Raoul

$1,200 for routine maintenance?
I think it depends on who is coughing up the 12 large.
If it is you, do as you wish.

If your parents are expected to foot the bill well, he who controls the purse strings.....

goldfish

Keep the car.
Nothing beats a paid off car. 1200 thats about a 100 per month car payment for a year unless you can find a car payment that low. I budget 100 per month towards my car, maintenance, accessories etc. as long as I stay within that then there is no need to consider a change.
Also factor in registration and insurance fees, newer cars would cost more.

lexina

x2^, unless the maintenance cost is as much as a new payment for another car.

rlx101

calculate how much more you will pay for insurance for new car, down payment and monthly payments for first year. i bet it will be like 5K and up for first year vs. 1K to keep this one going. whatever you do - keep this one in decent shape and you will ALWAYS sell it for good $$$, there is always demand for RX's.

artbuc

I was shocked to discover that insurance for my 2010 Acura MDX is less than my 1999 RX300. Comprehensive and collision are much higher, but liability is much lower.

jbl-1985

Not sure how young your drivers are, but I pay $180 per year, no collision or comp, and 250/500/100 liability for my '99.

artbuc

Wife, 58 and yours truly, 61. You have alot of exposure without collision on your 99. I got over 12k for my 99 when it was totalled a couple months ago.

jbl-1985

You are certainly correct but one has to make chioces these days, and apply comp and collision to the vehicles that are worth the most, and in my case, it is the Prius and the RX330. Not paying the extra comp and collision on two additional vehicles over a handfull of years affords you the ability to hoard those funds away to a little self insurance pool, for what its worth, should I need it for my 300.

my .02-

JBL

P.S. the Prius premiums are MORE than the RX330's...go figure.

artbuc

I hear ya! You can put yourself in the poorhouse buying insurance. I had a $15k deductible on my homeowners and people thought I was nuts. My philosophy is to buy as little as you can and get the biggest deductible you can. I was getting close to dropping the comp/collision on our RX. I didn't realize that insurance companies base their settlement on retail value which is almost twice what I thought they would do.