Merry Christmas to me [updated 1/2/16, post #20] About This Page:

[CinderAbby]

I know others have it worse but I just want to whine for a minute. Our van needs work........again. I don't know the exact problem (it's exhaust, I know that much) but mom's comment when she came home from work - expect it to cost thousands - emphasis on the s. Gee tell me something I don't already know. It's depressing enough but then mom goes on to get her digs in. "You have a new car, why aren't you using that to do your weekend errands? Stop putting miles on the van." "We (the station we work at) have a car for sale, why don't you just buy that?" When I pointed out that I don't want to go back to a car after getting the SUV (even though this car is almost an exact replica of what I gave up so I know I'd be mostly comfortable in it), mom responded with "make Lenny drive it." Lenny is a big guy, he'd have way too much trouble getting into and out of a car so what was mom's response "that's not my problem, it's his if he needs a vehicle to drive."

Really mom? Why are you being such a witch? Does it make you feel good? Do you like to kick people when they're already down? So needless to say, I'm not a happy camper right now. We can't afford not to fix the van but until I hear actual numbers, I can only guess that we can't really afford to fix it either.

Okay, self pity party over. Sitting here complaining and whining isn't going to change much of anything and it certainly won't get the rest of my cleaning done. At least doing that, it's taking my mind off the van somewhat. Thanks for listening.

[jenifermg0]

So sorry to hear about more car problems! That is hard especially coming off the holidays!!

We just spent just over $2000 on DS's truck...but they did A LOT of work. There were a lot of little things that added up, including brakes, oil lines, power steering pump and lines, rear pinion seal, some lights and other stuff. I am not really complaining - The truck is a 2000 model and has over 224,000 miles on it!! However, it was given to DS by his grandpa and it's really a good truck. All the issues were due to age not neglect so it was all needed. We just decided that since we had the money right now that we would have everything fixed so that we don't have to worry about it breaking down on the side of the road somewhere.

And next we have to take DH's truck in and have it looked at as well - expecting $750-1000 there too!

My car goes in tomorrow, but just for a recall fix - won't cost me anything but time.

[joelsmom]

So sorry that you are having car and mom issues - loads of that you get it all worked out with as little strain as possible to the pocketbook

[Cam22]

So sorry! Sending that the repairs don't cost as much as your mom's predicting.

[Teresa]

Well, that was a little ray of sunshine on your mom's part. I understand the frustration of the van repairs. Hope it all gets sorted out and the van isn't too expensive of a fix.

[cattailmarsh]

I totally get what you are saying. Our white ford car has been down for like 8 months - could really use it but can't really afford to get the repairs made.

[jimmymac]

[CinderAbby]

Well the verdict is in - to fix the truck would be minimum 10 hours worth of work if everything were to go smoothly - which it's a given they wouldn't. The truck is 14 years old with just a little (cough, cough) bit of rust. One of the mechanics said the truck underneath is "a complete disaster."

The owner point blank told me that the amount of money we're looking at would buy us something different. Lenny, being a stubborn pain in the you know what is in denial. He thinks his brother (who works on delivery trucks for a living) can fix it with no problems. If the station is saying they can't fix it without problems pushing up the money and time spent on it to a ridiculous amount, I doubt his brother is going to be able to do it - especially since Lenny said his brother will work on it in his yard. Outside. In the winter. When he has time (which on Christmas day he complained he didn't have enough of to take pictures of an ex girlfriend off of the wall). Does that sound ideal to anyone else? I didn't think so.

I really don't know what we're going to do. Easiest - and most affordable - would be to buy the white Chevy Malibu we're selling at the station. As I said, it's almost exactly the same as the one I gave up in September. The only exterior difference is it's got one of those things (a spoiler I guess it's called) on the trunk which mine did not. If Lenny were willing to drive it, that would be great because I just got an SUV - I DO NOT want to go backwards and go back to a car. If not, I guess worse case scenario is I drive him back and forth to work so I can still have my car to get myself to and from work. And tomorrow's weather (possible snow, sleet or freezing rain, I guess it hasn't been decided upon yet) drives home the fact that isn't even ideal. I'm done thinking for the day though. I'm on vacation from school this week so nothing has to be done yesterday and as long as Lenny is on his way to see his brother, no decisions can be reached, so I am just going to try and enjoy my night by playing games with Abby.

Thanks again for listening.

[cattailmarsh]

Well at least you have some knowledge & at least a partial plan - better than living in the dark. Hopefully his brother comes out & says no & doesn't dance around the issue.

[jenifermg0]

Hang in there!! Sounds like a different car is the way to go since the truck is in such bad shape. Sending PIXIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joelsmom]

More and more that it all works out to your satisfaction.

[Pris]

Sounds like it might be time for a car purchase, but it doesn't have to be the one at the station. Look around! Maybe you can find another truck or SUV type vehicle for the same money. Good luck!!

[CinderAbby]

Update #2 - after going to the station last night and picking up the van, Lenny decided to drive it over to his brothers work to put it up on the lift there. His brother (A) took one look and said it can most definitely be fixed (we weren't told it wasn't fixable, just that it would be really, really expensive to do it). And he can do it at work for just parts money which won't be that much.

Now before anyone wonders why the station I work at told me one thing and A said something else, I'll just explain. The station I work at works on cars and regular size trucks. It's very rare that we work on vans. It's also very rare that we work on Dodge vehicles (which is what the van is). Typically the only time I see a van (or Dodge) in the bay is when it's ours, that's how rare it is. So for the station to look at it and say it's going to cost more money than it's worth, it's true. They don't work on them much and they forsaw a very tough time of fixing it. 10 hours labor at minimum is what they told me. That is a huge expense and they couldn't begin to guess at how many actual hours it would take - but they were fairly certain it would be way more than 10 thus driving up the cost even more. Now for A, he works in a much bigger shop for big trucks - think Poland Spring big - so they're much better equipped to deal with the quirks of other engines, not just typical vehicles. He also drives Dodges and he does all his own repair work (including putting new engines in his Dodges). Lenny also told me that all of A's training was on guess what - nothing but vans. So for Al he works for a specific company repairing only their trucks but he can use the equipment to work on personal vehicles so there are no labor costs whether it's 1 hour, 10 hours or 40 hours. Plus you have to take into account for all the experience my shop has, A has different experience.

I try not to think about Lenny's family so I tend to forget the things they have done and what they can actually do. So do I want A to fix it? Not particularly only because I'll hear about it for years and I don't need or want that. Do I trust him to be able to fix it? Unfortunately yes. He's saying that he'll fix it only for parts money too. That may or may not happen (I think we should give him something for doing it, whether he'll accept or not I don't know).

The really ironic part about the whole thing? Mom was talking to the station owner this morning, telling him how A says he can fix the van. The owner said if Alis willing to work on it for short money, no matter how long it takes or what problems could come up, then we should do it - especially once he heard what kind of vehicles A does work on. So fingers crossed that everything keeps moving in this direction. Yes, I'd prefer the station to work on the van but under the circumstances, for this particular problem it just can't be done affordably

[jenifermg0]

That is hard... Hopefully A will be able to do what he says and in a relatively timely fashion. Good luck....sending !!!!!

[GingerJ]

Best wishes that it all turns out well! Sounds much better than your first post!