Near the end of the road
The fate of the old Volvo wagon hangs in the balance. Today we took it in for a few problems and I wasn’t sure it would survive this one.
The A/C has been pumping out air that is barely cool. This was fine until the temperature hit 90 degrees this week.
Last night my daughter got caught in a thunderstorm only to find the wipers no longer had a fast speed and didn’t clear the rain off the windshield well even on the slower speed.
The DC potholes had loosened the muffler, which was making quite a noise.
They actually said the brakes were fine, despite our suspicions.
You get the picture. Old car. Lots of problems.
Our usual independent auto repair shop wanted $1300 in parts for the A/C and wiper repairs alone. My husband was willing to fix the wipers but was going to leave me with a very hot car.
That’s when I called Lamar Automotive, my favorite Volvo parts place located in Pittsburg, Kansas. Sure enough, I was able to buy all the necessary parts and have them shipped for under $400. Don, the guy who always answers the phone, is a Volvo expert who is more interested in pleasing his Volvo customers than in making a huge profit.
Next week the parts will come in the mail and I will take them over to my mechanic for installation. I am probably the only customer who brings her own parts.
This may be the beginning of the end for my old car, which now qualifies as an antique in the state of Virginia. I’m hopeful these repairs will be the last for a while. But at some point even I will question the wisdom of repairing a car that is over 25 years old.
posted by Barbara at 9:53 PM
5 Comments:
My car - the Jeep - will be 9 years old this summer. I hope to have it 16 years from now. Honestly, I hope to have it 33 years from now and another 15 on top of that. When you love a car, you love it, even if it means bringing your own parts.
Best of luck to the Volvo and the people who adore it.
25 years! well done for keeping it so long
About 10 years is my limit with cars. Good for you and best of wishes for "the patient".
My Toyota pick-up has 295,00 on it and my 2nd-hand Honda sedan has 235,000. Here's to maintaining older cars!
F.
My van had 260k+ miles when I replaced it with an older Audi. My current Jeep is just a youngster with 103K. Here's to older cars that are viable!!
P.S.: My sisters newer Volvo was diagnosed with 10 - 13K worth of problems. My sister towed it out to Colorado where the fix came in under 3500. Yeah for Colorado!!
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