Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Wheels on the Car Go Round and Round... For Now

My car went to the shop yesterday for new brakes (brake pads, rotors, calipers, all that crap I know nothing about) and cost a decent sum of money to replace. (I'm not smart enough to change these things myself.) Anyway, my car (2000 Chevy Cavalier) just recently hit 160,000 miles. It's getting up there, and is (probably) nearing the end of its life. Maybe. It still runs pretty good, but has started having a few more repairs here and there, and is getting to the point where we have to carefully evaluate any big repair and determine whether it's worth putting that amount of money into a car of that age and miles. I would love it if it lasted a few more years, but who knows. It will be a sad day when it goes bye-bye. I've had it for almost five years, and it's been a good car. My wife's car (1997 Pontiac Grand Am) is at just around 140,000 miles I believe, so both of them will need to be replaced within the next few years probably. Fortunately, we've saved up enough to pay cash for them (for "new to us" cars), so it would be no big deal if a car died tomorrow.

Anywho, I like cars, but they're a money hole.

3 comments:

Mac Man said...

Can you save up enough to pay cash when I need a new car too? New alternator, radiator, tires, brakes, etc...

And now my air conditioner compressor clutch is going out, which not only means I could lose my air conditioning, but if it goes, it's likely to take out my serpentine belt in the process.

And to think that mine is just at 109,000 miles (granted, it's a 1995).

DVK said...

dude! Why don't you tell me these things! I could have done at least some of the break work in my garage!!!

Nice work saving cash for new cars. I'm hoping to reach that point myself some time - but other expenses keep getting in the way... darn kids! :-)

Tim: don't fret about your air compressor. If it dies you can just put a sorter serpentine belt and all is well (that's what happened on my Explorer). Of course it'll get a little warm in the summer, but that's what windows are for!

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.