My Jalopy

Thanks to Pez for reminding me of this great word.

We have two cars; one (Buick) is primarily for whoever is driving the kids, and the other (Corolla) is mostly for whoever is driving solo. Originally, I drove the Buick only in the summer, when my MIL was driving her cute little convertible. That freedom was a wonderful thing. In the winter, if I needed the car, I had to drive Jeff to work, which was about 45 minutes each way. That meant that the kids and I would spend three hours in the car just getting him to & from work, never mind the actual errands we had to run. So a second car really made a big difference to me.

Eventually, after she and my FIL retired, they sold us ($1) the Buick. Now I had year round freedom! When Jeff asked what kind of car I would want if we got a new one, I told him that I wanted the exact same kind.

That was a few years ago, and I have to admit that I haven't done all I could to take care of it, largely because I wasn't working much since last spring and we didn't have the money. I knew the struts would need to be replaced, for instance.

This spring, I've been working a lot more, maybe 15 hours a week. Getting the car back in shape was a high priority for us, partly because the car was stalling out sometimes. It always started right back up again, but it's very unnerving to be driving along and have the car just die!

We found out back in February that the issue there was the EGR valve, but that the rear brakes were a higher priority. So we got those fixed (along with a couple other things), to the tune of $700.

Last month, I heard a squeaking sound coming from the back. That was the struts, which couldn't be put off any longer. $500 there.

This month, we were going to get the EGR valve fixed properly instead of a temp fix. Also, the front passenger door hasn't opened from the outside for about two years. It's inconvenient, but only when we're all in the car, which is about once a week on average. Oh, and I'd noticed a couple of weeks ago that the alignment was a little off.

Well, the rear driver's side tire has had a slow leak for a while. I've been adding air to it periodically, but knew it would need to be repaired or replaced. Last night, after a birthday part about 45 minutes away from home, it was again a little low, so I put some more air in it. As I was putting the hose away, I could actually hear air coming out of the tire! Holy cow, was I nervous on that drive home. Once we got back, the tire looked maybe a little lower, but this morning, it was flat as a pancake. Jeff put on the spare, and we got it to the garage.

I told the guy that I'd like to get the EGR valve, the tire, the alignment, and the door fixed, but this month's car budget was only $500. He said he'd see what he could do.

When he called me back, he said that the rear trailing arms were also really rusty, and were a higher priority than the EGR valve. In order to stay on budget, the EGR valve & door will have to wait until next month. The tire, alignment, and rear trailing arms will be fixed.

I told him that I was worried about the car being a money pit. Honestly, I love that car, but the money I'm sinking into it is frustrating. He reminded me that I'd put a lot of this off for too long, and that it's still cheaper than a new car. He said that with a little more preventive maintenance, I should be able to get two more winters out of this car.

That's good--it gives me a goal to shoot for. Still, I hate the thought of a new car.

And then there's the Corolla, which is also a jalopy and needs a fair bit of work as well. Um, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Edit: I got out for $400 today, and next month will be about $300. Apparently, the EGR valve is lower priority than I realized, though there are other things to do in order to get it to last the two years.