Automobiles have become an integral part of our lives in modern era. The advantages of owning a car is definitely a highly flexible movement and a mode of transportation that is not easily substituted by other cheaper alternative means. Your car allows a certain freedom of movement, that other means of transport do not.
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Back in the old days people used to switch cars after quite a long period of time. The tenure of ownership consisted of several years sometimes even going past a decade. With simple and robust engineering, old cars were long-lasting and literally would go several thousand kilometers without breaking up. With simple engineering there were lesser things which could go wrong hence people often were able to fix their own cars in their garage and thus used to keep them for several years.
As the time progressed, the automakers in order to make cars better, safer & fuel efficient started using complex technologies which made it difficult for people as well as the common mechanics to deal with them. Modern cars have complex engineering and are loaded with a number of electronic gizmos, although general maintenance remains easy, the repair is considered expensive.
For example, if you talk about cars from the 80s or early 90s, it was easier to rebuild the engine once it’s done past a few hundred thousand kilometers. This is not the case with cars that were produced in late 90s or 2000s. Engines with variable valve timing, dual & sequential ignition etc cannot be overhauled by a common mechanic. In most of the cases its easier for you to swap the engine of these newer cars instead of rebuilding one. And same goes with the transmission.
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These days people generally tend to sell their cars in a shorter span of time compared to the cars of yesteryear. This is also due to the fact that in recent times car financing has made it a lot easier to buy a new car as compared to past when it was considered difficult to buy a brand new car & people preferred keeping their old ones.
How long do you keep a car before selling it off? Let us know with your feedback.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
