I inherited my current car from my grandfather when he passed away. A 1990 Ford Tempo, it’s not the most stylish car, but it has a number of things going for it:

- Low milage: It only has 48,000 miles on it
- No car payments!
- Low insurance cost: Insurance though Geico is less than $400 per year
- Reliability: it hasn’t broken down on me yet.
- Peace of mind: I’m not overly obsessed with it getting nicked or banged up when I park it on the streets of Philly.

So I was a bit worried on my latest trip home (a 2 hour journey) when the battery light came on and the manual told me something was wrong with the electrical system.

During the day or so waiting for my car to be fixed, I started to wonder if it was time for an upgrade. A number of my friends had been in the same situation recently - old cars about to die and they were potentially looking at big repair bills. Each chose to buy a new car.

But then they drive far more than I do. In the last year, I’ve put less than 4000 miles on the car.

There comes a point when you start to wonder if all those repairs are worth it - at what point is it worth scrapping the old car for a new one?

Luckily, it turns out the problem was that the alternator belt snapped and the battery wasn’t charging properly. Add a new belt… problem solved cheaply and my car’s good to go.

I’m the kind of person who isn’t overly obsessed with cars. Sure, it’d be nice to drive something sporty, but I can’t justify the costs of a new car when my old one still works fine and should last a few more years.

While it’s probably not an option for everyone, having a low maintenance, older car has definitely been a cost saver.