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So last night, in a moment of pure stupidity, I ran my car with yakima roof rack and bike into my garage. The rack was ripped from the roof, scoring the roof and leaving several dents. I took it to a reputable body shop and the estimate is over $3000 to fix. Interior headliner must removed, roof pulled back into shape and painting the entire roof and rear quarter panels.
Now I purchased this car two years ago for around $4,000 and it now has 203K miles. I suspect its still worth around $4,000 fixed, but could probably get $2,000 or more in it's current state. The interior is mint black leather, and the exterior(other than the roof) is in really good shape. Mechanically is solid as well... would make a great spec car.
Now I'd love to not fix it, but I can't look at it in this condition everyday.
Here's the question... Do I fix the car and keep it or do I sell it?
To fix it could cost $3,500 and the repairs could take as long as a month. I'll need to find other transportation during that time. Now I absolutely love the car, its easy to fix and repairs are cheap. It's a great drive. It's not always a honeymoon though. It is 20 years old has some annoying rattles and drips a little oil. I've put about a grand into in the past gear for engine/tranny mounts and a new driveshaft. It has over 200k miles and the engine won't go on forever.
My other option is to sell the car, and get something newer. I'd loose less money on the car in this circumstance, figuring I could sell it for around $2,000. Since the car is drivable, I could take my time finding a new car. My problem here is I've been trying to buy a house, and a car payment would not be ideal. My second problem is that I don't know what to get. I was looking at ZHP's about 6 months ago and I really like them, but would also consider an A3 3.2... or maybe something else? feel free to suggest.
Here she is in her former glory...
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what do i do?
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updated pics of damage
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Modified by poopy_pants at 11:52 AM 3-20-2010
Now I purchased this car two years ago for around $4,000 and it now has 203K miles. I suspect its still worth around $4,000 fixed, but could probably get $2,000 or more in it's current state. The interior is mint black leather, and the exterior(other than the roof) is in really good shape. Mechanically is solid as well... would make a great spec car.
Now I'd love to not fix it, but I can't look at it in this condition everyday.
Here's the question... Do I fix the car and keep it or do I sell it?
To fix it could cost $3,500 and the repairs could take as long as a month. I'll need to find other transportation during that time. Now I absolutely love the car, its easy to fix and repairs are cheap. It's a great drive. It's not always a honeymoon though. It is 20 years old has some annoying rattles and drips a little oil. I've put about a grand into in the past gear for engine/tranny mounts and a new driveshaft. It has over 200k miles and the engine won't go on forever.
My other option is to sell the car, and get something newer. I'd loose less money on the car in this circumstance, figuring I could sell it for around $2,000. Since the car is drivable, I could take my time finding a new car. My problem here is I've been trying to buy a house, and a car payment would not be ideal. My second problem is that I don't know what to get. I was looking at ZHP's about 6 months ago and I really like them, but would also consider an A3 3.2... or maybe something else? feel free to suggest.
Here she is in her former glory...
what do i do?
updated pics of damage
Modified by poopy_pants at 11:52 AM 3-20-2010
