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We have one car in the family. It is a 2004 Mercury Sable and it just died on us last week. We are currently driving a rental until we decide what to do. We brought it into three places and even with used parts and cheaper labor it will cost a minimum of $2400 to get going again.
I would prefer not to get into a long discussion of what is wrong with it and just tell you it has something to do with the engine.
We are not handy and do not know much about cars. If you were in my shoes would you pay to have it fixed fully understanding that it could either nickle and dime us from now on or in a short while have another potential huge expensive or maybe things will be fine for the next few years, who knows.
Someone offered us $1000 for a trade in towards a 2008 Toyota Corolla, with a final price of $13,000 or we could keep spending money on the Mercury Sable. What would you do if you were not good with cars and were a one car family?
First off, it's not healthy to have the defeatist attitude that you're "not good with cars" and are doomed to be victimized by them forever. You're doing the right thing by getting competitive quotes and mulling over the fate of your car. Anyone can act like a savvy consumer if they just have the right attitude.
Unfortunately, as you've found, your Mercury Sable is practically worthless. That model was a darling of the rental and fleet market, and it has lost so much of its value that even if you spend $2400 to fix it, it will only be worth about $3500-4000 in a private sale. So you've taken the loss - why not keep the car so you don't have to start from scratch and make $400 a month car payments on a new one? It's not out of the question to pay that much money to keep a car on the road at 100K. If it was my car, I would fix it, and if it keeps me going another year, even with another small repair, then I've come out ahead because I've paid $2400 to drive a car for a year instead of $4800 in payments. If you're going to dump it, though, dump it now.
Ditch the Mercury, it will be a bottomless pit, and you will never have the peace of mind to trust that it won't break down miles from home. Get the Toyota.
You didn't say how much the car was worth book value wise. That would be one of my deciding factors.
For example, if the car books at....let's say $6000......then spending $2400 to get it going again would be worth it in my book.
Now if the car only books at....$3000....then I'd probably cut my losses and let it go.
"Something wrong with the engine"....well let me just say this....that "something" could be a simple as a bad $80 oil pump....yet they're going to sell you a new or used engine just to make money off of you. Especially if this is a dealer that's doing the work. That's why it's best to be specific.
If you want to be honest, ANY car ever made is a gamble...yes you could dump money into it and something else go wrong with it the next week.....that holds true for ANY car, doesn't matter if it's Honda or Ford.
Location: Still in Portland, Oregon, for some reason
890 posts, read 3,706,632 times
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Go with the new car...just my opinion. You'd be better off in the long run getting the new car with the warranty where you won't have to bite your nails worrying if it will make it every time you go somewhere.
Without you saying the condition other than the engine problem or the maintenance record ;its hard to say if it would be a money pit. A base Sable in good condition with that mileage list at about 4000+ dollars retail. Its likely the dealer is not giving you anything but working on the new car sell. They will just sell it at auction and someone else will put a used engine in it.
We have one car in the family. It is a 2004 Mercury Sable and it just died on us last week. We are currently driving a rental until we decide what to do. We brought it into three places and even with used parts and cheaper labor it will cost a minimum of $2400 to get going again.
I would prefer not to get into a long discussion of what is wrong with it and just tell you it has something to do with the engine.
We are not handy and do not know much about cars. If you were in my shoes would you pay to have it fixed fully understanding that it could either nickle and dime us from now on or in a short while have another potential huge expensive or maybe things will be fine for the next few years, who knows.
Someone offered us $1000 for a trade in towards a 2008 Toyota Corolla, with a final price of $13,000 or we could keep spending money on the Mercury Sable. What would you do if you were not good with cars and were a one car family?
This is hard for me to say, because I'd do whatever mechanical work was necessary to get the Sable up and running again, doing all the work myself.
However...
Depending on the mileage and condition of the Corolla, and assuming it's large enough for your family, I guess I'd probably go with the Toyota.
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