(Blame Deneen for that title.)
It continues: when the dealership was returning my keys, they said "did you know exhaust is leaking into the car? It'll be $310 plus tax, but we need a week to order the part."
I knew I had been smelling exhaust, but I thought it was coming in from outside. My brother had commented on a noise in the exhaust, but we figured it was just a small hole in the muffler. (I was going to wait until it was a large hole before fixing it. It is an old car, after all.)
Anyone feel like buying me a $310 exhaust pipe for Christmas? ...I thought not. *sigh*
6 comments:
Maybe you're not driving the car enough? I found that when we leave a vehicle sitting too much, the tires do tend to go flat, etc. Maybe while you are in NY, you should ask your brother or mother to drive the car once in a while.
That's probably a good idea. It'll keep the "gunk" from building up too. (It tends to run a little rough whenever I get back, until I burn the gunk out.)
You know my theory - a car is a good value until it costs more to keep it running than it does to buy another car. At that point, time to get another car. I'm not sure this one has gotten to that point, yet, though if you count reliability as part of the expense, it might cross the line. Sorry, dear - car troubles suck.
At least we sold your dishwasher! That'll help some...
I think at this point a new car would definitely be more expensive. This one is actually pretty reliable. (It would still get me places with the hole in the exhaust, just have to be careful it doesn't poison me.) And the biggest expense so far was insurance, which a new car would have too. (Plus the immobilizer was completely optional.)
I recently had exhaust work done that they told me would be some insane amount like $800 at the dealership. I took it someplace else and asked how little I could have done to fix the problem. They said they could burn off the bad pipe and weld on a new one for about $300, but that it wouldn't be "real Volvo parts" I went with that and my car has been fine.
Perhaps you can get a second opinion? And stress to them you only want the minimum done?
I thought about that, but this seems to be a more decent dealership than most... who knows, perhaps I'd find a crooked mechanic. (That would be just my luck!)
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