Vehicle Angst - LONG

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Vehicle Angst - LONG
12
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 3:45pm

Thought I'd check in with you ladies and see what thoughts you have. My car has been starting to fuss over the last few months and I am trying to decide what to do in terms of a new car vs fixing this one. A little background for those that don't 'know' me:

I am single, childless and work full time. I have no consumer debt but a bit over $40k in student loan debt and a pretty big house payment for a single income. I have a roommate currently and I'm not using any of that money to meet budgetary needs, just wants for the house and savings. I have at least 3 months of expenses in savings plus a good sized tax return from this year. My budget has breathing room and I don't track money very closely but close enough to know where things stand. My job is stable but I don't care for it and recently signed up for a job search group counseling 6 week session that starts next week. I did recently receive a raise for this year which was a pleasant surprise. That combined with my reduced income tax deduction leaves me up almost $200 per month in take home pay. I do save 10% for retirement and have finally gotten back to paying almost 2x my student loan payment each month. I have completely clean credit.

The car: 1999 Subaru Outback w/145k miles. Just put in about $1k about 6 weeks ago to replace the front axles and fix some fluid leaks. I thought this noise it has been making was the axle issue but low and behold, it's still there. It is very intermittent and yet very scary sounding noise. The mechanic could not reproduce the problem and said to wait until it gets worse. It's about the same a few weeks later. He did tell me that there was a tie-rod problem on one wheel that would be $300 or so to fix and that it will affect my tire wear if I don't fix it. The remote is totally broken also which is obviously just an annoyance but it's on the list of things I would fix if I would decide to keep it ($75). It does not leak oil and it runs fine, just makes this awful noise when turning at pretty slow speeds. The mechanic said it might be the tranny but I think he sort of has decided the car isn't worth fixing and he was trying to talk me out of fixing it by scaring me. It won't be going back to his shop regardless.

I could spend around $15-18k on a new to me car. I can work that into my budget and not really realize any big pain from that but I am concerned about pulling that trigger. The economy is hardly inspiring and the idea that I would be tying myself down to another big monthly bill when I want to consider changing jobs doesn't give me warm fuzzies. The thing is there isn't even a vehicle in that price range I can get very excited about owning so that isn't helping (well, it's helping if I'm trying to avoid buying LOL). I can get really excited about a Honda CRV that's closer to $25k but really can't get excited about the associated payment. I don't care for the old body style on the CRV so there isn't much on the used market in what I want.

I guess the right answer is to keep driving it until mystery noise allows itself to be diagnosed and make the decision then but it's bugging me. :) I would love to get a couple of years down the road without buying a car but at the same time, it's a pain to get it to the shop and all that crap plus who knows where the bleeding will stop money wise.

What do you all think?

Peg

PS) Sorry I wrote a novel! LOL

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 5:22pm

Some other considerations: how vital is your car to your daily life? What I trying to say is do you absolutely need it to get to work, get to the grocery store, and the hospital emergency room, whatever places are that you need to get to? Do you have friends you could rely on that could give you a ride in an emergency? Can you fall back on public transportation, or afford a rental car for a while if you car dies a sudden death?

I drove an old beat-up car for several years, but where I live I could either walk or take public transportation to work, and walk to the grocery store, and have a couple very nice neighbors that if I need to go to the doctor and my car is not working, they will certainly give me a ride. Not having a car for a few weeks would be nothing more than inconvenience.

If you could live with a not-so reliable car for a while, I would drive it to the ground, or at least wait a few more months. Even if you want to get a new car, once the 2010 models come out in the fall, you could easily save a couple thousand on a new 2009 model

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 5:26pm

I do need my car. I commute 2x per week 110+ miles round trip to work so it's pretty non-negotiable. I suppose if my new job that I haven't got yet happened to be very nearby I might be able to limp along but life in CO is pretty car dependent, especially in the winter. I could however easily afford to rent a car for a week or 2 if it really went down unexpectedly. I sort of fret about reduced trade-in value but in reality it's only worth about $1500 in good condition so that's probably not worth fretting about.

Thanks for your thoughts...

Peg

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2007
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 5:28pm

Peg,


It sounds like the current repair (or lack thereof!) hassles are what is pushing you toward a different vehicle.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 5:52pm

Depends on your tax bracket, if the trade-in value drops even more (i.e., if you do drive it till it dies), you may also consider donating it. A friend did that and the charity gave him a pretty generous receipt ... Just something to think about.

Best of luck on getting your new job!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2008
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 7:40pm

Peg,


I agree with Robyn...your car sounds like it is in decent condition, and just has some minor maintenance issues.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 7:50pm

I had several of those noises with the "dead" van I am driving till I buy another van from relative hopefully this weekend!


I will tell you if its the sound I heard the repair costs were pretty steep on my old aerostar.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Tue, 05-12-2009 - 11:56pm

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Well, it would depend on what it was. If it was a several hundred dollar repair, I'd fix it and hang tough but if it is a $3k+ tranny, it doesn't make sense to me to sink that into it when I could sink the money into a newer vehicle since I could qualify and afford the payment. I'm even hesitant to fix the tie rod since I am already feeling foolish for dropping the $1k on the axles.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!

Peg

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2008
Wed, 05-13-2009 - 2:18am

Hhhmmmm. Perhaps it's a combination of your mechanic and the area you live -- but my daughter drives a 96 subaru and had to replace

Avatar for 2locachicas
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Wed, 05-13-2009 - 11:25am

Well, if you do decide to buy something I would consider continuing to look for a CRV that is a better price. I looked at cars.com and found a 2009 with 20k miles on it for 20,900 asking. At a dealership in my area so safe...


I would keep driving the suburu but bank as much as you can towards a new car. And once the problems are discovered either keep it or you will have a car to sell/trade and money to put down to bring it down to your price range if it comes to that.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Wed, 05-13-2009 - 3:04pm

I might be the wrong one to ask, but I am not that fond of cars.




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