Should I be happy about this?

thousands on a 86,000 miles vehicle ? shouldn't be that much for such low mileage vehicle. it's paid off. keep it and save money for Tundra mods

 

My wife had a 2013 HL and even with rolling a 2018 camry she still talks about how she loved her HL they are nice rides. Who know you may have that thing for another 200k miles or more after all it is a toyota .

 

Agreed, my wife is the same.

 

Yea bro, she defiantly is not materialistic and she loves to save money. I think you’re right. She’s probably not in love with it but she looks at it as just a vehicle. As other wise members have said, if I make the decision and do it I’ll pay for it and they are right. I’ll let her decide when it’s time and I’ll stuff some cash away in the meantime.
It’s never had one issue.
Thanks for all of the replies. I know there’s a lot of smart members on here that would set me straight.

 

I had an 01 4-runner
traded it in at 475,000 miles due to the seat was worn out.

I regretted it.
should have just bought a new seat

best rig I ever had.

 

Let her keep it.

 

Maybe she is waiting for the Highlander TRD Pro........

 

You should be ecstatic and you should buy her something nice (jewelry or whatever she's into) just to show her how much you love her for being so cool! Don't think so? Well here is the opposite end of the spectrum...

A guy at work went on vacation with his wife and family in her relatively new (3 yo) mini-van. On the way to their destination, he started hearing a weird noise from under the hood. He pulled over and took a look and it turned out the serpentine belt had frayed and there was a small piece hanging off that was hitting something as the belt turned. He cut off the small piece and continued on their way. When they got to their destination, he took the van to a dealer to have the belt replaced.

His wife however informed him that was not good enough. This van was now "unreliable" and she insisted they get a new one right then and there. Like an idiot he caved and did as she insisted.

To make matters worse, shortly before going on this trip, he had just bought his dream truck (Ford SD with all the bells and whistles) that he had wanted forever but had to wait until he paid off her old van before he could afford it but now with new van payment, he couldn't afford both so when they got back, he had to sell his truck.

I know he's an idiot but just think, you could be married to someone like his wife!

 

A couple thousand in maintenance or $30,000 in car payments. Sounds like a no brainer to me. No reason to get rid of the highlander with only 80,000 miles on it.

 

Some people want new cars just to have new cars. Some people want new cars before their current cars start "needing money", and that's a very strange angle to me.

Not counting gas or oil as those are consumed regardless, let's look at my trucks story.

Mods aside since this is strictly a "keep the car alive" scenario, I have spent just about $6k on a few necessary repairs and maintenance things (expensive big tires, brakes, timing belt, differential repair) over the last 11 years that I have owned it. I bought for $14k in 2008, that's $151 per month of you spread it out over the time I have owned it. Pretty reasonable.

Lets say you've been paying $400 a month for the last 5 years and just paid off a car. The new car cost minus trade in value will be much more than the cost of maintenance for the current car. If you go through two cars in ten years that becomes an expensive cycle.

I've bought my last 3 cars cash, all used in good condition with fair miles. I don't subscribe to the idea of comparing repair cost to present value, because repair cost is still less than a car payment (extreme examples aside).

 

Ride it into the ground

 

Another vote for keep it and be happy.

 

My folks have a 2003 Highlander with a 3.3L with 305,000 miles. The money they have saved with no car payment since 2007 is incredible.

 

This is the quote of the day right here.

 

Dave Ramsey had an answer about spending money on new cars. I’m paraphrasing:

“So in order to not spend a couple of thousand to fix your older vehicle, you’re going to spend 4-5 times as much on a newer car?”

 

I’ll consider myself lucky! Thanks.

 

Yea, I’ve been set straight on this site. Just had brakes done. 483 bucks with OEM parts. In March Brakes Plus runs a buy three strut get one free. We are going to wait until March and replace.
HL should be good to go after that. I’ll change plugs and flush Tranny when Toyota schedule recommends. Timing is a chain so all good there.

 

What new car is he buying for 10K?

 

Some women do not like to change vehicles.

Had a girlfriend in HS/College whose mom had an early 80's Chevette, total POS but wouldn't consider another car. Always baffled me.

Attended an out of town funeral a few years ago. Back at Family's house after funeral, outside I noticed and checked out an all original 67 Camaro, Pea green and all. I asked about it and it turned out to belong to an elderly friend / neighbor Lady. I told her how much I admired her car and asked how long she had had it. She told me that she had bought it new and it was the only car she ever had. She had no reason to buy another.......

 

“Newer”, assuming you sell current car and roll that money into newer one.

His advice to 99.9% of people is to not buy brand new. But not the point

 

Most financial gurus will say that but if your going to keep it for 10+yrs I don't see it as so bad. I keep my vehicles that duration and I would rather buy new and know its history then roll the dice. Way to many people now a days that don't take care of there and skimp on maintenance.

 

I think one of the secrets to a good, happy life is contentment. If you can be content in all things, circumstance, where you live, what you drive, etc, etc. you'll be a lot happier in the long run.

It took me a long time to get to where I'm pretty content with where I am in life, especially where I live (being a water person stuck this God forsaken, waterless desert) and things are much better.

Yeah, it's nice to have the latest and greatest but it's it worth it in the long run? Since she seems to be happy with what she has maybe that new car payment is better of being invested somewhere else (for us it's usually travel, life experiences).

Having said that, the Mrs. drove her recently replaced '02 Trooper for 16 years and 230k miles. She loved that car and was sad to see it go.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

 

Thank you, sir.

 

@BTBAKER just FYI https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/09/2020-toyota-highlander-3d-art-michael-murphy/

 

Thank you! That’s good to know. I think she would be happy with another Highlander. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do.

 

More money for the supercharger!

 

She might want that!

 

Dave drives a Ford Raptor...

Should we question his judgment, lol.

 

He is worth millions. If i could afford to pay cash for a raptor i would as well