Ask an expert

Hi,

have had bad news that my car ( 2005 Kia Carnival ) has major rust issues which have been estimated to cost anywhere between from $ 1000 upwards to more than what the car is worth. This is due to the location of the rust being such that they will not know how much work is required until they get started (internal, structural ).

However, the car is only 10 years old ( we bought it new), and has only approx 60 K on the clock...A quick search on trademe has shown the value for same car (but with more Km's on the clock) to be around $4000..

Have you any suggestions on how we can determine whether it is worth repairing or whether this is the time to bite the bullet and buy another car ?

Thanks !

Hi there,
I would think about what the vehicle would be worth to sell as it is before repair.
You may get $1000-$1500? So you walk away $2500-$3000 out of pocket. And still need to spend at least 5k to get a replacement. If you spend $1000-$2000 on it, then you may have a vehicle worth $4k+ and then you give yourself more time to then sell and upgrade.

Many thanks for the quick reply - and good suggestions. You have also managed to answer my next question of what could I reasonably expect to get should I try and sell it in its current state before I asked it !