My car... grrrrrr!

[Jonny Nexus]

Unfortunately not - I work in the middle of nowhere about 20 miles from home. Too far to cycle every day, and not on any public transport routes. There's literally nothing for miles around. As for motorcycles - I don't have a motorcycle license or a motorcycle!

Well you can drive one of those little 50cc hairdryer scooters on a car license. A second-hand one of those would probably be pretty cheap.

 

[ssampier]

I sympathize. My mother owns a 91 Pontiac Grand Am and she's put thousands of dollars fixing that car, from everything from rebuilt engine to muffler to catalytic converter.

I think the biggest question is, can you afford a new or used car? If so, I'd go that route. Who knows what other problems are waiting in the wings. At least with a new car you have some sort of warrantee and with used cars you can have it checked out before you buy it.

As for transportation, is a rental car not an option? I don't know anything about English laws, so maybe I'm out-on-left-field. If you had friends or relatives near-by borrowing a car would work, too, but I’m sure you looked at that option.

 

[Desdichado]

As for transportation, is a rental car not an option? I don't know anything about English laws, so maybe I'm out-on-left-field. If you had friends or relatives near-by borrowing a car would work, too, but I’m sure you looked at that option.

Probably not a financially viable one, IMX. Unless insurance covers some of that as a clause for main car downtime due to repairs.

 

[Morrus]

I think the biggest question is, can you afford a new or used car? If so, I'd go that route.

Not right now, nope.

As for transportation, is a rental car not an option?

It's possible, but expensive. In the long run, it's not a viable option if I'm trying to save money to fix my car or get a new one.

If you had friends or relatives near-by borrowing a car would work, too, but I’m sure you looked at that option.

Yeah, I'm working on my dad - trying to persuade him to lend me his car, since my mum is too ill to drive right now meaning they have no need for two cars. He's being... resistant...

 

[BrooklynKnight]

A. Hit up your parents.

B. Hit up your other relatives.

C. Hit up friends.

D. Credit.

E. Manwhore....

 

[Dimwhit]

I'll offer this thought, Morrus. How well does the car run? I ask because a running car is worth much more than what you can sell it for. Example:

We had a '97 Ford Taurus. It was a good car. Within the last year to 18 months, we had put close to $2000 into it, and it was running great. I knew the car intimately (not in the Biblical sense) and I knew we'd get many more years out of it. It was only worth about $2500 if I were to sell it.

Then the wife and kids were in a nasty accident and the car was totaled. I got the book value of the car from the insurance company and was able to buy a '99 Taurus. But now I have no idea what kind of condition it's in. I'm having issues with it now that may or may not involve a tranmission problem. And I don't know if more will come up in the near future. I'd take my older '97 Taurus any day over our current car.

So, if you like your car, and it runs well for you, it's worth putting more into it than it's worth if you're comfortable in its longevity. If it's already a constant source of annoyance with breakdowns, then it's probably not worth it.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[Henry]

Russ,

have you taken the car for a second opinion? I have a sneaking suspicion (based on the descriptions) that your mechanic may be trying to soak you for a bit of cash. Whether you've known him for 10 minutes or 10 years, it's worth finding a second mechanic for a competing estimate.

I'm blessed with two things in South Carolina:

Our inspection sticker (tax-generating inspection) was repealed about 15 years ago;

And we have "shade-tree mechanics." If a car isn't worth much, it's almost as good to take it to a mechanic who is worth an equivalent amount to fix it for a like sum.

Sounds like your options are to keep asking dad politely, or get a second opinion. Heck, get that second opinion anyway.

 

[Scotley]

I think you need a differnt approach. Is there a working fog light on the car? If so simply run a wire yourself and get the other one working. A few minutes with a some electrician's tape and you'll be back in business. Same thing with the 'repeater', we'd call it a 'blinker' on this side of the pond. I suspect that a working 'repeater' could have been achieved without a full repair of the cosmetic damage. A full replacement of the wiring loom from a professional repair shop just doesn't make sense for a car of this value. You need to find a friend who is 'good with tools' or just monkey around with it yourself, even if you fail you haven't lost anything given that the car is a write off it its current state. I expect you can make an exhaust system repair with some wire as well. Don't let the repair shop convince you such repairs are needed. Here's an example for you. A few years ago I had Ford Ranger pickup. It started leaking oil. A lot of oil. The gasket around the front of the oil pan was sticking out the front of the pan. The factory recommended repair, confirmed by two repair shops and a dealer involved taking the engine out of the truck. A repair costing well over $2000. I took it to a buddy who put it up on the rack loosened a couple of bolts, prodded the gasket back in place with a screwdriver, tightened up and had me back on the road in minutes. Cost--free with an oil change and brake job, which I needed anyway. Anyway, forget the shops for repairs on a car of this value.

 

[buzzard]

Had a very simmilar situation in which my car decided to overheat this summer, and apparently liked being that way. I tool it to my normal service people and they replaced the fan and said it was ok. It overheated again in the way back home. In it's current state it makes it about 30 or so blocks and will overheat. The repairs that didn't work were around $700. The service place mentioned it might need a new radiator as well. Given that the car is 11 years old and at 150k miles, I decided that sinking more money in was a bad idea (not to mention it probably needs a new transmission, steering work, and a brake job). Luckily my parents had to get rid of a car, so I was covered. During the interim I was able to take the bus to work (which in this area is no bargain).

buzzard

 

[jgbrowning]

Russ,

have you taken the car for a second opinion? I have a sneaking suspicion (based on the descriptions) that your mechanic may be trying to soak you for a bit of cash. Whether you've known him for 10 minutes or 10 years, it's worth finding a second mechanic for a competing estimate.

This would be my opinion.

joe b.