If you need to catch up (It’s been since early March since the last update) here are parts 1, 2, and 3. And this, this is part 4. And yes, there is likely to be at least a part 5.
When we last left off, we had bought the suburban, and the other car had yet to even have the motor torn down to see what was wrong with it.
We finally got an estimate and gave the go-ahead to work on the engine of the Alero. It came back at about what we thought it was going to be. And the grand total of about $3400 was pretty close too. It’s a pretty large number, but we breathed a small sigh of relief for no more surprises there. In order to pay for the repairs, we had to take a new loan out on the Alero. We owned the Alero in full, so it kinda sucks having to take the title in and sign paperwork for a loan on a car that you used to own. On the other hand, it’s nice to have that asset to use when needed. Imagine what the result could have been if we had still owed on the car!
We’ve also taken a couple of longish trips with the suburban. And with the price of gas, we’ve felt every mile of them. But, for those trips, the necessity is there. We’ve now taken two trips that have included the whole family, even the dog. It’s pretty nice to not have to try and find someone to watch the dog while we’re gone, or to find a kennel for him while we’re away. In the case of the kennel, the extra cost in gas easily pays for itself. We’ll be taking a long trip next month to see my parents. It’s well over 900 miles from here, and it generally takes us a full day (with a motel room in the middle) to get there. We’ll take the dog with us. I’m sure the savings on kennel won’t overcome the extra cost of gas on this trip, but it will still be nice to have him with us. Aside from a few pangs of regret when I fill it up, I’m glad we ended up getting the Suburban. And, even the gas isn’t that bad, it’s just that the tank is twice as large as either of our cars’ tanks. It adds up so much quicker.
Since we have the Alero back, and it works, it’s time to thin the herd. We’ve decided to sell the Cavalier. Based on what it books out for, we think we should be able to get enough out of it to pay off the loan we took on the Alero. If that happens, we’ll be back to owning the Alero outright again, which will be nice. We’ll still have a payment on the Suburban, but it’s worth the upgrade. We haven’t listed the Cav just yet, but put a big sign in it’s window and then parked it at the parking lot at work. The parking lot has wonderful frontage to the main intersection in town and can’t be beat, since I don’t have to pay to park there.
Surprise. We parked the Cavalier there Friday night. Today, (Sunday) I went and showed it to a couple who liked it. They’ll be going to the bank tomorrow, and as long as they can get the financing to buy the car, they think they’ll take it. If all of that goes through, it could be nearly the shortest sale time of a car ever! I guess we priced it right!
Hopefully, we’ll find out whether they are going to take the car tomorrow, and if they do, be able to pay off the loan on the Alero on Tuesday. With that puzzle piece out of the way, and barring any unforeseen other car issues, that could set us up for the final installment of the car trouble series later this week! I can only hope!
photo credit: dawnmichele
Although this is a good read, I certainly hope you can wrap up the car trouble series!! My husband and I are planning a few road trips this summer and are long over due for a tune up…something we will have to take care of before we hit the road. Thanks for the post and good luck with everything!
I hate when my car has trouble because i always spend money that I don’t really want to spend at the time to try to fix it