Another car repair threatens debt reduction plan

Another car repair has struck in a big way. I've noticed a noise and vibration coming from the front end of the car for a couple of weeks.The noise in the car didn't start out as much but worsened yesterday.  I'm learning that when you ignore things they don't go away. They get bigger.

My 2005 PT Cruiser

The team at Midas in Knoxville is why we've been able to put 240,000 miles on my PT Cruiser. They laughed when they saw the repeat offender in the parking lot. 

Automotive technicians don't come any better. The folks at this Midas do all of my repairs and preventative maintenance. My car would never have lasted this long without them. 

It didn't take them too long to put the car on the rack and deliver the very bad news. 

My beloved PT Cruiser needs a new rack and pinion, bearings, tires and an alignment. Ouch! 

These types of car repairs aren't cheap. Our estimate is a little over $1,500 and the worst part is that Midas says it really all needs to be done at the same time. Instead, to keep from going into debt we're going to try to take it in stages. My PT Cruiser will be parked a lot until the repairs are complete. I guess the bright side is that we'll save a few bucks on gas. 

Here are the estimates for the PT Cruiser and the repair schedule:

$720 Rack and pinion (Immediately - it's in the car hospital now.)

$190 Tires (Almost immediately)

$220 Bearings (Next payday)

$60 Alignment (End of the month)

We're going to put our Christmas stash toward the biggest repair. Gifts for the kids (college age) are already purchased and I have a small gift for hubby so that helps. The turkey and veggies for Christmas dinner are in the freezer.

Our plans were to start putting some money into the car next month. Its frustrating to have this car repair right now but it isn't insurmountable. If we didn't have the stash and gifts purchased I would be freaking out (and going into debt). Instead of going into red level panic mode I'm at the orange level. It's a definite improvement.

One thing that getting out of debt is teaching me is the ability to better handle a financial crisis. The car repair is scary and frustrating. But, we only have $200 left to pay on it. I figure we can put in a few repairs for less than the $4,200 that we've paying every year in payments.

I enjoy my PT Cruiser. Despite the car repair I look forward to driving it for years to come.