On average how long do you keep your car for?

[NormanC]

Current cars are:-

E350 CGI Cabrio bought in March 2016

Toyota Celica GT4 WRC bought in June 1998

Ford Escort Mexico bought new in August 1972

 

[JohnBell]

Ford pics required ASAP !

 

[Suky Sangha]

Well I normally keep a car for a year or two then start getting the itch to get another car, however I've had my Cls 55 AMG for 3.5 years now and have no intention of changing

 

[C280 Sport]

Longest I ever had a car was 1985 until 2007. It was a 1985 Mercedes 300SD W126. 168,000 Miles. No rust at all.

Shortest time I have ever owned a car was 2 weeks. A 2010 E550 4Matic Sedan W212. Bought it. Drove it home. Soon was hit and totaled.

 

[Edwards521]

As an snapshot, I've had 10 cars in the last 6 years (been driving 23 years), some at the same time, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Longest I kept a car is about 2 years, and shortest (my first and last Audi) 7 weeks. I have a feeling the C63 will be a keeper, and I'll just add more cars rather than sell it. It's the insurance faff/expense of having two cars that grates.

 

[leonatlarge]

I keep my daily drivers around two to four years depending on how much I like them.
I have a second car a Nissan Silvia s14a which I will keep for as long as I live.

 

[Huw 800S]

My longest was 25 years, my shortest, 8 weeks

 

[french]

My longest time was 3 yrs,TVR Cerbera, shortest not me but wife 40minutes from buying it to a write off on the way home !

 

[ianrandom]

After a certain point, forever! 2cv I still have after the best part of 20 years, W126 since 2008. It's selling them that I don't seem to want to do. I often want to buy them though!

 

[sambam2006]

Only keep my cars for a maximum 1 year to reduce depreciation and to enjoy newer cars of course .

CLS 55 (Bought for £13k, kept for a year and sold for £15k)
Audi A7 (bought for £22,400, kept for 6 months and sold for £21,800)
Mercedes CLS 2012 (bought for £23,500, kept for a year and sold for £22,500)

 

[uumode]

Only keep my cars for a maximum 1 year to reduce depreciation and to enjoy newer cars of course .

CLS 55 (Bought for £13k, kept for a year and sold for £15k)
Audi A7 (bought for £22,400, kept for 6 months and sold for £21,800)
Mercedes CLS 2012 (bought for £23,500, kept for a year and sold for £22,500)

Impressive

What's the key to choosing a car that can maintain it's value over the course of the year? £22-23k cars aren't particularly old cars and I would have expected depreciation levels higher than in say 10 year+ cars.

 

[SpoonJar]

This is now my third year with the merc. Previous car I had for 4 years and about the same again for the one before that.
Cars before them, about 1- 2 years.

 

[skip rat]

it depends what you buy and when, as to weather the value goes up or down,
i never lost much depreciation on a car

mini - 8 month (£75 sold for £90)
vw golf - 1 year
vw beatle - 2 year project, never got finished (free sold £600)
Renault 5 - 6 month
volvo 480 turbo - 2 year
1983 v8 LPG land rover 2 years
1967 chevrolet impala wagon
volvo v70 - 2014 present
1972 vw baywindow - 1995 - present (£750, current value £8000)
1984 w123 200T - a few weeks so far

 

[Alex225]

I've had my Megane 225 from new and that's from 2006. Had that the longest.

Shortest was probably my SAAB 9-3 which was about 6-7 months.

 

[markaz]

The C Class is my 40th car in 26 years of driving. Add in the 6 motorbikes and I must have a dedicated member of staff at DVLA!

 

[BIG UN]

As long as it takes me to retro fit everything to it.. & some

 

[maxypriest]

Thinking about it, we keep them till they die. I did sell my Super7, but the rest I scrap/part out/sell as projects. Motorbike wise I have sold them all apart from an old Ducati and a monkey bike witch has turned out to be 2 very good moves.

 

[maxypriest]

As long as it takes me to retro fit everything to it.. & some

Ohhhhhhh Alfetta. My father had a 2ltr one in the 1970's and it was wonderful. His boss had a 1.3 Marina and went through the roof when he found out what he had bought with his 'opt out of the company car scheme' money. Pure Jealousy.

 

[100%Bitch]

I know it's time to change when I get the urge to look on Autotrader.

 

[W124newbie]

My current car is the longest I've owned a car (10 years), before that had a MK2 Golf for 5 years that was a bit of a money pit. My Dad's had his W124 for 26 years.