Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The $2K Car Repair

The good news is we finally have the car back. The bad news is that it cost just over $2000.

We paid for half of it and charged the other half. It just kills me. But I don't know what we could have done differently in this case. Well, maybe we could have done the tie rod end a month or 6 weeks ago because that's when I first heard it. That was about $250 out of the bill. But the cooling system problem? There hadn't been any sign of the car overheating prior to a week ago when it just about redlined on a 15 minute drive.

The toughest thing is that we just can't function without a car. DC has to be taken to and picked up from school 5 days per week. I go back & forth to work, a total of 8 round trips to the office per week because of my split schedule. Hubby's been biking since his office moved but I'm still waiting to see how that works when the weather turns really nasty. That's not even counting groceries because I usually get them on the way home from work. And then there are our trips to our rural home. I've taken the Greyhound (the driver actually let me out across the highway from our back gate) but it's not even cheaper than the cost of gas when only one person goes and it would be crazy for us all to bus there.

I'm relieved that the car is fixed, but there's still an unresolved problem that will be at least another $600 and I'm worried that there will be more repairs in the future. The car is 7 years old, after all, and we put a lot of mileage on it.

Tomorrow night is Kol Nidre, the beginning of Yom Kippur and the fast ends Thursday night after dark. This is an intense day coming up and all I can pray is that what happened with the car will somehow turn out to be for the good.

I may or may not post tomorrow before sundown, but then won't be back until Thursday night. G'mar chatimah tova! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year (in the Book of Life).

3 comments:

Unknown said...

We just got a car back today. It's 11 years old with 205K on it. Most would probably have traded it in long ago, but we've been without car payments for so long (at least 10 years) that we don't want to go back. Had an emergency fund that allowed us to pay cash for the $750 repair bill. Even though it stinks having to cough up the $$, it's still better than a car payment any day!

Shevy said...

So true. Even with the obscene amount we had to pay for the repair, that's still only 4 months of car payments. (When we were paying on this car, it was $505/month.)

I'm sure glad I don't have to try to come up with that money on a monthly basis at this point!

Rina said...

Car problems are the worst. Thankfully there's no monthly payment!

When I first met Papa Bear, he had a new truck that was costing him nearly $400 a month. Ack!

I think vehicles are grossly overpriced!!!