To Sell or Not to Sell

[SimonJ]

So here is my situation.

My girlfriend's dad retired from working at ford and they gave him voucher for a new car worth $35 000. He can't drive and gave the voucher to my gf. So we got a new fully loaded 2012 ford focus instead of a larger model car with no added features. The catch was we had to pay the tax. So we ended up paying about $6000 for this car. We also got the extended warranty and maintenance plan good to 150 000 km and have 4 good quality winter tires on rims. Here it is but ours is not hatchback.

http://wwwa.autotrader.ca/a/Ford/Focus/ ... rp=1&urm=8

The plan was to sell this car at some point to make some money off it. That's why we opted for all the extras. Now we are just reaching the 100 000 km mark with almost all highway kms. There are a few scratches on the interior and exterior, but overall in excellent condition. Maintained regularly with the maintenance plan.

It looks like we could get a good $13 000 - $16 000 if we sold soon. Being still under warranty is key to selling I think.

We will need to buy a good reliable car, as our living situation requires one. I am thinking sell the focus for about $15 000 and buy a good quality mid 2000's honda civic type car for under $5000. These cars seem to hold value and are relatively easy to maintain. We could then go down the road of putting 40 000 km on the car and then selling it again for about the price we paid and repeat. Some hassle here, but also money to be saved.

Or maybe we just keep this car, take care of it and drive it until it dies? The problem I see here is in the future maintenance of the car after the warranty is over. There are lots of bells and whistles which could go wrong and cost to fix. The car also has "nice" rims which require expensive replacement tires. There are however many ford focus cars on the road, so it might not be too expensive to maintain given all the available parts.

As far as I see it, the best thing is probably to sell soon, buy a used car and make about $10 000 off the focus. An extra $10 000 is always sweet

Any thoughts?

[WYOGO]

With a vehicle that is new and assuming it has been meticulously maintained and has a remaining warranty, I struggle to see the value in replacing it for the headache someone else is trying to offload. Assuming you need a car at all and that the car meets your needs, I would keep the vehicle and meticulously maintain it as it is already an economoy level car. There is something to be said about knowing where every mile came from. You are better off with this vehcle and 2-3 problem free years than exchanging it for an older car with no warranty on the brink of expensive repairs.

You could always sell the rims and tires and go with smaller steel wheels to reduce operating cost.
You could also get a cheaper newer car like a Kia Rio or entry level Hyundai with a longer warranty for probably a wash.

The option selected does depend on your financial situation. If you own the car and have ample resources, there is greater flexibility in the choices you make. If the operating costs including licensing, registration and insurance are vastly different, you may need to make the change.

[Dragline]

If you need a car and the one you have works well, I would probably just keep it. American makes are funny because they do all of their depreciating right away. Some of them are just poorly constructed and things start breaking. But if you have a "good" one, it will probably last as long as any Honda. I have an 11 year old Mercury that runs great, but the accessories die about one a year. Windshield wiper pump went recently. Air conditioning control unit broke last year, but I was glee-full when I found a couple YouTube videos about how to fix it with just some o-rings. Did that, put some new freon in and it was good to go.

The risk is buying another car is that you don't know its potential problems like you know your own.

Part of the equation is whether you are mechanically inclined, If you are, the risk of buying a different car with problems is lessened.

[SimonJ]

Thanks for the input guys.

With a vehicle that is new and assuming it has been meticulously maintained and has a remaining warranty, I struggle to see the value in replacing it for the headache someone else is trying to offload.

Assuming you need a car at all and that the car meets your needs, I would keep the vehicle and meticulously maintain it as it is already an economoy level car. There is something to be said about knowing where every mile came from. You are better off with this vehcle and 2-3 problem free years than exchanging it for an older car with no warranty on the brink of expensive repairs.

I see what you are saying here and this is one of the reasons I am still up in the air as to what to do. But I could be fairly certain the used car I buy would not just be a headache car on the brink of expensive repairs. People sell perfectly good cars for many reasons and I think if I watched the market I could get a good quality car that could easily go 2+ years repair free. My dad has been buying 15 year old accords and driving them for about 5 years with no major repairs for a while now.

[SimonJ]

But if you have a "good" one, it will probably last as long as any Honda. I have an 11 year old Mercury that runs great, but the accessories die about one a year.


The risk is buying another car is that you don't know its potential problems like you know your own.

Part of the equation is whether you are mechanically inclined, If you are, the risk of buying a different car with problems is lessened.

I'm not so sure I have a "good" one. There have been some issues regarding the clutch/transmission which were dealt with under the warranty. Ford has done something different with these cars in this space by putting in a manual transmission and running it with a computer. I'm not sure how long they have been doing this, but I think it is a new "improvement". I am a little leery when it comes to companies making changes to a major component like this and it being one of the first models with the change. If something goes wrong in this space it is a pretty major repair.

I am not very mechanically inclined, but an trying to learn. I have not had much of a chance to learn much past oil change and break jobs. I do have some friends who I am learning some things from, but with a new car under warranty I rarely get the chance. I do think if I got the repair manual for a car I would be able to fix a fair number of things with some minor help/guidance from friends. I am good at learning, following instructions and fixing things in general.

The Focus we own now is totally paid for and we aren't hurting for money, but don't have a large stash either. One major factor in this whole thing is the extra 8-10 thousand dollars we could have by "downgrading".

Anyway, keep the thoughts coming, it is helping me think it through. Thanks guys.

[SimonJ]

Maybe I drive the car for another 2 years and wait until the warranty is almost up at 150 000km and then sell. Right now online 2010 focus' are selling from 7-10 thousand with around 150 000km. 2012 focus' with around 100 000km are selling for 13-15 thousand. So that's about $5000 for two more problem free warranty years of driving the current car.

Or I trade those two years for a somewhat of a gamble of a car which will probably still function quite well and should be easier/cheaper to fix when the time does eventually come. Plus I get an extra about $5000.

I'm on the right track here figuring this stuff out right? I am fairly new to car buying and selling as I never had a car after moving out from my parents before my gf came around.

[JamesR]

I took a look at the used car market in ontario and it seems hard to find a car for anywhere near $5k with low mileage & similar fuel efficiency as a ford focus. In fact I had trouble finding anything lower than $10k. So I guess you'd have to be willing to keep an eye out for a good deal and you might only expect to make $4-5k off the difference. It might not be worth the hassle.


Some links that might be useful:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/04/ ... -used-car/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/ ... rt-people/
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a- ... people%27/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/ ... omment-209 (Looks like it makes sense to do your calculations based on cents per km to judge the value)

[JL13]

However you acquired the car = sunk cost. The used car market is not fun, and having owned your car since new you've got some piece of mind you'll never find in the used car market. While it does seem possible to net a few thousand off of the deal, It seems like a gamble to me. Don't forget about sales tax and new registration fees.

I tried downgrading a year or two ago and changed my mind, now I just bike more.

[iceet]

I like to ride em until they die myself. My car has 240k miles and is going strong.

[Chris]

Being still under warranty is key to selling I think.

I think you're right, but are you sure the warranty is transferable? If not, then it's only really worth something if you end up keeping the car.