Car Repair WWYD?

[ESF]

Two years ago, we bought a shitty car for $2800. (2002 Oldsmobile Alero) It had about 120,000 miles on it.

It's our only car. We park it on the street in our so-so neighborhood. We've had both a hubcap stolen and the cover to our gas tank. The trees on our street shed a lot of gross pollen and sticky leaves, so it's always dirty.

We've put about 15k miles on it. For 7 months, my husband was commuting about 20 miles a day to work. His office moved, and he's able to take public transportation. I don't commute. We mostly just drive it locally to the gym or grocery store, maybe go somewhere an hour away about once a month, and longer 3-6 hour road trips maybe 2-3 times a year.

We've spent about $1000 in repairs since then - new tires and new brakes last summer.

It now needs $2900 worth of repairs - more than we paid for it. The repair shop is a good one (4.5 stars on yelp with tons of reviews). They said we can probably get another 100,000 miles out if it once these repairs are made.

Would you buy another car or repair this one?

[rubytue]

I'd get a second estimate, but would lean toward repair. Only bc you basically need a beater for errands.

We have a 10 year old car for DH's work vehicle. It needs about $1500-2000 of work per year. But that's still less than a car payment. We will probably drive it until the engine goes, which I expect about 200-250k miles. It's only at 165k now.

[ESF]

Aug 16, 2012 15:55:09 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I'd get a second estimate, but would lean toward repair. Only bc you basically need a beater for errands.

We have a 10 year old car for DH's work vehicle. It needs about $1500-2000 of work per year. But that's still less than a car payment. We will probably drive it until the engine goes, which I expect about 200-250k miles. It's only at 165k now.

This is a good way of looking at it. We're leaning towards repair because we run the risk of expensive repairs with just about any car we'd consider buying, considering we have to park on the street in our neighborhood.

But I want to make sure I'm not completely insane for sinking this kind of cash into a car in this situation.

[mrs.spunky]

I would get another estimate, but if it comes in over $2k, I wouldn't repair it.

I would see if the mechanic will give you cash for it, then use that (even if it is a few hundred dollars) towards something else. I can't see many cars (besides a Honda, Toyota, Nissan, or a very well-maintained German model) lasting another 100k miles. At the rate you are going, that is another 7 years. The body will probably rust out before then

ETA: I am saying this as a person who kept a car "alive" about 4 years after I should have, in order to avoid a car payment. The little $300 repairs every few months easily added up to this one-time cost you're facing.

[ESF]

Thanks! We've decided on the repairs, under the reasoning that the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.