Forest Hill's Jeff Judge in CNBC: The car repair decision most people get wrong

By Jeff Judge, CFP®, AEP®, ChFC®, CLU®, Managing Partner, Chesapeake Financial Planners, Forest Hill, MD.

When a big repair bill arrives, most people ask the wrong question. They compare the cost of the repair to a new monthly car payment. That comparison will steer you wrong almost every time.

CNBC asked me about this recently, and my answer was straightforward: if you're still making payments on a vehicle, you're not comparing payment to payment. You're comparing total cost to total cost. Repair history, projected maintenance, insurance costs, remaining loan balance, trade-in equity, and the full financing picture on a replacement. The whole thing.

For a paid-off vehicle, the calculation simplifies. A paid-off car has one job: cost less than replacing it. The day it can no longer do that, the decision is made for you.

For Harford County residents in or near retirement, this question comes up more than you might think. A new car payment is a fixed monthly draw on cash flow. That draw competes with healthcare costs, travel, and a retirement income plan that was built around a different set of fixed expenses. One repair bill framed in isolation can push people into a decision that creates friction they weren't expecting.

The practical step: before reacting to a single repair bill, add up the past year of repair and maintenance costs, estimate what the vehicle is likely to need, and compare that to the honest total cost of a replacement. It takes an hour. It is worth it.

This piece builds on "How to know when it's time to replace your car," in CNBC (June 2026)

Jeff Judge, CFP®, AEP®, ChFC®, CLU®, is Managing Partner at Chesapeake Financial Planners in Forest Hill, MD. Book an intro call.