April 6th - "When to pull the plug on a four wheeled family memeber?"
6When to pull the plug on a four wheeled family member?
When Galactic Goat isn’t on bare hoof frolicking in the clover
Or exploring the wilds of the Mojave desert in his recently acquired (old but excellent) Chevy Blazer
Or storming the skies in a ASC transport vessel
He’s bombing the boulevards in his very comfortable, but aging 10 year old GM sedan.
About 2 years ago the car started dripping oil. It was an inopportune time, financially, to have the problem addressed, and the leak was small, losing maybe 1 quart of oil every three or four months. But as with all things ignored, the problem continued to grow. To the point that now the oil loss is more like a quart a month. And the mess in the driveway… well, imagine pouring 12 quarts of oil onto your driveway.
A couple weeks ago I had a factory recall service done, and asked the dealer’s service department to check on the leak. The news wasn’t good. They recommend a complete engine reseal at a cost of around $2,000.
The car has 160,000 miles on it, and the KBB value is around $3,500. OTOH, it runs very, very well, getting 27mpg when commuting to work, and 34mpg on road trips. Not bad for a full size sedan. No mechanical malfunctions (other than the leak) and all the accessories and gewgaws work.
The dilemma: How much money to put into repairing a car with a value so low? This choice is a bit more complicated for me, since I have the experience and tools to complete the repair myself (though time and garage space is more of a challenge). It’s difficult to pay someone else to do a repair I’m very capable of doing myself, but considering my limited free time, it might take me 8 to 10 weeks to finish the job. And all that time, I’ll have a disassembled engine in my garage sucking up what precious little extra space there is anyway.
Simply trading in on a new car isn’t an option. I refuse to do car loans, and right now isn’t an ideal time to shell out $15K to $20K in cash on a new car.
Fortunately, the old girl continues to run well. But there’s always the chance… not even a small chance… that one of those leaking seals will decide to blow out on a random Tuesday morning, leaving me in an uncomfortable situation.
So until I make a decision, I’ll continue driving my new (old) Blazer, and contemplating the conundrum.
I’d like to hear how you make the choice to repair or replace a vehicle? Are you the sort that trades in every couple years so you never have to consider these choices? Are you the sort that drives a car until it just won’t drive anymore before replacing it? Or are you the sort who’s diligent about repairs, no matter the cost/benefit equation? I’m anxious to hear how you all face these little inconveniences life hands us!
- 17 comments, 79 replies
- Comment
“A GM will run like shit longer than another car running at all.” … which I can vouch as I daily drive a S10 with nearly 280k miles.
With that said, the time I will consider retiring is when I can no longer fix whatever’s wrong myself.
@narfcake I’m sure you recall from our exchanges in another thread, I bought the Blazer to replace my old S10 pickup. I’m kinda second guessing my decision to sell on the S10. Prolly shoulda kept the pickup and sold the Impala.
I’ve always done all my own car repairs. This is the first time I’ve considered paying a shop. Mostly because of the time I’ll have to invest in doing the job properly. It’s a transverse engine, so I’ll have to pull it to do the seals. Once the engine is out, there’s all that other stuff I should really do on a 160k mi. engine as long as it’s out of the car (front & rear main seals, timing belt, freeze plugs, all the in-block sending units, etc).
To do the job properly I’ll have to devote 90% of my free time for the next several weeks. Not so sure I’m ready to take on a job that big right now!
I might almost rather buy a new GM motor and do a swap. More money (lots more) but I’ll have a warranty. I think it’s 3 years, 50k miles?
@narfcake i had a s10/that reached 310000 milrs…because i had to literally replace everything in that piece of shit because gm wouldnt stand behind a warranty . i was in debt to my neck and had no other choice.
Never will buy another gm again and i get a huge family break from them.
Miles dont mean shit, its the issues you had up to that mileage. My tacoma before it was wrecked in an accident had 215000 miles and never had one problem…not one
@msujp Sorry to hear about your S10 pickup. I’ve had great luck with mine, and the GMC Jimmy I had prior to the pickup (and hopefully the Blazer I just replaced the S10 with?). The GMC had 220K miles and the only semi-serious mechanical repair I ever had to do was the CV half shafts at about 200K. even that repair is relatively inexpensive and only a few hours work.
This Impala though… it was in a rental fleet before I bought it. the price was very low when I bought, but I don’t think I’ll ever buy another former rental.
@msujp
Of course Toyotas are well known for going well over 200K miles. 300K isn’t uncommon, and 400K isn’t unheard of. I guess there’s a reason used Toyos cost so much!
@ruouttaurmind Depends on the Toyota. My wife had a Camry she drove for many years. She traded in for a RAV & that was crap. Started burning oil after 18 months. Maybe 1/2 qt+ a month. Toyota said that’s an acceptable amount for their engines to burn.
I’ve gone through many used cars. I just get new ones now, but there were decades of always looking for a great deal.
My best deal was a 72 Nova for $500 from a friend of a friend. We drove that for almost 200k miles, only needing points & cap cleaned/replaced occasionally & usual maintenance. It had the straight-6 250cu engine & 3-on-the-tree. We later sold it for $850.
@daveinwarsh My first car was a '70 Camaro with a 250ci and 2-speed Powerglide trans. That 250ci engine was an underappreciated bit of GM engineering genius, IMHO. Plenty of torque for a 6-cyl and solid as the day is long. Though some were prone to head gasket issues, I finally resolved that with a double gasket and a generous coating of Permatex copper clad gasket sealant.
@ruouttaurmind You’ve gone 100k on an ex-rental with minimal fuss, so given the discount up front, you’re way ahead of someone who paid a full price.
It’s not like all car owners take perfect care of their cars either, y’know …
(http://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-it-looks-like-when-you-dont-change-your-oi-1793903391)
@narfcake Ya, that goo is just nasty. I’ve seen similar valvetrain fouling as a result of using those miracle lubricant, sealant, high-mileage miracle cure concoctions.
@daveinwarsh
I still miss this one.
Not sure what year ours was, Dad bought it for us.
Completely indestructible.
@f00l first car I owned myself was a 65 Impala SS with a 283. It was a beast! I loved that car and made the round trip from Boulder Co to STL in it several times. Right before one trip I had problems with my oil pressure and the mechanic encouraged me to put a high pressure oil pump in to replace the one that had bit the dust, especially since the car had over 100k on it (which back then was a TON of miles). I took his advice and got about 150 miles before the oil light came back on. Seems I had blown about 2 quarts (out of 5) of oil out past the (worn) piston rings. From that time on I topped off the oil more often than the gas tank. Should have used a high volume, low pressure pump… lesson learned.
@daveinwarsh I did a deal like that. Older Toyota Tercel Wagon with 2 and 4 wheel drive for $400, used it two years, needed nothing but routine maintenance, sold it for exactly what I had in it including paying for insurance (needed A/C fixed and I was moving to OK had no real good way to get it there, not to mention were it to have been in a car accident all that would have been left is a bit of rust dust on the road due to the extent of the rust). Was sorry to see it go. I liked that car, but the ghetto van was newer and bigger and could only figure out how to get one vehicle to OK cheaply.
I can elaborate, but my experience is that it is always cheaper to repair a car rather than replace it, until structural rust starts to catch up with it.
I have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee that I have spent money keeping nice. Most recently, new cooling and A/C systems, and starter and Alternator. Just because they were all old, and I like a reliable car.
The current (low) value of the car doesn’t matter much - it is more important how long it will last after your big investment of time and/or money. Can you get another five years out of it for $6000 in repairs? That would be fairly cheap on a per-year basis…
Separately, is a used/refreshed engine something you would consider? Or if you would have fun doing it, rebuild a used engine yourself, and do a swap some weekend.
@bdb In my experience, a used engine is a toss of the dice. I could get 100k mi. with no problems, or I could go 3000 miles and spin a bearing. I’ve had both experiences with used motors. I’d buy a new motor for twice the price before going the used route again.
What weight of oil are you putting in now? Many cars ask for 5w30 or 5w20 but after 160K miles I would suggest moving up to 10w30 or even 10w40…and it can help with the oil leak too.
You might check an independent shop regarding the cost of stopping the leak. Could be the majority of the issue would be resolved for under $500 in parts and labor.
@tightwad I still use the GM recommended 5-20, which is probably why the gas mileage continues to be so decent.
I agree about a second opinion from an independent shop. I never would have gone to the dealer for this kind of service, but the car was already there getting the recall work done so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. If they came back with “it’s the harmonic balancer seal, $400 to fix” I’d have just sucked it up and paid… just to be done with it.
I tend to buy new (ish), keep the car for 7-10 years, and then replace when the repairs become expensive or it’s down too much to be dependable. I put our 2003 LeSabre (hand-me-down from the in-laws, son was driving it at college) down last fall when it needed $2,000+ in repairs on a $2,000 car, and one of the problems was something that had been fixed twice in the previous year. But we were in a position to get a much better replacement, I might have made a different choice if we weren’t.
In your case, I might try some Lucas Stop Leak and big pieces of cardboard in the driveway. And I’d see what an independent mechanic would charge, dealerships are ALWAYS pricey.
@escapecar TBH, I knew I wasn’t going to like what the dealer had to say. But the car was already there, so no harm in asking.
I think what I’ll really need to do is get the engine clean, and see if I can pinpoint the source of the leak (leaks?) then go from there.
@ruouttaurmind
Quality mechanic is huge. I lucked into an indy shop that was completely trustworthy and really took care of things, they liked me. That was in the city.
Then I moved rural and was fortunate enough to make good friends with a guy who runs his own shop in the heart of home-built stock-car alley in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t into the track stuff - it was just way cheap warehouse and shop space for him.
And I noticed that people kept driving 15 miles from the city to get him to do their work. And brought their friends.
He’s still a great friend, 15 years or more later. And he does me favors when I’m under time pressure and I do him favors re time pressure on stuff I can see coming (I drive the other car for a few weeks so that he can work on mine when he’s free.)
And he’s an amazing mechanic. And he never over-repairs, and he cheerfully tells me how to get by without repairs “that don’t matter to anyone who drives cars till they fall apart”. And he’s dirt cheap and utterly honest and once of the nicest humans I know. And I never have to have anything fixed that already got fixed.
I just got lucky finding both of these places - by knowing people who ran small fleet or owned lots of work vehicles, and asking questions, and being nice.
Maybe try some Marvel Mystery Oil. Or engine honey. I have a 1984 F-150 XLT long bed that has a failing rear seal. Has had it for about 7 years. Cardboard from a dishwasher or other large appliance works miracles on the driveway
. Check with HomeDepot or such for a box. Happy trails 
@sarahsandroid Like I said above, I think what I’ll really need to do is get the engine clean, and see if I can pinpoint the source of the leak (leaks?) then go from there.
And buy a lottery ticket.
@sarahsandroid
BTW, I’ve been using the inexpensive generic clay kitty litter (about $5 for a 20# bag) and it works well enough. Doesn’t blow around in the wind like the cardboard box did, and it seems to absorb well enough. I can sweep it up every few weeks and throw down a fresh layer and at least catch most of the goo.
@walarney Might as well just use the lighter meh sold the other day and put that “match” to the dollar… instead of buying the ticket since generally the outcome is the same…
@Kidsandliz
That lotto tix is an entertainment purchase. You are spending $1 for a cheap and phony, but pleasant, fantasy that lasts perhaps 1 second.
Lighting currency on fire can be entertaining also. Lasts a few more seconds.
@Kidsandliz Actually burning the money helps with the national debt, doesn’t it? Hmm, I guess not. I thought part of the debt was based on the difference between money in print and the gold reserve but Google doesn’t support the assertion.
@f00l
Same with “engine repair in a bottle”.
@moondrake Well buying one you
are voluntarily paying taxesare helping the cash flow of the states that have one…@walarney as I make ships in a bottle I was thinking that and not what came up LOL
@f00l it can last longer than 1 second if you do what I used to do when I’d buy one or two a year - make a list of everyone I’d give money to, realize I didn’t leave enough for myself, go back and modify the list… fun to think about giving money away.
I’m with tightwad. At the very least, a second opinion from a reputable non-dealer mechanic might save you a good chunk of change. It could be a single seal that’s going.
On the other hand, it could be that said seal is such a pain in the ass that you might as well replace them all while you’re in there because it only costs $100 in parts and two hours more labor. At least with a second opinion you’re a more informed consumer.
I had a Civic that I had done a fair amount of work to back in my tuner days that developed a similar problem. It got to be an embarrassment when it would leave puddles in clients’ lots in an afternoon. But I didn’t have the time to fix it myself or the money to pay for it, so I fed it oil until I got something else, then hung on to it for way too long before selling it for too little money. So I’ve not been a good example.
@djslack
THIS!
When I visit friends I park in the street a few houses down because of this.
@djslack I wrote above, I think what I’ll really need to do is get the engine clean, and see if I can pinpoint the source of the leak (leaks?) then go from there to make my plan. I’ll also be able to determine if a shop is trying to screw me by recommending unnecessary work.
I had a 1990 crap minivan (a.k.a. the ghetto van) that I nursed along for 25 years and 3 months until it blew an engine bearing. For the last 3 years of its life car payments would have been less than repairs but I was not in a position to dump it at that time (nor was I when it crapped out but that is a separate issue). My criteria (grew up with a family who did it this way too) is what is the rolling average of 5 years for repairs (rolling average since occasionally you get a nasty repair and have other much cheaper years) vs the cost of car payments on a new car plus routine maintenance (making sure to factor in the difference in car insurance between the two as well)? When new car payments win time to ditch the car (yeah I know you said no car payments - so factor in how much you have to put aside a month to then eventually have the cash for the replacement car, or cash to replace what you took out of savings…).
I replaced mine with a 10 year old (now 12 year old) car which has been significantly cheaper with respect to repairs (although I just had a nasty, nearly $700 bill, and my last one was 22 months ago at around $500 when I first bought it, plus just routine maintenance) - I miss the space the ghetto van had and wish I could have replaced it with the another van - that also factored into my decision to hang on to it as I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford another one.
@Kidsandliz I’ve been fortunate with this car. I’ve owned it for 8 years and 100,000 miles, and besides tires, brakes, batteries and an alternator, no mechanical repairs.
@ruouttaurmind
Only 100K? Wow.
@f00l Ya, it had 60k on it when I got it, and I pretty much use it just to commute to work, so I’ve only put another 100k on in 8 years.
@Kidsandliz I’d say I have the same criteria, but the little stuff adds up too. When the seats sag, windows stick, windshield fogs, weatherstripping falls apart, and the rust starts really showing, it’s time to go. I buy new and get about 10 years out of a car. Yes, I’m rough on cars.
@themutilator About 10 and 15 years ago, when money was flowing like water, I was fortunate to be able to trade in for new every 12 to 18 months. I didn’t have to face car problems for many years.
Now that I’m forced to be more frugal, I’m required to face these little inconveniences life likes to drop on us from time to time.
@themutilator Lol, I’m coming up on 10 years in my Civic and still under 60,000 miles. The seats are fine, just wearing a little at the seams (the back seat is immaculate and looks brand new as it’s always had a dog cover on it), no problems with windows, and there’s no such thing as rust here. But the weatherstripping is pretty dried out. I’ve only had maintenance and damage repairs, no mechanical problems. I did have a weird one, the driver’s seat belt got to where it didn’t want to unlock. I drove it into the dealership and asked if it was a covered repair and the mechanic was clearly dubious about my complaint. He climbed in and buckled up, then tried to release and it stuck. Tried again and again, and of course when you twist around in a shoulder harness it tightens up on you. The guy must have had claustrophobia because he started freaking out and of course it was very hot in the garage and after about 3 minutes of struggle he got it loose. He climbed out red faced and covered with sweat and said, “Yeah, we’ll take care of that for you.”
@moondrake Perfect!
@woodhouse
The Twilight Zone - You Drive
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x41pt49
@PlacidPenguin Spooooooooooookkkkkkkyyyyyy.
@ruouttaurmind @woodhouse
Twilight Zone - The Grave (S03E07)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4y7dls
I once had a Ford Econoline Cargo with that or some similar prob at about 240K miles (am an idiot regarding vehicle engines).
I did not ask myself your question, as I am a completely lazy and illogical cheapskate about replacing vehicles, and am a completely illogical non-lazy cheapskate about maintenance because I get maintenance done promptly.
The recommended fix was similar to yours.
Fuck it. Checked the oil all the time, changed the oil a lot, kept driving.
Engine and catalytic converter finally went bad, together.
At 560K miles.
So just keep driving.
If you want, buy yourself a backup vehicle for when this one finally says bye-bye.
Sometimes the best solution is the trailer park solution.
@f00l 560k? DANG! You got your money’s worth on that buy, innit!
@ruouttaurmind
Yeah, I’m angling for another one. I know someone who runs a small fleet, and I wanna get it line for the next one they “retire”. They do the right maintenance.
For E150’s and Econolines you ought to get 350K minimum if you maintain it, if they make them the way they used to. Getting 450K plus is more than normal. Those things have good engines.
Oh yeah. The one I bought at about 180K that got that leak and then went to 560K - I lucked into it. Paid $1200 for it.
@f00l
Love to hear stuff like this!
I was thinking much more morbid thoughts from the title. Pleasantly surprised.
@RiotDemon Sorry if the headline was unclear. I didn’t even notice that until you brought it up, and it was too late to edit. At a glance it could be mistaken to be related to my family matters last week.
Funny you should write this, I just dropped off my car to have a leak checked yesterday! First noticed a couple of drops in Mom’s driveway when I dropped off her last Sam’s run stuff after a 35mile run to/from the big city. She has a concrete drive, mine is grass, so I hadn’t noticed it.
When I did my last oil change a couple of weeks ago I took a look for it and saw a drip hanging from the bottom of the engine, but couldn’t quite pinpoint the source, ergo the trip to the mechanic. He is a trusted partner in the maintenance of my vehicles, honest, trustworthy, and does not over-repair. He was the one that changed out the motor in our older car about 30K miles ago.
Have had several cars over the 4.5 decades of driving I have done, and have NEVER bought a new car. Currently my vehicles are 2005 Pontiac Vibe GT(245k miles) and our ‘new’ Honda Fit (2008 with 62K miles when we bought it 2 months ago). The Pontiac is really essentially a re-stickered Toyota Matrix, for a fraction of the Toyota price. I commute less than 8 miles total for round trip to the local ER, wife does about 70 miles a day (total) to get to/from her teaching job.
My rule of thumb for vehicle cost is essentially 10 cents a mile up to 150K then all the rest is gravy. So I start at $15000 for a car with 0 miles and end at $0 for 150k miles. For instance, a car with 100k miles shouldn’t cost me more than $5000. Both the above vehicles fit that criteria, with the most recent purchase (the Fit) costing me 6500 2 months ago but only having 62K miles on it, so using my ‘formula’ I under paid by about $2000.
The wife drives the ‘newer’ (read: more dependable) vehicle, I drive the older one (traded in a 1998 Civic on the Fit). Both are sticks (just because).
I use the same 10 cent criteria for repairs, figuring if I should get that return on the cost over the next X miles.
Eventually, it becomes an issue of multiple system failure and time to get a new(used) vehicle. When we cashed out the Civic it needed brakes, front CV joints, an exhaust overhaul, back hatch gasket leaked in big storms, the driver seat was collapsing on the outside edge from getting in and out all the time over 20 years, and the windshield had a chip that turned into a large crack.
TL:DR We tend to drive our cars til the wheels fall off.
@chienfou If I apply your formula, I paid $6,500 for the Impala 8 years ago. I’ve driven it 100,000 miles (almost to the very mile?). So I’m in gravy right now and shouldn’t complain.
Continuing to apply your formula, if I understand it, I should take the cost of repair, and amortize it across an estimated number of miles I would expect the repair to bring. Am I on the right track?
So a $2,000 repair, to be viable, should bring me 20K miles or more of anticipated service, or I should pass on the repair and just replace the car. Am I following properly?
@ruouttaurmind That’s the ‘fuzzy math’ I use, just as a ball park so I can sort of predict the acceptable cost/benefit ratio (in other words I pull a number out of my a$$…)
@chienfou
So I just keep pulling stuff out of my backside until it feels right?
I get your point. There isn’t really any single formula which can be applied to everyone. Add to that the complication of not really knowing what, if anything, or in how long, will break next on a higher mileage auto.
So we have to just sort of flip the coin and make the best of whatever shall come. Something like that, ya?
@ruouttaurmind absotively! You basically have to gut check each repair bill proposal and then hope you make the right choice!
@ruouttaurmind BTW, it turns out to be a valve gasket on the Vibe, so it should be ready tomorrow lunchtime…
@chienfou Good news! Relatively modest repair bill I hope.
@ruouttaurmind I’ll know this afternoon…
I had a Saturn sedan that would randomly not start.After waiting a while, sometimes up to an hour, it would start again. I took it repeatedly to a variety of mechanics. They’d fix something, then a week later the car wouldn’t start again.
A few months of this later, I was looking at a cross country drive and just knew I couldn’t do it in the car. Turns out that for me, the stress of a monthly payment was far easier to deal with than the stress of sitting in a parking lot under the August sun in Florida while my groceries melted or sitting in a gas station at midnight after a quick fill up.
@emilyap The only thing worse than a truly broken car, is a car that is sometimes broken.
My first car out of high school was like that. Sometimes it just wouldn’t start. Refused. I could walk away and leave it, come back an hour later, and it fired right up. I spent hours and hours and hours troubleshooting, hundreds of dollars replacing parts… intermittent problems are the most difficult to track down.
I learned then to hate an unreliable vehicle. At least if it’s truly broken, you can find and fix the problem for good!
@emilyap This was evidently a known issue with some Saturns. My daughter had the same problem and yep, she dumped it as well.
Just this week pulled the engine on my 25+ year old commuter. (For overdue clutch replacement and other repairs.) Half the work was clearing space in the shop, and I’ll probably take a few days off before all is done.
My vote: if you like it, fix it (or get it fixed). If not, maybe it’s time to look for something with A/C (or whatever feature you’ve been missing).
@walarney Ya, except for the puddle of oil under and constantly having to restock the supply of oil I now have to keep in the trunk, I like the car. It’s very comfortable, has more accessories than I ever needed, and gets very respectable mileage for a full size car. I’m leaning towards keeping it, but I just hate the drama of taking it somewhere and hoping they do a proper job, and hate the idea of spending hours and hours in grease doing the repair myself.
In the end, I’ll likely bite the bullet and do the repair myself, or just buy a new engine and swap it out. With a new engine I should get at least another 10 years out of it (assuming the transmission doesn’t take a dump the day after I tighten the last bolt from the engine repair. LOL!)
@ruouttaurmind yep, it’s automotive roulette…!!
@chienfou
/giphy roulette
@ruouttaurmind this was more what I was thinking:
@chienfou Hopefully the muzzle is pointing at the car and not the Goat!
@ruouttaurmind Cost-wise, I figure can be wrong 2 or 3 times and still come out ahead of paying a shop. But mostly I’m just not very good at delegating. (I’d do the machine work myself, also, if I had access to the machines.) But as you know, 70% of auto repair is cleaning stuff – and I wouldn’t mind delegating some of that.
Incidentally, my suspicions about the exhaust valve were correct.
@walarney Wow. Super toasty. Odd that the others look reasonably decent. Too lean in that cylinder?
@walarney Is it bad that I was thinking “3-cylinder head, so it’s a V6, 3 valves per cylinder making it an 18v, which isn’t all that common of a configuration, but it’s not twin plugs so it’s not MB” …
Mazda?
@walarney, @narfcake I was thinking the same. Mazda 3.0L?
@ruouttaurmind @narfcake Subaru 1.2L. I’ve found on the internet another of the same model and year with the same burned valve, so maybe a design issue.
@walarney 9 valve?! They are weird!
@narfcake It’s amazing they can squeeze over 300hp outta that, innit? The stock 350ci in my Vette barely topped 200!
Same as I told my kids about pulling the plug on me, if there is any quality of life left, keep the power going. If not, pull the plug! No sense in racking up expenses and going into debt on either topic. (Yes, I am a sick person, but I never want the kids to have guilt regarding such topics!)
We typically buy used vehicles also. We did buy the Honda Fit new, only because I commute and the gas on the minivan that was dying was more expensive than the car payment was (back in the days of $4/gallon gas) … with cash for clunkers, et. al., it was a net of 0 at the time. It is now 8 years old, so it is in the win category…
Current car is a 2003 Subaru Legacy handme down from my dad with less than 60k miles… this summer, we figure out the oil leak and the air conditioning problem since Hunny has the equipment to fix air conditioning now…
@mikibell I have always said that when you graph quality of life vs quantity of life on an x:y axis it is time to check out when the lines cross.
@chienfou add in the interception of usefulness of parts to others…and I agree…another conversation we have had!
@mikibell How strange that these conversations intersect. I just recieved the report on my best friend’s tissue donation and he has helped 77 people, including saving the sight of a 27 year old woman. I know it’s something he would have wanted as we’d discussed it many times.
@moondrake
That is really great to hear. Good thing to have done.
@moondrake I’m a designated organ donor from way back. Lately I have been getting more and more annoyed watching people that had DL confirmation of their donor status revoked by their next of kin. I have told my family that whatever they believe about an afterlife I will find a way to haunt their asses if they do that to me!
@moondrake that is awesome that your friend is still helping others! Honestly, our kids faced a lot of adversity this year. The last thing I want them to feel is guilt for making a decision to let us go. I want them to understand that I truly value that little heart on my license.
It’s time to reconsider your transportation requirements.
Goats only leak once in a while.
@daveinwarsh HA! Most excellent perspective!
(and for the record, Galactic Goat doesn’t leak at all… yet)
i just gave up my '06 Focus. ran great, had no problems in 9 years and really still ran great the day i traded it. however, it did need brake pads quite badly, transmission service, O2 sensor replacement, needed a new rim, and various large and small cosmetic dings.
the above alone (minus cosmetic fixes) was over $1000 on a car KBB said was worth around $2k. when you start feeling like you’re one more small issue away from a big issue, then you start feeling like you’re one $1000 fix away from another $1000 fix.
i got $2.3k from it from a dealer on a new Subaru - close enough for me to what i could get on craigslist (and i didn’t have to clean it) - with a maintenance plan and bumper to bumper warranty for the life of the loan. I disagree with the old addage “never buy new” (just try getting a good explanation other than a mumble about depreciating value - has anyone looked at resale values on reliable cars lately? not to mention the incentives they jizz all over you for new vs used, and warranty), but I can definitely respect your disgust for car loans, so find someone who will give it a thorough inspection and find out if the $2k fix is all it should need for a while.
@meh
This. If only I had a crystal ball. If the car had… say, half the miles, the likelihood of encountering that next $1,000 fix would be insignificant. But with 160K mi. there’s the specter of potential failure looming around any corner.
This is my dilemma. Other than the leak, the car runs fine. A/C works. I did a 4 wheel brake job less than 1000 miles ago. Tires are in good shape, car still shines, all the accessories work… So I’m thinking I’m never going to get more in resale on Craig’s List than I would at this moment. Possibly I’m better off just cashing out while the cashing is good.
If only I had that blasted crystal ball to predict the next mechanical failure.
@ruouttaurmind yeah, the million dollar question. have you looked into CL listings for hte make and model? its possible its worth much more on there than you think so could be a deciding factor. last year, i was looking at buying an old used pick up truck - they went for far over KBB value on CL.
@meh Good advice. Yes, the last few months I’ve been conducting a hard target search, shopping for my Chevy Blazer. While shopping, I noticed the delta in pricing between KBB and CL. Of course I also took note of the Impala value, knowing I would be facing this dilemma soon enough. Value on the car in it’s current condition, assuming CL asking prices, would be a final selling price around $2,800 to $3,000.
The nice thing about CL… once a car languishes there for several weeks, the seller can be motivated by the flash of crispy green hundy bills for a more reasonable selling price.
The bad thing about CL… everyone wants to play that same game, so you’ve got to adjust your asking price accordingly. It’s a whole socioculture thing that defies logic and reason.
@ruouttaurmind or like me, i saw the asking prices and was like “whoa fuck this!” my fave was this one guy who got a few calls on his truck, but didn’t really know how to CL, so made a bunch of repeated listings raising the price, without deleting the old ones.
@meh
Don’t even get me started on the repeat listings! Maddening. And it’s like they just don’t remember what the price was from day to day, so they just randomly pick a new price based on the position of the sun and stars? LOL!
@ruouttaurmind i really enjoy the listings for the 2002 honda accord that list a tag for every year make and model from 1980 to 2017.
This is a public service announcement from Galactic Goat
The Goat’s April 7th blathering won’t be posted at exactly Midnight eastern time. He only has access to a phone and that dumbass can’t figure out how to upload images from the meh iOS mobile interface
Watch for Goat’s April 7th meaningless offering of lifeless creativity closer to midnight GMT-7.
That is all. You may now return to your homes and businesses.
@ruouttaurmind Turn your phone sideways before starting your post to get the upload icon. It will drive you batty because the iPhone will want to force you back to portrait mode to choose your picture.
But do it on your own timeframe.
@ruouttaurmind
At least tell me what theme you will have so that I can decide on which Twilight Zone video to share with @woodhouse.
@PlacidPenguin Cinema!
@djslack Oh cripes!
@ruouttaurmind @woodhouse
Ugh. I still don’t have an episode in mind.
The closest I could think of was the Twilight Zone movie, but it’s not a movie as much as it is 4 different segments.