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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Drive Me To The Moon

I grew up a gearhead. Rock 'n roll, hot Cars. The 60’s.

Two things we always said, "I trust that car so much I wouldn't be afraid to drive it to California." And, if we had fixed on a car long enough, "That car don’t owe me a thing." We felt like a hero if we got to see the odometer cross 100,000 miles. That was 1963.

As an older driver I want a car that works. I want a car that I can trust, but I don’t like the depreciation involved in buying a new car. So, when I buy a vehicle, it can plan on going to the moon before I give up on it.

"The moon?" you ask.

The moon is 240,000 miles away. So, my goal is to get 240,000 miles out of every car I own. I have succeeded a couple times, but mostly they get to about 200,000 miles and then they start to drift. The big lie in car repair is “It’s nickel and dimeing me to death." Another is, “The repair needed is more than the car is worth." That may be true but if you can drive it another year with the repair you bought miles.

That's why you must forget about a car's value and instead focus on buying miles.

If you fix what’s wrong right away it won’t nickel and dime you to death. The big reason people get frustrated is the electric window quits, then one light goes out, then it misfires some, then the brakes make noise, then the muffler goes out and then it hacks and coughs when you drive. Pretty soon it’s a basket case, yet only then do most people choose to take the car in for repairs.

Fix it when it breaks and you won’t have this problem. If you don't you build a mountain of repairs and then tear out your hair. You just make yourself the kind of person new car dealers love.

An auto repair company, Merlins, has just changed its company name to 200,000 Mile Shops. I understand and agree with the concept. They have a pretty good analysis of the situation. You make money by keeping the old girl running. Fix it when it breaks.

You just might change your mind about going out and getting the newest car on the market.

Comments

Avatar for neutral_nick

Yeah, I totally agree. Unfortunately for me, the last two cars I bought already had around 150,000 miles on them and the previous owners had already inflicted a lot of damage on the engine by not getting the oil changed as often as they should’ve. My former 1989 Toyota Tercel had about 212,000 miles on it when the freakin’ head gasket blew. I tried using head gasket repair additives in the radiator, but nothing worked. I sold it to a local mechanic because I didn’t have the know-how or the equipment for this job.

neutral_nick on August 29, 2006 at 01:43 pm
Avatar for Clint

I bought my truck, an S-10 with the ZR-2 package, with over 100k on it. I now have over 170k on it. I’ve replaced some things, but for the most part they’ve been a little at a time. I bought the truck for $3,600 under book value and have not had a problem forking out money to take care of it.

My dad always told me, “if you take care of things, they will take care of you.” That’s true from a $5 crescent wrench to a $25,000 truck. Sure, things are going to wear out...but I think we take the overall reliability of our cars for granted.

Look at any piece of industrial equipment and its maintenance schedule, and you’ll be surprised. Can you imagine how expensive car ownership would be if we were to subject to the same maintenance schedule as a commercial airliner? We get in the car, start it up and take off without letting the engine get up to temperature or checking the fluids or tire pressure...run it through stop-n-go traffic on our way to work, then just park it and leave it until we need it again. It’s amazing they work the way they do.

As a motorcyclist, I hear people say that a motorcycle has high miles at 10,000. That’s ridiculous. The reason they have that stigma is because most motorcycles in North Dakota get neglected to death. How many 70’s and 80s bikes have we seen slowly rotting behind someone’s shed? How many people know how to winterize an engine that’s going to sit unattended for four months, or own a Battery Tender? Very few. And they blame the bikes.

A friend of mine has two mid-90s Pontiac Bonnevilles. One of them is about to turn 300k. It makes some weird noises but is as reliable as the day is long. It’s also cheap to run; liability-only insurance, reasonable mileage, and NO PAYMENT. Not bad!

One of my tenants bought a loaded Chevy truck with little or no down payment. His truck payment was over $600...more than my mortage payment! Then, when maintenance needs to be done, he doesn’t have the money to do it. Whose fault is it? The truck’s?

Clint on August 29, 2006 at 02:34 pm
Avatar for Robert Perry

Well said--though as a man with a growing family, I have found that I need to change vehicles a little more often simply to adapt to more and bigger chilluns.  240k miles at the rate I drive is about 15 years--lots of changes in that time!

I’ve also learned (through other peoples’ experience and my own) that one of the most expensive ways to do car repairs can be to do it yourself, or have “the friend of your brother’s buddy from work” do it.

Robert Perry on August 29, 2006 at 02:43 pm
Avatar for Sphagnum

I think I missed something.... this shows that Bush is stupid how?

wink

Sphagnum on August 29, 2006 at 03:13 pm
Avatar for Good Ol' Boy

I agree completely Gene- but since that is my business (fixing cars, not agreeing with people), you can understand. I have always felt that if the body stays in reasonably good shape, why not fix it? My 3/4 ton Chevy is on its way back from the moon- 243K and counting. I consider repairs to be “purchasing a quantity of usefulness”

Good Ol' Boy on August 29, 2006 at 05:27 pm
Avatar for student student

I’ll put my two cents in: I agree.

My mom on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be leaning that way. She gets me a car worth $2-3k, and decides not to do any fixing on it because “It’s not worth it”. Pretty soon, there’s enough problems that she doesn’t realize have escalated and need to be fixed asap. She doesn’t even care, because it’s the “junker car”. She, herself has a 2 seater convertible that she shares with her new husband, an 1 year old car that she bought brand new, a truck that is older than my car, and a car that is slightly newer than mine that she plans on having sold.

I see no need for a brand new “babe car” when you’re commuting all the time and your most popular applications of a car is to transport people to and from.

I’ve got things on my car that I need to have fixed, yet she chooses to buy a new car for herself, even though the repairs on my car are supposedly expensive. Well, what I have to say about that is: my repairs are not as expensive as that car payment that you are making on credit for a brand new car that you’ll hardly ever use.

What is it with people today?

I guess they just like to get themselves shiny things.

student student on August 29, 2006 at 06:09 pm
Avatar for Good Ol' Boy

S.S.- you may be on to something there- people are like crows- we like shiny things. Of course, YOU could get a job and pay for some repairs, too- or try fixing it yourself…

Good Ol' Boy on August 30, 2006 at 03:37 am
Avatar for student student

mom won’t allow me to pay for any repairs that I see that need to be done. I also suggested buying another car but she nixed that also.

student student on August 30, 2006 at 07:20 am
Avatar for markm

Heh, aint nothing wrong with driving used iron. It’s really great if you are like me and can fix it yourself. I very rarely pay to have something fixed. If you tally the cost of all the parts i’ve replaced plus the cost of tools, you are still way better off than a $700/mo truck/car payment and the insurance that goes with it. Yep, if you take care of it, it will take care of you. (My highest milage vehicle is a 1998 Dodge pickemup with 265k miles and it runs like a swiss made watch).

markm on August 30, 2006 at 09:07 am
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