Sliding Windows

[Jmarie]

So, here is my dilema. I have a car that has 98XXX miles on it. I owe 2K on it. Which i have scheduled to have paid off by Feburary. I have already invested 1.4K to repair a leaking gasket, and now the neither the front or rear windows on the passenger side are working. The one in the front wont lower and the one in the back, slips down on its own.

So I speak with the dealership and other repair shops, and from my calling around, its going to cost me another 1.6-2K to fix both windows. I asked if I could bring my own parts, and of cours, the answer was nope.

Now, I am faced with do I pay off the car and fix atleast one window (the rear, dont want the glass itself to fall to far and break), both or just chuck the car. If go with option A &B, I think I'm putting more money in the car than its worth. But with option C, I dont really want to pay a $400 car note. Im kind of excited to be done with a car note, and only have 2 student loans left.

Here are the finacials involved:
I get a Bonus every year of 9.5K, 6.2K after taxes
emergency fund 4.5K
amount left on car 2K
zero debt on credit cards
20K in student loans (job will pay roughly 10K of this for every 3 years of service).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Jay

[LuvMyHubby]

Leaking gasket? Head Gasket or and oil seal/gasket?
At our house 98,000 is a mere baby on a car that is known overall to be reliable. All I can tell you is to check around on line looking for car service bulletins etc. and see what your car is known for and what you can live with. If it is known for bad head gaskets, odds are you may be replacing it again.

It seems a shame to get a car almost paid and then to need to get out from under it repairwise. Did your garage tell you what is wrong with each window i.e switch and or moter on the one that wont go up and clips for the one that wont stay up? 2 grand for something that may come up to 300 or 400 if that in parts and maybe 4 hours of labor seems steep.

Do you have a Technology school nearby (either high school or college) with an automotive program? Maybe they would repair your car as a project. It is windows they can't hurt them any worse than they are now. Call as many independant garages that you can find (some of them will let you bring in your own parts). If you find a couple check their references pretty hard.

If you have a make and model that is known to be fairly reliable then it may be worth paying off and keeping. All cars have thier faults, it is just the way it is, some major and some minor. I guess my only advice is to figure out what your car is known for and do you have a market to sell your car once it is paid for and do you have the money to start the payment process all over again.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Jmarie]

Leaking gasket? Head Gasket or and oil seal/gasket?
At our house 98,000 is a mere baby on a car that is known overall to be reliable. All I can tell you is to check around on line looking for car service bulletins etc. and see what your car is known for and what you can live with. If it is known for bad head gaskets, odds are you may be replacing it again.

It seems a shame to get a car almost paid and then to need to get out from under it repairwise. Did your garage tell you what is wrong with each window i.e switch and or moter on the one that wont go up and clips for the one that wont stay up? 2 grand for something that may come up to 300 or 400 if that in parts and maybe 4 hours of labor seems steep.

Do you have a Technology school nearby (either high school or college) with an automotive program? Maybe they would repair your car as a project. It is windows they can't hurt them any worse than they are now. Call as many independant garages that you can find (some of them will let you bring in your own parts). If you find a couple check their references pretty hard.

If you have a make and model that is known to be fairly reliable then it may be worth paying off and keeping. All cars have thier faults, it is just the way it is, some major and some minor. I guess my only advice is to figure out what your car is known for and do you have a market to sell your car once it is paid for and do you have the money to start the payment process all over again.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Yeah, the leaking gasket was a manifold gasket. Which I later found out that there was a service recall for it.. back in August. However, I didnt have an problems until the end of Nov, and thus had to pay out of pocket for it. The mechanic at the dealer mentioned that it appeared to be a sound car.

I did check online and with consumer reports and Yes, the windows are common problems with GMC (grand prix). This is my second time having work done on the windows. The first time was covered under the warrenty. The warrenty ran out in October (due to miles).

I called around different shops, and labor is $117 p/hr. I was quoted 4 hours of labor plus parts, 600 for both the rear and front window. I had a free diagnostic done, the motors and regulators are shot in both windows.

A few of the shops that I called seemed to be indifferent against bringing in my own parts. Wasn't sure if this is typical, maybe they just want more $. I am hoping that I can order the part online and find a garage to repair.. but doing this route, I dont have a warrenty on the work.. which kind of scares me a little.

I hadn't thought about calling a school. I do believe they have auto tech schools out this, as they are always advertising on the TV. Top of the to do list.

Thanks for heads up on a school.. calling in the morning.

[LuvMyHubby]

Well, I just about hacked up a hairball at $117.00 per hour for labor.

Talked to Hubby and he said Pontic especailly grand prix and grand am are majorly know for head/manifold gaskets, although you are probably good for another 100,000 on the one your replaced . Also, there are some cars that if you break a timing belt/chain, your motor is pretty much junk, if you keep the car, check bulletins.

Hubby said that if it were him he would definately check around to indepdant garages/mechanics and some list their services in small papers. He said that you could try Craigslist for work wanted ads but only as a last option since it is much harder to know if someone is actually qualified to do the work and to check references. Also, if you are able to find a mechanic that will let you bring your own parts, call around and get the best price if you can.

DH seems to think that if you have all the kinks worked out and you can get the windows done for less that the car overall if probably worth hanging onto, but you know best what it is doing and not doing.
RE: Garage and warranty: I am pretty sure that any garage if it employs an ASE certified mechanic will warranty/guarantee their work for a certain amount of time. FIL just took his to a locally owned garage and spent $500.00 to get brake lines, ball joint, idler arm and tie rod replaced and they didn't screw in the the fitting where the brake line connects to the brake cylinder on the wheel. They repaired it for free, if not I would be afraid to have seen the fur fly.
Again good luck with whatever you decide.

[Momto2Boyz]

I agree about checking the schools. When I used to work at a credit union, we would repo cars that were in bad shape and have to have them repaired in order to resell them to recoup losses.

We have a community college here that has an automotive department. We used to have them do the work, and it was uber cheap! They charged the bare minimum for labor, since the kids were paying to work on the cars! We had to cover parts and not much more, and normally then wouldn't care if you brought your own parts in, either!

[Jmarie]

OMG.. So I called a collision repair shop, and I think I have found a good deal.. So here it goes.

The collision shop quoted me:
Used motor and regulator $175 per window and 1 hour labor total.. $499.80 for both windows including labor.. I think I found a winner