I drive a 2002 Saturn Sadan, just shy of 90,000 miles. Over the years, I have put more money into this vehicle than I’d like to think about: new tires, new brakes, and the usual oil changes and tune ups. (Its left over from a divorce-from-hell. My ex did not treat it well.)
Now its (automatic) transmission is going. My mechanic estimates that replacing it will cost $2500.
Since this car-full-o-pain is paid off (yeah!), it would be cheaper to repair it than to buy another car. Unless something other parts are conspiring to break (the shocks? electrical? Everyone is a suspect!), then it would be better to suck it up and get another gas-guzzling POS.
Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
No cite, but I’ve heard that even if everything is functioning perfectly, replacing a five-year old car will pay for itself (in reduced operation costs) within a reasonable time frame (certainly within … was it 3 or 5 years?) – if you can afford it.
Try thinking what this car has cost you in the past 2-3 years, and compare to the price of a new car + upkeep for the same period. You may be surprised!
In any case, I know that either way you’re looking at a major expense you really don’t need right now… sorry to hear that
You can get some idea of the mechanical health of the car by having a thorough mechanical inspection done. However, there are limitations to this. While it will let you know what to expect in the way of things like brake jobs, hoses, belts, etc., it’s not possible to predict every component failure. Electrical items often work properly and test okay until they suddenly die, like a light bulb. Major engine problems usually give some warning, but an inspection now won’t tell you if it’s going to give out 6 months from now. So this may or may not be worth investing in.
The most helpful way to look at the situation is to consider that if you invest 2500 in this car, you’ll end up with this vehicle and its good-condition transmission as well as its whatever-condition everything else. Alternatively, if you take that 2500 plus whatever (and it may be very little) you can get from selling this car, you can buy a replacement. Which path leaves you with the better car?
You also need to factor in how much you like this car vs. its replacement, and how much additional money you’re willing to spend for the replacement (money which might have been spent doing repairs on the current car - hence the value of a mechanical inspection). Also try to find about known trouble areas. For instance, some Saturn engines were notorious for timing chain problems showing up around 100K miles, often costing 800 or so. If this applies to your engine, that’s something you really want to know.
Heard from whom? A car salesman? That’s exactly the opposite of everything I’ve ever heard about driving cheaply.
If you want to reduce your auto budget, buy something cheap and used, and run it until a big repair costs more than it’s worth in the first place. The exception to this may be a car like yours with a bad history.
I just retired my Aerostar with almost 200K miles in favor of a new Scion xA. The Aerostar’s air conditioner had died (estimate $700) and the transmission was starting to make weird noises. I was hoping to drive the van a few more years, but the possibility of catastrophic failure at the worst possible time (isn’t that when it always happens?) got me shopping for a new car. The van is now living beside the garage - as long as it runs, it’ll be our going-to-the-dump vehicle, and it had very little trade-in value - and I’ll have the new car paid off before I retire in 3 years, which is good.
Only you know the full story but all of those things are normal and happen with all cars. 90,000 miles involves maintenance and replacement on lots of systems and all cars are going to require that to some degree.
However, a transmission going at 90K miles is too low. That is bad and shouldn’t have been expected for much longer.
I paid $8000 for a 2001 Saturn (lower mileage than yours) a couple of years ago, so that $2,500 transmission would be giving me pause.
Neglect of regular maintenance isn’t going to make the electrical system go bad – which is not to say it might not go bad anyway. (If you’re so inclined, look up your 2002 Saturn in the “Best Used Cars” section of the Consumer Reports car guide. It shows what systems have been prone to problems for various makes/models.)
But I will also add that if you hate the car and it holds bad memories for you, why not ditch the damn thing? Or at least plan on ditching it. Maybe you have no alternative but to fork over the $2,500 now, but when you end up selling or trading it, you’ll be better off trying to unload a car with a new transmission rather than a bum one.
Right now, I’m not sure I’ll be employeed at the end of the month, so avoiding another bill is the goal here. Mouse_Spouse and I are discussing becoming a single-car family with me taking the bus.
I just went through this exact scenario with my 98 Olds Cutlass (109,000 miles). It has been a GREAT car (and I love the fact that it was paid for!) but last week I found out it needed 1500.00 worth of repairs (intake manifold and a laundry list of other items). I decided it wasn’t worth repairing at this point - yesterday I purchased a 2006 Volkswagon Jetta. I really needed a reliable car. I plan to drive the Jetta for a long time
Is the $2,500 for a new transmission, or a used one. Something tells me you should be able to drop in a used one, with less mileage, for almost half that cost.
The quote was for a used rebuilt transmission. It sounded high, but we have used this mechanic a few times and they always seemed decent. I can call around and look for a better price.
I don’t know if it’s just my family, but in my experience, once the tranny goes, pretty much everything on the car will decide “No, fuck you, I QUIT.” And shut down.
If you’re having transmission problems, really, ditch the car. It’s not worth the effort - even if you could replace the damn thing yourself (which you can’t, obviously, because that’s a pain in the ass and heavy to boot) it’d be expensive. Transmissions = not worth the effort unless it’s a really, really nice car. IMO.
I’d go with what someone else said and buy yourself a gas-efficient clunker if you can. I got a 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback for $400 and it got me from PA back to NV, and drove me around for five years (including a six-month long stint of delivery driving for Domino’s) before it finally shut out on me. Thing got 40 miles per gallon. I loved it.
Keep your eyes out - early to mid 90’s Honda’s and Mitsubishi’s are usually pretty reliable, and they’re also usually pretty gas efficient. They could actually save you money, depending on how much gas you spend.
I, personally, HATE public transit. You may not feel that way. If you’re cool with taking the bus, ditch the car and go for it.
Its a mix. There is a good bus that runs near my house that stops directly in front of my work. The down side is that I have to catch it at 6:45 am to get to work between 8 and 8:30. Driving, with rush-hour traffic, is quicker. Then there are things like gettting to the doctor, emergencies, etc.
You can value your car on line through Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds.com. If the value of the car isn’t something like 4x the cost of the repair, I would replace, not repair, and use the car for a trade-in. But I wouldn’t be buying a new car if I thought I was going to be unemployed at the end of the month. I would probably want to nurse the car along (maybe even just parking it for a while) until I knew what my financial situation was going to be. If you need the car and you honestly can’t afford a new one, then obviously you’ll have to repair it.
Ok, having owned 1 and having SO own another, I can tell you this about your Saturn: SELL! But, seriously, look on it like this - will it get you to/from work til the end of the month, or whenever you find out about job status.
Aside from the tranny, your alternator will soon go, as well. I wish I knew why, but they don’t seem to care about miles, just that 3-5 year mark. That’s over $100 to fix also.
Plus, with child on the way, I’d put that repair money into either a newer, more reliable autombile or into the spouses car so at least ONE is guaranteed to work.
Every single thing you have mentioned in that paragraph are normal maintenance and wear items that will be similar for ANY car you might replace this one with. In these cases you were not “putting money into this vehicle” you were maintaining it.
The transmission is another matter though. Assuming a 5 year loan on a $20,000 car, that new transmission is going to cost you the equivalent, what, 4, maybe 5 payments? Actually, the driving-it-off-the-lot-depreciation on a new $20,000 car would probably fix that transmission.
This sort of talk is what people typically use to justify buying a new car, when the real reason is that they want a new car. Nothing wrong with that, but I think too many people have to convince themselves the old car is bad before they can give themselves permission to do what they want.
My only debt is my mortgage, and I have lots of savings, and lots of toys. A big reason for that is I am still driving the only new car I ever bought, and that was 21 years ago next month.
I have been looking at cars on the web. (Its dead slow here at work.) Car shopping is scary and confusing. A dealership whose trade-in calculator I used just called me. A phone number was required to see how much the trade value was, but I wasn’t expecting the buzzards to call me so quick!
I have a '98 Saturn. At about 90,000 miles things started going (not as bad as for you) and I probably put $2500 into it over a period of a few months. It’s now at 109,500 miles, and running great again. I ran across a Car Talk pamphlet on this, and they, if you believe them, say that fixing is almost always better.
My daughter’s boyfriend has a '92 Saturn with about 190K miles, which he hadn’t maintained much for years. He finally put some money into it, and it’s still running fine.
My car is still getting 25 - 30 mpg, so I don’t think I’ll do that much better in operating costs unless I get a Prius. I’m keeping mine until my daughter gets out of college, but I haven’t seen many cars out there I like, and I have a certain cheapskate pride about driving an old car. If you want a new car, I’d say go for it, but you’re probably making the financially prudent decision to keep it. I would see if your mechanic can find anything else wrong, though.
Do NOT Trade-in your vehicle and do NOT buy a used car from a dealer. That’s a recipe for a dual screwing.
I had a 1993 Mazda 626. I had bought it at about 100,000 miles in an emergency situation(My 91 Nissan Stanza threw its timing chain on the highway the day before an interstate move). I drove it two years making a few necessary repairs (new front axle $200, new resonator, $300, some radiator something, $300) but I was at the point of dreading each new expected failure/maintenece requirement. at the same time, I was planning on returning to school. I knew that while the maintanence was not out of the ordinary, I just could not handle the stress of an unexpected breakdown while I was in school fulltime. As if to prove my point, the muffler broke in half right before I sold it. It took me one day to sell (and the ad said “needs muffler”) This all goes to point 1. I decided to buy a much newer used car that I could depend on a little more.
I ended up buying a 02 Hyundai Accent (only 32k miles!)from a private party for $5500 (with 9 mos left on the warranty!), and selling the 626 to a private party for $1,000. Meanwhile, a dealer tried to sell me almost the exact same Accent for $7000 and offered me $200 on the trade-in. Net difference between the two deals: I laid out $4500, but would have spent $6800 at the dealer. That’s $1300 more!!! This goes to point 2.
The Accent is a hatchback which holds a suprising amount of crap, gets 40 mpg, is tiny and easy to park in the city, and is so dinky no one would dream of stealing it. I’ve been really happy with my descision. Since you’re looking at a $2500 repair, with about twice that much you could get a 3 or 4 year old Hyundai. You’d still get a year or so out of the warranty, too.
I’m going to disagree with Hello Again about going to a dealer. As long as you go to an authorised dealer. You just have to bargain very hard and expect to pay a little more than you would doing things privately. In return for which you get (in the U.K. at least) added legal protection.
A mate has a maxim: buy at 2 years old; sell at 4.
And never get a loan for something that depreciates.
