Replace Your Engine Or Buy A New Vehicle?

The most expensive component of a vehicle to repair is the engine block. If you don’t have a warranty that covers your repairs you may find yourself facing thousands of dollars in repair bills to fix your vehicle. The average cost of replacing a 4 cylinder engine is roughly $4500 and if you have more cylinders the price will go up from there. You’re now facing the decision of whether or not to buy a new car or fix the existing vehicle that you have. It can be a tough choice to make, but there are items to weigh out in your decision. 

Things To Consider In Your Decision

• How much the vehicle is worth 
• How much it will cost to completely repair the vehicle (for the engine and anything else that may be wrong)
• How well maintained the rest of the car is
• If the car holds any value to you outside of monetarily 

There are benefits to replacing the engine in your car over scrapping it entirely. It can be cost efficient and environmentally friendly. On the other foot, you could be putting a lot of money into a car you probably shouldn’t. 

Evaluating Your Vehicle’s Worth

This has nothing to do with how much you think your car is worth or what you paid for the vehicle. How much is it honestly worth? You can find the answer to this by using a non biased 3rd party value estimator like Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds. Find out the value with the damage and as the car currently is to know how much you can sell it for. You should also find out how much the car is worth with a new engine put into it. 

Get Estimates On Repair Damage

The next piece of the “is it worth it?” equation is calling around for estimates on how much it will cost you to replace the engine. If anything else is broken on the vehicle that is causing mechanical failure you should get quotes for these items as well. You want to know how much it is going to cost you to get the vehicle back up and running. 

How Well Maintained Is The Rest Of The Vehicle

In some odd cases, an engine will just crap out on a vehicle. In most cases, however, the engine breaks due to old age or poor maintenance routines. If you’ve been diligent in taking care of the vehicle you probably have a better shot at repairing the car and not having your money wasted. If you don’t know how the car has been maintained, get it to a mechanic that you trust and have the car inspected. They won’t be able to tell you everything, but they will have a decent idea of if the car is worth repairing or not. 

Sentimental Value

If this vehicle is important to you in a way that cannot be replicated by a new car, you may want to consider repairing the vehicle. No one can put a price on sentimental value so you need to evaluate how important it is that you keep this car. 

Reasons To Get Rid Of Your Car

There are reasons to keep your car and others to say goodbye. Ultimately the right choice is going to be the one most applicable to your situation and the decision is entirely up to you. Here are a few great reasons to wish your car fair well and either sell it or scrap it. 

You Hate Your Car

If you’ve been looking for a reason to say goodbye to your vehicle, this is it! The only reason to put this much time and money into replacing an engine block in your vehicle is financial. By fixing your car, you may be able to get extra money selling it that outweighs what you spent. The other financial reason is that it can be far cheaper to fix an existing car that is in good shape than it is to buy something new. 

The Car Doesn’t Have Much Life Left, Even With A New Engine

If your car is on the way out, there is no reason to put a fresh engine in it. You may as well be dumping money down a toilet, because you will not get a return on investment by putting a new engine in a beater car. 

Instead of fixing your existing car, consider scrapping or selling it and utilizing this money as well as the cash you would have spent on repairs to buy yourself something new. 

The Cost Outweighs The Worth

You’ve taken the time to price out how much it will cost you to make the repairs to the vehicle and you’ve also sought out 3rd party data on what the fair value of the car is when it is running properly. Remember that your opinions on the car have nothing to do with either of these numbers. If the numbers aren’t matching up and you’re not going to get a return on the investment of putting in a new engine it isn’t worth doing.

If the car is at the end of its life, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a buyer for it. Sometimes you just have to be honest that the car isn’t worth fixing and cut your losses. 

You Can Still Sell The Car

The best option for you if you aren’t going to fix your vehicle is to sell it. Someone will likely still want to purchase it even if just to scrap it out for parts. At some point it will cost you money to rid yourself of the vehicle so it’s best to get some money out of it before this occurs. 

Reasons You Should Replace Your Engine

There are a few reasons to take the time and financial investment and fix the car. 

It Is Cost Efficient

If the car still has life in it, you’re usually better off fixing the car and continuing to use it. Yes, you can go out and buy a used car for under $5000 but you could be setting yourself up to buy another money pit. If you have confirmed with the mechanic that other than the engine the car is in good working order, you should think long and hard about getting it fixed. Remember the cost of taxes, tag and title when you buy a new car can be up to 20% of the cars purchase price. By keeping your existing car you avoid paying these fees to the government. 

It Is Environmentally Friendly

If you replace the engine, instead of scrapping the car there can be environmental benefits. The concept of reuse I’m sure isn’t lost on you and the energy cost of making a new vehicle is high. There are limitations to this like if your older vehicle sucks down fuel or is also having exhaust issues causing it to pollute more.

Never Get Yourself Into Debt Over Car Repairs Again

Car repairs can be absurdly expensive, and you can expect those unexpected repairs before too long no matter what vehicle you drive. 

If you have to replace the engine block it could cost you more than $10,000. 

Depending on your vehicle it could cost you thousands of dollars to make repairs to components like the transmission and suspension. 

If that seems absurd to you, luckily you aren’t alone.

A vehicle service contract from Protect My Car can help cover the cost of these excessive repairs. In fact, you could pay as little as $100 dollars for that $5,000 engine replacement.

Yes, you heard that right.

For less that the cost of a cup of coffee each day, you can get coverage for:

• Steering
• Suspension
• Engine
• Transmission
• A/C and Heating
• Navigation and Electronics
• …and so much more.

When you walk into the repair shop with a coverage plan from PMC, you can rest assured that you will never pay for these repairs listed here. You pay a $100 deductible, just like insurance and we pay the rest.

Does that sound like a fair deal to you?

If it does, just fill out the form below for a free quote, and see how great it can be to never have to pay for car repairs ever again.