Well, that might be true with cars, especially smaller cars. You can put a dime into a vehicle and it isnt worth a nickle more. I recently did this with my last truck, I had it 12 years and never had a lick of trouble until it went over 100,000 miles(First vehicle, I ever kept over that) then all this "stuff" went, cam position sensor, egr, cat converter, some other sensor, fuel tank straps, u joints, etc... about $3,000 in a year, but not all at once, but one after the other just the same, a slow bleed. Although it never let me down, it did on my wife, three times in a row, which was not good for my marridge. Nothing she could have possibly caused, the truck hated her, I guess. Anyway, after the last repair, I traded it while it was running good with no problems, it was still a sharp truck. I bought a eqivilent replacement, bigger cab, but basically the same truck, just 12 years newer, but to the tune of $35,000+, now if you think about that, how much money could you put in a truck, 12 years old before you put 35k in it. Kinda makes sense to keep and repair a pickup, the trade in would be awful, so to dump it after 200,000 miles is a total loss,so if you look at it that way, repairs although agrevating are cheaper then payments, not to mention insurance.