Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting quick feedback re: repair costs

You're happy, we're happy.

Surprising how dealer sometimes can be the better deal.

RoadRunner:
Your post noted.

I just authorized $1200 worth of work on a car that's worth 4 grand, tops. I'm extremely UNhappy!

That the dealer was the cheaper alternative was not surprising, it was shocking.

With respect,parts and labor do not go down just because the resale value does!

Understood. But it sucks to spend 30% of what a car's worth on a single day's worth of repairs! I'd rather put my $1200 into a vehicle that's worth 15 grand than one that's worth 4 grand. At some point, you gotta cut your losses and stop putting money into a vehicle. My dad bought a 20 year-old John Deere tractor from his uncle for $150. Within a few months he had replaced the engine AND the transmission. He should have bought a new tractor instead.

Or do the work ourselves....Labor is the expense, not the parts. I paid $2000 for a Mystique...I've spent a few hundred in parts, and a lot of time, and have a car that I think will run many miles...resale value didn't go up, but I now have good transportation (I hope), at low cost.......Doesn't matter to me what the value of the car is, as I never sell anything....

Bluedevil, I sincerely hope you took my advice from an earlier post and researched parts yourself. For the amount you are spending, you are correct, you should probably replace everything. You mentioned doing front wheel bearings but nothing about the front struts springs you only mentioned the rear. To recap my earlier post, you can get springs from roush www.roushperformance.com for 120 shipped to your door and that is ALL 4 springs. You can get KYB performance struts all around the car for $260 bucks It sounds to me like you are really paying way to much for this work. I'm not savvy on wheel bearings but you should be able to buy springs and shocks and take them somewhere to be installed and installation shouldn't be anymore than 250 and even that is high!! I agree with you on not wanting to spend big bucks on a car that is worth 4k so don't spend it if you don't have too!!! Also , check the regional forums, I'm sure you can find someone to do the work for you cheaper!

Originally posted by Bluedevils:

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...it sucks to spend 30% of what a car's worth on a single day's worth of repairs! I'd rather put my $1200 into a vehicle that's worth 15 grand than one that's worth 4 grand. At some point, you gotta cut your losses and stop putting money into a vehicle.

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I guess that is true sometimes, but you can also look at it another way: Sometimes it's better to spend a few thousand to keep a car running for another few years, than to spend $20,000 (or more) on a new car.

$1212 later, I finally have new front bearings, front sway bar links, rear struts and mounts, and rear springs. I'm sure I could have bought parts myself and found somebody to install them for me, but I think those types of shops are pretty uncommon around here and I don't really know any individuals who can do this work. Plus I wanted it fixed quick. I guess that's my justification for paying more than I needed to. At least I had the work done at a Ford dealer instead of paying Midas $1800 for less work (their quote excluded the right front bearing and right rear spring).

High repair costs are why some 8-12 year old cars that have clean bodies are in junk yards.

But, newer cars lose a lot more in depreciation than $1200.