Monday, July 29, 2013

Chitown Needs a New Car...

I need a new car!!! My car is a 2002 Nissan Altima and it is dying a slow and painful death from rust corrosion. I fought Nissan last year and I was able to get the rear subframe replaced but not the floor boards. Instead of replacing them out of pocket, I had them reinforced at the body shop. I was in danger of being like Fred Flinstone last year! Anyway, the last two weekend, we've had rain here in Chicago and I noticed that the passenger side floor was soaking wet. I pulled up the carpet on Friday and to my absolute horror, I found a pool of water under the carpeting but no obvious sign of where the water was coming through. I used my phone to take pictures underneath and sure enough, the corrosion is back with a vengeance. I don't want to put any more money into the Altima because once there is rust present, it will only get worse. Plus, I need additional regular maintenance on my 11-year old car with 126,000 miles. I was hoping it could wait until next year but looks like my time may be running out.

Since the beginning of the year, I have lost about $700 in monthly cash flow with the roll off of the middle class tax cuts, increased utility costs from the water leak and the switch to bi-weekly pay. Chitown needs a break I tell you!Here are some pics of the car. I have the windows down to dry out the carpeting and padding.






2 comments:

Scooze said...

That looks bad. Good luck finding new (used?) car that doesn't set you back too far!

DreamChaser57 said...

Welcome Back - WCB! You were truly missed. Good to see you bloggin' again.

YIKES! The car looks like it could possibly be a health hazard, wet damp, and dark spaces can be a hotbed for mold. Inhaling that can cause breathing problems.

Coming from a middle class background - I have grown up
being accustomed to car notes. Reading personal finance books, especially Dave Ramsey - I’ve since learned that it’s imperative to either have no car note or minimize it by being aggressive with repayments, getting a late model used vehicle, self-insuring for major repairs by having an emergency fund instead of paying for expensive warranties that have lots of claim exclusions, funding a vehicle replacement fund, doing routine maintenance ensure long car life etc.

Good Luck finding a new vehicle!