[vortalexfan]

Greetings everyone, in 2018 or thereabouts I had bought a 2003 Subaru Forester that when I got it, it had 125,000 miles on it and the body was mint (no rust or anything on it, as it originally came from Pennsylvania where they don't use salt on the roads in the winter.)

Well fast-forward to 2023, the car is now 20 years old, it has 155,000 miles on it, and going through several rough Indiana winters where we use salt on the roads to treat the roads in the winter, the car has some rust developing on the passenger side rear fender/wheelwell area, the door seals are all but shot (although it was like that when I got it.)
The frame has at least 2 spots where the frame is rusting through/failing and the evaporator/vapor-lock portion of the car's fuel system has at least 2 leaks in it, and to properly repair it will be at least $700 or more in just labor costs because to repair it, the whole back end has to be dropped in order to get to the fuel tank to repair one of the leaks and the car isn't even worth what its going to cost to fix it up properly.
BTW the fuel system issue is causing gas fumes to leak into the cabin of the car via the HVAC vents in the car's cabin, and the only way to "solve" that issue was to keep my gas cap loose.

As far as the frame damage goes, none of the body shops in my area are willing to do that kind of repair work because of liability reasons.

My parents want me to keep driving the vehicle even though its possibly a safety hazard, just because I just recently bought new tires for it (I bought them before I found out about the fuel system issue and the frame issues.)

My question is, should I keep driving the car until it literally falls apart (even if its a safety liability, or should I cut my losses and just buy a different vehicle?