There may come a time during the life of your car when you think it should be replaced. There are several signs you should look for that indicate that it is time to buy a new car.

One of these is the cost of maintaining your car. You need to ask yourself, “what’s my car worth?” and if you find that it is costing you more on repairs and maintenance than it is worth, you should look into buying a new car.

Another cost that you should examine closely is the amount of money you are spending on gasoline. Fuel prices are rather high these days and newer cars use gas and oil more efficiently. In addition, there are hybrids or electric cars that can run on the power of electric motors at low speeds and get excellent gas mileage in city driving. If you find yourself frequently filling up at the gas station, you might want to consider buying a car with better gas mileage.

Another sign that it might be wise to buy a new car is if there is a cloud of thick black smoke coming from the rear of your car when you accelerate. This means that your car is burning gas and that other parts of the engine may be failing. This black smoke causes pollution of the air. It may also be dangerous for those driving behind you who could be blinded by that smoke coming from your exhaust pipe.

Continuing to fix and repair an old and damaged car may lead you to think about what car valuation is and if it is time to get a new car for both economic and safety reasons.