Full vehicle rebuild vs value of my leggy… Thoughts?

I’m almost at the second timing belt mark, just under 200k miles.

 

I’d love to keep driving my leggy for another 100k miles. But I’ve got that thought in the back of my head, that if I spend the money to rebuild the engine, transmission, etc. That if I then get into an automobile accident, that ANY insurance company will want to immediately total my car.

 

Call me crazy right. But it’s my industry. I work in a body shop, it’s how things are done. I’ve priced out even respecting the bumper, that will total out my vehicle.

 

So I’m having a crisis if you will trying to decide if I spend the money to rebuild basically the complete car, or do I spend the money looking for a lower mileage Subaru in the $10k range.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

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When was the last time you got into an accident? Why are you rebuilding all the mechanical pets? At 200k is just maintenance. Timing belt is part of maintenance. Even a 10k car can be totaled pretty easily. If your car is in good shape and you are happy with it just keep up with maintenance and stop worrying about it so much.

IMO doing basic maintenance on a car you already own is still cheaper then buying a new car. I would keep it, unless you really want a new car.

I think it's all preference. I personally would rather keep dumping money into my car and keep rebuilding it because I like the car for what it is and I like the body style more then any of the comparatively valued subarus. So I wouldn't replace it just because it needs something small like a timing belt. I've rebuilt literally everything in my car and it's at the point now that it drives like a new car. I daily it 250miles a week and it's never given me problems, I sure as hell won't get that from another <$3000 replacement car. And if I get in a wreck and it gets totaled, I plan to buy it back from insurance, part it out and move on to the next project car. So the gist of it is, I like the car more then I like the money.

Take my example:

 

My wife and I sold her 01 Outback H6 because it was little things we kept having to do to it. We deemed it unreliable but hadn't spent a ton of money maintaining it and the previous owner pretty much did $0 in maintenance. Her daily driver at the time was a 2002 Chrysler Sebring, that was a good car and had 103,000 miles on it, it just wasn't the car for her. Around the same time I was doing work to rebuild her Outback and dumping $1200 into a JDM engine replacement, transmission rebuild, and front end rebuild to make it reliable.

 

She got pregnant right before the Outback was done and insisted we needed a reliable car. So we went out and bought a reliable car, a very low mileage 2014 Ford Fusion, and accepted a manageable payment of $340 a month on it for the next 4.5 years. That was in September of last year. Fast forward to today. She insists that now that we have 2 car seats in the back of the car that we need a larger vehicle, like her Outback we sold. $17,000 lesson learned. I'd have rather dumped $500 every 6 months into her old Outback than $340 plus $80 a month for full coverage insurance on her Fusion. Granted, we love our Fusion, we probably should have waited until after the baby was born to make a decision about buying a new car.

 

My car, however, is a 99 Outback. And while it's not quite my dream car yet, it will be. I own it free and clear. If someone ever smacks it, I am confident that I'll get top value from the insurance company because I keep it looking like and driving like new and the buy back will be nothing, so I can afford to part it out and start over. My project car (92 SVX) needed a new windshield and the insurance company tried to tell me the value of the new windshield ($1200) likely exceeded the value of my car. I have a great insurance adjuster who put a $5,800 ACV in case it was ever totaled, and that was before I did the body work and repainted it.

 

Lesson here is, keep your old car. If you're concerned about it being wrecked, get full coverage on it. Depending on how good a driver you are it could be almost nothing per month like I pay. My Outback costs me $40 a month for full coverage with a $250 collision deductible and $0 glass/$250 comprehensive deductible. I challenge anyone to find me a car payment for $40 a month including insurance. I know my Outback ACV is good because, to the insurance company it's a Limited, and it has less than 8,000 miles a year on the odometer. Full coverage on your end ensures that an at fault accident will still result in a payout on your vehicle with the option to buy it back. If you have the option for accident forgiveness, take it. All the extras on your insurance are better than paying $300-$500 plus insurance a month for a new car.

When was the last time you got into an accident? Why are you rebuilding all the mechanical pets? At 200k is just maintenance. Timing belt is part of maintenance. Even a 10k car can be totaled pretty easily. If your car is in good shape and you are happy with it just keep up with maintenance and stop worrying about it so much.

 

It'll end up being a $6k rebuild. Planing on rebuilding everything, dropping all the suspension, new bushings, respraying all the paint on the exterior, etc.

 

Yes, it's just maintenance at 200k, but any motor at that mileage is tired, mine is the same. It needs a rebuild, or perhaps a supercharger, either way regardless, it needs a rebuild.

 

It's been a good 15 years since I've been in any accident, but it's only a mater of time.

Whenever I think about something like that I always remember something I've read about in the past. You can generally have any modifications added to the value of your vehicle for insurance purposes. Also there is special insurance for restored vehicles. If you call your insurance company and tell them what you want to do I bet they can find a solution for you that will cover you in a case of an accident. Im sure they will work with you on covering your stock restoration.

I like looking for reliable cars at least 10- 15 years old as they are at the bottom of the depreciation curve and if they were decent cars to begin with, they are worth fixing here and there. Even a modest $250 car payment is $3,000 per year and you can do a lot of work on a car for less than that.

 

I do agree that it's a bummer that if some dumb deer runs into my old car that I've put $, blood, sweet and tears in, that the insurance company might give me maybe $1,200 if I'm lucky. That's when i hope it's body work I can do myself (and why I jumped on buying all the front end body parts to a '96 Outback for $50 when I had the chance).

Why completely rebuild it? Why worry about paint and little things like that? Are you doing the work yourself?

When I’m done with my ‘02 Forester it’ll have new front control arms, rack & pinion, CV axles all the way around, rear lateral link bushings, rear disc swap with new rotors and pads, new front rotors and pads, rebuilt calipers, completely rebuilt engine, all new seals/gaskets, reseated valves, fairly new clutch, new rear wheel bearings etc, etc.. plus I’ll be swapping in heated seats and possibly heated mirrors. All of this for less than $2k if you don’t count the purchase price of the vehicle, which was only $400. But it should run and drive like a new car. I’m doing all the work myself so that does save a good bit.

I would rather have a nice 20 year old car than I would a nice new car. It’s more impressive imo.

 

 

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I'm with you. I did pretty much everything on mine except the engine rebuild (that's coming up...) and it is like a new car. Did it all myself. Saved a bunch of money on my... But it took a lot longer than 15 minutes.