What's love got to do with it?

I purchased my 96 Accord COUPE (yes, that’s important to me) in April for $1000. So far, I’ve put $1900 into it for repairs I consider consistent with it’s age and mileage (197k). The body is still great, so’s the interior. I am in LOVE with this car after driving trucks with 4wd my whole life. It’s only worth (maybe) $4,000 by Kelley standards. I would like to know at what $amt repair would I be destroying my marriage?

What’s your wife’s opinion now?

You know her tolerance level far better than we do.

I AM the wife! Haha!

OK, so what’s the husband’s opinion? If you don’t spend more than $4K on repairs (not maintenance), then your purchase and repairs might be argued to be a “good deal”.

Personally, I don’t think any car at 197K miles would be worth $4K, so I would be hoping that I got nearly everything fixed for the $2K additional, and can drive the car for about 30K more miles before something major happened again.

You have a good car now we hope, though there are no guarantees. Repair and maintenance will happen with any car, brakes, tires alignment etc. You are in a better position then us to assess how many $ is the breaking point. So far it sounds like you did well and you are happy with the car, let hubby share the joy.

Having a car you enjoy to drive, is safe, and reliable is the main thing in ownership I feel. If you can now drive the car for the next few years without having to spend much more in repairs I’d say you have done ok and will get your return on investment.

That’s easy. Ask your husband. None of us knows him or your financial situation. Of course, you might have paid $4000 for a car and still paid $1900 for repairs. So far, you are $1100 short of the $4000 you say it’s worth. Put that happy spin on it.

Mine is a '97. It’s a very nice car and I hope it last a very long time.

Where did you get the idea it was worth $4,000?

At 197K miles I doubt it’s worth half that.

Drive it, fix what breaks, and don’t worry about it. If you’re lucky it will go another 100,000 miles.

Do you know how old the timing belt is? That’s the one thing that will make the car worthless if it breaks.