High mileage car repair advice

[Beerambassador]

I've seen a few car repair threads here and have seen people get good advice, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I had my 2001 Dodge Stratus with 190,000 miles break down a few weeks back. The repair shop (a reputable one for what it's worth) says that the timing belt snapped and maybe the water pump but he can't be sure about the pump until he starts the work. The car has always treated us well and has brand new brakes and we were really hoping to get another year out of it so we can finish paying off our other car before we take on another car payment.

 

The repair guy, however, is really trying to talk me out of fixing it. Crazy. He says I'm looking at anywhere from $5-800 in repairs, depending on the water pump. He seems to think the head gasket will go soon (and then that's a big money repair), but when pressed on the head gasket he doesn't say why, other than saying 200,000 miles is a lot of miles on a Stratus. If he has a real concrete reason on why he thinks the head gasket is about to go, he's not saying or he just isn't good at communicating it. It's almost bewildering how hard he's trying to talk me out of fixing the car, but he just isn't making a convincing argument.

 

Am I crazy to spend the money on the car? Or is it a good gamble seeing as we can pay off our other car in less than a year if we don't take on another car payment? I'd usually just say "fix it" but his hesitation is really making me double guess my judgement.

[DatHoser]

Beer,

 

A lot of times when the timing belt snaps, it pretty much takes the engine with it. Do a google search and you can see pictures of what used to be recognizable as car engines. Your mechanic probably has a hunch that if the head gasket isn't gone already, it may go soon - pretty much making your repairs done beforehand useless. As much as I hate car payments, we were put in a similar position and are dumping our old car this week. I agree with his hesitation and say go with another car. Besides, rates are really low right now.

[NeedMoreFans]

I have had 2 high mileage cars over the past couple of years, and I got sick of having to take them in all the time. With our last one, I did the math and realized that with all the repairs I had done to it over the past year of ownership, we paid more per month (when averaged out) than our current car payment is on our brand new car, and I held off on $1200 worth of repairs. My suggestion is to look at the money you put into it over the past year or two to see how much you are really paying to keep the car, then compare it to a monthly car payment. If a new one is cheaper per month on average, get a new car. With a car that old, you'll be having some suspension problems coming up if you haven't already, so take that into account.

[Teatoe993]

I manage an auto repair shop. My advice to not spend another dime on that car. It is not worth it. Consider yourself fortunate that you were able to accumulate 190K on a Stratus. Head gaskets are tricky to determine because they typically leak internally. But that car is gonna turn into a money pit either way if it hasn't already. If you do decide to not take our advice and get the repairs done, make sure you have the water pump replaced whether or not it is bad. If you decide to do just the timing belt and skip the water pump, you will have to pay for all of that labor again when the water pump does decide to go bad in another 15K or so. Just do them both at the same time and save on the labor.

[Beerambassador]

I guess a lot of my hesitation has to do with the fact that we've had no problems with the car. It's been incredibly reliable. Other than brakes last year, we haven't had any major work done on the car in years. It seems like a rock solid car and I hate to dump something after it breaks down once. I was really hoping to get one more year out of it, but it sounds like the consensus here is that it's a bad gamble on my part.

[GAME05]

i'd always hate to spend more to fix a car than the car is probably worth. and i'm not sure past reliability is any indication of the future on something with that kind of mileage. i'd only guess that this one repair is the first of many more to come, and by ditching it now, you're probably saving yourself a ton of money on future repairs.

 

what strikes me most is your mechanic saying get a new car. the guy who would make a lot more money off you to repair the existing one is telling you not to fix it.

[Patrick425]

My wife and I are pretty much in the same situation. We both have 2004 Hyundais that we purchased new at the same time. I have 150,000 miles on mine and she has something like 130,000 on hers. This is not a ton of miles, but we have both had our cars in a lot lately and the repair dollars and hassles are starting to add up. Both cars currently have issues that allow them to be drivable right now, but we are told, eventually these issues will become more serious and the repair bills will be high. I also am due to get a new timing belt on my car, which is a $1000+ repair on a Hyundai Santa Fe because of the location of the belt. Our repair shop has also hinted to us that it may be time to start looking at replacing our cars instead of continuing to throw money at repairs.

 

As much as I hate shopping for cars (and paying monthly payments!), it probably makes sense for us to start looking soon. It's better to look for a car when you don't have to have one right away than to wait until your current car is undrivable.

[Beerambassador]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I called the mechanic back this morning and we're going to scrap it. I guess our plan is to double up the car payments on our other car, get it paid off and then go buy a mini van. Might have to look for a reliable used car in the meantime as I deliver pizzas a few nights a week and don't like delivering in our nice car (hurts my tips, lol).

[tristarscoop]

You might talk to your mechanic to see if he knows of anyone selling anything. He'll know best about what condition cars are in. I bought a truck for $1000 a few years ago. It was a junker, but it lasted me for a year and allowed me to save up some money to buy a new car. My bf's uncle has his own shop and he's constantly hooking people up with newer cars for sale. He's in a neighborhood of higher priced homes and older folks, so the cars are well taken care of and have low mileage for their age.

[RightFieldCoder]

GAME05 wrote:

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what strikes me most is your mechanic saying get a new car. the guy who would make a lot more money off you to repair the existing one is telling you not to fix it.

He could fix it now. And then the water pump breaks next month. Then he fixes that. A few weeks later something else breaks. He fixes that. A month later something else breaks. The customer begins to think it's the mechanic's fault. The customer takes his business somewhere else and tells his friends what a bad mechanic he is. It's usually a great sign when a mechanic is so honest like that. That means he wants your car to run as much as possible so you're always happy to go back to him when it does break down.

Lots of miles on these cars. I have an 02 Cavalier (bought in October of 01) and it's just getting to 80k.

 

[Hammer]

I agree w/ the majority here...better to scrap that like your mechanic has recommended. Think this way as well...you've

 

"had no problems with the car. It's been incredibly reliable. Other than brakes last year, we haven't had any major work done on the car in years."

 

To me, this screams "Everything is about to go on this car!". Good luck with your vehicular search!

[craigharmann]

Yeah, last summer we bought a '97 Nissan Quest van. Good car, 164k miles on it. Last summer, in the midst of driving to Ft. Worth, it died on my wife. She was to get it back home, and we replaced the coil packs on it. Put two new tires on it two months ago, and now, it seems the transmission is going on it. So....I am driving it the 5 mile roundtrip to work, and actually it's much easier for my 6 month pregnant wife to get our two year old in and out of my Matrix. So we wait....