[Arjun Reddy]

5-6 years, is what I personally like. Ideal as the car will by then have almost zero depreciation value in the books.

Though my cars stay with us longer as it normally goes to my brother.

The only car we got out of the garage at the 6 year mark was the swift. Rust issues.

We still have a 2006 Ford Fiesta and a 2007 Maruti 800. The Fiat Punto is 2012 and going strong. The others are relatively new.

[Lone Ranger]

Personally I like to keep my cars as long as they run without much trouble, and do not have exorbitant maintenance costs. This is for multiple reasons a) I have a strong emotional connect with them, and associate a lot of good memories that have happened in my life with them b) It makes sense to hold on to a depreciating asset for a longer rather a shorter period of time (I don't have the expertise to identify good second hand cars) c) From an environment perspective, I feel a well maintained old car is will have lesser detrimental impact on our environment as compared to changing cars every 5 years.
I still have my 2003 alto and my swift is of 2010 vintage. Of course, both of them being Marutis (and popular models at that) have made it much easier to maintain them.

[Hells Bells]

I prefer keeping the cars for more than 5 years. My history:

Car - Chevy Aveo 1.6 LT, 2006
Retained it for - 11 years
Sold it on - Well, technically I got it scrapped as it was petrol engine of a discontinued model from a non-existing brand (in India) and was out state registered (WB registered, in Bangalore) with the road tax expired for a year

So you get the pic of why I scrapped it than make an effort to sell it.

Honestly, the car did not give me huge amount of trouble and it was rather the service centers who created bigger mess. It looked very good for an 11 year old car and drove decently. However, with no ABS and no airbags, highways were ruled out on for which we now used our Micra.

I intend to do the same with my Micra and vRS with no itch to upgrade in 5 years!

[Shanksta]

We like to keep our car till we feel the need for a change. Out of the four, three cars have crossed the 7 year mark. The latest will likely be the first car to cross a decade.

History

* 1965 Premier 1100 D - bought used in 1992, sold in 2001.
Duration - 9 years & 1 month, 90k - 100k kms used by dad ( dad does not remember the exact mileage).
Reason for sale - Needed an upgrade!

* 1994 Premier 118 NE - bought used in 2001, sold in 2002.
Duration - 1 year and 3 months, 8k kms used by dad.
Reason for sale - Dad's new office policy after buying the 118NE did not permit him driving a car older than 5 years.

* 2002 Hyundai Accent GVS - First new car, sold in 2010.
Duration - 7 years & 8 months, 96,483kms, the car I learnt to drive in.
Reason for sale - over the years as my brother and me grew taller the leg space in the rear reduced, plus we started travelling a lot with grand parents.

But we never wanted to sell the Accent. Just 3 days after booking our Innova my parents had gone to the showroom in the evening to check out our new car. While returning home they were T-boned by a teenager speeding in her Palio. Luckily since both of them wore seatbelts they did not even have a scratch. The Accent bore the brunt well and had to have its two left doors and a portion of the rear quarter panel replaced. After a month of being in the ASC she was back on the road. My uncle bought her willingly despite the accident. Had he not bought we would have still had the Accent.

* 2009 Toyota Innova GX - current ride.
Duration - 7 years & 10 months still going strong, 114,496 kms.
The car I am most attached to since I have done almost 50k+ kms of the mileage clocked till now.

[simonkayar]

Car: Maruti Suzuki 'Zen Estilo' Vxi 2007
Duration: 10th year, 106000 kms
Reasons:

1. Wanted a safer car on highways
2. Wanted a bigger car for trips
3. True reason: Well in love with XUV

[pramodpk]

Car 1.

Maruti Suzuki Alto. Purchase date 26/04/2006. Completed 65K Kms. In excellent condition. Still with me.

Car 2

Ford Fiesta SXI Petrol. Purchase data 17/09/2010. Completed 81K Kms. In excellent condition. Still with me.

[Durango Dude]

I'm in the 12th year of owning the '05 Hyundai Elantra GLS petrol is rather sparingly run at 35K Kms. I've it as a sleeper car for rough roads and my daughter likes it and learnt to drive on it. Any how it's not going to fetch much if I sell it. But the problem is insurance it's a whopping ₹ 12347 this time The older a car gets the more insurance you got to pay!

[aniketi]

I would use car for 7-10 years. Its fun to use car after 3-5 years as loan is closed, insurance premium is low now, your car already has few scratches and you don't mind to have few more also

Also you can drive little carelessly .. i mean caring much about car as its old. You can park it anywhere as well and you are not that worried as with new car

[Latheesh]

My current car is Chevrolet Spark LT 2009 model - Completed 8 years and 3 months. Recently did alternator overhaul, tire change, ignition coil change, 1 head lamp change (it was working fine but changed it due to minor crack near mounting), and AC refrigerant refill. Spent close to 35K.

ODO stands ~ 97000 KM.

May change the car after 6 months. Main reason of not changing the car - I am scarred of EMIs.

[ethanhunt123]

1. What was your car make & model and month & year of purchase - Mitsubishi Cedia Spirit, Sep 2008

2. How long did you keep it - in years and in mileage? 7 years, 2 months. Drive around 1L kms

3. Top 3 reasons why you sold it - 1. Upgrade Bug 2. Petrol Cost 3. With Car out of production & Mitsubishi not in great shape - spares availibility was becoming a hassle.

[navin]

My current car:

1. What was your car make & model and month & year of purchase?
Toyota Camry
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ip-review.html


2. How long did you keep it - in years and in mileage?
I will keep it till it gives me trouble (parts need replacing)

3. Top 3 reasons why you sold it.
I will sell it when it gives me trouble (too many visits to the service center)

If this car survives till I retire I will get a smaller car that is easier to find parking for when I retire (as I wont have a chauffer then). The Camry is too big for the old, narrow roads and parking spaces in my part of town.

[arun_josie]

1) Wagonr Lxi (2006-2011), Hyderabad
Ownership/Kms: 5 years and 62K Kms(approx),
Reason for changing the car: Sold it as I felt a need for diesel car and also I didn't want to pay the road tax again in Bangalore as I relocated from Hyderabad - Bangalore

2) Dzire Zdi (2011-2014), Bangalore
Ownership/Kms: 2 Years and 9 months, 75K Kms,
Reason for changing the car: Met with an accident, details here

3) Linea MJD, this is my current car since feb 2014,
Ownership/Kms:3 years and 9 months, Current ODO is @ 1,41,000 Kms
No plans to replace this car

[Mtv]

I have a 2010 F10 525d and a 2012 Q5. Both cars are 7 and 5 years old respectively and have covered less that 10,000km each. They're both relatively fresh models as well and I have no intentions of selling either of them until they cover at least 50,000km. The current crop of cars in their respective segments don't offer much more than what my cars already do.

[abs182]

I have a thumb rule of sorts for selling my cars. Its either 7 years or 1 lac Kms which ever is later. Only exception was a Corolla which I kept for 11 yrs and 110000 Kms because the car was refusing to die and serving us exceptionally well. Recently sold my 7.5 yrs Honda City after 95k Kms reason being lower GC was making it difficult for the elders in the family to prefer the car. Given a choice would have kept the car for another couple of years.

[harishpr]

I'm on my 6th car in life, mostly due to some decisions taken in a jiffy.
2004-2009 : Maruti Zen VXI. The car I still miss a lot, it saw some of my life's best and worth moments. Took me to several new places. Had to part-away due to new additions in family. ODO when sold was 87k.

2009-2011: Tata Manza quadrajet ABS. The 1st big caaaaar and could shift my house - literally. It's unfortunate that I bought without knowing Tata's reputation (back then) and the car struggled with falling parts all the time. Plus, it almost broke my back due to bad suspension. ODO when sold was 22k.

2011-2012: Honda Civic VAT. My first venture in the 'used' car marked , and perhaps the last ! was a dream to run this with low slung posture and super looks. Within 6 months of buying, the CVT started acting cranky. Car was already out of warranty, and after several weeks of stay at service centre, was given an estimate of 4.5lakhs to replace the entire transmission.
A petrol head gave me the offer to take my civic in as-is condition and exchange with his Eon !

2012-2012 : Hyundai Eon. Was with me for just 6 months.

2012-2017 : Skoda yeti 4*4 Elegance. The best car I owned till that point. Brand new and loaded to grills. Enjoyed every kilometre of 45000 till I developed the hitch to upgrade.

2017 onwards - Toyota Fortuner 4*4.