A Holiday Weekend Gone Flat
AAA says this Memorial Day weekend is going to be the most expensive in history, thanks to high gas prices. Regardless, some 37.9 million people will drive more than 50 miles over the next 3 days. Er, make that 37,899,999.
The car I inherited from my grandparents when they died a day apart 3 years ago just broke down on the Garden State Parkway in NJ.
Here’s a shot I took of “Grandma’s Car”, taking a ride on the tow truck.
My grandfather was a mechanic, so the 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix was well maintained. My grandmother worked as a waitress just a few minutes from their house, so the car had only 38 thousand miles on it when it came into my life. Now it seems to be at the end of its life… And I must make a decision. Do I sink more money into it? Or sell the only thing I have left of my grandparents for parts?
Kathleen Foster has been with FNC as a field producer since 1996. She
says she’s never had a dull day, with her job taking her all around the
world – from the New York bureau to the Middle East. 
Kathleen………….I know it’s hard to let go of family heirlooms sometimes…………and it sounds like this Pontiac has become one. But, putting more money into a 12 year old car is probably not a wise financial decission, IMO.
Why not sell it, then use that money towards the purchase of a new car. This way your grandparents gift to you carries on……………you could even save a small trim piece or emblem from the Pontiac and carry/install it on your new car………….as a reminder.
With the price of new cars these days, consider keeping the one you have. You say that the car is at the end of its life. But you do not know what the problem is yet. Even if you would have to rebuild the transmission or even drop a rebuilt engine into the thing, it is still much less when one compares it to a new car purchase. If you have been changing the oil and keeping the radiator filled correctly, things should not be all that bad. You indicate that the car was well maintained before you took posession of it.
Find a decent mechanic. Find one that knows cars rather than some bozo at a high end dealership who only knows how to replace parts and charges you by some guidebook with inflated costs. Ask friends and neighbors if they know anyone that they personally can recommend. Also, if you find a mechanic that you can trust, get an estimate in writing for the whole job rather than some cost plus scheme.
It takes a little bit of homework to find a decent mechanic but you should not be so willing to get rid of the car unless you are told by a reliable authority that the vehicle is a total loss. Of course, if you just feel like dropping 20K dollars for a new car and the extra insurance costs to go with it then who am I to stop you?
Keep in mind that the smog regulations in the east are much looser than those in the West (smog certification hell), with many less parts on the engine. This means that there is less to break and the gas mileage is better.
I’m driving an 86 Volvo which gets 20 miles to the gallon in the city–and that’s with California smog reduction on the engine. Frankly, the few extra miles per gallon that a new car would give do not justify the cost of it–and that’s even with the high price of gas these days.
Sell it…….I’m sure your grandparents did not intend for you to keep the car until your dying day.
I am sitting home this week end also because my car died, needs a starter, saving gas money is a bonus I guess, I remember our car during WW2, it was a 1937 Ford, Dad bought it in 1941, rationing set in, gas was hard to come by, tires had to be replaced with the synthetics, longest trip we took was to KC from Des Moines to get my brother 2 extra days at home before shipping out. He never came home. When my youngest brother came home from the Navy, Dad gave him that car, in 1952 he drove it to Calif when he moved there. Cars are like pets, we remember them all, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Do you need the Hyundai?? Running great at 90,000.
With the price of gas find out what is wrong with it..what if it was only a starter??? Call Eddie. (Remember Uncle Herb had his 1960 Fairlaine until the day he died.) It couldn’t have more than 60,000 miles.