opinions needed on our car situation

Hey everyone..

Question about cars.. I still have a 2001 Honda accord which works great But, we now have 2 small boys, so hubby uses that as a station car..That one has 145,000 miles on it and the AC doesn't work.. LOL! But, it's been a wonderful car and I am so grateful it has lasted us this long!

So, we also have another SUV (2004 Lexus) which we were lucky that our in-laws sold to us in 2011. We are almost done paying them back for it, but it now has almost 140,000 miles on it and last summer we had to replace tires (expected) and also something else that ended up costing us over $1800.. the truck is in great shape and we do love it, just concerned it's getting older now and other things will start to go wrong. We live on one income, so it's hard to afford big bills when things do break.


We don't do a lot of travel-mostly local and a few times a year to NY. I saw a lot of car companies having sales-- just curious on opinions for 2 things:

1. Would you keep your current SUV until it doesn't work any longer OR

2. Trade it in or sell privately and lease or Buy? something newer. If this option, can u recommend good, budget cars? Looking to spend less than $200 a month?

Just concerned that I have 2 small kids and if we get into an accident with either car, they are older.. Any feedback would be great!! TIA!

opinions needed on our car situation

I personally would keep doing what you're doing unless you had some real desire for something else.
The Accord will keep going, you could fix the AC, but if its a short trip to the train, I don't know if I'd spend the money.
The Lexus will also keep going. I don't know what is next on the maintenance schedule on your car, but it most likely will continue trouble free. You're probably not going to get a lot for it at this point with 140K on it.

I don't think I'd worry too much about safety on the lexus it was safe then, it is safe enough now. its decently sized too.
$200 a month doesn't give you a lot of options

opinions needed on our car situation

I work in a dealer and I can try to answer as many questions as I can. I can 100% tell you that anything you get for $200/mo will either require a TON of $ out of pocket or be super small if you're looking for new. Pre owned you wont get much more then what you currently have. Probably something at least 4-5 years old with 60k+ depending on what kind of vehicle you're looking for. If you do decide to get something else- definitely sell privately. Cars that old are a $500 trade value. The dealers very rarely go higher then that on cars 10+ years old.

Re: opinions needed on our car situation

I'd keep the vehicles you have. If you can spend $200 a month on a car I'd start putting that $200 away each month and use it in a few years as a down payment on something new/used.

Message edited 3/10/2017 8:57:57 PM.

Re: opinions needed on our car situation

Re: opinions needed on our car situation

I'd keep it until it requires another large repair and then replace it.