If you drive...car problems?

[mommyto3]

I have been keeping up with the thread "Driving to WDW" because we are considering driving this summer. We have been to WDW 5 times and we always fly. But last summers airport/flying experience made us THINK about driving this time. We live in Houston, TX so it will be about 16 hours.

I'm not worried about keeping the kids entertained, I'm worried about the "what if we have car problems". I'm not talking a flat tire (my husband can change those ) , I'm talking REAL car problems, the kind were you have to leave the car in the shop for a day or two kind of problems.

Of course we would do the big check up thing before we leave but I am still paranoid. We have a 98 Dodge mini van with 65,000 miles on it. The furthest we have ever driven it is 8 hours round trip.

Has anyone ever had car problems driving down? Am I the only one who worries about these types of things? I know I'm , but I can't help it. This is a BIG fear for me, stranded with three kids, in the hot summer, in a strange place,.... you get the picture.

Thanks for listening!

 

[Rebecca P.]

That did happen to us the last trip to Florida. We live in Ontario, and we had travelled to Marco Island, 27 hour drive from home.
It ended up being the fuel pump.

We have a gold visa card that gives us free towing anywhere in North America. From the time I went in and called, hung up the phone and went to the truck...a total of 7 minutes a flat bed truck arrived and took the truck to the nearest Ford dealership.

As soon as they saw the Ontario Plates the rip- off began. My husband got the quote in writing. Went out called our dealership, and found out what it should cost, went back in told the dealership and they wouldn't budge. According to our dealership there is a recommended cost for each repair based on the hours and the part to fix.

Went back in rented a car and managed to drive the truck to a hotel.

This is where it gets funny. My husband started asking people in the mall who serviced their car locally, got the name of a company, took the truck, had it repaired for about what it would have cost at home and we were back in business.

These people called to make sure we got home, sent us a postcard and then called a week later to say the Ontario cheque they had accepted because their interac was down would not clear. We gave them Visa over the phone. It cleared.

They were lovely people and there of lots of them in this world. The comical part was the dealership that tried to rip us off was on the phone about a half hour after we got home asking if everything was ok. Our dealership says if we had contacted Ford and sent them the quote which we had in writing...they would have had big problems.

My advice is to have your vehicle serviced before you go, make sure you have road side assistance for towing and go for it. In all the times we have driven to Florida this was the first problem we had and we managed to fix it reasonably.

My 2000 Windstar has about the same mileage as your vehicle and its going to Florida in March. If it breaks down I will get it fixed.

Just don't travel after dark with your kids , something we never do.

Good Luck,
Rebecca

 

[punkin]

Had a flat tire in South Carolina day after christmas. Called AAA. They came within the hour and put on the doghnut. Drove to the next exit and stayed overnight at motel ($120 including taxes for 2 rooms-there were 6 of us). Got new tires the next day ($90 per tire) for a set of dunlops. Had all 4 tires changed because they had WAY over 40K miles on them and I was stupid to drive on them to begin with (They were original to the minivan and it has 63K miles on it). Lost a day and money for the motel and I figured the tires needed changing anyway. (I was not overcharged on the tires-in fact they were on sale) Overall, it was fine. A little upsetting but not bad overall.

 

[sln88]

on that Dodge mini van. Ours went at 60K while we were driving down to Tennesse for Easter vacation. It was in the shop for most of the week.

Unless Dodge has improved things, they have a reputation for the minivan going at around 60K.

 

[BonnieA]

Well it happened to me quite a few years back when my young son and I went to Disney. We experienced serious problems right after getting there. I managed to get it to a dealer and it took 4 days to fix it. The problems never slowed us down though, we just rented a car at the dealer and had a great time anyway. When I got my car back, I still didn't like the way it was acting so I drove nonstop back to Virginia.

 

[kilee]

We drive to WDW from NY. However, we don't take our own cars. We have a 2000 & 2001 low milage on both. However, I am afraid of it breaking down. We always rent a vehicle. This was if it breaks. I don't have to pay for it. And if there is a delay in the repairs I get a new car and continue on my way.