It is freezing cold and there are very high winds here in Canada today and I just got home from work. If you were driving down my street you would have recognized me immediately. I am the person who climbs in and out of the passenger door of her car on cold days because the driver’s door either refuses to open or, much worse, opens and refuses to close on really cold days.
I prefer the door to be stuck shut over stuck open so I will be climbing over the centre console all this week until the cold weather alert is lifted. I am watching The Weather Channel as I type and it looks like it will remain freezing for the next 7 days.
Which leads me to the major financial question of the day – maybe it is time for a newer car? My goal for 2013 is to reduce debt by 6 or 8 thousand dollars. If I want a newer car then I will have to take on more debt.
I was thinking about replacing the car this summer because I will need new tires, the door thing is frustrating and the windows always ice up on the inside as well as the outside. I don’t like scraping the inside of my car.
The car is a 2005. It still has a trade in value (on a warm day) but I don’t have any money saved for a new one.
I could get in to a brand new car with no money down and a payment schedule spread over 3 to 6 years but I don’t want to commit to monthly payments and new cars depreciate too much as soon as you drive them off the lot.
Monthly car payments must be met and avoiding monthly payments is the reason I have the HELOC (home equity line of credit) and the reason I like the HELOC is because I can make smaller payments on the months that my other expenses or emergencies are out of control. If I commit to a car payment I have to make it on time every single month.
The sensible thing to do is to start a separate savings account and start saving for a newer car. If I put money in to a savings account it will take away from debt repayment and retirement saving.
Replacing the car means an increase in debt.
I guess I will keep climbing in and out of the car and hope for an early spring or a lottery win.
I’d say it’s time to start saving a bit aside for a newer car. Not a NEW car, mind you. Buy something 3-years old.
Estimate how long this car could last if you ran it, and how much a newer car would cost to purchase. Then figure out how much to save each month.
Part of clearing down your debt is also that you have to make decisions to not go back into debt after you’ve worked so hard. Save that money aside for the car.
Or, think about going without a car if you’re able to.
The final option is to buy a beater car when this one finally dies. I bought a minivan for $1900 and it ran for a good 3 years or more. It could have lasted another 10, in my estimations, and I paid nothing on repairs, except for changing out the tires (a law in QC).
My very little city does not have very good public transportation. It would take me almost 90 minutes to get home from work on the bus and it is less than 10 minutes in the car. The bus would be longer on evenings and weekends and I work both of those.
I would not consider a beater because I am not handy and I have to get to work on time. If the beater was the second car then I could always call for a ride when it just doesn’t start. Reliability is very important to me.
I will just keep climbing. It can’t stay this cold forever.
I suggest you fix the problems instead of replacing the entire car. Just make sure you shop around for a honest car mechanic.
I have had the car investigated but it has not been succesful. There is some sort of a leak in the door, window or door handle and the moisture collects in the door latch assembly. My garage has tried but we can’t see anywhere moisuture is getting in or collecting. They always take the car in to the garage and the door works fine when it is warm. They think the best thing to do is to replace the entire door but last time I looked in to that it would be over $2,000 and they could not find a door anywhere in the online car wrecker/parts system.
Another great suggestion was that I park inside all the time. That is not possible.
-22 celsius in Canada this morning.
it was -29 early this morning in Ottawa. It is nuts. I let the car warm up for 10 mins, then drove 4k. I think i went through 1/4 tank of gas doing that…..
I live very close to work so I drove around for ten extra minutes to get the car really warmed up. It will be even colder tonight.
Ottawa, the coldest nation’s capital in the world.
I drive an 03 Malibu. 2005 isn’t old.
If you end up buying, get something reliable with good ratings that’s cheap. Cars are more expensive here than in the US but you can still get something reasonable (again, e.g. a Malibu) for under $5k. That is, unless you’re one of those pretentious Canadians who is too good for a domestic.
But for the love of goodness, stop by an auto body shop and just ask them to quote on it. Take a look at the latch and the lock, if it’s the temperature that affects how it opens, that’s where your problem is. Maybe there’s water entry that’s freezing.
I have only ever driven Ford and GM cars. My last car was a Malibu and it was great.
I have had mechanics and my very handy sons look at the car but we can’t figure out where the moisture problem is. A new door seems like the only answer but they are hard to find and I am too cheap to pay for it.
This extreme cold will lift in a few days and things will be back to normal. The frozen door kept me from hitting the stores this week so maybe it is a good thing.
If you’ve got an 05 domestic with a sticky door, call up some wreckers. There’s no way it could be more than a few hundred, painted.
My mechanic and my youngest son have researched the doors. There were not many of my car model made. There is a computerized registry for car parts and all the junk yards are connected. I am not prepared to spend any money on it and I will just live with the temporary inconvenience.
A $5 can of WD-40 is your friend. Spray a whole bunch of it into the door locks and any other crevice in the door you can find. Open the door and spray the bejeepers out of every nook and cranny. WD-40 lubricates and displaces moisture so it should fix and prevent. No way would I put a new door on for a problem like that. In fact, that reminds me, I should get out and do that to my cars (it’s good preventitive maintenance for any car).
It’s the difference between finding the problem, and solving the problem. WD-40 – problem solved.
It has been WD-40′d multiple times. The freezing happens inside the door latch assembly and my mechanic and my youngest son have have lubricated it so much the stuff drips out the bottom. We need to stop the moisture coming in.
My mechanic has done a lot of this investigation and multiple lubrications without charging me anything.
It will be up to -8 tomorrow and that high temperature combined with a little sunlight should take care of the problem. I am hoping the worst of the cold is over.
Well, if WD-40 doesn’t work, then the only other possible solution is duct tape. The answer is always one of those two things
.
Wine is to women as duct tape is to men. They both fix everything.