Budget Buster- VENT!!!

[anabelle]

It does stink, but my mechanic basically tells me that once a well maintained car goes over 100k in miles you can expect at least $2500/year in maintenance cost.

That's true. Cars are designed to last to 100k miles. That is the testing requirement for most cars. After that, things will break.

 

[cm8]

I'm sorry! Ours isn't quite as bad but our dog has some sort of mystery infection. Over $300 in vet bills, dips, medications, and we still don't know what it is or what to do to heal it. I don't fault the vet - apparently our dog managed to pick up a really weird infection.

Oh, and there was that $700 speeding ticket I got on the way home from WDW in January. Ouch!

, what? I would have been crying if that was me. That is like the amount some people pay for wdw vacation.

 

[cm8]

I think I win - We had an inground oil tank which we had never used (been in the house almost 30 years and it was gas when we bought it). In NJ you can't sell a house with an oil tank in the ground. So we have been getting the house ready to eventually (in the not too distant future) sell it. It was $1400 to remove the tank. Then there was a hole in the bottom and whatever oil was left had leaked out. I have already paid $15,000 and it looks like we may owe another $5-10,000.

 

[Serling126]

Oh all these posts about high car repair bills are making me nervous, I have to take my car in for service in the next few weeks and I am dreading the bill

When do you get to the point when its better to just get a newer car versus pay an arm and a leg for repairs???

 

[ssawka]

Oh all these posts about high car repair bills are making me nervous, I have to take my car in for service in the next few weeks and I am dreading the bill

When do you get to the point when its better to just get a newer car versus pay an arm and a leg for repairs???

When the cost of repairs exceeds the blue book value, or you are over 100,000 miles and you have a really high bill.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Our roof is also being replaced as I write this. When we bought our home 10 years ago, the roof was brand new - with 30 year shingle. We recently found out the shingles are defective and needed to be replaced immediately. Since it is a problem with the shingles, we will be reimbursed for part of the cost of the new ones - only some, though, as some weren't showing any problems. Like we can just replace the defective ones! Also, while they pay for a portion of the new shingles -prorated for the years we've already had them, they don't pay for any of the labor! ARGHHHH! New roof = $4000.

Were your shingles CertainTeed asphalt shingles? If they were, did you know there is a class action lawsuit against CertainTeed that will pay additional compensation?

My parents built a new house back in 1998. They had the CertainTeed shingles. Within 2 years, they were falling apart. The shingles were defective. Mom and dad were told what you were, CertainTeed would only pay for a portion of the shingles and wouldn't pay for labor. They fought for more. I'm not sure what all they did, but eventually they got CertainTeed to pay for the entire cost to replace the roof.

As for car repairs, I went through that with my old car when it had about 120K miles on it. There was a 4 month period where I spent close to $3,000 on it. I'd get one thing fixed for $500-$1500, then the next month I had another $500-$1500 repair, and another repair the next month. I so wanted to get rid of it, but after that 4 month period I didn't have any more repairs and I kept the car another 2 years. The repair bills were a whole lot less than car payments on a new car. I had promised myself when I bought the car I'd keep it for 10 years and 150K miles. I was a couple months and a couple thousand miles short when I got rid of it, but the incentives for buying a new car were too good to pass up.

 

[donnajean17]

I'm the orginal OP and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing, at least I know I'm not alone!
And I try to keep it in perspective, it could always be worse right??

 

[MomtoEmIs&Ow]

I had my budget all worked out and then my cat got sick last week. $1,500 to the vet.

And sadly, she didn't get better.

Sorry to hear about your cat!

 

[bettymae1121]

Oh all these posts about high car repair bills are making me nervous, I have to take my car in for service in the next few weeks and I am dreading the bill

When do you get to the point when its better to just get a newer car versus pay an arm and a leg for repairs???

For us it was that the $5k repair bill is still cheaper than buying a new truck. We need a truck to continue our home renovation project, so it was either fix the one we have for $5k or spend $20k on a new truck. To even buy a used truck in our area is about $13k. Our truck once fixed will still be worth about $10k, and since it will have a new engine, should last us for years to come. DH can repair vehicals normally, this was the one thing he can't do (replace a whole engine). Any future minor/moderate repairs he should be able to handle, so we'd only be out the cost of parts. In our case, paying the high repair bills makes the most sense.