Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
The supposed metrics are, does it cost more per year than payments? or is the price of the repair more than half the value? (The flaw hidden in that theory is, are you doing the labor? If you wouldn't, and someone else would, the car is still worth having - to them.)
The really irritating thing about cars right now is that the head unit gets obsolete too fast. My 2012 truck really can't quite handle Siri correctly and it predates Carplay and the Android equivalent. Unlike an old stereo, there's no real option to update it because it's so integrated. I wonder if this is leveling out, though. Smart phones have gone from ~2 year life to ~5 year life.
Her car is probably worth about $4k in good running condition. A replacement CVT is probably at least that much after installation (I'm not doing the labor.)
The flip side is cars have gotten so insanely expensive the last few years that I could sink a lot more money into her car than it's worth and still come out ahead versus buying a newer vehicle. But, she wouldn't have the AWD that she's really longing for, so I'm probably not going to fix it.
Not sure what to do with it though. I suppose it will have to go to the junkyard, as I can't in good conscious sell it to someone with a failing transmission. Maybe I can find someone in dire need of transportation and just give it to them, with the understanding that it may continue to limp along for quite a while, or it may fail completely tomorrow. It mostly starts to slip at speeds above 60 mph, so it may continue to run around town for a fair amount of time. But I don't know for sure.