Omg...Soooooo Mad Right Now!!!

[cillybean83]

Um, ok....here's the deal, I was up at the crack of dawn because I had to go to Firestone to check on my car. I took it in last night because I had a coupon for a $9.99 complete vehicle inspection and I knew I needed 2 new tires and I thought my brakes were acting weird....so they looked at the car and said they needed more time and to come back in the morning....

So my hubby picks me up, I call my dad because he knows a little about cars and he told me what was probably wrong and about how much it would cost to fix it, and he said that when I went back in the morning not to let them do any work until I talked to him (my dad) first so he could tell me if i was getting ripped off or whatever...

So I get there at 8am, my husband used 1/2 a personal day from work so he could stay with the kids...it's now 10:25 and I'm STILL WAITING because my FATHER took his PHONE OFF THE HOOK and his cell is OFF so I'm a 27 year old woman sitting at firestone unable to make a decision until her daddy crawls out of bed. Gee that's not embarassing...

If it wasn't for being on a tight budget I would just pay and be done but I have $700 budgeted for car repairs and they're telling me I need $1200 in work so I really need to figure out if I need all this crap.

[missnikki]

What do they say is wrong?

[cillybean83]

my rear brakes are shot, they arent working at all, I need new front brake pads, new rotors, a wheel balance, an alignment, they're trying to get me to buy 4 tires but i know i only need 2...and something to do with the axle

[jenh171]

Hang in there! When I feel myself worrying about things like this, I always try to remember that my boyfriend, daughters, and I are all healthy. All the rest is just incidental problems that you won't even remember down the road. All is well!

[SandeeAR]

I don't know about Tenn, but here Firestone is about the MOST expensive place to have any work done.

[cillybean83]

i don't know anywhere else to go I don't know anything about cars...I just know mine needs a lot of work and the car is a piece of garbage so it makes me sick to invest all this money in it when i bet it won't run another year. It's a 2005 and it's already needed to have the engine replaced!! That alone set me back like 4 grand, but there isn't much I can do because I"m still paying on it...I get so sick of this stupid car, I tell my husband all the time to just let them repo the P.O.S. but I know that would ruin my credit...

ugh...if it isn't one thing it's another!

[Mrs.Ky]

my rear brakes are shot, they arent working at all, I need new front brake pads, new rotors, a wheel balance, an alignment, they're trying to get me to buy 4 tires but i know i only need 2...and something to do with the axle

Sounds HIGH to me. You should Not have to pay for a wheel balance if you are getting new tires they HAVE to do it anyways. I would suggest if you know someone to do your brakes it would cost way less usually brake pads run 20 bucks for fronts, if back breaks are break shoes its 30 if they are pads its 20, rotors usually run 100 for 2 for the front brake drums cost less for 2 I think not sure about the aligment and how much that should cost. I have my hubby do my breaks all the time its cheaper to buy the parts and have him do it free . I got new tires a year ago at discount tires I paid 300 and something for 4 tires might wana check it out it also included wheel balance, the fee for getting rid of old tires, and a warranty.

[SandeeAR]

I would check around for a small tire shop in your area. You or your Dad go to the local "diner type" hangout. Ask the older men there, they will know where the best place to go is located.

[Symphony]

Oh my gosh! That is so frustrating, I'm sorry Getting work done on cars makes me crazy, especially an 05! You shouldn't have to think of more than maintanance for a car that is less than 10 years old, unless you have an insane amount of miles on it! I know that's not how it always works out, but it seems it should be that way right?

If I were you, I would take a really good look at your budget to see if a new(er) car is a possibility before you put all that money into it. I put a $1000 into my last vehicle and a month later it needed more work. Thats when we traded. $1000 down the drain. What a waste!They want 1200? That is 4 months of a car payment!

[tenderhearts]

That's expensive.. Too bad you didn't live here, my husband works from home working on cars. Although most of his work he gets by word of mouth, he does advertise some of the more specialty stuff on craigslist and he does get alot from there too, worth checking out. That price is outrageous, but I dont' know if your state would have higher rates than ours. Good luck

[safechner]

It sounds bull****. My husband knows a lot cars since he is manufacturing engineer. I know a lot of cars that I learned from my husband.

Wal mart only charge you $5 dollar each for wheel balance. If you only need front Brake pads that you can get from your dealership and do it on yourself or your father will do it for you about $65 depends on your model. It should be cheaper. Wheel Alignment should be $40 to $45. Don't let anyone tell you that you need a new rotors which is bull***. Before Christmas and someone told me that I need a new rotors but my husband said no we dont need it. He checked it and it is fine. If your rotors ok then it shouldn't be big deal unless it is very scratched badly like you brake stop to make noise or rough. Maybe you can bring to O'reilly to make your rotor smooth if it is not worn out which is $15 each. Hope it helps. I would guess it should be $300. My husband replaced front and rear brake pads on his self and it costs $145 but there is nothing wrong with rotors on my 2005 jeep grand cherokee last Christmas. I took my jeep to wal mart to do wheel balance for only $20 buck.

[cillybean83]

gah, now i'm fighting with my husband over the stupid thing...the car is a lemon, the dealership we got it from went out of business 4 months after we bought it, the car was 2 years old and needed a new ENGINE, it's been nothing but a money trap, the engine is about to die again, i have to put 2 quarts of oil in it every week, it doesn't hold power steering fluid, or radiator fluid properly, now the stupid thing needs new brakes, and a battery, and tires, and this and that....we're going on vacation to chicago and we were told in no uncertain terms, if the car gets you up there, don't count on it getting you back, that's how effed the motor is...

so I told my husband we should look into getting a new car, I don't know how it works when you want to replace a car that you still owe on, do you pay off the old car and still pay on the new one, does the dealership pay X amount on it and you pay the difference I don't know...I've never had a car note til i was married, I saved my money and bought my cars used in cash, the car I bought in 2004 is a 1997 saturn sl2 and it still runs great with 120,000 miles on it, the only work i've done to is is oil changes, tires, and a battery...in 6 1/2 years!!! I paid $3000 for it! This stupid stratus was $20,000 and we still owe $9000 and we've put about $6000 worth of work into it...i'm ready to throw in the towel and voluntary repo the thing and pay the balance off in small chunks...we are paying $400 a month for it now, if I paid $100 a month on the balance and saved the other $300 and kicked in part of my daycare money on top of the $300 I could have a decent amount of $$$ at the end of the year to buy a decent car outright without worrying about car notes, and continue paying on my balance for this lemon at $100 or $200 a month...I would still be putting out less money per month and I wouldn't have the constant stress of wondering when my car was going to keel over and die!!!!

Sorry I wrote a book....

[Symphony]

gah, now i'm fighting with my husband over the stupid thing...the car is a lemon, the dealership we got it from went out of business 4 months after we bought it, the car was 2 years old and needed a new ENGINE, it's been nothing but a money trap, the engine is about to die again, i have to put 2 quarts of oil in it every week, it doesn't hold power steering fluid, or radiator fluid properly, now the stupid thing needs new brakes, and a battery, and tires, and this and that....we're going on vacation to chicago and we were told in no uncertain terms, if the car gets you up there, don't count on it getting you back, that's how effed the motor is...

so I told my husband we should look into getting a new car, I don't know how it works when you want to replace a car that you still owe on, do you pay off the old car and still pay on the new one, does the dealership pay X amount on it and you pay the difference I don't know...I've never had a car note til i was married, I saved my money and bought my cars used in cash, the car I bought in 2004 is a 1997 saturn sl2 and it still runs great with 120,000 miles on it, the only work i've done to is is oil changes, tires, and a battery...in 6 1/2 years!!! I paid $3000 for it! This stupid stratus was $20,000 and we still owe $9000 and we've put about $6000 worth of work into it...i'm ready to throw in the towel and voluntary repo the thing and pay the balance off in small chunks...we are paying $400 a month for it now, if I paid $100 a month on the balance and saved the other $300 and kicked in part of my daycare money on top of the $300 I could have a decent amount of $$$ at the end of the year to buy a decent car outright without worrying about car notes, and continue paying on my balance for this lemon at $100 or $200 a month...I would still be putting out less money per month and I wouldn't have the constant stress of wondering when my car was going to keel over and die!!!!

Sorry I wrote a book....

If you owe 9000 and you get less than that in a trade, the bank will roll the difference into the new loan. It's not usually a smart thing to do, but if the car is ****ing money out of you without actually providing a reliable source of transportation? I would cut my losses and get a new car.

[dEHmom]

yeah, basically they just carry it over.

Example:
We owed 13 000 on our truck. We decided to trade in for a van in the summer.
They offered us 7 000 for our truck (because it needed work and that's why we traded it). Van was 16 000 (used van), they took off 7000 from the van (9000 dollar van now), added the 13 000 remaining loan totalling 22 000 for the van now plus all the taxes and warranty on top we ended up with 26 000 dollar van. payment are only 40 dollars more than we were paying on a much older truck that needed ALOT of work. And the van I don't even have to get out and open doors to pick girls up from school! I just push the button Make sense?

[cillybean83]

ok i get it...but what if i want a used car and i want to pay for it in cash, and have no car note?

here is what I'm thinking, I call the car note company and tell them look, this car is a POS, it isn't safe to transport my children in, I would like to voluntary repo the car, when you sell it, obviously I will owe you the difference, once that is all said and done, how do we work out a new payment plan for the balance. I will be needing to purchase a new car, so $***.xx is what I would be able to afford, can we work something out?

I know it will look ugly on my credit report for a while, but the thing with that is, I don't need my credit score. I have 2 emergency credit cards that i rarely use, so i won't have to worry about not being able to get a credit card...I own my other car outright, and the replacement car will be bought outright, and I own my house outright. I don't have a mortgage, i bought it in cash with inheritance money sooooo....I don't really care if my credit score ****s for a while, kwim?