I believe the decision to keep an older vehicle a lot of times comes down to whether or not you do your own wrenching. When you do your own wrenching, you'll do the motor swap, or trans swap because you're not paying high labor rates. When you have to pay the labor for big jobs like this, and then you figure out how much the vehicle is worth, that's when non-wrenchers will just throw in the towel and junk it.

When I think of all the things I've done to my 98 4runner, I would be into it more than double if I had to pay the going labor rates around me. My girlfriend has a little BMW Z3 Convertible Roadster. She bought the thing for around $7500 from a friend. I pleaded with her not to buy it but she did. I've replaced the front struts on it. I had to replace the water pump. Her reverse shift fork went bad and I took it to a friends place who has a lift and we pulled the trans, he rebuilt it for me and then we put the trans back in. The most recent repair was a starter replacement and I amazed myself that I was able to get the freaking thing out. There was lots of cursing involved but I was successful.

Out of curiosity, I called a couple BMW dealerships in my area, the Bay Area of California. One dealership quoted me around $1400 for the job. Another one quoted me $1200. Their labor rates were $220/hour and $240/hour. I got the starter online for $200 and basically saved my girlfriend $1000 - $1200. My local Toyota dealer charges $200/hour for labor. The labor rates are insane in my area. No doubt, if I was a dick and didn't help my girlfriend out, she would have either junked the vehicle by now or have a lot less money in the bank. The transmission fix alone probably saved her $3,000-$4000.

After a few costly repairs at a dealership, I could see people saying screw it and they'd rather put that money towards a new vehicle even though they are now going to have a car payment.