This Old Car

As you might have guessed, I'm an advocate of buying used cars, letting the other guy take the hit on depreciation. My daily driver is a 1995 model, which I acquired in late '96 for less than ten grand. At this point, I budget about a thousand a year for repairs and maintenance, and usually come in under budget. Now it's got some kind of issue involving intermittent leaking coolant. Great. I brought it to the shop when I first saw the problem, their pressure testing confirmed the radiator was ok, so they replaced all the hoses and clamps. Came in under 200 bucks - but a week later, it's leaking again, just a puddle smaller than a compact disc, and not every day, in the morning under the radiator. Very frustrating, but highlights the trick to the used car game - at some point you have to move on.

I'm not making that call just yet, but I am at 120k miles, and may need to figure out whether the time is near....