My current car is over 20 years old. It rarely has issues, and has never cost more than about $1500 to fix all of them at once. It wouldn't be worth a lot on the used market. Practically any repair of $500 or more starts to get into "but how much is it worth" territory.
My comparison is not "how much is it worth", but "how much would I have to pay to get a similar vehicle with a completely known history of good maintenance, and how much would I have to spend for a new one?"
I spend about $1000-1500 a year on it for maintenance - oil changes, tires, brakes, things that break on a 20-year-old truck - and there's just no way that any new car can compete with that. If I could buy its twin for $5k, I probably would. Not because it's an amazing vehicle, because it's not. But having a completely spare car is GREAT. Primary car needs service? Keep it for a week, I don't care. One won't start in the morning? Take the spare, figure out the rest later.
My current car is over 20 years old. It rarely has issues, and has never cost more than about $1500 to fix all of them at once. It wouldn't be worth a lot on the used market. Practically any repair of $500 or more starts to get into "but how much is it worth" territory.
My comparison is not "how much is it worth", but "how much would I have to pay to get a similar vehicle with a completely known history of good maintenance, and how much would I have to spend for a new one?"
I spend about $1000-1500 a year on it for maintenance - oil changes, tires, brakes, things that break on a 20-year-old truck - and there's just no way that any new car can compete with that. If I could buy its twin for $5k, I probably would. Not because it's an amazing vehicle, because it's not. But having a completely spare car is GREAT. Primary car needs service? Keep it for a week, I don't care. One won't start in the morning? Take the spare, figure out the rest later.