[Abhiram]

Hello all,
I wanted to understand the process everyone else goes through once they decide to upgrade or switch their cars/bikes. How do you manage to overcome your sentimental attachment to your current vehicle?

Here’s what i go through on a monthly basis:

Step 1: Tell myself that i’ve had my current ride for 7 years and that the second hand market is a seller’s market now and ergo, the smart and responsible thing to do is to sell now and buy a new car.

Step 2: Start making a shortlist of all the candidates I am interested in.

Step 3: Watch youtube videos and read team bhp threads on the cars that I zero in on.

Step 4: Decide on the one.

Step 5: Look up the best dealership.

Step 6: Think of all the sites I can list my current car on before booking a new car.

Step 7: Get all emotional about my current car, see the photos of me bringing it home, arriving at my marriage, trips I've taken etc etc.

Final step: Throw out my plans and promise myself to finally fix that one dent on my car and give her more TLC going forward.

Repeat.

Does anyone else fall in ntp the same loop? How do you break it?

[mygodbole]

If you love it, let it go.

If it returns, it was always yours.

If not, it never was yours. Move on, pal.

Sorry if that sounds rude, but been there and done that.

[itsmeparvathy9]

If it isn't giving you problems and is getting you around fairly well enough, maybe you should keep it, otherwise if it is giving you a hard time with repairs and maintenance and related costs, it is time for it to go.
Moreover, how many kilometres have you driven it? if it's still in excellent condition, hang on to it for a couple of years more.
If it's too dated and you really need the new car, there are a plethora of options to choose from, choose one that caters best to your needs. Once you get behind the wheel of a new car on a test drive and fall in love with it, it makes it much easier to let go of your old one.

[ajayc123]

Maybe, you could look for a family or friend to take/buy your existing vehicle once you get your new one. Hopefully, emotional aspect could be taken care to some extent, versus selling to a stranger via a portal.

[Abhiram]

Looking at the responses so far, looks like im a lot less practical than the majority here.

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

If it isn't giving you problems and is getting you around fairly well enough, maybe you should keep it, otherwise if it is giving you a hard time with repairs and maintenance and related costs, it is time for it to go.
Moreover, how many kilometres have you driven it? if it's still in excellent condition, hang on to it for a couple of years more.
If it's too dated and you really need the new car, there are a plethora of options to choose from, choose one that caters best to your needs. Once you get behind the wheel of a new car on a test drive and fall in love with it, it makes it much easier to let go of your old one.

Its in excellent condition and does not give any problems.

However, my wife is now really enjoying driving as well and wants to drive on our roadtrips but my car(which we use for long roadtrips) is a manual which she cant drive and i refuse to use her car(qwid) for highway runs for safety and comfort reasons.

I also want to switch to electric.

[GTO]

I don't get really sentimental about any of my cars, other than the '97 Jeep. Typically use them until they are ~10 years old, and then it's time to switch. Sure, the farewell is painful and there are so many memories attached to your personal car, but more than that, I'm really looking forward to the upgrade .

I typically decide on my next car 2 - 4 years in advance. Easy to do as a pre-worshipped car fan because the model is already on sale and odds are, I've driven it. Yes, I already know what I'm buying next by 2023-24.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by Abhiram

Looking at the responses so far, looks like im a lot less practical than the majority here.


Its in excellent condition and does not give any problems.

However, my wife is now really enjoying driving as well and wants to drive on our roadtrips but my car(which we use for long roadtrips) is a manual which she cant drive and i refuse to use her car(qwid) for highway runs for safety and comfort reasons.

I also want to switch to electric.

Automatics are the always better now considering the ever-growing traffic and sheer convenience. Electric is an option, but I wouldn't recommend the same as of now for long trips due to the limited range most EVs come with as well as the non-abundance of charging stations, maybe a couple of years down the line, EVs may be a better option, not at the moment though.

As far as your next car goes, have you defined your budget and other features you are looking for, that would make it much easier to choose.

[DicKy]

If you have stopped giving the car TLC and are doing only basic maintenance, with no plans or daydreaming whatsoever to restore/ deep maintain it, you have already lost half the sentimental attachment for it.

Personally, it is hard to let go. But once you hand over the keys and see it go away or move away from it, a deep sigh or a single tear will suffice. Ofcourse, for a few months your heart may jump whenever you see another car of the exact spec/colour as yours, but once you like and get used to your new car, the lost feeling goes away replaced with warm feelings of nostalgia.

[ashis89]

Buy a replacement first.

Once the new one is in, your attention gravitates to the new car and the old one will have further step motherly treatment. That makes it easy to let go. Been there done that a few times.

PS: Things might be tricky if you have an appetite to hold on to both the cars and you will be tempted to retain the old one as well. Although in such cases, the old one mostly remains under utilised.

PPS: I still miss my old rides and sometimes feel "What if I had not sold it?". But the rides are gone and hence, these thoughts subside soon.

[BrokenHW]

I can totally relate to OP since I sold my car few days back. The whole process of selling the car on spinny took about a weeks time and i will be honest here that we as a family were attached to the car since it was our first car.
When the D day arrived i was cranky and my son was about to cry bidding farewell.
We were looking forward to welcome new car (pre-worshipped) So we were excited to welcome the new car into our home and we are trying to move on now.

[anjan_c2007]

For me there's no letting go. It has always been a one way traffic. Enter into the spider web of my ownership list. You are cared for, parked well driven regularly, maintained well and papers are kept upto date. There's no question of parting company with any of these.

Someone asks me to lend for a few days and I say NO because this one is my heart, there that's my one lung, that one there my second lung, there this is my kidney and this one's my liver, that's my one eye, this one's my second eye and that one's engine sound is music to my left ear while that one's engine sound is music to my right ear. That perhaps describes each machine I own.

No car or two wheeler has ever been sold by me right from the time I bought my first two wheels, a TVS-50 in 1983. All my two and four wheelers have threads and are documented on teambhp.

The oldest in my garage is a 1955 car, while the newest one as of now is from 2009. Archaic by the standards of many fellow bhpians.

[Gypsian]

Mate, don't let it go if your truly attached to the respective thing be it automobile or any other property. We realise their importance only when they are parted or lost forever. Nevertheless with the scrap policy round the corner, we are all put in a dilemma of what to and what not to do.

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Abhiram

I wanted to understand the process everyone else goes through once they decide to upgrade or switch their cars/bikes. How do you manage to overcome your sentimental attachment to your current vehicle?

Once you have "decided" to move on with the upgrade, I guess you are there already halfway. And this decision is fueled by what you want, what you aspire for, what you (and/or family) yearn for! This is a fairly quantitative thought-process and is relatively straightforward, IMHO. There is so much information available to compare, to consider etc. that you will be spoilt for choice.

The other part of the decision, that is letting go of your current ride - the sentimental part - this can get quite difficult! There is no formula or process which can define or decipher it.

We upgraded our car about 3 months ago, and when it was actually time to give it away, felt as if one of our family members was departing. My kiddo was so attached that she insisted I take few pics of her with the car as a fond remembrance.
But then, time is the best healer. All of us have moved on.

[PrasunBannerjee]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Buy a replacement first.

...

PS: Things might be tricky if you have an appetite to hold on to both the cars and you will be tempted to retain the old one as well. Although in such cases, the old one mostly remains under utilised.

Not really car but its totally relatable with my bike. My first bike is literally standing still since March 2020, not even an inch moved and has developed lot of issues, even lock has jammed. Its still hard sentimentally to let it go even when I have other vehicles for daily chores and highway runs which are used always.

So at times even if you get a replacement first before letting go, if you are sentimental enough with

Originally Posted by GTO

I don't get really sentimental about any of my cars, other than the '97 Jeep.

I won't be sentimental with my current vehicles that much, compared to sentimental connect with vehicles I've owned early in life, specially my first bike and first car. That too when I'm less of a bike person and more of a car person, since childhood. With passage of time and switching vehicles more often the sentimental quotient decreases and logical/practical thinking increases.

[TejasKinger]

This thread couldn't have come at a better time. It has been less than half an hour since I let go of my current ride, and I'm honestly not taking this too well.

I thought I might have been in a better place to handle this, but clearly not. Probably because it was my first car and first cars always have a special place in our hearts.

That said, I'm sure this is temporary. The waiting period for my upgrade has been so long that I'm sure I'll get over the feeling when I'm at the dealership for the PDI.



Till then, so long farewell, and thanks for all the fish.

I'll post a completely uneventful 8-year, 45,000-kilometer update in the official Grand i10 review thread shortly.