midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 17, 2011 17:50:54 GMT -5
I am really kicking myself over this...
My boss is out of the country for a few weeks so he's letting me use his parking space in the "VIP" section of the parking garage. This morning, while making the ninety-degree turn into the segregated area, I scraped the entire rear passenger side of my car against one of those square plaster supports, leaving a good deal of paint on the pole (where it mingled with that of a thousand cars before me).
I thought, no big deal, I had a few rust spots in that area I needed to take care of anyway. I'll just get a new rear quarter panel for a couple hundred bucks. Nope - apparently the rear panels are integral to the structural integrity of the car and cannot be removed, only repaired. (Though you can buy new front fenders for $90 apiece). So I'm looking at probably $800 in repairs, on a $2K car.
I love my car and it's mechanically sound, so I'm going to bite the bullet and pay it... but MAN I'm wishing I hadn't been in such a hurry to park this morning! 2 seconds that cost me a week's pay. Ugh!
So what are your car rants? Anything good?
(ETA that if any of my coworkers read this board, I've just totally outed myself!)
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t-dog
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Post by t-dog on Mar 17, 2011 18:05:47 GMT -5
You mean like when I had my brand new car parked at the curb in front of the house and now deceased hubby promptly backed his huge F-150 into the front of it causing a $2,500 crease in the hood? No, that was not the cause of his passing (and yeah to me for being able to say something about the passing in a lighthearted way!) and no it never got fixed - sold the car 6 years later still with the crease in the hood.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2011 18:06:33 GMT -5
My husband was having transmission trouble in his 1998 BMW. The dealer quoted him $7500, and he swears that didn't include labor.
Fortunately, we have a friend who knows a non-dealer mechanic that works exclusively on BMWs and Mercedes. Although he doesn't do transmissions, he referred him to a guy at AAMCO. He's rebuilding it for $2500 and has great BBB reviews.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Mar 17, 2011 18:10:33 GMT -5
I'd probably not have that repaired, unless it makes you happier (like $800 worth of happiness Financially, it does not make much sense, I think.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Mar 17, 2011 18:15:45 GMT -5
On one pair of jeans one of those little metal rivets on the corner of the pocket is just a little bent, and now I have a gash in my leather seat from sliding into my car. I haven't priced out the repair of that, as it is not ripped through, but boy am I mad about it.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 17, 2011 18:20:46 GMT -5
Schildi, I don't know that it makes me $800 happier, but it would probably make me $800 more sad to not get it fixed, if that makes sense. If it were our old beater I'd say screw it, but it's a cute little red Del Sol with a targa top, and we're getting into convertible weather! And karma for Jen. I'm very sorry about your DH, but I like the way you told your story. Susana and WT... thank you for commiserating and helping me take my mind off my poor little car for a little while
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Mar 17, 2011 18:22:00 GMT -5
Oh - I had a Del Sol - I loved that car! I loved, loved, loved that car. Stupid babies - needing transportation and a backseat and everything.
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Regis
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Post by Regis on Mar 17, 2011 18:24:57 GMT -5
You have a $2k car and it's not your beater? ;D
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 17, 2011 18:25:17 GMT -5
LOL WT - the FIRST thing my MIL said when she saw the car was "Where are you gonna put my grandbabies in that thing?"
(Wow, there were a lot of caps in that sentence).
Regis, we have 2 $2K cars... one is beautiful, one is not ;D Both are in amazingly good running condition, gotta love the mid-90s Hondas!
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Mardi Gras Audrey
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Post by Mardi Gras Audrey on Mar 17, 2011 20:58:31 GMT -5
You had trouble parking a del sol? I thought those cars folded up in your brief case/// I ran my first car into one of those small poles at the gas station. I didn't stop when I heard metal grinding so I ended up smashing in the entire sliding door (Was a minivan). It was very embarassing and had to have the door replaced. My friends laughed at me for it but two of them ended up hitting the same type of pole at different gas stations in the next year... serves them right for laughing at me... ;D
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 9:32:52 GMT -5
The front bumper on my car is missing paint from me scraping along a pole in front of a movie return box. Haven't gotten in fixed because it'll cost around 1k! The worst part is I backed up and turned my wheel two or three times trying to avoid the pole and still managed to hit the thing.
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Clifford
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Post by Clifford on Mar 18, 2011 11:56:46 GMT -5
In high school my cousin hit a stop sign cornering (a bit too fast). It scraped the passenger side the length of the car, denting the doors and totally removing the door handles.
Couldn't afford to fix it, so whoever rode shotgun had to climb in like the Dukes of Hazard! Good times...
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Cass
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Post by Cass on Mar 18, 2011 12:29:49 GMT -5
One Father's day Sunday I was in a long drive thru line at a coffee shop. The guy ahead of me decided he was done waiting and REVERSED out of the line. Driving a giant truck with a giant round bale of hay in the back. After he crumpled my entire front end he actually said "Sorry, I couldn't see behind me". Yeah, great chance to throw it in reverse. There were kids everywhere, he was lucky I was all he hit.
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Post by cytoglycerine on Mar 18, 2011 13:14:10 GMT -5
A few years ago, Hubby & I bought ourselves a brand new VW Golf (really dumb decision, and he ended up writing it off two years later, but that's another thread of it's own!! ) After having owned it for only a week, we were driving down the highway, and took a huge stone to the windshield. Windshield cracked in such a way that it couldn't be repaired, of course! No, no, had to be a NEW windshield...at a cost of $350 bucks - and we shopped around, that was the absolute best price we could get, and had to pay cash for it....Jeez!! We had the car for a WEEK!! I was not impressed
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Mar 18, 2011 13:28:24 GMT -5
When I bought my car from my stepmom seven years ago (1999 Honda Civic, represent!), I was backing out of their garage and-- screeeeee, I scraped the front fender. There was green paint on the garage door frame and yellow paint on my car. I just let it go as I really didn't care. I finally got it fixed two years ago when I was in an accident and that part of the car was damaged; I got a new fender. ;D
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Bob Ross
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Post by Bob Ross on Mar 18, 2011 15:07:48 GMT -5
I once crashed my car into a phone pole and the repair bill was over $25k. My insurance covered that, but then dropped me like a bad habit. To add insult to injury, my license was suspended at that time (I was driving on a temp), so I couldn't rent a car during the 7 weeks it took to fix it. If I hadn't been carpooling with a coworker who agreed to take me to and from work during this time, I would've been screwed. Walking everywhere else was not fun.
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sesfw
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Post by sesfw on Mar 18, 2011 19:01:43 GMT -5
Went to a dealer for auto servicing on my PU and the service manager saw me as a 'lil ol lady' and decided to bully me into $1100 worth of fluid changes. I told him I don't spent that much money without a family conference. I walked out and have never been back. Take the truck to a local guy for servicing and he has never mentioned any fluid changes.
Same dealer calls every couple of months reminding me about servicing schedule, and I call back and tell them to take me off their calling list. So far no luck. I called again today and now we'll see what happens.
Dealerships around here must be hurting. LOL
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Mar 18, 2011 20:45:35 GMT -5
Be sure and change your transmission fluid and filter at least every 35000 miles, we do that religiously, never had and tranny problems. Also we still change oil every 3k miles, may be excessive but hubby says its cheap insurance. None of our cars have ever used oil but 1. I think it got to hot, mom was with me then and not able to get around. It's an oven here in Houston and I had to leave the car running. One day I couldn't get in and out of a place fast enough and it was overheated. After that it started using oil, a real shame was a nice car. I have never changed transmission oil on any car we owned, ever, but we only drive manuals. As for the oil changes, do what the manual says. Anything more than that is not only excessive, but a complete waste imo.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Mar 18, 2011 20:47:19 GMT -5
A few years ago, Hubby & I bought ourselves a brand new VW Golf (really dumb decision, and he ended up writing it off two years later, but that's another thread of it's own!! ) After having owned it for only a week, we were driving down the highway, and took a huge stone to the windshield. Windshield cracked in such a way that it couldn't be repaired, of course! No, no, had to be a NEW windshield...at a cost of $350 bucks - and we shopped around, that was the absolute best price we could get, and had to pay cash for it....Jeez!! We had the car for a WEEK!! I was not impressed Not impressed with the car because of the windshield?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 20:52:31 GMT -5
How many miles? The BMW is a '98 with about 140,000 miles on it.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Mar 19, 2011 8:32:08 GMT -5
Not impressed with the car because of the windshield? LOL - I had the same thought, we have a Toyota Van with >100,000 miles, it's done the AK Highway 3 times, CO Ski trips, Northern AZ in snow, etc. It has windshield #4. First one near Calgary AB, one at Breckenridge CO, one near home in AZ.
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so1970
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Post by so1970 on Mar 19, 2011 10:05:17 GMT -5
no car problems but the lift arm on my tractor broke . the case dealer says part is no longer made or in stock that he can find. he says just weld it
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kimber45
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Post by kimber45 on Mar 21, 2011 10:53:14 GMT -5
Took my old PU in to have the oil changed and a new headlight put in. They told me I needed new front brake pads, rear drums, rear wheel cylinders and axle seals to the tune of $400. I said I'll think about it. I called DS, he got me all the parts for less than $100 and I will have a friend do the labor for a six pack or so.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Mar 21, 2011 11:36:05 GMT -5
I have an awesome mechanic so when he says "x needs to be taken care of" I tell him to do it.
We recently had my minivan into the dealer for an extremely overdue oil change and they suggested almost $1900 of repairs necessary in the near future (tie rods, rack and pinion, tires and an alignment.) So I had my mechanic take a look at it. He agreed with the tie rods and said the tires are wearing oddly but still good. He he didn't find probably cause for replacing the rack and pinion, although he did find the suspicion of a leak so we're going to watch it for now. He did replace the tie rods for slightly more than the dealer would have cost but for a better tie rod than the dealer would have used and did a rough adjustment of the alignment while dealing with the tie rods... We're hard on alignments and I can say that it's better than it was.
He also priced out a rack and pinion for us - it came to $750 instead of the $1000 the dealer quoted.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 21, 2011 18:55:09 GMT -5
Got the body shop estimate after work today... SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. For what I thought was a minor scuff. JFC, though at least that solved my dilemma about whether or not to fix it. For that price I could buy another Del Sol AND a tube of touch-up paint! Checking with my insurance company (this was our one vehicle with full coverage) to see how much my rates are going to increase. Otherwise I will be going the touch-up paint route. UGH UGH UGH! My poor little car
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 19:50:48 GMT -5
I'm confused, Midwesternjd, about why you are involving your insurance company. On the one hand, it sounds as if you aren't going to have this fixed ("for that price I could buy another Del Sol AND a tube of touch-up paint"). On the other, you ask how much your rates are going to increase. They won't increase at all if you don't involve the insurance company.
I'm not really sure why you have full coverage on a $2000 car. You do know that almost anything (including perhaps this) will just mean they total it and give you what their blue book or whatever says it's worth?
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 21, 2011 20:08:26 GMT -5
Well, right now I'm waiting to see how much my rates will increase if I do involve the insurance company. If it's a negligible increase, I'm going through them to get it fixed - if not, I'm going the touch-up paint route. My mom doubles as my insurance agent, so I usually get pretty quick responses I'm fine with them totaling it, I have no plans to resell it... planning on driving it into the ground. Regardless, I'm probably going to drop the full coverage after this. All our cars are old and practically worthless, so insurance for the 3 of them - even with full coverage on one - is around $700 a year. I guess it doesn't make much sense to have FC on such an old car.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Mar 21, 2011 20:35:03 GMT -5
Yeah, drop that full coverage, like yesterday.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Mar 21, 2011 20:38:32 GMT -5
Okay, there is a story behind it. On the way home after buying my car (about a year ago), I was so excited... had the top down, the stereo blasting, full works. And I completely ran a stop sign and almost got T-boned. So the next day when my mom asked me if I wanted liability, comprehensive, or full coverage, I panicked ;D
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 21:20:26 GMT -5
I've never had a car totaled, but do they let you keep it? I figured the insurance company claimed it and sold it for scrap, but I honestly don't know.
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