How do people pay for their car repairs?

[JoeGKushner]

Well, I've got a 4 year old Saturn SL200. The timing chain blew. The timing chain is in essence a bomb that destroys your car's engine.

Just got the bill. $3,500.

Now it had a three year warranty and to be honest, I've never used it. Still making payments on it.

I can raise the money in a few months, but will probably have to borrow it in the meantime so I can actually you know, get the car back.

So how do people deal with huge bills like that? Dip into the credit cards or the 401K? Grin and bear it?

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Surprise expenses usually come from one of three sources:

(1) The savings account.

(2) The credit card.

(3) The parental units (The Universe's parents are really generous when we're in a pinch ).

 

[Desdichado]

Credit cards for me, and then pay it back as fast as I can. To me, that's their only really useful purpose--fallback for situations that happen when you just don't have the cash on hand.

We had to do pretty much the same thing when our furnace didn't work when we turned it on for the first time this season. Luckily, it wasn't as much money as your bill, though. Sorry, dude!

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, at first the guy's like, "well, we can replace the timing chain for $1,035. Or we can take apart the engine to see if there's any damage for $1,400."

I'm terribly unlucky so decide that I might as well pay the extra. So now the valves are out of seat or bent or something and the cylinder heads have to be replaced and mumbo jumbo that makes no sense to me, kicking the bill up to $3,500.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Here's how we've dealt with it:

1. Credit Card

2. We're lucky enough to have a mechanic that will accept post-dated checks.

3. *some other route* (in the past, it has meant extremely high interest rate, short term loan)


One other note, one should always try and get a second opinion before "opening her up" (it isn't always possible, but has saved me some money). I'm not saying that the mechanic is shady, but some diagnose problems a little more generously than others.

Later...

 

[Desdichado]

One other note, one should always try and get a second opinion before "opening her up" (it isn't always possible, but has saved me some money). I'm not saying that the mechanic is shady, but some diagnose problems a little more generously than others.

A mechanic you can trust to not screw you is worth his weight in gold.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

When I eventually am forced to buy a car by my desire to live as far away from other humans as possible, I plan to take night courses at the local college to learn how to be an auto mechanic. At least that way I'll be able to fix these things myself and only have to pay for the parts, and I won't have to worry about the weasels down at the dealership trying to sell me an entirely new car piece by piece as they break working bits when I come in to fix the not-working bits.

 

[drothgery]

When I eventually am forced to buy a car by my desire to live as far away from other humans as possible, I plan to take night courses at the local college to learn how to be an auto mechanic. At least that way I'll be able to fix these things myself and only have to pay for the parts, and I won't have to worry about the weasels down at the dealership trying to sell me an entirely new car piece by piece as they break working bits when I come in to fix the not-working bits.

... except that it's much easier to fix a car when you've got a lot of expensive tools and equipment that aren't cost-effective to keep around unless you're an auto mechanic.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

A mechanic you can trust to not screw you is worth his weight in gold.

Quoted for truth (unless he is a former NFL lineman, in which case I don't have that kind of gold )...

 

[kenobi65]

... except that it's much easier to fix a car when you've got a lot of expensive tools and equipment that aren't cost-effective to keep around unless you're an auto mechanic.

These days, unfortunately, that's increasingly the case.

Thirty years ago, you had a lot of people who were "shade-tree mechanics", who did a lot of the maintenance and repairs on their cars themselves. But, thirty years ago, there were virtually no electronics in most cars.

With the amazing amount of sophisticated electronics in even the most "stripped-down" of today's cars, it's a lot harder to maintain your car yourself.

If Dr. Awkward really wants to maintain his own car, he'd be best off buying a piece of late 60s Detroit iron. (Then, he'd just have to deal with the 10 mpg....)