How many years from the date a car is made to the time in which it is officially old & prone to falling apart?

Question

How long is reasonable to consider a car worry free of repairs?

And how long until the car is considered old enough to start to fall apart?

Answer 1

Most of the car manufactures have it figured out within the year of things starting to go wrong.  Example:  When you purchase a new car, the normal warranty is 36 months or 36,000 miles, which ever comes first.  After the 36 months are up, unfortunately you are the warranty.  The dealers always try to sell you an extended warranty and research  proves the extended warranty isn't worth the extra money that you pay for it.  Usually, anything major that will go wrong with a new car will happen within the first 12 months which is covered under the manufacturers warranty anyway.  I believe KIA has the longest factory warranty of 100,000 miles.  You won't find an American car manufacturer anywhere near that amount of time to guarantee a car.

Answer 2

there is no set time when i car is considered old or not in need of repairs, its solely has to do with how well taken care of the car is, if it is garage kept, never driven on snow and only gets driven at a comfortable speed then your car will last a very long time.

On the other hand if you leave your car out in all sorts of conditions then hope in it, slam the gas and peel around corners at 60, your car is going to die veeerrryyyyy quickly.

Note: you should always take your car in for sceduled maitenence no matter how nice you are to it.

Answer 3

Right after it leaves the lot without proper maintenance.  

Answer 4

Your car is mostly worry free of repairs until the date your car runs out of warranty. After this time, the dealership you bought the car from activates some unknown device that slowly brings your car to an agonizing and painful slow death unless you cough up thousands of dollars to keep it breathing.

Answer 5

A car can have mechanical problems anytime, but my mechanic said as a general rule, when buying a used car to get one at about 10 yrs old because it will significantly drop in value.  You might start seeing more mechanical problems at that age too though.  He did recomend a standard as they stand up better, parts are heavier and stronger, longer lasting.