I bought my first car in 1996 when we both in a university in the US, Ford Taurus 1989. Original owner was an old, nice local lady, the 1st owner of the car, and her son was a mechanic.
The big, gray American car was like a close buddy of us, we drove it to New York, the first long trip ever in the US, picked up our first baby from hospital, .....never had any problem. I remember the biggest payment for it was $400 something for replacing brakes, a routine maintenance.
In the end, there was a little hole at the driver side door, and graduation was close, I at first negotiated with a dealer to a better deal to buy a new car, he asked for $200 to trade in, but I strongly believed it should be worth much more(!), so I refused the deal, give it free to a good friend who was still studying in the school.
So my suggestion: If you really like you current car, and at the same time, a new car is needed, send it as a gift to whoever needs a car as a start badly, but the pocket is still not that deep.
The big, gray American car was like a close buddy of us, we drove it to New York, the first long trip ever in the US, picked up our first baby from hospital, .....never had any problem. I remember the biggest payment for it was $400 something for replacing brakes, a routine maintenance.
In the end, there was a little hole at the driver side door, and graduation was close, I at first negotiated with a dealer to a better deal to buy a new car, he asked for $200 to trade in, but I strongly believed it should be worth much more(!), so I refused the deal, give it free to a good friend who was still studying in the school.
So my suggestion: If you really like you current car, and at the same time, a new car is needed, send it as a gift to whoever needs a car as a start badly, but the pocket is still not that deep.