Car Situation...

**MomsaBasketCase** · 04-15-2010, 12:55 PM

We have a 1997 Saturn with approx 75,000 miles on it. We were told it would cost us $3,000 to fix but dh doesn't think it'll last another year.

We have a Hyundai that we paid cash for, 2 years ago, right before dh lost his high-paying job. We bought it new so we do have a reliable vehicle. the problem is that dh needs transportation daily so he can work and I am responsible for driving my boys to school every day. My eldest son is legally blind and unable to drive. As of now, we cannot afford the insurance for my youngest son to drive.

I plan on going back to work shortly and hopefully land a full time job. My job money will go towards saving to get the house in shape for sale but now, since the car is falling apart, I can see half of my money going towards a new car.

Also, if I am working full time, we can afford insurance for our youngest son. He'll be working as well and can pay for gas, etc. The plan was to give him the Saturn so he can drive his brother and himself to school...and we think we can if we put the $3,000 into it.

My question is...Should we take a chance and put the 3 grand into fixing the Saturn and keep saving for a new car or should we just put that money towards a new car, period. If I make enough, we could have a new car by next spring and pay cash for it.

Thanks much, in advance!

**Contrary Housewife** · 04-15-2010, 01:12 PM

What's wrong with it? I'm curious because my 1997 Saturn has 188k on it and is running fine. Those were good cars and should not be going belly up at 75k.

Some things are worth getting fixed, some aren't.

**Greebo** · 04-15-2010, 01:12 PM

A low end 97 saturn with 75k miles is only worth about $1,500 and the high end might be 2k.

I'd sell it for scrap and use the 3k for a new beater.

**MomsaBasketCase** · 04-15-2010, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by Contrary Housewife

What's wrong with it? I'm curious because my 1997 Saturn has 188k on it and is running fine. Those were good cars and should not be going belly up at 75k.

Some things are worth getting fixed, some aren't.

It's a bunch of small things that added up. Like we just had to fix the shift cuz a little pin broke. Dh was able to do that himself so we saved $500. We recently replaced the starter.

We had the car in northern ontario for 3 years. Cars in NO only last about 4-5 years at max so the fact that we still have the car is a miracle in itself lol. That's a bonus to living in the south. We also had the car sit for a while because dh had a car allowance at work. It's a bare-bones car...completely manual.

It's running fine right now but we are afraid that it's going to belly up soon and we can't afford not to have a second vehicle at this point.

**Contrary Housewife** · 04-15-2010, 06:02 PM

Well, if my 97 wagon needed 3k in repairs all at once and I had the *cash* I would get a "new" reliable car. Because at 188k miles it would be something like the transmission fell out and it wouldn't be worth fixing.

But if it was little stuff here and there, and I didn't have the 3k I would work on getting it fixed $200 or $500 at a time to keep the car running -- which is what we did about 5 years ago, as the original parts started to fail one by one. Even though you said conditions are bad up there I think you still have a lot of miles left in your car. Ours is bare bones, too, manual, roll up windows, and a radio.

One of the reasons we haven't sold it yet, aside from it being in excellent working condition, is that it still gets 30mpg.

**MomsaBasketCase** · 04-15-2010, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Contrary Housewife

Well, if my 97 wagon needed 3k in repairs all at once and I had the *cash* I would get a "new" reliable car. Because at 188k miles it would be something like the transmission fell out and it wouldn't be worth fixing.

But if it was little stuff here and there, and I didn't have the 3k I would work on getting it fixed $200 or $500 at a time to keep the car running -- which is what we did about 5 years ago, as the original parts started to fail one by one. Even though you said conditions are bad up there I think you still have a lot of miles left in your car. Ours is bare bones, too, manual, roll up windows, and a radio.

One of the reasons we haven't sold it yet, aside from it being in excellent working condition, is that it still gets 30mpg.

Thanks, I feel better. We still get that mileage, too. We are hoping that the car is going to last a while longer. It's been through the ringer but it still runs and we've decided to keep it and run it into the ground lol.