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My car just came from the inspection with a nice long list of repairs that have to be done to pass the main inspection for security (Hauptuntersuchung). The repairs sum up to something between 1500€ if only the absolut minimum is done up to 4000€ in the worst case for all (optional) repairs. The car is a Golf 5 from 2005 with nearly 220000 km and probably around 1500€-2000€.

From a financial viewpoint, is it wise to invest in the full repairs, only repair what is necessary, or buy a used car (2-5 years old, 50000-100000km, 8000€-10000€) and sell the old one, provided the funds are readily available?

Lehue
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    Does a car have to pass inspection to be sold? – mkennedy Jan 13 '20 at 20:34
  • I think not necessarily. There are enough used car dealerships that world pay some bucks for it – Lehue Jan 13 '20 at 20:36
  • There have been a handful of similar questions. If you look at the sidebar to the right, there will be a list under a heading of Related - these are questions that the SE system has automatically found as related. Are any of them of use to you? Is there anything unique in your situation that isn't covered in those related questions? – dwizum Jan 13 '20 at 20:45
  • Here are some of the related questions in case you can't see them: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/46057/advice-to-decide-on-buying-a-newer-model-used-car-or-old-one?rq=1 https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/46925/new-car-vs-used-how-to-compare-value?rq=1 https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/60983/keep-spending-money-fixing-an-old-car-or-buy-new-car?rq=1 – dwizum Jan 13 '20 at 20:45
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    @dwizum I found the last question, it is probably similar enough to close this question as a dublicate, though it seems the car in the question could run for some time longer. The other two seem to focus on buying (new vs used), but in my case it's more like investing in the car already there vs buying a used one. – Lehue Jan 13 '20 at 20:59
  • Financially the math is the same - if the car after repairs is worth more than the car is now plus the cost of repairs, then it should be repaired. Otherwise it should be sold and a different car bought. – D Stanley Jan 13 '20 at 21:02
  • @DStanley yes,I guess it does – Lehue Jan 13 '20 at 21:11
  • At that mileage the most efficient repair would be to put-in a rebuilt engine and transmission. Or many car makes do offer a new long-block engine but pricing is competitive between different retailers. – S Spring Jan 13 '20 at 21:19
  • @SSpring the engine is not the problem, more like the parts connected to the axis and tires (sorry, I really don't know car part names in English...) – Lehue Jan 13 '20 at 21:22
  • If the car needs suspension overhaul then I've added to the likely needs of the car. The car probably has replaceable hub assemblies but there are also ball-joints, tie-rod ends, and bushings. – S Spring Jan 13 '20 at 21:33
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    Once was told by an inspector they distinguish between werterhaltenden and wertsteigernden repairs. When you decide in favour of the 1500 EUR repairs, the car is not worth more money. Look on mobile.de or the like how much the car is worth and then decide if it's worth to invest 1500 EUR or even more. – Bernhard Döbler Jan 13 '20 at 22:47

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