Next month I make the last payment on the wife's van. Previously I would trade her cars in every 3 or 4 years or when they would get over 100,000 miles I would take them for me and get her a used low milage car. I look at things a little diffrent these days with the economy and my wife likes her caravan and have owned it since 2006. I bought it with 18,000 miles on it and am the only one to ever wrench on it.I have serviced it at all intervals (this is where working as a mechanic at a dealership has its advantages) and have only had to do a couple recalls and a little warranty work when I first got it.Now with 110,000 miles I drive it in to work to rotate the tires and feel a wooble in the front end, thinking a shifted belt in the tire I investigate to find lower control arm bushing bad.:banghead3:After replacing lower control arm I notice antifreeze leaking from radiator. So new lower control arm, new radiator, tires rotated and balanced, front end alignment, fuel injector service and headlight restoration wife's van is hopefully ready for another 100,000 miles. One bright spot is I found a new after market radiator for $100 compared to a mopar one $300+ that made my thrifty wife happy but also told her not sure we will get 6years out of it like the mopar radiator but willing to try for a $200 savings. I hope the repairs don't start costing me as much as a car note. Maybe wifey will give me a $100 allowance instead of $50 this week for all that free labor
Go for a $100 allowance........... all you have to do is buy her a a brand new......., worked for me....but some how it cost me more in the long run:confused:...... I'm all for my honeys ride being the best and good on you I'm just asking though..???... 3-4 years and over 100.000 miles? where the heck do you drive?? Took 10 years to get that millage on my honeys old 99 GMC Saffari Van.
we put a easy 400 miles a week just normal weekly duties not including extra running with the kids or road trips we take (those have been few and far between lately) and this van we put around 92,000 in 5 years so we haven't driven as much as we used to but we still put 20 to 25,000 a year on both our vehicles.
I see nothing wrong with an aftermarket radiators. Most supposed 'factory' radiators are made by other companies anyway. On a collision repair I almost always write for an aftermarket unit and I've had maybe 2 come-backs (problems) in 30+ years of estimating.
That is very comforting to hear KK, I thought it over and $200 is a BIG savings and we have a on site body shop and the manager told me the same exact thing and that helped with my decision and now you have confirmed it, thanks
