On Mon, October 24, 2005 8:02 pm, Terrible Tom said:
>
> I know you don't have great accomidations for working on stuff at your
> place Jason, like Jon and I have...
What do you mean? I have Jon's Garage-Mahal two hours away :-).
Okay, that's somewhat less than convenient. Point taken.
> but I still cringe and wince when I
> hear of someone having have some service done that costs "$600 or $700".
> For something as minor as brake lines.
Well, I'm guessing Mark probably just took it over to Midas and said "my car's
broken, how much to fix it?" He's an IT guy, and doesn't know anything about
vehicles (just ask him).
Sadly, with the labor charges, it doesn't take very much to jack the cost up
in to that range. Before I knew better, I paid over $500 just for front pads
and rotors. In my case it was more a matter of absolutely needing the truck
every day to get to work, and thinking I didn't have time to fool around with
it on my own. I didn't have any idea how to replace brakes, although I'm sure
I could have figured it out in time. Now that I've watched Jon do it, I have
some idea what's involved. I can't say I really remember all the steps, but
with a good manual, I could probably figure it out in a single day.
> I estimated that for $700, I could replace all 4 shocks, the master cyl
> and power brake booster, front pads, rotors, rear drums, shoes,
> hardware, wheel cyls,front coil springs, the fuel tank and straps, and
> have enough left over for an air freshener, on that Ranger I just sold.
And how much time would you have put in to it? Multiply that by $75 for
someone who doesn't have the knowledge and skills that you do.
> I really would hate to see ya have to fork out that kinda cash for what
> you can get for supplies only, for less than $25 bucks.
No no no. I guess my message isn't really giving you the whole story. *I'm*
not the one facing that kind of repair bill, that's what *Mark* said it would
have cost him. With access to Jon's lift, and the fact that I have another
vehicle to drive, I was planning on doing it with Jon's help. I just have to
think of a suitable bribe :-).
But, after sleeping on it some more, I'm starting to agree with those who have
said maybe it's not such a great idea. I think I'm going to call up my
insurance company and ask them, hypothetically, how much my premiums would
jack up to add another vehicle. I'm guessing it shouldn't be too much, since
I wouldn't need full coverage on the Breeze, and the miles driven on the
Dakota would drop down to next to nothing. But until I call them, I'm just
guessing.
Being realistic, my commute isn't really all that far. With the over-taxed
gas up here, I've been averaging about $180 / month on gas for the Dakota. So
I figure a 4 cylinder commuter car would save me between $60-90 a month,
depending on what kind of mileage it gets. My insurance on the Dakota is
considerably more than that. Granted that's with full coverage, but I checked
over my statement and it looks like the comprehensive is a relatively small
percentage of my total premium (don't remember exactly, but it was something
like 25%).
So, now I'm not so sure. If I was going to be replacing the Dakota, then
there's no question that I could save money by going with an econobox. But I
still can't convince myself that adding a third vehicle could save any money,
even if the vehicle itself was free. I know Andy said his Acclaim saved him
quite a bit, but his commute was over four times longer than mine.
How about fixing it up and selling it? I wonder if there would be any chance
of turning a profit doing that. I know it's difficult to predict, but let's
figure the vehicle is practically free, so the major expense would be fixing
it. I know it needs brake lines, and probably a driver's seat, and who knows
what other little stuff (it has been sitting for a while). I'm told it does
run quite well. There's also the expense of dragging it down to Jon's to work
on it (dolly rental + gas).
Hmmm...
-- Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Nov 01 2005 - 09:50:04 EST