A good mechanic can be a blessing or a curse. A good mechanic can keep an old car running forever. Vince sees that as a blessing. For me, I’m wanting to get rid of the 20 year old Honda, so I see it as a curse. The mechanic said “It’s worth keeping!” You know that you can phrase a question to get most any answer you want and Vince is a master at phrasing questions that result in answers that cost him less money.
Vince hasn’t gotten an estimate yet for the damage caused by the tire. He wanted the mechanic here to go over the engine and make sure the car isn’t about to fall apart before he does the body work, which will have to be done before it passes inspection.
Based on the cost of fixing my car last time we hit a deer, my guess is at least $2,000 in body repair; add $700 for five new tires and a new rim. I haven’t heard the estimate for the engine repairs but the timing belt needs to be changed again, the water pump needs to be replaced. It needs brakes and shocks. I’m thinking $3,000 so that’s close to $6,000. The value of the car is between $4,000 and $5,000.
I wouldn’t put more money into a car than the value of the car but Vince looks at like this: He knows the car. He knows the history. We save by not having full coverage insurance. In MO, we pay taxes on or vehicles each year based on value. We’ve spent a lot on this house with the house in Texas not even on the market yet, so we don’t need to be buying a car right now. I understand his point and I’m thankful that, if he’s going to keep it, he’s willing to have everything fixed. Then again, he’s going to spend this much on it so he isn’t going to be willing to get rid of it for at least five years probably.
Some days I don’t understand his thinking but he probably never understands my thinking so I guess somehow there’s balance.
One reason that will probably have me wanting to keep our old cars is that as we’ve been considering different vehicles, so few have full size spare tires and quite a few really have no spare at all. Call me old fashioned, or stubborn, but I’m just not willing to drive a car that doesn’t have a spare tire. The next generation of drivers will probably think it’s absurd that the “old folks” carried a spare tire around with them. We stopped using the popular road service company because of the amount of time it takes them to respond in town! Out on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, I’d better have a tent and sleeping bag! I can’t imagine being on the side of the road and having to wait for a service to arrive with the right size tire for your car. No matter how new your tires are, short of the no flat tires (which I’ve never seen that weren’t loud), and they really can have a flat, there just aren’t any guarantees that you won’t have a flat. There are so many ways to damage a tire. I was really concerned about Vince driving 8+ more hours Sunday without a spare and to think . . some people are doing it all the time. In my opinion, that’s one of the things car makers have done to save money, save space, and reduce the weight of the vehicle to meet fuel standards and I’m not sure it’s a compromise I’d ever be able to live with so . . I guess I’m thankful for the good mechanic who can keep our vehicles running forever.
Marcille says
I couldn’t agree more with you on the whole spare tire thing. Nowadays if you get a spare tire, it’s a donut and you are only supposed to drive a few miles on it. No thank you, I want my full sized spare tire.
Judy Laquidara says
Exactly. It was Sunday Vince had the blowout that ruined the rim. There was no place to buy a rim so he had to finish the trip (8 – 9 hours) on the spare. He would had to have spent the night in a hotel (with Boots) if he hadn’t had a real spare.
Elle says
Vehicle changes: always the conundrum on how best to spend the $. A great mechanic is invaluable. My sister ran a Suburban forever (2 kids and lots of outdoor mountain activity). The mechanic finally said, “you need to let this die. I’ll fix it if you want me to but really…..” She had 217k miles on that sucker!!!!
My new (5yo) car has run flats. It is strange to not have a spare tire. Fortunately in my 44 years of driving, I have never had to put a spare on!!!!
Best of luck with the decision that is right for you 🙂
Jill McCaughey says
Judy, have you looked into putting deer whistles on your vehicles to help keep the roadside animals at bay? They are cheap, fit inside the grille, make no noise that people can hear, but most of all, they work! We have saved many collisions with deer by having the whistles, the deer stop before running into your car—-just a suggestion from someone who know they work!
As for run flat tires, we have them, they got us home when we ran over a piece of rebar near Lake Louise, Alberta, though we had to drive slowly, and a lot of people honked at us because we slowed down traffic, but we were safe.
Judy Laquidara says
I have talked to way too many people who have hit deer and have the whistles. Vince put them on the pickup and a deer ran smack dab into him one day after he had the whistle on it. We’ve had run flats and they were noisy. They may have improved them since we had them but considering I’ve been driving 50 years and never had a flat except when I was at home and the tire went flat after I got home, I’m not going to invest in those. The blowout Vince had would have happened even with run flats – it was obviously a defective tire and the tire company may pay for the damages to his car.
Joyce says
My boss just had to spend a couple thousand on repairs to his 18-year old Honda. (Not their only car). His opinion is if a vehicle has $1000.00 or less per year of repair work (not regular maintenance) then he will keep it. Since he just got it repaired, he has to keep it 2 more years (to keep with his standard.) Unless you buy cars outright (without a car loan), the cheapest car is the one you already have. I try to keep them for a minimum of 10 years, and after that as long as they are dependable. If they are constantly breaking down, I don’t want that headache! Good luck with whatever you decide. 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
We have never had one of our current cars break down. The Honda is 20 years old and other than the timing chain fixed about 10 years ago, it has had nothing other than tires. Mine is 13 years old and it has never had anything done to it other than the timing chain. We’ve done routine maintenance, of course – batteries, oil changes, tires, etc.
Thinking about it, a new car would be nice but with the record these two have, they’re probably better than most new cars in the long run.
Donna M says
I feel your pain. I just had to replace the water pump and thermostat in my 2007 car. It always something.
Judy Laquidara says
It really does seem to be but Vince’s car is 20 years old, has 160K miles and we’ve had the timing chain replaced once. Nothing else ever done to it – no brakes replaced, no a/c worked on . . nothing so I guess spending a few thousand dollars on it and keeping it makes sense. My car is a 2007 and I’ve never had anything done to it except the timing chain. I know it needs new shocks so once we get Vince’s car all put back together, I’ll get my shocks changed.
Joy says
My husband always wants to get rid of a car when something goes wrong. I look at it as Vince does. We know the car, we know what has been repaired and what the general maintenance costs are. Most importantly for me going into winter is that I know how our current vehicle handles on snow and slick roads. I also prefer an actual tire for a spare. We live in the boonies with little to no cell service, so having a real tire is a necessity.
Judy Laquidara says
Exactly! I hadn’t even thought of that! What if you don’t have cell service, or what if for some reason cell phones aren’t working and everyone driving has no spare tire. To me, that’s just crazy.
Dru says
I bought a car one time where the spare it came with was a donut. I paid for a full-sized spare instead. Don’t know if that can be done these days.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s what we were asking and most you cannot because there’s no place to put it.
Nelle Coursey says
We looked at buying a new Jeep but when we looked, there was nothing to compare to our 2016. We like it, we know it and we have kept the service up on it. So we decided to keep it. It has a lot of bells and whistles some of the newer ones do not. I know we could get a great trade in for it, but I think it is a good car and it has served us well. And if you have your own mechanic in the house that makes it even better. But there does come a time when you should go ahead and bite the bullet. Right now used cars are at a premium and they really want to sell the new ones! You could get a 2019 or 2020 that is brand new and get a great discount on it.
Judy Laquidara says
We just don’t need a new car. The extent of our driving is probably going to be 45 miles to Chad’s house. In MO, we have to pay taxes on the value of the vehicle each year, plus insurance is more on a newer car. And, if there’s nothing out there with a full size spare tire, we may never get a new car. It doesn’t make sense to me to spend that much money and get less vehicle.
Susan says
I used to think that way too, until our state passed the “hands free” law. There are so many new safety features in the cars these days. My kids were after me to get something safer to drive (for someone my age). So my 16 yr old SUV needed to go. I must say it was a good decision. I realized my neck doesn’t rotate as far as it used to along with several other factors like the GPS (through the phone) in the dash that I can speak the address without touching the phone. But I miss my old car, we put a lot of miles in together.