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True. Dealer ($tealer) may indeed want to charge that, but, post up in your local forum and find a good independent shop. You should be looking at about half what the dealer wants, for work just as good. I am not sure the FoMoCo parts for this car are anything special, an aftermarket clutch may be just as good and less money.
You say the car has been a "lemon", but I am not sure what you have posted up so far really supports that conclusion. Some things seem to wear out around 100K miles, there is every reason to think the replacement parts will also last about 100K. I see people all the time do a clutch, do a "major" brake job, do struts, and then say "this car is a lemon, it's costing me too much, time to get rid of it" - not realizing that these sorts of repairs come around (very roughly) about every 100K. I love to buy these cars!
Yes. You could very well be right. I don't know a thing about cars. And then of course, I include the $500 I spent in towing the vehicle out from a national park which has nothing to do with the car.
AAA can save lots of money. You can even get free towing if you are not the driver or the owner, merely a passenger. When we owned a POS Buick, it broke down and had to be towed 3 times in about 18 months. One of those would have been an expensive tow.
I know you're right. My issue is that I set a goal in the same way that someone else sets the goal of running a marathon for the first time. Both require time, attention and commitment. Both can have a dead line, like a particular date or a particular race.
Would you say to the guy training for the marathon to take three months off if his only injury is a pulled muscle?
This is actually how I'm conceptualizing my financial goal. I am literally thinking of it as if I were a financial "athlete" and I decided to go for an elite level competition like the Boston marathon or olympic trial.
I might push it back (something athletes don't do I guess), but if I do, it will feel like a personal disappointment because unlike a job loss or a busted furnace this is something I have control over: I can repair the clutch.
On the other hand.. it's not my decision alone and my husband is definitely leaning towards a $20k replacement.
It's silly to be compulsive about a goal set with an arbitrary "deadline". And an athlete WOULD miss a competition if it meant endangering their longer term health or ability to compete.
In the same way, why would you buy a crappy replacement car that is super cheap (because it only needs to last 18 months until you pay off your house) or pay $65k for a brand new car? Is there not an option in the middle?
It's like being on a "clean" diet but you're in a temporary situation where you have to eat something off your diet - do you fast/eat nothing, eat a small bologna sandwich, or eat a huge ice cream sundae with 10 toppings? In case you're wondering - you take the MIDDLE way. Too bad if you "messed up" one day! Or in your case, it takes another 6 months to pay off your mortgage. You don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Compulsive people are the way they are because they are on the edge of failing whatever their goal is. If you don't do something 100% you might as well just say "eff it", right? You've FAILED utterly. That is an unrealistic way to live your life.
Oh - and sorry if you've updated your car situation as I haven't read every post - but what I've said is general enough for you to apply to any of your goals.
It's silly to be compulsive about a goal set with an arbitrary "deadline". And an athlete WOULD miss a competition if it meant endangering their longer term health or ability to compete.
In the same way, why would you buy a crappy replacement car that is super cheap (because it only needs to last 18 months until you pay off your house) or pay $65k for a brand new car? Is there not an option in the middle?
It's like being on a "clean" diet but you're in a temporary situation where you have to eat something off your diet - do you fast/eat nothing, eat a small bologna sandwich, or eat a huge ice cream sundae with 10 toppings? In case you're wondering - you take the MIDDLE way. Too bad if you "messed up" one day! Or in your case, it takes another 6 months to pay off your mortgage. You don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Compulsive people are the way they are because they are on the edge of failing whatever their goal is. If you don't do something 100% you might as well just say "eff it", right? You've FAILED utterly. That is an unrealistic way to live your life.
Saving seems to drive everything to the point of flushing toilet with shower water because it is broken. Why buy a car? Take Uber.
I would not waste the money buying a newer car. Fix this one and keep driving it. If you buy another car you don’t know what you’re buying, or you’re spending a ton of money buying a new car.
I would not waste the money buying a newer car. Fix this one and keep driving it. If you buy another car you don’t know what you’re buying, or you’re spending a ton of money buying a new car.
I’m pretty sure the OP income is safely in the six figures and iirc 200k+ so spending 10-20k isn’t a ton of money. Let’s not go overboard and act like she’s homeless or a min wage HH
I’m pretty sure the OP income is safely in the six figures and iirc 200k+ so spending 10-20k isn’t a ton of money. Let’s not go overboard and act like she’s homeless or a min wage HH
I have no idea how much OP makes or her financial situation. Regardless of her financial situation if op can get money back from a repair she should be able to get money no matter their finances or income
I need to make peace with this and move on. I've come to the realization that I have to push out my payoff goal which stems from me having to accept the new realities of our family life. Until about last year our kids were actually pretty cheap, but that's simply not the case anymore. The soccer thing isn't going away and the older child wants, and will need, more investment too. People say "kids are expensive" and they are, but in my experience it's not until they are approaching middle school that the costs add up and become avoidable. At least, as a well-meaning frugal parent, that's as long as you can reasonably expect before your kids develop enough of their own interests and personalities that you have to start investing in them in order to develop the future person they want to become.
In response to the new ongoing financial demands I am reducing our additional mortgage principal from $5300 to $4000. This, combined with our monthly mortgage payment, will mean about $5000 total mortgage reduction per month, which will increase over time. This alters the mortgage payoff window start to 26 months. This should be reasonable. It requires $3000 from my husband's paycheck and $1000 from the rental income.
Still need to make up my mind about the car. I know most people are suggesting to buy a new one. I have to be honest and admit that I have a problem with buying stuff, especially the newer, more costly the item, the more I'm going to feel uncomfortable about it. I wish I could explain it. And clearly, given that most people struggle with doing the opposite, I'm not sure how many of you will be able to understand and can offer suggestions on working through this. It's really weird.
I can get through it when I need to and when the evidence is overwhelming. I can give an example from this week. We went camping for the first time in 5 years last weekend. It was our 2nd camping experience ever. We used a few sleeping pads my mom gave me about 10 years ago, but they were terrible and I experienced a great amount of hip pain that kept me awake all night. Our only other trip this summer is 4 nights camping at a national park and last week I was feeling upset about it, wondering if the whole trip would be a miserable experience for us because I'm moody and miserable without good sleep. I asked my mom, an experienced camper, for suggestions and from her recommendation I bought a $400 double pad for me and one of my sons (another precious snowflake that needs a good night's sleep). Just so happens that this son has a weekend tournament close to a state park so we decided to camp last night. My son and I used the new mat and it made all the difference in the world. Now I'm excited about our upcoming trip. I'm excited to start camping a lot more often in fact... This was a life-enhancing $400 purchase. No regrets and in fact, I plan to upgrade my husband too.
The car is probably going to be in the same category. I appreciated those who said that when I'm driving the new car I'll feel a sense of relief of not having to worry if the car will fall apart every time I leave the neighborhood. I can totally see that happening. I guess at this point I have to work with my husband to pick out the budget and car. We started with a Prius, but the last we talked about it a few nights ago he was looking up his old car that we gave away (2000 Echo with manual transmission). Whatever... we'll work through it soon I suppose..
In any case. I hope my new plan works out better and I hope my husband and I can come to a mutually satisfactory agreement soon.
We both have small commutes. He needs to go one mile up and down a hill to get to the bus. I have to go 3 miles, 2x a week for soccer practices.
There will be lots and lots of soccer games, some are 2-3 hours away.
We have a friend who has left his Nissan Xterra with us, indefinitely. He's been living abroad for the last 3 years. His GF/wife is there as well as most of his family. I would not be surprised if during his next visit he offers it up. Regardless we've been using it for our trips.
Thanks for bringing it up. There is logic as to why I've been considering super cheap cars.
Sounds to me like you don’t put more than 10k miles per year on a car. In that case maybe you should be considering a lease of a brand new vehicle. We both retired in the last couple years and for the first time, needing to replace a problematic 2006 Tucson, we ended up leasing a Subaru Forester. It wasn’t until after we leased it that we found out it is the highest rated Compact SUV on the market, but the greatest thing is that it has a whole lot of safety features like lane keeping assist and collision avoidance that will brake in an emergency. We could never have afforded those features in a new car, and we wouldn’t have realized how nice they were.
You need to get through the next 18 months, so, if you lease you will have another 18 months beyond that to save a down payment or maybe enough to pay cash for a new car, or to purchase the lease car.
That could cost some money. Hope he has a good trade in value.
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until you pay off your house) or pay $65k for a brand new car? Is there not an option in the middle? 
