Here's a review of the past year in car ownership. I just want to catalog the cost of car ownership for this one year because it has to be one of the more costly years.
First things first, I paid off Itsuki-chan. She's all mine. Now I own two cars. It's this second car that makes owning expensive -- the loan and the insurance. At least one of those payments is done.
Then even before she was fully paid off, Itsuki-chan had some issues. She had a bad start and rattle when under load. I took her in to get service for it in the spring, they changed something I forget which and cost $1400. That didn't fix her, so I put her away for the fall maybe to take her to another mechanic to service it for real.
I switched to the VW, which was at 200k. At her age, she had some issues, too.
One day driving home from work, the temperature gauge went off. It was because a hose had deteriorated leaking coolant. I took her in for service, got her back, then had to take her in again for the temp gauge going off. This time it was the circulating fan failing. Because it had to work overtime while the temperature had gone up, it failed and needed to be replaced.
In the middle of the summer, I had the VW throw a check engine light. I ignored this one for a long time. I was still able to drive the Mini Cooper, so I set the VW in the garage. When the Mini started to worry me and I put her in the garage, I took out the VW. She wouldn't start. I needed a new battery. Replacing it, cleared the check engine fault. I haven't seen it show up again.
Besides routine maintenance, I bought an air compressor, so that I don't have to pay to fill the tires up with air. The VW seems to need it all the time.
Finally, the VW's paint is going bad. It's peeling terrible. I should get her repainted. Next year.
Cars ownership sucks. At least, I don't have to worry about the money to pay for them.
First things first, I paid off Itsuki-chan. She's all mine. Now I own two cars. It's this second car that makes owning expensive -- the loan and the insurance. At least one of those payments is done.
Then even before she was fully paid off, Itsuki-chan had some issues. She had a bad start and rattle when under load. I took her in to get service for it in the spring, they changed something I forget which and cost $1400. That didn't fix her, so I put her away for the fall maybe to take her to another mechanic to service it for real.
I switched to the VW, which was at 200k. At her age, she had some issues, too.
One day driving home from work, the temperature gauge went off. It was because a hose had deteriorated leaking coolant. I took her in for service, got her back, then had to take her in again for the temp gauge going off. This time it was the circulating fan failing. Because it had to work overtime while the temperature had gone up, it failed and needed to be replaced.
In the middle of the summer, I had the VW throw a check engine light. I ignored this one for a long time. I was still able to drive the Mini Cooper, so I set the VW in the garage. When the Mini started to worry me and I put her in the garage, I took out the VW. She wouldn't start. I needed a new battery. Replacing it, cleared the check engine fault. I haven't seen it show up again.
Besides routine maintenance, I bought an air compressor, so that I don't have to pay to fill the tires up with air. The VW seems to need it all the time.
Finally, the VW's paint is going bad. It's peeling terrible. I should get her repainted. Next year.
Cars ownership sucks. At least, I don't have to worry about the money to pay for them.
Labels: automotive, retrospective
had two cars once. I know what I'm talking about.