<< Back to all Blogs
Login or Create your own free blog
Layout:
Home > Dealing with panic and how it can cause financially poor choices

Dealing with panic and how it can cause financially poor choices

July 11th, 2008 at 09:17 pm

DH took his car to the dealership today cause the air conditioner stopped working. They didn't charge us anything cause they told him there is either a problem with the computer or its a wiring issue.

So DH is freakin' out and thinking "OMG how can we afford this if it costs $3K or something - we should sell the car" (Like I said in a prior post, this is our past habit and how we ended up owning 15 cars in 8 years of marriage)

I'm trying to explain to him that even if it DOES cost $3K to fix, its better to just fix it than to have to buy another car and trade it in w/negative equity. We are finally in a break-even point where we could sell his car for what we owe private party, but trade in value we're still 2K negative IF we got excellent condition.

I don't even know what to say to him right now. He's freaking out that its going to cost $110 just for them to diagnose the issue, and then to fix it on top of that. So he's online right now trying to figure out how much it costs for a new computer for the Volkswagen, so I walk up and say "Try not to worry about it, we can't do anything about it till they tell us what's wrong."

And I hear "What do you mean, don't worry about it? Its MY car? I'm the one sweating everyday coming home and if it costs $3K to fix you want to just fix it?"

"Umm... well, yeah"

I mean, its not a lemon. Its a 5 y/o car with 50K miles on it, and I'm sure it will NOT cost $3K to fix. But in his panic of "What if it costs an arm and a leg to fix and things keep going wrong with it"... I'm having difficulty trying to go against his argument. On the other, it is dumb to keep selling a car when the least thing goes wrong and we don't know what it is... what if it just ends up costing $1500?

I don't know. I want to break this habit cause I'm trying to think of our TOTAL debt. He's caught up right now in panic and its hard to rationalize with him in that state and me telling him not to worry when I'm not the one dealing without an air conditioner is like me talking to a wall.

But really, I don't see the point in panicking over something like this when we have no clue whats wrong or how much it'll cost... its like panicking about having cancer before getting a diagnosis.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Dealing with panic and how it can cause financially poor choices”

  1. gamecock43 Says:
    July 11th, 2008 at 09:28 pm 1215811694
    1215811694

    I took a car to get diagnosed and was charged $50 to look at the problem (I think thats absurd but you cant get around it)and then it was like $400 to fix and they deducted the $50 diagnosis from the total.

    Do not sell the car! You will lose money in the deal, even if its just taxes ect.

    Enjoy that he is so panicked! My boy would just whip out MY credit card and get it fixed, then request take- out later that night. I would LOVE my man to panick at the idea of paying to fix something.

  2. Lady T Says:
    July 11th, 2008 at 11:49 pm 1215820172
    1215820172

    Go to my blog, click on the "Auto Expenses" category, and have your husband read at least the first entry that appears (there are two). In re-reading it, I realize I neglected to report the final repair bill was $275. The best part is the A/C is still working! Smile

  3. monkeymama Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 01:58 pm 1215871083
    1215871083

    I don't think anything costs $3k to fix in a car. But a new engine or a new transmission or something. LOL. I think he is panicked a bit wee much. (I was quoted less than $3k for both these things on my ancient car).

    He just needs to chill and wait and see. Cars have repairs. It is almost always better financially to repair the car and keep it. Particularly a young car like you describe.

    Good Luck!

  4. monkeymama Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 01:59 pm 1215871190
    1215871190

    I read Lady T's entry. GREAT point. If it is $3k, get a second (maybe third) opinion.

  5. dmontngrey Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 07:46 pm 1215891969
    1215891969

    Ewww... a VW at the dealership? Good luck. No it wont be 3K, but it'll be quite pricy. A 2nd or 3rd opinion is going to be nearly impossible for a computer or wiring issue. You're most likely stuck with the dealership here as most private shops can't handle working on a VW. The shop I took my car to actually instituted a "NO VW" policy after meeting my car. Sorry to hear of your troubles. It wont be pretty, but I do agree you'll be better off fixing it than trading it. Best wishes!

    -dmontngrey - 4 weeks VW free and LOVING it! Smile

  6. dmontngrey Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 07:55 pm 1215892502
    1215892502

    p.s. Odds are: things WILL keep going wrong with it. My mom got her Hyundai Sonata 7 years ago and has had to buy tires, get the brakes done, and replace the gas tank due to a leak. Do you want the list of what I got replaced on my VW in the same amount of time? Many items twice. I had a 2nd generation Jetta before the 3rd gen and it needed a LOT of work as well. My 3rd gen really started going downhill around 60000 miles and I put up with it for another 105000 after that. At 5 years old, you have a 4th gen VW and that will only be more complicated and expensive to fix than the 3rd gens were. One of a long list of reasons I opted not to get another VW.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]