And when will we turn the corner?
It *all* started... about two years ago. Okay, not entirely. I'll only take you back to June of 2007 & we'll focus just on vehicles. Our (okay, my...) beloved Dodge Durango had a problem. The oil light came on and long story short, we thought we were slick by finding a local mechanic who could replace the engine cheaper than the dealership. And getting a two-fer on top of that. My brother had bottomed out his '99 Plymouth Breeze before he moved back to Nebraska, so for the cost of the dealership fixing just the Durango, this mechanic would fix them both for just slightly more.
Well... we got the Breeze fixed first because it was cheaper and we needed a second vehicle back. We had several other financial expenditures last summer as well, but we came through okay. Made it through the holidays without going into further debt.
Back to the car... we finally have the funds to get the Durango fixed and give the guy the go ahead. So we finally get it back, but the oil light keeps coming back on and the car is filthy and the paint is scratched and marred from all the time it was in this guy's "care". Bottom line: it wsn't fixed; he didn't put in a new engine, and he ends up getting evicted from his garage building the day we tow it back there to be looked at again. So we tow it back home. Then we tow it to the dealership. (That's $75 times 3.) Well, they're not going to re-use any of the components because who knows where they came from. So another $7k to $10K if we want the dealership to fix it.
But we need a third car. During all this mess we've hired on a second full time tech who needs a vehicle he can use. But I also need a car to run errands like pick kids up from school...
Fast forward to two weeks ago. Okay we have some extra money saved. We're going to buy a couple of used cars. So my hubby searches Craig's List and we find a pair of heaps that meet our needs. Last Monday, we buy an '88 GMC Suburban. It needs to be registered so we park it in front of our house, as close to the neighbor's property line as we can to leave room for our employees to park during the day too.... Last Tuesday we buy a '99 Dodge 1500 pickup truck. Nice. I'm happy I have a truck finally. And it's paid for. No additional debt.
Now in the mean time, the tranny on the Breeze is acting up, so there's another $800. The Scion needs another oil change (we put alot of miles on our cars) and the tire went flat. (Luckily we use Discount Tires and they fixed that one for free.)
Sunday morning I jump in my new (to me) truck and... it doesn't start. Argh. Dead battery. Okay. Easily fixed, but another $100. And today? Our suburban was stolen from in front of our house in the middle of the night, in the middle of a sweep of thunderstorms.
We call the police and they miraculously find it within hours, but... it's completely un-drivable. So another car and $3K gone...
When will it all end?
Addendum (3/6/2008):
Good news and bad... The bad: Tuesday afternoon, the truck's radiator cracked, spewing fluid all over the driveway. Cost? Another $800.
The good: Despite us not having registered the Suburban yet, our car insurance will cover the cost of repairing it or paying us back what we paid for it. Yay!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Oh, wow, Jen. Terrible luck. I can't believe someone would steal it during that huge rainstorm. Today, the sun is out. Hope things start looking up for you :)
Post a Comment