I don't doubt that there's a "bespoke market" in auto parts for restoration. I'm talking about getting cheap parts to keep a 20-year-old Toyota Camry or Ford truck going.

Just before I sold it last year, I replaced the front bank camshaft position sensor in my 2004 V-6 Nissan Altima. The part cost $12.

Our 2004 Toyota Sienna required a "new" rear differential. Cost us more than the book value of the vehicle, but well worth it. Had to hunt down a part at a junkyard. We had two mechanics pricing it out, and one turned out to be several hundred dollars less than the other, as they shopped it around in multiple states and had the part shipped to them.

We looked at buying new, but this is our kayak-mobile. With rear seats down, middle seats out, we can throw our two kayaks in the back and not worry about putting them on top of the van. New Siennas no longer can take the middle seats out, totally ruining the utility of the vehicle, which has moved us multiple times and used many times for trips to the builder supply store for full sheets of drywall for renovations. In addition, we live in a state with a personal property tax for vehicles, and a new $50K vehicle would cost us about $2K/year in taxes alone. That of course would depreciate with the vehicle, but no thanks.

IP