High prices have people holding onto older cars

FORT MYERS, Fla. —

Car prices are through the roof. Whether you're looking for something new or used, get ready for some sticker shock. Some experts even say the $20,000 car is extinct.

"If you do your homework and you do your research, you can still find it out there. Is it as easy as it was ten years ago? Absolutely not," said Ben Bolling, lead technician at Legendary Automotive in Fort Myers.

High prices have some people, like Patricia Noe, holding onto older cars for longer. She drives a 2006 Subaru Forester, but now problems keep popping up.

"Yes, repeatedly as it's gotten older. But there's only 70,000 miles on it," Noe said.

According to Kelley Blue Book, as of January, the average asking price for a new car is $51,288. For a used car, it's $26,043.

"So a lot of people are saving money by keeping these older vehicles going," Bolling said.

But if you don't take care of your car, it could be a danger to you and everyone else on the road.

"There's totally some rolling time bombs driving around this area," said Jason LaBonte, lead technician at Legendary Corvette in Fort Myers.

Earlier this month, Charlotte County Public Safety posted a video of a car fire on I-75 that ended up causing a quarter-acre brush fire. Their post came with a reminder that you can prevent a disaster like this with routine maintenance.

"That's the only kind of thing that you can do as far as taking any type of preventative measures to keep yourself from getting into a, a catastrophic failure or, you know, an engine blowing up or a transmission going bad," Bolling said.

At both Legendary Automotive and Legendary Corvette, they said the key is having a reliable mechanic and staying on top of the basics.

"If they're checking your tires or checking your brakes and your fluids and you're keeping up with your maintenance, you shouldn't have any problems," LaBonte said.

They said you should never ignore strange sounds, smells, or lights popping up on your dashboard.

"Take this truck, for example," Bolling said as he worked on it. "It seemed to be running okay. But, you know, lo and behold, we get in there and diagnose and look into it. We're now going to be able to save this guy from having a catastrophic failure if he left it alone."

Florida is one of 13 states that doesn't require annual car inspections.

"It's really up to the owner of the vehicle to make sure that they keep up with their maintenance, keep their vehicles safe," LaBonte said.

For those holding onto old cars, he said it's important to know when to call it because the maintenance costs can start to add up quickly, too.

"I get my oil changes, but it's like something goes wrong, and then you get sticker shock and that's the hard part," Noe said.

LaBonte said ideally, you can keep your vehicle after it's paid off for the same amount of time that you were making payments on it.

"We urge our customers to keep their vehicles after they're paid off. I like to tell people that your vehicle's paid off, it doesn't owe you anything. There's a point in time where it gets to be too much. And a lot of times, my professional opinion, I'll sit down and say, hey, listen, you know, you've had a good run, but I think it's just time to stop putting money into this vehicle," LaBonte said.

But as long as it's running smoothly, old reliable may have some extra perks.

"It's got a sunroof and heated seats, and it's got a weather band radio, which I really like, and a regular radio and a CD player," Noe said.

Car prices are expected to stay high due to factors like lingering supply chain issues from the pandemic, inflation, increasing production costs, and a shift toward tech-heavy vehicles, according to Kelley Blue Book reports.

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