White Allen Chevrolet, nestled in Dayton, Ohio, opened back in 1935. Their marketing efforts have sure changed over the years. As someone living in 2025 might guess, they’ve got an Instagram and TikTok presence, too. The dealership posts helpful videos about all manner of car shopping and buying. This tip’s straight from a mechanic in the service department.

How to figure out whether to keep or sell your car

Now, for the most part, if you have a reputable used car, it’s usually cheaper to just keep it. However, at a certain point, the tides turn.

First, take a look at your service records from the last two years.

Add them all up. “You can take out your oil filter changes because it doesn’t matter if it’s new or used,” the veteran mechanic explains. “You got to change oil on it.”

Now, divide the total amount you’ve spent on maintenance and repairs by 24. This gives you a monthly average for ownership costs.

“If it’s close to a new car payment, it’s time to get a new car.”

Okay, you’ve got the formula. But here I come with my two cents…

The average new car payment is $729

So, if you’ve spent $17,496 maintaining your used car, sure, you’ve got the green light. But for most of us, we’ll quit a car well before spending that.

For instance, a brake job is like, what, $400? Maybe more (it’s been a minute since I’ve written an estimate). Tires are maybe $600. If you don’t have a $500 car payment, spending $1,000 to $1,500 in a year ain’t bad enough to go finance something else.

Back-to-back severe mechanical failures might justify getting rid of your car, which is definitely where the above formula works.

Still, certain catastrophic repairs don’t mean it’s better to walk. Take, for instance, a family member’s recent headache. They drive a 2012 GMC SUV. Recently, it stopped shifting. While a local shop quoted more than $6,000 for a replacement transmission, they decided to get a second opinion and called me.

For those new to my background, I worked at my dad’s shop for more than a decade before looking for a full-time role in automotive media. The family member ended up towing the GMC all the way to our facility. Turns out it was a broken connection to the transmission control module.

Here’s the kicker: the family member told me that they figured that even if they needed to shell out six grand to get the GMC back on the road, they’d rather do that than look into spending $50,000 on a new car. In my mind, they weren’t wrong.

Now, say your car is stranding you or creating unsafe situations with seemingly no end to the struggles in sight. Go ahead and sell it to someone who knows what they’re getting, or send it out to pasture. Just understand the full scope of ownership costs for whatever car you land next.