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Frustrated
Trying to make decisions on cars....I'm frustrated, and really need to vent more than anything....
Currently: I drive a 2001 Toyota Camry and DH drives a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup. I love my camry and it's actually still in really good shape for being 10 years old. Never had a problem with it other than regular maintenance (but I know the day is coming it's going to start nickel and diming us.) My husbands truck looks super nice - extended cab, off-road package, a lot of upgrades. However, we have had to make a lot of repairs to it.
So after I accepted my full time job for fall, we decided it would be a good idea to buy a new car. Since in the next 2 years or so we are planning on starting a family, we figured it would be nice to buy it now, buy as new as possible, and have it paid off when children come along. We did some shopping, figured out what we like, what we want, how much we want to spend, etc. Great, no problem. We were just waiting month or two, since I don't start my job until August. We can afford payments now, but figured it would be nice to wait until the second income came in (esp. since I don't NEED a new car right away.) DH drives a lot for work, and we and thought about hanging on to my camry and having him drive it since it gets WAY better (12-15 miles more a gallon) than his truck. They pay mileage, but we'd make even more money not filling up his truck all the time.
Issue: We knew when DH bought his in Jan 2008 it had been used previously for some towing (a guy who owned apartments.) Not a big deal, it's got all the stuff for towing. HOWEVER, We are started to make more repairs than normal on it. In the last 2.5 years, we have replaced the tires (no biggie), a door handle (no biggie), ball joints, brake pads (more than once - this is why it's an issue.), ball joints (more than once - this is NOT ok) and this week, the radiator cracked and had to be replaced. Last night, we were driving it (this is within 24 hours of having it home from the radiator fix) it started making a noise in the front end. He's calling the guy today who fixed it, but it might be a joint or something in the 4WD, which may cost 1K to fix....
Now we are wondering when we buy my new vehicle if we should trade his truck in (adding the few grand it's worth to our large down payment we plan on making), getting the total cost down to a few thousand, and pay it off within 6-12 months. He would drive my camry during this time (although he works in ag, so a truck is really helpful) and then we would trade the camry in and replace his truck in another year or so after getting mine paid off.
It's frustrating, because he's only had is truck like 3 years. (I've had my camry for like 6 or 7.) We were initially only planning on replacing mine in the near future. We can afford to replace his over time (like I outlined above) but we dont' know if it's worth sinking an additional 20K into a second new vehicle or if we should suck it up and continue to fix his truck.
I am not necessarily asking for advice, I'm just annoyed, and it sucks trying to figure out what the best option is.
Re: Frustrated
I'm sorry you're having such car issues!! I've been there before so I totally understand.
I know you didn't ask for advice, but I just wanted to give my opinion. I'd say, get a new vehicle to replace his truck now and the in a year or two you can trade in your car for a new one. I think the money you spend on the new vehicle for your DH will be well worth it compared to the money that you're putting into fixing up his truck - especially since you're eventually going to replace it anyway.
What kind of new vehicle did you guys decide on?
I'm going to have to agree with Lauren on this! That's what would make the most sense to me.
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Sorry you're so frustrated
I know it can be a stressful situation. I agree with Lauren and Kim. Replacing the truck before it becomes any more of an issue makes sense to me.
I drove my '97 Mazda Millenia until last October. I turned over 204,000 miles on it. Some of the older cars just run forever. My little brother will probably inherit the car because it just won't die. Last I knew, it already had gone up to 214,000. Hang in there girly!