For many people, cars are an essential part of daily life. It can be hard to imagine life without the vehicle you’ve owned for years. Unfortunately, there may come a day that you need to consider buying a new vehicle. If you’re wondering how to know when to sell your car, then you’ve come to the right place.

How to Know When to Sell Your Car

With advances and improvements in technology, cars are lasting owners for longer amounts of time. More and more cars can be driven over 100,000 miles without significant mechanical troubles. But, even the best kept car will eventually wear down due to use and age. Keeping an eye out for the following signs will help you determine if you need to invest in a new vehicle.

Maintenance and Repair Costs

There is a finite amount of time any vehicle has before the costs of replacing essential components outweighs the cost of purchasing a new car. This amount of time will vary from vehicle to vehicle based on how a car is driven over its serviceable life.

You can easily compare the cost of buying a new car versus repairing your current vehicle with these three steps.

1. Find out how much your car is worth by visiting a vehicle appraisal site such as Kelley Blue Book and entering in your vehicle’s information.
2. Talk to your mechanic at T3 Atlanta to see how much maintenance is required, particularly larger service schedule items. The repairs to keep an eye on are big repairs, especially those involving the transmission, and not routine fluid changes or oil changes.
3. Compare the value of your car to how much maintenance is needed to keep your car on the road.

Once you have these numbers in hand, you’ll have a better idea of whether buying a new car is right for you.

Safety Considerations

Advances in technology have made newer cars safer than ever. Rear cameras, improved crash ratings, and automatic braking are just a few of the newest safety features. Consider factoring in safety when making a decision about your old vehicle.

Gas Mileage

Fuel efficiency and gas mileage naturally decrease over time, leading to more trips to the gas pump. These increasingly frequent trips add up over time.

However, electric, hybrid, and fuel-efficient vehicles are becoming increasingly popular. If gas efficiency is important to you, then a new vehicle could save you time and fuel by reducing your trips to the gas pump.

Reliability

A reliable car is a car that always starts and doesn’t break down except in very rare circumstances. In other words, a reliable car doesn’t give you headaches!

Well-maintained cars generally stay reliable over their entire service life. But, it’s still possible that they can become less reliable as they age.

If you have noticed that your car is becoming less reliable, it may be time to visit your mechanic to find out if the problem is minor, or if it might become a larger issue.

Warranty

Now that we’ve discussed repairs, that brings us to the warranty. Many cars have long warranties, with some lasting as long as 10 years. So, do you sell a car before the warranty has expired? Or do you sell it immediately after the expiration date?

This particular question is very personal, and the answer will vary from person to person. Another factor to consider is whether you are selling it to a dealer or an individual. In some cases, selling a car with little or no warranty to a dealer may be easier than selling a car as-is to an individual.

At the end of the day, deciding to sell a car before or after a warranty expires depends on how you feel about the car, and how ready you are to get into your new ride.

 

Lifestyle Changes

That convertible you’ve had since college might have been perfect back then, but the demands of life have a way of influencing your choice of vehicle.

Have you become a long-distance commuter? Do you have a growing family? Does your job require you to haul construction materials? Are you at a point in life where you’re ready to get the sports car of your dreams? These are just a few of the lifestyle changes that play into how to know when to sell your car.

 

Rust

Although rust isn’t as big of a problem in the Atlanta area, cars that have spent time in areas where salt is used to de-ice roads may have rusty spots.

You may be thinking that some spots of rust here or there shouldn’t be a problem. However, this is not the case at all. Rust spreads over time, and grows more quickly with exposure to rain.

Given time, rust can corrode the structure and integrity of a vehicle’s frame, leading to costly repairs and potentially safety concerns. You may want to strongly factor rust damage when deciding whether you should sell your car.

Buying or Selling Your Car? Get an Inspection at T3 Atlanta!

Knowing when to buy a new car is an intensely personal decision that isn’t always straightforward. Sometimes, it’s just time to make a change! In the end, we recommend that you weigh all your potential costs against your baseline requirements of a vehicle when making your choice.

If you’re in the process of trying to decide whether to sell your car, schedule an appointment with T3 Atlanta. We can appraise how many repairs you need, which can help you determine maintenance costs versus buying a new car.

T3 Atlanta also offers free inspections of Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, or Infiniti vehicles before you buy. We recommend a 3^rd party inspection of any vehicle you are considering in order to help you make the best choice possible when buying a new car.