If you were going to potentially be selling your vehicle soon....

[yoopermom]

I'm currently driving a 2010 Subaru Forester, love it, have had Foresters for years, and have always driven them into the ground. Unfortunately, due to two past and two future foot/ankle surgeries, it's getting harder for me to be comfortable in it .

Now a week ago I slid off our driveway (thanks two inches of fresh wet snow), and the poor 'ru is in the shop getting a new front bumper, front drivers side panel and a new back bumper (yes we live on 40 acres of huge maples, and I managed to ding the front, then slide around and scrape the back, urgh). Luckily it's all cosmetic damage.

The shop just called and said that for $400 more out of pocket, they could "pop out" the dings/dents on the drivers side front and back doors (just normal wear and tear ones from 8 years of people opening their doors into it, shopping carts banging into it, etc, nothing outside the norm), and repaint them, so then I would basically have almost a brand new car cosmetically. I would have laughed off the suggestion, normally, since I don't care, too much, about "looks", but if I'm going to be selling it soon, would it be a good idea?

Subarus are good sellers in this area, hold their value well, even eight year old ones like mine. So would you spend the extra $400 or no?

Thanks!
Terri

 

[happily single]

If you are selling it privately I would do it. If you are trading it in don’t bother

 

[yoopermom]

I would definitely be selling it privately, good point, thank you.

Terri

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Yes. for $400 to get out the dings, it's a bargain.

 

[yoopermom]

Dings out and paint, so I guess it's not so bad, just a terrible time of year for extra cash, of course, with the holidays and all....

Terri

 

[_19disnA]

Try to take it to a repair shop the won't put your VIN # into a national database of repairs. Your insurance will go up now or with your next vehicle. Great way to save money on your insurance.

 

[tvguy]

Subarus are good sellers in this area, hold their value well, even eight year old ones like mine. So would you spend the extra $400 or no?

Thanks!
Terri

LOL, you mean it is ONLY 8 years old. We just traded in our family/vacation/weekend vehicle that we had 31 years. My car is 11 years old, my wife's car will be 19 in April.
You have a new car. Get the dents fixed and the car painted, I suspect it will increase the value by more than you paid. If it is that dinged up after only 8 years, it kind of indicates it hasn't had the best treatment, and you want it to look like it has been treated well.

 

[yoopermom]

Try to take it to a repair shop the won't put your VIN # into a national database of repairs. Your insurance will go up now or with your next vehicle. Great way to save money on your insurance.

Maybe I wasn't clear, sorry. Accident was called into insurance promptly, rate won't go up since they have 5 year accident forgiveness. What I'm debating is just an "add on" at personal cost to what the insurance is already paying for. I assume the shop is discounting it, at least somewhat, since they already have it in their ripped apart, paint ready, etc.

Terri

 

[yoopermom]

LOL, you mean it is ONLY 8 years old. We just traded in our family/vacation/weekend vehicle that we had 31 years. My car is 11 years old, my wife's car will be 19 in April.
You have a new car. Get the dents fixed and the car painted, I suspect it will increase the value by more than you paid. If it is that dinged up after only 8 years, it kind of indicates it hasn't had the best treatment, and you want it to look like it has been treated well.

Believe you me, tvguy, you and I are birds of a feather. When my last Subaru Forester threw a head gasket at 200K plus, we went to the local junkyard, found another one, dropped it in, and now DS is using it for his "winter" car. I figure he'll get at least another 100K out of it. And DH drove a Chevy truck up to almost 300K before, literally, burying it in the swamp in the state forest around the corner from us. I would NEVER even consider selling this car if I could bend my foot/ankle enough to get comfortable .

The little old lady (original owner) I bought it from lived in a large(r) city, and I would call these "parking lot" dings and dents. Also I drive 20 miles of gravel/dirt road to work each way every day, so pick up some there, too, I'm sure.

It's really quite clean, for being a yooper daily driver .

Terri

 

[smokeyblue]

I wouldn't bother. There's always someone up here willing to overpay for a Subaru. There would need to be some serious cosmetic problems to affect value. I will be selling mine come spring, dings and all!

 

[yoopermom]

I wouldn't bother. There's always someone up here willing to overpay for a Subaru. There would need to be some serious cosmetic problems to affect value. I will be selling mine come spring, dings and all!

And here's my fellow yooper chiming in . It's amazing how popular Subarus are in certain parts of the country. Up here they are almost a status symbol . I bought this one literally less than a month before I fell and started down the path of all these surgeries. If I would have known, I would have bought the bigger Outback, but live and learn....

Thanks for checking in!

Terri

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think the $400 would be well spent.

 

[MillauFr]

Yes everyone here has a Subaru. Most popular car on our street. I wouldn't get it fixed. I would just give the car away to charity rather than selling it.

 

[Klayfish]

First, 8 years old isn't new. tvguy may hold onto his cars forever, and that's great. But in the general public, while 8 years old isn't ancient, it's nowhere near new. It's a used car, getting close to the age of being a "beater". Still worth a decent chunk of change, but not a ton.

For $400, they are likely not going to do full body repair and repaint...at least not properly. More than likely what they're talking about doing is called Paintless Dent Repair, aka PDR. It's removal of small dings and dents using tools that sort of look like giant dentist picks. It's amazing what PDR can do, I'm a big fan of it. However, if your case unless the dents are horrible...or the car is black (which shows every little ding) I wouldn't bother.

You mentioned that you would have gotten something "bigger" like the Outback. The Outback isn't much bigger at all than the Forester. I'm presuming you're concerned about driver comfort. That will have almost nothing to do with physical vehicle size. The little Nissan Versa has plenty of front seat driver room for comfort. You'll really want to test out cars and sit in them...for a while. Then get in and out repeatedly. Find what's comfortable for you, the size of the outside of the car will be nearly irrelevant. SUVs can be pretty poor in the passenger space compartment, especially in the back (though that may not be as important to you). You can also look for cars where the drivers seat slides all the way back when you shut the engine off. It makes getting in and out easier. Once you're in, you can set your seat to however you're comfortable and save it as a memory setting.

 

[tvguy]

First, 8 years old isn't new. tvguy may hold onto his cars forever, and that's great. But in the general public, while 8 years old isn't ancient, it's nowhere near new. It's a used car, getting close to the age of being a "beater". Still worth a decent chunk of change, but not a ton.
.

Given some automakers now warranty their cars for 10 years, and offer 96 month financing, and the average age of a car in the U.S. is 12 years, it's still pretty new. I would expect any car made in the last 20 years to go 10 years without repairs (excluding oil changes, tires and brakes)

And yes, my oldest car is 53 years old.....but I bought it used.

 

[nkereina]

First, 8 years old isn't new. tvguy may hold onto his cars forever, and that's great. But in the general public, while 8 years old isn't ancient, it's nowhere near new. It's a used car, getting close to the age of being a "beater". Still worth a decent chunk of change, but not a ton.

Agree with this. If I'm in the market for a car and my budget only permits an 8 year old used vehicle, I'm none too concerned with dents. Regardless of the make. I'm more concerned with mileage and mechanical viability being an 8 year old car.

That said, I don't think $400 is a bad price for what they're offering. I just wouldn't put the money into it, personally.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Given some automakers now warranty their cars for 10 years, and offer 96 month financing, and the average age of a car in the U.S. is 12 years, it's still pretty new. I would expect any car made in the last 20 years to go 10 years without repairs (excluding oil changes, tires and brakes)

And yes, my oldest car is 53 years old.....but I bought it used.

But a warranty has nothing to do with a car having surface dings from parking lots, etc. I feel like it also has nothing to do with how well a person maintains their car as you stated above. Most little dings and things are not caused by the owner of the car, but by other people who are parked near them.

The OP is not trading in their 8 year old car because they think it is "old". They are trading it in because they are no longer able to drive it comfortably. So, I'm not sure exactly what the point of your bragging about the age of your cars is.

 

[Klayfish]

Given some automakers now warranty their cars for 10 years, and offer 96 month financing, and the average age of a car in the U.S. is 12 years, it's still pretty new. I would expect any car made in the last 20 years to go 10 years without repairs (excluding oil changes, tires and brakes)

And yes, my oldest car is 53 years old.....but I bought it used.

You are an outlier from the "norm". Most people would consider an 8 year old car well used...again, not ancient, but definitely used.

The warranty is nice, but I don't think it's completely realistic to expect even Honda/Toyota/Hyundai/Kia to go 10 years needing nothing but oil, tires and brakes. It might, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't. My 2010 Sedona is starting to need a few things...no big deal.

 

[tvguy]

But a warranty has nothing to do with a car having surface dings from parking lots, etc. I feel like it also has nothing to do with how well a person maintains their car as you stated above. Most little dings and things are not caused by the owner of the car, but by other people who are parked near them.

The OP is not trading in their 8 year old car because they think it is "old". They are trading it in because they are no longer able to drive it comfortably. So, I'm not sure exactly what the point of your bragging about the age of your cars is.

But it has value and service left in it, and a minor repair to the paint might boost the price it gets.

 

[tvguy]

You are an outlier from the "norm". Most people would consider an 8 year old car well used...again, not ancient, but definitely used.

The warranty is nice, but I don't think it's completely realistic to expect even Honda/Toyota/Hyundai/Kia to go 10 years needing nothing but oil, tires and brakes. It might, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't. My 2010 Sedona is starting to need a few things...no big deal.

Of course it's used, but not used up. With the average person keeping a car 12 years, and then a car getting sold to someone else and driven lord knows how long after that, 8 years is a pup. Looks like 2010 Forester is going for $12,000 around here, so there is a LOT of cash value left in the car that could be applied to a more comfortable car. We aren't talking a $700 beater