Lolsob

[soc_puppet]

I was about fifteen minutes into my commute to work today when the Check Engine light came on in my car.

I had already been planning to call my mechanic on Monday about some drainage issues (for some reason, when it rains, the passenger side floor gets wet? And while the long-term issues are worrying, I'm currently more worried about the possibility of mold growing under the carpets), but now I'll be bringing my car in then, and plan to talk about "end of life plans" for it.

I have spent $3500 on my car in the past twelve months. That's 70% of what I paid for it. And yeah, okay, about 1k of that was for tires, but I still want to have a frank conversation with my mechanics about whether it's worth it to keep pouring money into my car, and what my other options might be.

Edit: *facepalm* And my mammogram is scheduled for Monday morning, perfect! I thought it was for the Monday after that one, but no, I misremembered. At least I figured it out before the actual appointment. Next up, I just need to make sure I have transportation sorted...

Comments

[yhlee]

Oh no, I'm so sorry. :( Car troubles are miserable.

[soc_puppet]

Thanks; yeah, it's blergh. I'm just... so tired of pouring more and more money into this car! I wouldn't mind quite so much if it weren't so much money (for me) in such a relatively short amount of time. I don't have a lot of expenses, but I also don't have a lot of income, so. Maybe if the food industry wasn't so fucking exhausting...

[mommy]

Oof, yeah, cars get expensive when they get old and the parts start noticeably wearing out. Last year, I ended up just leaving the check engine light on and hoped that the car would keep working while I saved enough to buy a car that needed fewer repairs.

[soc_puppet]

Yeah, that's what I'm going to be talking to my mechanic about on Monday 😩 I've got enough for a decent car, or at least I have as much as I paid for this one plus a bit of wiggle room, and hopefully I can get some money back if we need to scrap this one for parts, but still. Stress! Don't wanna deal with it!

[mistressofmuses]

Boo on the car. :/ It's really awful when they get to that "money pit" stage, but I know it's also hard to find a replacement vehicle. Ugh.

[soc_puppet]

The "Money pit" stage is exactly right, argh 😩 My mechanic just said, "If your car is more than ten years old and is costing you less than $3k a year, you're coming out ahead," but I could only think, "Am I? Am I really? Because this thing cost me $5k, and two years of the expenses I've been having would, in fact, be less than that." But it cost me $5k in 2016, and who knows how much a similar car would cost me these days. IDK IDK.

[mistressofmuses]

It seems like used car prices have gotten just absolutely obscene, like keep-me-up-at-night obscene if I worry about "what happens if our truck dies" - so I don't know what you'd be looking at comparatively. But chucking thousands of dollars repeatedly at it also feels really unsustainable! I hate that car shit is so expensive and yet so damn necessary, because it feels like there's no winning!