Trying to decide if we should fix our transmission...

[Plumeria9]

Has anyone fixed their transmission and been happy with that choice? Our van is getting old and has 144,000 on it. Just don't know if we should put that money toward a new or new used vehicle.

So, if you have been faced with this decision, what did you choose and why?

I had to deal with this over the summer, and I'm still steaming about it! I have an '02 Honda Odyssey, which at the time only had 79K miles on it. Yes, that's it. Yes it's 9 years old, but still looks ok. I actually want a new car but w/ this economy, can't afford it. I was quoted some crazy figure at first, then we found out about a huge recall on the tranny for this model year and called Honda and got the number dropped down a little. Not enough to make me happy, but since we really couldn't afford a new car that is up to my liking, we paid and got it repaired. It cost around $3400 for the tranny work, plus car rental for 10 days while Honda was deciding on what to "give" us for this situation. Plus we had to have something else fixed and this was the time to do it w/ the car being taken apart(forgot what!), so it actually cost us just over $4k for both. I feel like that was 7 months of new car payments, but my DH sees it differently. This coupled w/ the fact that I don't think this was a good year to buy a new car, esp. one associated w/ Japan.

I think in your case it depends if you can afford a newer vehicle, know what you want, and can get the money together or the financing. I personally would rather have a newer car because once it gets past 8 years or so, things stop working and need work. We cannot fix anything on our car ourselves, so we are at a disadvantage that way, and we need to factor that into our decision from now on. Next car is getting traded in after 8 years. Things that are not so great w/ my car now is the passenger side automatic door is kinda jacked up even though we paid over $1k to fix it 2 years ago. Then the light on the temperature control doesn't work, so if it's night time, I have to turn on the cab light to see what to do w/ that. Yeah, I haven't had a car payment on it in over 4 years but I feel like all these big repairs are almost as bad as paying a car payment. That's my sob story and vent, hope you understand, but I feel your pain w/ the transmission thing and hope for the best for you.

 

[DISdreamin']

That's my sob story and vent, hope you understand, but I feel your pain w/ the transmission thing and hope for the best for you.

If it is any consolation, Plumeria, we're now over 40K miles into the replacement transmission and all has been well so far (knock on wood...). I would have done what you did, given your vehicle was otherwise in good shape. If ours died again at this point, I think we'd be going the one car route for a year or so and save up a chunk for a newer vehicle. Ours just isn't in that good a shape (rust is starting to really get at some places on it).

 

[Plumeria9]

If it is any consolation, Plumeria, we're now over 40K miles into the replacement transmission and all has been well so far (knock on wood...). I would have done what you did, given your vehicle was otherwise in good shape. If ours died again at this point, I think we'd be going the one car route for a year or so and save up a chunk for a newer vehicle. Ours just isn't in that good a shape (rust is starting to really get at some places on it).

I appreciate the consolation! I'm really working on being able to buy a newer vehicle next year. Good luck!