car troubles

birdybride2014

Please send good thoughts. We have an older truck, which has broken down many times this year (new transmissions, random leaks, new tires, more things breaking-the joys of having an older vehicle) and yesterday it broke down again. Every time we get close to having all of the money we need for the wedding something catastrophic happens again, and I seriously cannot handle the financial stresses of it anymore. We'd have surpassed our wedding budget by now if it hadn't been for car troubles.

We aren't sure what's up with it yet, but please send good thoughts that this new, massive leak has something to do with the transmission, which is currently covered under warranty. We honestly cannot afford having another $2500 car repair for the fourth time in the last year.

**Fiance wants to say screw it and sell the darn thing, but I say it is so wonderful having a truck to load things in and have available when we need it. Along with the fact that we've put so much money into it at this point I hate the idea of wasting all of that effort just to sell it.

wandajune6

First off, I'm sorry for your run of bad luck with your truck. That stinks!

Second, I'm looking at this as a prime example of the sunk cost fallacy- I can’t stop now, otherwise what I’ve invested so far will be lost.

Trucks are great, very convenient. In fact, I've been wanting one for a while. But, as FI reminds me, they're also easily rented. For $2500 you can buy a halfway decent car that will likely cost a lot less in repairs.

I agree with your FI- dump it and stop the $ hemorrhaging!

beethery

Get a smaller used car (small suv or wagon-type car), a trailer hitch, and a small trailer from tractor supply. Storage/hauling convenience problem solved, and probably with less repair issues.

birdybride2014

I hate it when other people are right haha. Ya'll are so good at putting sense to things sometimes...

The truck has been towed to the transmission place and it sounds like the repair will be covered under warranty, but it does look like we will be looking into a new vehicle.

beethery

birdybride2014 said:

I hate it when other people are right haha. Ya'll are so good at putting sense to things sometimes...

The truck has been towed to the transmission place and it sounds like the repair will be covered under warranty, but it does look like we will be looking into a new vehicle.

If it's covered under warranty, get it fixed and SELL THE MF. You'll be better off!

loveislouder

If it's older an you're not going to get a whole heck of a lot from selling it, why don't you keep it AND get another car. That way you can use the crappy truck for emergency truck things, but have a more reliable car for every day use?

birdybride2014

@loveislouder I dont know about other places, but at least around here (I'm in the midwest) even an older truck is still work $5000+ so it would have quite a bit of trade-in value

loveislouder

@birdybride2014 Oh lol. I don't know how old you're talking, I guess I should have asked.  Around here anything 2000 and older only net around 1500 MAYBE.

birdybride2014

@loveislouder I believe it is a 2002...so I guess that isn't SUPER old...I should have clarified lol

SBmini

I agree- dump the truck! You are always chasing the elusive point where everything will be fixed so it won't break. Many have perished attempting to find this mythical place. The stuff you have done will be a great bonus in selling the truck. Yeah, you won't make it all back, but you will sell it faster than something with a huge list of needed maintenance. 

Then take that money and put it into the wedding fund! If it is a secondary vehicle, it doesn't need to be replaced right away. We just sold our SUV. I loved it, but it wasn't worth it. It just sat in the garage and was used maybe once a month to take the dog somewhere or something. You can rent a pick up truck at Home Depot, Lowes and Uhaul all rent pick up trucks out cheap. Yeah, it was convenient having the vehicle there, but we'd have to rent trucks hundreds of times to get to the amount we were paying for the SUV. 

loveislouder

Side note: Does anyone else feel old when they remember 2000 was 14 years ago and not just like, 3 years ago like I think all the time lol

birdybride2014

@SBmini : " Many have perished attempting to find this mythical place." This was the most creative thing said about a car ever

Unfortunately, this is not a secondary vehicle so the funds will have to go to paying off the rest of my car (only like $2000) and then the rest can go towards a down payment on a new/used vehicle, so that way we don't have two car payments.

@loveislouder : seriously ALL the time! I'm definitely always think that the 90's were only 10 years ago!

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826

Yeah I wouldn't keep the truck for 'just in case'.  I wouldn't want to pay insurance on two vehicles when I wasn't really using one.

I am getting to that point too!  I have a car that FI and I are talking about getting rid of and pricing out another vehicle to replace it.  The thing is, I like the car.  I'm conflicted right now.  They don't make my car anymore so it's not like I can go out and buy the same thing only brand new.  I'm trying to put off replacing it until after the wedding....