Maintaining vs Repaving

Choosing to protect asphalt surfaces with seal coating and crack sealing can double and perhaps triple the life of the asphalt at a fraction of repaving or overlay costs.

In fact, an estimate from the Asphalt Institute for the cost of an asphalt parking lot over a 15 year period for an unmaintained surface is $39.07 per square yard. On a regular maintenance program of seal coating every 3 years, the cost is $23.84 per square yard. In real terms, for a parking lot of 3,000 square yards, a savings of $45,690 over 15 years, or $3,046 per year will result. 


From www.contractors.com:

If repairs are needed on more than 25 percent of the surface, it is more cost-effective to do a hot mix asphalt resurfacing job over the entire driveway.  

If your driveway has been resurfaced several times with hot mix asphalt and keeps deteriorating prematurely, it is likely a problem with the foundation, and you should consider installing a whole new driveway. Likewise, if there are areas that have depressions or mounds, they should be completely reconstructed from the base. If you have several of these areas, a new driveway might make sense.