 Assessing the value of your car can be done several different ways with correspondingly different conclusions. The most common way of putting value on a car is to determine what it would sell for. Seems logical, but if you've ever sold a car involuntarily to an insurance company, you know that your car is worth more money to you than you receive. You would likely have to spend quite a bit extra to replace it.
We suggest you use a few criteria to evaluate a car's value to you. Start with these questions:
1. Do you like the car? If you hate your car, life's too short to keep it. If you love your car, on the other hand, that's worth a lot.
2. Does your car fit your needs? Not exactly the same question. If you are totally dependent on your car, the standards of reliability are higher than if you drive locally and have some flexibility in your schedule; you may need to have more invested in the purchase price of the car. If the car is for your child to use, gas mileage may be less important than safety. If your back feels good in your car's driver's seat, that's worth a lot. If you need to transport a sports team to games, the number of seats is probably more important than other factors, although you still need to make it to the event safely with your players. If you drive to BART and park, then drive home, you don't want to have too much invested in your car. It still needs to start, and it needs to have a hood that doesn't open easily so that your battery won't be stolen.
3. Do you need to wait a year or more to replace your car? Then in the meantime, the car needs to work for you.
4. Do you have the feeling that at any time your car may let you down. Time for a new feeling with a different car or for an investment in reliability beyond just fixing what's broken.
5. Seat heaters double the value of your car.
Feel free to call to discuss the big picture with us. Our goal is to help make your transportation situation as pleasant as possible and to provide you and your family with safe, reliable transportation.
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