Life was working out well lately. Everyone's healthy. The weather is gorgeous. Jason and I are happy. We still have our house and so many other blessings that I can't even begin to name, so maybe I shouldn't even post this complaint, but it hurts and I need to vent.
We took our van into the shop to get an oil change and safety check. I told my trusted mechanic to be sure and check everything because we have at least a 2700 mile journey ahead of us. We are careful with our van and get our oil changes done regularly and checks done as well. So why does this repair need to happen right now and take most of our vacation money? Some lesson obviously needs learned. But what?
Our Left Front Wheel bearing is loose. Unrepairable. I asked, "Why can't it be tightened and lubed up." He showed it to me, it's basically almost broken. The van only has 65,000 miles on it and according to my research it says that those things should last 100,000 miles, so I really was confused. I asked him all kinds of questions about the wheel bearing and it's importance and basically it comes down to this. Something like that can't be messed with, has to be replaced. You don't let something like that go and you don't make a long trip on a bad wheel bearing. It won't last much longer. Along with the oil change, oil filter and another filter that hadn't been replaced in way too long the total repair bill will be over $500
So sad since we had saved $600 for this trip and that's it. We save money for vacations or extras from the money I received donating plasma. We've been saving since we heard about the wedding. Usually when we save something like an unexpected bill comes up and we take that money from the vacation/extras account to cover it. With the children starting school and birthdays all summer (5 of them) all the extra money was drained to zero. So I started it over and we cut out a lot of stuff in our lives, no eating out, no ordering in, no movie renting and we even walked to church to save on fuel. I understand that an unexpected bill is $200 or so and those will happen, not $500 and not now.
I thought we were doing so well to have saved $600. I was thrilled and sure we would be fine since fuel was planned on costing us around $400-$450 and then after I figured out all the fuel costs back a month ago, the fuel has dropped nearly $1.00 a gallon, so I have been even happier lately knowing that we could make this trip and it wouldn't set us financially back and there would still be some in savings for an unexpected adventure.
Just sad right now, and instead of eating something bad for me, which is totally emotional eating and exactly what I want to go do, I need to go make myself busy and either exercise, clean, make dinner or all three.
It all started with Michelle Lewis from Ohio, and Jason Clark from California. We met on a bus in Chicago in January of 1992. This is a blog that documents our crazy life.
6 comments:
Oh, that is not good. I'm sorry!
Jen
I just got home from picking up the van. $610.32 total bill. This just blows us away and yet it was all necessary stuff and by our trusted mechanic who others trust too. I won't take my van anywhere else due to horror stories we've been through and others. Toyota in Iowa City is the only place that has honestly taken care of vehicles in my opinion and even though this repair really sets us back a ton, the things we had done were all necessary for safety and my mechanic did 3 things for free. What a nice guy. I think all the crying I did helped, but I didn't mean to do it in front of him.
That really does suck. I remember a few years back when we were expecting our biggest tax return to date and the same week we got it back, the transmission on our foreign car went out. $2400 (the entire return) out the window.
The Car Talk guys on NPR have a list of trusted mechanics. It looks like Dave Seydel (917 Maiden Ln., Iowa City, IA) is well liked in Iowa City. 19 people have recommended him. Check it out:
http://www.cartalk.com/ct/mechx/shop.jsp?id=8669
Thanks for the suggestion of another great mechanic Jess. I appreciate your thoughfulness. I have listened to car talk before when Jason has had it on. Very interesting show, one could really learn a lot from those guys. I'm glad there is someone else in Iowa City because we have been through at least 5 others that have been very horrible to us and been burnt too much to mention, oh the stories. Anyway I appreciate any thoughts in our direction. I have cried so much tonight and my head aches. I'm hoping I can sleep this off and start tomorrow with a new fresh outlook and somewhere $600 new dollars will just appear from a Money Tree. There's got to be one somewhere.
Hang in there! I'm waiting for a big repair for one of our cars. We've been lucky so far, but everyone we know who has our same type (Ford Explorer) has had serious problems. Major transmission issues I think. It's incredibly frustrating to have unexpected expenses -- especially when you're doing so well trying to save for something meaningful! Good luck you guys. We'll pray something turns up.
Oh no! That's too bad. I hope it all works out for you guys!
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