When does a car become a beater

I snowed here last night so I decided to take my 04 Jeep Liberty to work this morning. When I went to turn on the radio I noticed the display had failed. This got me to thinking "Is this thing really a beater now?" A little history on it, bought it approx 5 years ago for a toad for the 35' Winne we had. 225000 miles, no visible rust, the only non functioning item was the rear wiper. Fast forward to today rust on all the door bottoms and around the rear window, An SES light for the charcoal canister, a drivers side seatbelt that the button does nat always return, a knob missing from the radio and now the display non functional, and 241000 miles. It always starts no matter how long it sits (2 weeks max), no blue smoke out of it and the AC still blew cold last summer. So thoughts on what constitutes a beater?

When you find rust you know will eventually become terminal.

Pretty much everything else can be fixed or replaced cheaper than buying something else.

A car becomes a beater when you can't sell it for what you would pay for it.

When you don't really care about it, but it runs, and you have so little invested in it that it makes more sense to keep it around and drive it than it does to sell it.

Or becomes a beater when the owner stops caring for it. Ive resurrected plenty of cars from "beater" status. 

It is a beater when you only fix the items that you NEED to fix to safely/legally drive it. Exhaust leak? Nope. O2 sensor? Only if you need it to pass emissions. Brake pads? Yeah, those'll get replaced without question. 

Any car becomes a beater if you let my dad borrow it for a week. Don't know how he manages, but he can kill any car.

An 04 Liberty became a beater around 2005.

I think "beater" status is achieved when a minor collision / fender bender would send it to the junkyard.

Beater: noun /BEET-ur/ [derivative - to beat on (or upon)] - an automobile for which the owner does not perceive need for collision and comprehensive insurance coverage.  See also - jalopy.

Everything is relative - my current beater is a pretty nice car by most standards.

I think it's a relative thing.  My truck would probably be qualified as a beater by many, but despite the fact that my annual insurance payments (no collision, no tickets) would buy another one of the same quality level I dont think it is.  At the same time when I worked as a service writer I met people that legitimately didn't care about cars and would treat 2 year old mid-level sedans as beaters.  To them it was a tool and nothing more.

Also, if this thread was in reference to the back and forth in the winter beater thread, a winter beater is different from a beater-beater.  At least I would say so.

What do I know, though.  I'm a Floridian

When you only do the minimum to keep it running and don't give a berk about Rust, dents, etc.

Or

When Filling the gas tank doubles it's value.

Once I own it for a year. Possibly less. Possibly significantly less.

But vehicles are like hammers to me. Keeping one "nice" is not something I want to spend my time or money on. Though keeping it mostly functional/safe are kinda important if I expect to see highway miles with it. 

In reply to zordak :

Approximately 3.2 milliseconds after I buy it...

"The crappy car you drive so you can restore the same exact model of that crappy car to your idea of perfection."

See, also: Answer to the question, "Why do you own TWO Volkswagens?"

When the little stuff that is wrong with the car does not bother you.

Headliner a bit loose?   Bah.

Drivers door sticks when it is in the 20's?  It's not cold now.

Paint faded?  It will buff out.  (No, it won't)

Right front speaker intermittent?  Crank the volume up then down and it starts working. 

 I did fix the windshield wiper switch, ok?

As said before, it's a beater when you fix safety items and otherwise have no plans to fix or improve anything else.

 

Then the beater becomes a leaver.  You "leave" the car on the side of the road.  
 

Back before computers guys would have a screwdriver in the glovebox and take off the plates when it fatally broke down.   No need to waste money on a tow. 

Its a beater when you beat on it and don't care. Sadly some cars roll off the lot as beaters.

When you can afford to lose it. That doesn't mean a billionaire's 9th Porsche is a beater, because the billionaire still expects a return when the car is sold. My roommates Corolla is only a few years old and he bought it new, but it's a beater because he doesn't take care of it and he would not flinch at buying another if it were written off. My Miata is 20 years old and badly hail damaged, but not a beater because I rely on it every day. When I get another car the Miata will gain beater status.

when you start beating on it...

On a slightly related note, there was a sale ad here the other day that described the car as a "southern car", but was located in Maine.

At what point can you no longer call a car a "southern car"?

In reply to JohnInKansas :

As soon as it goes north of the Mason-Dixon Line???

JohnInKansas said:

On a slightly related note, there was a sale ad here the other day that described the car as a "southern car", but was located in Maine.

At what point can you no longer call a car a "southern car"?

Our friends in Quebec and Newfoundland would call Maine southern . 

In case you think i'm kidding, growing up in Maine, our friends from the north would descend on the beaches in the summertime to swim in the tropic 55°F ocean .

A car is a beater when it isn't worth even doing an oil change on, just drive it until it stops moving, leave the title on the windshield, and walk away.