[wilful]

Like SuperSyn said - two distinct lines of reasoning. Both have their merits as well.

To get best value, one must however buy a car model within 6-12 months of it being introduced, and then sell in 5~6 years, just before all new replacement is launched by the manufacturer.

Personally however, I would go along with this line of thinking - may not always be feasible though.

[tsk1979]

Around 90K is the ideal time to get rid of any car. But in reality it all depends on budget.

1. this is the time when you will definitely need new suspension
2. You may need new clutch(But with careful usage clutch can last 110K or more)
3. Rattles start creeping in
4. Many expensive replacements loom as components lead end of life.

For example for the past 25K kms, the repair cost for me has been above 1rs/km.
Even if I had a very reliable car with out of turn replacements , it would be 1rs/km +because around 100K you need to change lots of components in every car.

[mobike008]

completely with Tsk and a wonderful and logical list of reasoning. As the car grows older you need to spend more time and money on it to make it run-on. So ideally, even i would like to get rid of my car anywhere between 75K -100K km depending on my financials, tempatations, condition of the car ( major factor being amount of money i am spending on the car for maintenance) and not to mention that craving for that smell that you get from a brand new car as i never bought a second-hand car and will not in my life

[stable rock]

According to me ideal period to keep a car is 5 years or 75000kms.But most of us cant go according to this.Even though it is the ideal time period i never followed this, because i still have my 97 escort diesel with 1,74,xxx km with me because of some kind of attachment to it.In another case,I sold my 2005 Innova last year after using it for just 35,000kms because I got a good offer for it.Now i would like to use my magnum for at least 75000 km.Now it has already clocked 20K in 8 months.

[androdev]

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...your-cars.html

[sujaylahiri]

In North America, for domestics it's like 5 years/150,000 km. After that they depreciate quite a lot.

For imports, about 6-8 years or 230,000+ km.

Of course you do have the odd exception here and there. This Saab 900 has done 1,001,385 miles or about 1,600,000 km in 17 years, all from one owner.

Saab 900 passes one-million mile mark - Autoblog

And this guy has over 2 million miles on his Volvo P1800.
Two Million Miles in a Volvo P1800

Go Sweden!!

It really depends on what car you buy.
Generally the two great M's (Maruti and Mercedes) are kept for a longer period of time (say 8-10 yrs) , whereas other's are less likely to be retained for this long period.

[vkochar]

I would say till you get bored of it. If you love the car ( you got in your wedding ) you might keep it till your son / daughter gets married

In other cases if you buy a car and you do not like driving it, you might decide to sell it off within 6 months.

In India I have seen most people tend to sell it off before the 1 Lac mark. Don't know why but I have seen many do this.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by vkochar

I would say till you get bored of it. If you love the car ( you got in your wedding ) you might keep it till your son / daughter gets married

In other cases if you buy a car and you do not like driving it, you might decide to sell it off within 6 months.

In India I have seen most people tend to sell it off before the 1 Lac mark. Don't know why but I have seen many do this.

If you like a particular car and you have been using it for quite some time it is always better not to sell it.But it is all a subjective matter and depends on the personality of the owner. I would say that if you have kept/maintained a car like one of your pets,never sell it even if you buy another car,keep it in your garage/farm/estate as a museum piece.I know of a 1984 Maruti 800 which has done only 30000km to date and still in showroom condition with the interior still having the 'fresh smell' of a new car(someone has mentioned about this in this thread itself) .
by the way frequent use of a car deodorant will lead to loss of this fresh smell!

[1100D]

This question has quite a significance in todays environment. Not only from the perspective of, at what point the vehicle in question, starts to show problems, but at what point it would still hold value for the next owner. For example, if a certain car is said to create trouble after x yrs of ownership, there might not be a buyer for it. So adequate carrot should be shown to the prospective owner to wash one's hands off a modern masterpiece burdened with environmental laws like the ability of plastic, gaskets to be biodegradable.

As for us, we are generally keepers of our cars, but I doubt whether that would be possible with todays cars. They have so many things which are designed to degrade (on pretext of being environmentally friendly) that long-term ownership does become troublesome.

[sary]

Depends, if its a Indian make car like Maruti or Tata, i would use it for 5 to 6 years or 60000 to 80000 Kms.

If its a Korean / American make car, good idea would be to sell it off in 2 to 3 years or 45000 to 60000 Kms. As these cars give you great comfort only in begining of ownership!

I would rather bank on Japnese cars and specially the HONDA, than comes the Toyota, Nissan, Etc Etc. Beat these cars for 10 years plus or 5Lak Kms on odo and they still dont loose their shape !

[GTO]

As I have stated earlier in this thread, most modern cars will go well beyond 50K, work reliably and require only minimum maintainence. For instance....a Honda or a Toyota, which has been cared for according to the manufacturers recommended service schedules, should see 200K++ kilometers before requiring an upgrade.

It really depends on how you maintain your car and, of course, the car itself (exclude Mahindra, Tata etc.). If you want the latest, change your cars every 2 - 3 years. Average time that most people keep their cars is about 5 years. If you want to squeeze every drop of life out of your cars, keep them for 7+ years / 175,000+ kms.

I use my cars pretty much till they fall apart. Consider this, my Vtec has covered 60K, is bone stock reliable, fast and fuel-efficient. Is there any reason why I should sell it? There simply isn't a new car under 10 lakhs that will give me the same driving pleasure.

[Seran Manian]

GTO is right. Why should one sell a car that is fine in all respects? I am told that Japnese Petrol cars and Europian Diesel cars generally reliable. I had to switch my Indica at 60K plus as it started giving frequent troubles.

[mezereo]

we never had a car for more than 3 years. irrespective of the mileage, my family used to get rid of the car just before the 3 year mark. some how i managed to keep my OHC for a little longer than that. it had clocked just 70k in 3.5 years without any issues. i keep thinking, why did we get rid of the OHC so early. it was a wonderful car and nothing would replace it.
i think the right time to get rid of a car is when you are bored of it or it starts giving problems.

[wilful]

If its a Korean / American make car, good idea would be to sell it off in 2 to 3 years or 45000 to 60000 Kms. As these cars give you great comfort only in begining of ownership!

I am sure quite a few Santro/Accent owners would hotly dispute this statement. So would I because I have seen these vehicles performing brilliantly even after 7 to 8 years.