10 years.
You can’t repair rust… Not for 7k… For 7k it will come back in a few years… To do it right you need to change half the car, cheaper to just get another one.
Just get another car with no rust and 300k miles for 2k, and pay a mechanic 1-2k to swap the engines and everything else.
A few thoughts.
80k is legit nothing on a matrix, with good maintenance that car will easily run to 400k miles.
$7000 sounds like a lot for mostly rust repair, what else are they quoting you for?
If you don’t want to buy preowned fixing your current car sounds more cost effective. Not a lot of well made new cars on the market for under $30k these days.
Far as the rust I was personally start with stripping the frame and coating it with por15, then undercarriage treatment annually, sounds like they must salt the hell out of the roads where you live.
Then worry about the body, isolate the problem areas and repair or replace, could keep an eye out for junkyard parts but hard to find good ones if you’re in the rust belt.
Overall of you’re willing to to most the loable yourself rust repair isn’t super difficult. Bondo can actually be kinda fun but if the panel is too far gone it’s better to just replace it.
You’re gonna pay the $7k and then something wildly expensive is going to break out of nowhere and you’ll be out the $7k while debating if a new car is worth it. Don’t pay for the cosmetics on an old car.
My 2005 car (Toyota) blew a spark plug about 3 years ago. We fixed it, but got a new family hauler to be more reliable on long trips and gave it to the teen to drive back and forth to school. I swear, it’s always in the shop. We had an unexpectedly high tax bill this year, or we would have replaced it. We are still going to, just 6 months delayed. So far in the last 3 years, the A/C has broken twice, the starter, some electrical stuff, there’s a slow oil leak that we’re not bothering repairing. There’s “only” 150,000 miles on it.
That 7k is only the start. It’s going to get ugly the next few years financially. It’s time to buy a newer car. Safety features have gone up so much, I wouldn’t hold onto it unless you’re very poor. I regret holding onto ours. I didn’t realize what a steep decline it was going to have all at once since it had only had one repair in all the years we’d owned it before.
7k is way too much, throwing good money after bad. You could buy a better used car with 7k cash than what you’re driving. You’re just emotionally attached.
You have reached the bitter end with this car. RIP Toyota Matrix.
You will continue to spend money on it after the $7k and will continue to throw good money after bad. It makes no financial sense to do this.
Not sure what you have against pre-owned cars. That would be the best value for a purchase.
I don’t generally have a problem with spending more to repair a car than it’s actually value but in this case I don’t think I would spend double the value on rust repair that sounds like it is larger cosmetic.
I would focus on preventing the spread of the rust and or DIY fixes. It wouldn’t have to be the prettiest thing, it would just have to keep the rust from spreading.
1. Drive it until it falls apart.
2. Buy a used car from a state that does not have rust (ie. AZ) and drive it back. You get a car at a decent price and a vacation
Can you find non-rusted parts from junkyard and if color doesn’t match – paint them?
I agree that spending 7k on such rust bucket is an absolute no go. You will not get 10 years out of repaired car, because rust will still appear somewhere else.
DO NOT REPAIR. Put it in a savings account @4.5% and ride till the wheels fall off. Then take that 7k+interest and buy a new car.
Salt sucks
I paid $18k for a used car in 2016.
That comes out to $2250 per year.
Putting $7k in means you’re hoping for an ROI of 3.1 years. Will a 2008 car make it to 2027?
At the same time, with only 80k miles, it’s very possible. I drive 20k miles a year. So I try to go for 10 year cars.
If it wasn’t for the rust you mentioned, I’d give a thumbs up. Buy a used 2 to 4 year old car, not a new one. **Yes, Pre-Owned.** That’s the reasonable middle ground. Test drive it. Ask questions. Kick the tires.
You’re emotionally attached to the car. Spending that money on such an old car that isn’t monetarily worth it is not wise, plain and simple. Do it if you want, but you’d be dense doing so.
This time it’s 7k next time it could be more.
This my friend is the end. Put the 7k towards the next car.
Really bad idea. Better to look for a newer model used car and spend the $$ on that.
> Ideally we want to hold cars until the bitter end.
I like that thinking.
But, we’re talking about rust. So either you can live with the rust, and the bitter end is a couple years away, or you **can’t** and the bitter end is behind you. The attraction of “not spending $20,000 on a new car” should be offset by the consideration that you’re getting $20,000 worth of car in the transaction, while if you spend $7,000 on repairs you’re getting a car that’s going to need an *ever-escalating* series of repairs. Put another way, what maintenance costs do you expect on the car? Compare it to the monthly payments financing with a $7,000 down payment.
Either way you shouldn’t be spending $7K on a car worth half that. $7,000 is an excellent start to paying for a new car, either as a down payment or part of buying it outright. A couple of years of spending nothing much on your car, save the occasional oil change or brakes is an excellent start to saving for a new car.
You can’t stop rust, only slow it down. Likely the undercarriage is rusty as well. Drive the car as is, save the $7k and use it towards the next car when your Matrix needs a major repair.
Let it go. If you can get a couple k on the way out and put the 7k towards the next car that 20k car is only 11k extra and will last 10-15 more years. That matrix is done.
If you just let it go and don’t fix till it literally falls apart then that’s ok too. But don’t spend 7k to fix. That’s crazy.
If it’s really worth 3.5k you could take the 7k and buy two more. 🙂
People in the midwest dont care about rust, nobody gets rust repair. It just comes back. If this car is in california, all of a sudden everyone is afraid of rust. I laughed at mechanics in califronia that were worried about all the rust on my car. The transmission gave out at 150,000 miles on my rust bucket before rust even did anything.
If you think the 7k will be the last expenditure for the next two or three years, you could do that.
In late 2019, I spent about 3k USD (in local currency) to have a 2001 VW Lupo brought to life again.
I didn’t want to buy a new car then.
It lasted for four more years until late 2023 when I finally sold it for scrap value.
But if you spend 7k now and there’s a 5k problem next year – that will be a problem.
7k is nearly 1/3 the cost of a new economy car. It’s a big no for me.
Bro, you’re at the bitter end. $7k in cosmetics that will probably reveal frame rust underneath as well. At the end you still have a car worth only a few grand. Go get a used car and it’s worth almost what you pay for it and will last longer with less money in repairs.
Once it’s rusted, don’t bother paying for cosmetics. Drive it until it needs other repairs.
Unless the rust is structural. Then stop driving it.
Spending 7k to repair cosmetic damage on a 3.5k car is absolutely insane and should not even be in consideration. Why are those the only options? keep driving your rusty ass car, that’s the smart idea.
There is a difference between what a car sells for and what it is worth *TO YOU.*
The decision comes down not to how much the car sells for but how much it will be worth *TO YOU* after the repairs. If it’s worth $3,500 now and you invest $7,000 in repairs, will it be worth more to you than a car you can buy for $10,500? Would you trade it in for a 2014 Mazda CX-9 if given the chance? I probably would, but I don’t know what you value about your Matrix.
What about an upgrade? You could buy a 2020 Ford Escape for about $15,000. Not a new car but definitely newer than your 2008 Matrix. Compare $11,500 to get a 2020 Escape vs $7,000 to get a repaired Matrix. Which seems like a better deal to you?
Do you live somewhere that requires yearly inspections? If not, who cares about the rust. It only needs to be fixed if you’ll recieve a “rejected” inspection sticker and can get fined if pulled over.
Spending money on cosmetic repairs isn’t necessary and imo a waste of money if it’s not a vintage car. Run it into the ground, let it rust out for a year or two, and save up for a car starting now.
Click and Clack used to say it’s always cheaper to fix it.
An old car will continue to have problems. Just due to parts wearing out over time.
I would also add that a newer car will probably have additional safety features that might be good for insurance (and also your family’s safety).
I suggest buying a recent year used car.
It sounds like you are dead set on buying new when the time comes. But let me offer one more pitch here.
In my eyes, and in my experience, buying a lightly used near-new car can make a lot of sense and you’ll hardly notice. My favorite car was a 3 year old car with 50k miles on the odometer. I got a pre-purchase inspection and bought a $2000 extended warranty from Zurich (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) and saved about 40% off new. New models were in the $35k range. I paid $16k and out the door it was $20k. The indications that it wasn’t brand new were miniscule. I can’t even remember what tiny defects it had. That was in 2006.
The extended warranty was just like the warranty that came with the car new. I found out after I bought it, that car model had a known transmission issue. Close to the 3 year term was up, I felt a very tiny surge while driving at steady speed on the freeway. I was due for routine maintenance, so I drove immediately to the dealer, got a loaner, and the next day, I was told I needed a $3000 transmission. When I gave them the policy info, I mentioned the company first and they said I would have no problems. Sure enough, I had no out of pocket, it was repaired in 3 days, and even my loaner/rental was paid for.
If I had bought that car new and held it until it was 6 years old, I would have been on the hook for those repairs and spent $15k extra on the car. The key is, finding a near mint example, and that takes patience when shopping.
Also, regarding the rust, it sounds like your existing car’s depreciation is accelerating. Even if it has little loss of life over the next few years, it will bring much less when the rust is more obvious and spread out. Take advantage of its relative high value now to defray the cost of your “new” car.
Agreed body rust is structural rust and is a never ending battle. I wouldn’t worry about looks. Drive it till it won’t pass inspection. So many people today are driving themselves to financial ruin maintaining appearances.
I’d be tempted to use some rust stopper, really should be call rust slower, fill in the holes with bondo and get it wrapped just to see what happens.
Maybe cost $2-3k if you do the bondo yourself. I mean at this point it’s an experiment bordering on comedy.
If your wife outlives you, might make a funny story at the wake.
There’s already a lot of great answers, if there’s already rust visibly eating away at exterior panels, you like have significant corrosion on a substantial portion of the underbody as well, making that 7k ‘investment’ just a flaming money pit.
If you’re dead set on a matrix, find a rust free one from the desert for 5k and drive it for another 15 years 😄