It’s easy to fall in love with a car you’ve had for a while. Friends and family start to identify you with your vehicle after some time seeing you always show up in it. Maybe you have some quirky stickers on the rear windshield of a stick figure family or political affiliation. You’re used to driving your car and anything else just seems wrong to you. You can’t hang on forever though.
Your car gets older and less valuable every year and at some point, it’s going to die. But you shouldn’t hold on to it till it breaks down. New cars and models are coming out every year that will serve a more than adequate replacement for your old friend.
So when should you replace your old car with a new one? This is a decision that will ultimately depend on your situation but having some guidelines to help make your decision should hopefully make things a little clearer.
Outdated Safety
If you’re holding on to an old car, you might be sacrificing a large number of safety features you should not do without. Things like curtain airbags and a backup camera have become almost essential today. I do not know many people who would not want to drive a safe car.
A feature that should make you want to get a new car is Electronic Stability Control. ESC detects when one of your wheels is going a direction it is not supposed to be going in and brakes the wheel. This prevents terrible scenarios where you might lose control of your car and cause an accident or crash. Not having a car with this feature is a danger to yourself, while having it could save your life.
New cars are coming out with technology designed to keep you safer every year and not taking advantage of this could be detrimental to you. Today you can find cars that drive themselves, removing the element of human error on your part. Even if you don’t want a self-driving car, features like automatic breaks and blind-spot monitors are tremendous advantages that should not be ignored.
Costs
You might think it’s economical to drive an old car, but in reality, the money you spend on your car can be increasing every year. You can be spending less money every year with a new car, as a result of advancements in fuel efficiency and other factors like maintenance.
With gas prices on the rise, fuel efficiency can make a huge difference in how much you spend on gas in a year. If your car has low mpg, considering an upgrade will not only save you money but can help save the environment as well.
Another cost associated with old cars is maintenance. Old cars just don’t last as long as new cars and replacing parts or fixing damage associated with wear will just drive the price you pay to drive so much higher.
If you are spending more money on repairs than you did on payments for your car, it might be time to look into buying a new car (& junking the old one at a salvage yard). This can be made even worse if you have a car with rare parts. Just ask BMW owners how much they pay in maintenance.
Media Technology
We don’t really choose cars because they have an aux cable port or Bluetooth, but you can really be missing out if your current vehicle doesn’t have a modern control center. You might think your fine with CDs or just a radio, but once you try out being able to play whatever songs you can stream from your phone, you will not want to go back.
Something as small as a car having a USB port can mean the world in comfort and accessibility. Being able to charge your phone while driving could save you from a ton of stress when your phone is close to dying.
GPS is also an important feature you might want to look for in a new car. Sure, you can use your phone as a GPS, but if you don’t have a USB port, keeping your phone charged while navigating can be a hassle when your car can do It for you.
Of course, these aren’t life or death reasons. You should replace your old car, but you should enjoy being in your car. Modern features like these should help you realize that holding on to an old car is doing a disservice to you.
