Is it worthwhile to repair my old car?

I have a three-door 1997 Toyota RAV4, which I've owned since 1999. The subframe needs welding, plus a few other bits. It will cost around £800. Would you consider it worthwhile? I do about 3000 miles a year, with the mileage now at 125,000.

Asked on 24 July 2018 by Sarah

Answered by Keith Moody
It all depends on what the car means to you. If you're emotionally attached to it, then in some ways it's a part of the family and you'll find yourself going the extra mile to keep it on the road. If, on the other hand, you're evaluating whether or not it's worth spending the money on then this is a bit harder to answer. Like the proverbial piece of string, you don't know what's going to go wrong with the car - although with the mileage at 125,000 you're bound to experience components starting to fail and it will require some money to be put aside for keeping it on the road. Perhaps a useful exercise might be to think about what you could replace it with and how much that would cost, whether you'd buy new or second hand, etc. As you cover such low mileage, you might find that it's easier/cheaper to set aside a sum of money each month to keep the RAV for rolling than it is to pay off its replacement.
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