Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Before I owned my first volvo, I drove all different kinds of cars. The last before I joined the "volvo saved my life club" was the taurus my mother owned. I never liked it. But I inherited it because the car I was driving at the time was only OK. And her favorite nursing aide needed a car, so I "sold" it to her when I got the taurus. I'm putting "sold" in quotes because even though we agreed on 1200 dollars (for a 5 year old lebaron), I only saw 600 of it. And, on top of that, it had some cooling failure on the way to Florida, and I had to pay to fix that in order to finish the drive. If I remember correctly, that was a 350 dollar charge, which was to be reimbursed to me.

Anyway, bottom line was I never liked the Taurus. I used to joke that it always cost me about 700 dollars when i took it in for service.

When I switched to Volvo, my friends tried to convince me that I was going to be paying even more for service. Hah! Not true. Actually, I think I'm paying less in car repairs ever year.

Of course, I'm not driving that much these days, so I'm not getting service as often. I do change the oil every 3500 miles or so, but haven't really put much money into it in the past 18 months. (except for the 1k deductible when the crazy person hit me last year)

Well, in keeping with my former average, I wasn't shocked when they called to say it'll cost me about 1100 bucks today. Most of the expense is for a rear brake job,including rotors. I think that was about 500 bucks.

Then it's about 205 to replace the large plastic air intake thing that sits behind the bumper. I've got a low front end, and whammed it when i was backing out of a dippy driveway a month or so ago. Saw it hanging low last week, and figured it needed to be checked out. I'm told they often get whacked out of place, and can sometimes just be reattached, but I did a number on this one and it's a goner. (and since it's not something that is super common, they've got to airlift one in from somewhere, which means I'll be driving the loner until tomorrow afternoon)



OK, we're up to about 700 and change. The upper engine mount is cracked and should be replaced, i can't remember if you need to remove the engine to fix that, but it's about 200. Of course it is covered under my warranty (which was extended to 6 years when i purchased a pre-owned volvo), so it'll cost just the deductible - - - either 50 or 100 bucks. so, we're up to 850 now. The other 250? Regular maintenance is 165, and I can't remember what else is getting done.
Called my garage, and they said i wasn't going to save much by having them do the work. And since I also had a recall item to take care of, I might as well have volvo do it.

So, april 2007 will go down in history as the month of big checks.

Oh, and I'm figuring that 1100 bucks, without a major auto expense since december 2005 means that I'm still under my usual payment when I drove the taurus.

And, i don't think there is such a thing as "the taurus saved my life club."

7 Comments:

Blogger Nazila Merati said...

I have to replace the hinge on my front door of my xc70. 400 bucks was what the dealer wanted. I went to a really good body shop and it was 280 with a cash discount. I love my dealer, but I love a good body shop that will give me a cash discount.

11:33 AM  
Blogger jk said...

yeah, i like my dealer, but i love my garage. So when they told me they really couldn't save me much money, i believed them.

2:28 PM  
Blogger Mony said...

I like your Taurus story!

Those are (were) damnable cars. I was driving one with no heat in February '91 to have my first date with JMB. It ought to be a fond memory, but...

9:52 PM  
Blogger Mony said...

That door hinge on the Jeep better NOT cost me $300 to replace!!

9:55 PM  
Blogger Nazila Merati said...

That door hinge better be replaced soon. It sounds like death when it is opened. I try to open it partially and get in.

I wish I was 20 lbs lighter, then it would be no problem.

You had your first date with JMB in 91? I had mine with TH then too.

Hah.

12:59 PM  
Blogger Mony said...

NM, I know! I figured that out when you made your anniversary blog entry last year.
So really, to be fair and honest to the beleaguered Taurus, I guess I could say that the Taurus really did save my life, as it was borrowed from my grandparents so that I could drive ninety miles for that date weekend in February 1991.
JK has dealt with that door hinge--it can be lethal when it falls shut on you. At that time, some extra poundage actually saves you unless it hits the shin.

9:15 PM  
Blogger jk said...

there really is a "Volvo saved my life club."
http://tinyurl.com/2oup3x

9:05 AM  

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