When is the right time to part with an older car?

COLOGNE: No matter how reliable your vehicle, the chances are it will reach a point where repairs become a big cost factor.

Hanging on is an option, but age and high mileage make such vehicles increasingly less desirable to own and selling one will not be easy.

Frustrating roadside faults and constant visits to the workshop put nerves and wallets to the test, and it is easy to fall out of love with a trusty daily drive as the bills roll in.

Some component failures are indeed so costly that a repair can be more than the car is worth. Replacing a turbocharger for the engine is a classic example.

In order to avoid these pitfalls, it is a good idea to sell a car in good time. But when is the right time to part with your familiar set of four wheels, and how will you know when it has arrived?

As usual, there is no simple answer to this question, says expert Carsten Kuerten, who runs a big repair workshop in the German city of Cologne. "The mileage at which you should gradually think about selling can vary greatly depending on the vehicle type, manufacturer or engine fitted".

Whereas a small car might be worn out after covering 80,000km or 90,000km, a large diesel saloon from a premium manufacturer should run for well over 200,000km without hassle.

The way a car has been treated plays a key part too.

A vehicle that has been driven often at moderate speeds on long journeys will last longer than one used for short city hops, with frequent stop-and-go driving. This is because regular motorway trips give the oil time to warm and circulate around the engine, avoiding potential damage and undue wear and tear.

Constantin Hack of the Auto Club Europa (ACE) says there is no hard and fast rule for the right time to sell: "You can't name a definitive age or distance limit at which retention becomes more expensive than selling or vice versa."

Hack believes there is an element of luck involved, since even cars renowned for reliability are not immune to repairs. He suggests applying the five-year cycle as a rough guide.

"It's well known that a new car loses the most value in the first three years, but then the curve flattens out and a decision to keep or sell comes around in the fifth year."

Another guide is the "50-per-cent rule," which advises that when repairs cost 50 per cent of what the car is worth, it's time to replace.

Cars with more that 100,000km n the odometer are often seen by owners and buyers as being more worn out than they really are. "This is a purely psychological threshold" says Hack. "It explains why a seller will generally get less for a car with 103,000 on the clock than one that has covered 97,000".

Consumers will take less interest in cars that have covered more than 100,000km even if they actually run just fine. This makes the models hard to sell privately.

Those who opt to stick with an older car may go through a lean period, as things tend to get worse before they improve. Major repairs at some point are almost inevitable but once these are completed, years of carefree driving can follow.

Of course, there is no guarantee that all the bugs have been ironed out. Some owners just have bad luck. The Cologne expert recalls a well-kept 10-year-old BMW 5 Series estate with just 170,000km that was rendered scrap after a freak breakdown.

The crankshaft broke off at the belt pulley, and a repair was estimated at more than €10,000 (around RM50,000) for a new engine and labour - almost as much as the car was worth.

Kuerten advised against fixing the BMW.

Owners can of course look at car replacement from a green, sustainable perspective. It can make more sense to keep an old car on the road, provided running costs are not too high.

After all, manufacturing a brand new vehicle has much more impact on the environment than keeping an old faithful on the road for as long as possible.