should i fix the car?
- Started
- Last post
- 28 Responses
- klu
i just bought a 1988 Volvo for my sister for $500 from Craigslist. she has a terrible track record with cars (she's 3 for 3 for wrecking our cars) so i thought to get her a "beater" to drive. the car itself looks decent, but i knew there would be some engine issues... while in idle the car tends to sputter. as soon as i picked up the car i drove it to our family mechanic (all the way across town) to get it worked out. he just called to say it would take about $2000 to fix. the mechanic was suggesting to return to car... but i hesitate because i feel a deal's a deal. the seller was honest (as far as i can tell). my only question is, should i fix the car? i'm really torn. even if i didn't fix the car, then i'd only lose $500, but then my sister wouldn't have any wheels. if i do fix it, then i'm spending more than the value of the car. AND there is a high chance that i'll get wrecked again.
just a little backstory... my sister isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch. if she listened to my parents and stayed home, then EVERYTHING would've been taken care of. but instead, she get headstrong and moved out nearly 2 years ago. in that time, we realized that she'd been lying to us about some guy she's been seeing (30 years older than her), who she now lives with, and had a baby. it's totally ghetto! she's pretty much a "slumdog".
bottomline, as her brother i'm totally against all the decisions she's made the past couple years. nonetheless, i feel that i should help her (where i can). it's not like she asked for the car... i just overheard her talking about trying to get a car. i was thinking that she could save her money and get a new place to live (since they're on the verge of getting evicted). what should i do???
- fyoucher10
Hmmm...sounds familiar...what's your sisters name again?
- doesnotexist0
what's wrong with it? could you fix it yourself? you're mostly paying for mechanic's hourly fees with stuff like this. the old volvos are nice, rebuilt one with my friend a few years back.
- i can fix ur website and ur compter. but no skills to fix the car. especially taking apart the engine.klu
- inkpink0
ask mom
- doesnotexist0
you can't return the car because of this, it's sold as-is and has lots of laws associated with it. you take the risk.
does it need body work? is it just the engine?
- fooler20
have the 30 year old older guy fix it.
- yupCALLES
- great ideadoesnotexist
- they're both ghetto. the dude works ground maintenance at Universal Studios :'-(klu
- doesnotexist0
maybe find someone on the CL to fix it.
- doesnotexist0
just give the car to her then. then fixing it will be out of their pocket not yours.
- mg330
That sister backstory reminded me of this awesome post I read long ago on Archinect.com. Total classic Archinect stuff.
----
I've not been on Archinect in ages but I know how much everyone likes a good story that's right out of left field.My sister lives in Baltimore and recently started seeing a new boyfriend. In this day and age it seems ridiculous for people to follow through on "taking it slow," but according to her that's what they were doing and were both totally cool with it.
They started dating about 4-5 months ago and she's had so many good things to say about him: he's polite, makes good money, is modest, is into her hobbies, etc. etc. It's odd hearing about my sister's sex life... but she told me early on that after being pretty care-free with guys in her past she really enjoyed that this guy was fine with waiting until it felt like the right time to even stay the night with each other. A little making out here and there but they never spent the night, until recently.
She called me yesterday to tell me all this:
They finally felt like it was the right time to spend the night and take things further this past Saturday. Had a nice afternoon and evening, and well, you can figure out the rest. She said it was nice, caring, mutual, all that. When they were done, though, just as she thought they'd be falling asleep, this guy jumps up and gets dressed - pants, shirt, socks, SHOES - and gets right back into bed IN HIS OWN HOUSE.She was totally confused as to what was going on and asked him if everything was OK just as he was setting a small duffel bag on the floor beside the bed.
Turns out, Mr. Nice Guy has Pyrophobia and additionally is terrified of his house catching fire while he's sleeping. Never thought to mention it. Never thought to tell my sister he has to sleep in his clothes so he can get out quickly if the place goes up in flames. Are you kidding me????
And the duffel bag???? He keeps his wallet, cell phone, some insurance and financial records, and a 500 gig backup drive for his computer filled with an itunes backup and all his vacation photos and other important stuff.
My sister said she just felt horribly out-of-place and caught off guard by everything. She really likes the guy, and when we talked yesterday she just kept wondering if she could be with someone who has that problem.
Is it selfish of her, or just too weird of him? I mean, he did this within five minutes of orgasm (his - as much as I hate repeating it she said he was more than satisfactory for her) as they were holding each other.
What to make of all this? And you're welcome for the laugh - personally I hate that this happened to her with someone who seems really nice. The boyfriend before this guy was a coke addict and the guy before that had "mother issues" Don't even ask! She's been raving about this new guy for months and he turns out to be afraid of fire. Again, am I being too hard or is this a legit thing to have to sleep in clothes like this?
- That's great! Sounds like one of those "Be Prepared" Boy Scout guys. Does he smoke cigarettes in bed?boobs
- Llantera0
you can't help those who don't help themselves
- draydog0
I actually used to sell Volvo parts and it sounds like it might be the air mass meter. When they fail they put the car in a limp-home mode. Volvos are really easy to work on, especially 240s, huge engine bay. If you are at all handy you could probably fix it yourself. Did the mechanic say what he thought was wrong?
- zarkonite0
It's 500$/20 year old car... if the only problem is some idle state shenanigans you're a lucky man.
That aside, get the estimate from the mechanic and see if you couldn't do the work yourself... otherwise, if you're feeling generous, get it done... personally, I'd rather take a raping.
- draydog0
I think the 740 GLE might be a twin cam engine (B234) which can be a pain and more expensive to repair. If that's the case I'd probably get rid of the car. If it's a standard 4-cyl (B230F) those are good engines and near impossible to kill and there are a ton of parts cars around with those so I'd be inclined to keep it.
That transmission tailshift bushing is a common repair and shouldn't be too bad of a repair cost-wise at a shop.
If you are interested in of finding out what parts run for those things check out http://www.rprusa.com/ or http://www.ipdusa.com/
- Stian0
You should fix it, but you should try to fix it yourself.. I guarantee you that you'll learn a lot from doing it. Buy a technical handbook for the specific type of car and give it a go..$2000 is a lot to "invest" in such an old car.
- This is good advice, but jumping right into transmission work is a pretty big leap.blaw
- CALLES0
are thou ghettoesk?
- zaq0
DriverSide, a startup that is taking the unique approach of helping users maintain their cars rather than buy or sell them
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/0…
- klu0
ok, i called the mechanic back... after some hard (and quick) decision making, i'm going for it! just get is done, and be done with. hell, it's only money, right?
i hate everything about the situation, but at the end of the day she is my sister and as much as i hate feeling "ripped off" i do feel it's the best option. i know it was stupid of me to get the car without a through check up... but i guess sometimes we just need to go for it.
btw, anybody have an quick design job that'll pay, say... $2000?
;-)
- LIoyd0
did you ever just think of buying a newer better car for 2000 dollars?
why in the hell would you pay 2000 to fix a shit car that cost 500?