<prompt> Human: Good morning guys, long time lurker first time poster.I am 28 years old, living in Wilmington, NC. My primary income is about 123,000 from my job. I also have another 50k-60k in freelance income yearly.I have very little basically 0 debt on my credit cards, because I pay off every month. I have a Bank of America credit card with a 15,000 limit and an American Express card with 35,000 limit which I just received.I also have a mortgage with Wells Fargo. I bought my house in 2012 for 160,000. I put roughly 50,000 down so my outstanding principal is around 107,000 at 3.5.In my savings, I have roughly 23,000 set aside, and I average about 5,000 in my checking account.My big monthly bills are my child support, 2,500 and my mortgage which is about 625 after taxesinsurancePMI.I have a 2006 Chevy HHR that has been paid off for many years. In the last two years I have spent several thousand dollars repairing it. It feels like major thinks keep happening. I recently took it to the dealership for a few vehicle recalls and they informed me of some major things, such as needing an alignment, tie-rod ends, ball-joints, brakes all around, tires, power steering assist electric motor, and a whole myriad of things. When it was all said and done, it was quoted starting at 5k and could potentially go up from there depending on if they uncovered anything else during the process. Knowing that dealers often are more expensive than the average typical shop I took it to a couple local shops and asked for just an inspection and general maintenance checklist review. They all came back with the same or very similar lists as the dealership, and within a few hundred dollars on the figure, so I feel like the dealership was pretty spot on not out to get me.I was thinking about purchasing a new, or slightly used certified pre-owned vehicle, and just getting rid of this vehicle, or parking it in the garage as an emergency backup loaner vehicle.But, at the same time, I am pretty cheap. My thoughts about a new vehicle are:1 -- I already own a vehicle2 -- What happens if god forbid, I lose my job or become disabled?3 -- If I do get a vehicle, how do I pay for it?I have decent credit I think, and a stable job, so I am not super worried about getting a loan, or paying for it. I applied online at lendingtree.com and got matched with about 12 or 13 different lenders, Capital One, Chrystler Finance, etc.My initial thoughtsquestions are does it make sense to spend the 5,000 and repair the vehicle? It has about 220k miles on it, all mine. Ive replaced the engine already, so that isnt how many miles are on this engine, but are on the remainder of the components. If I were to spread that 5k out monthly, its about 400 month payment.If this is the standard and this vehicle costs 400 to maintain it, does it make sense to keep it, when a newer vehicle might only cost 250-350 per month excluding insurance ?As I mentioned above, I have two kids who I get every other weekend. During the week I am also hauling them to sports and other functions. So my motivation for leaning towards a new vehicle is not for vanity reasons or keeping up with the Jones, but more towards safety and making sure we are not stuck on the side of the road out of town.My AMEX card I just received as I mentioned has a semi-high limit, and 0 for the first 15 months. Does it make sense to really work over a car salesman to get the best deal, and then put the entire amount on the card and blitz it out before the interest kicks in? Looking at new KIA and Fiats in the 16k-23k rangeOr, do I take some savingschecking maybe 5,000 and put it down on that and use one of my pre-approved auto loans? They are all right around 1.9-2.3, etc. I also do not want to deplete my savings in the process either.Reddit, sorry for the long post, but I thought you guys should have a general background incase the standard answer doesnt apply.Please help me from making the wrong decision!Thanks!EditJust looked at Kelly Blue book and this car has a 1,500 value to a dealer, and 2,300 to a private seller.  <response>: Buy a new car. This may be hated on but you make enough money to do so comfortable. It also gives you several years of repair free driving, which I say is more valuable than you think. With fixing the vehicle for 5k that basically means the car is now worth 5k to your checkbook but wont be to anyone else. It also sounds like you drive alot if you already have over 200k miles. What is to say something else wont need to be fixed next month and there goes another 500. 