A Jen Too Many

We bought a new (to us) car a few weeks ago. It seemed a good time to go car shopping. It was the last week of the year and the economy wasn't exactly doing so fantastically. We thought this should translate into better prices. When you throw in that my darling was driving a car with 216,000 miles on it (original engine*), it just seemed like an even better time to look into car prices.

We came home with something far cheaper than we had dreamed of, which also was very nice-looking (I'm pretty sure he would object if I called it pretty, but just between you and me - it's pretty), and big, and made my sweetheart a happy, happy man. His old car was loaned to The Boy Child, who had been driving an old clunker with an alarming tendency to stop working at unpredictable moments - always a bad thing when you are driving down the freeway.

Happy, happy, joy, joy. Everything is going well and everyone is pleased, especially TBC. Right? So why am I bringing this up now? Not that blogs are only about bad things, but you (clever reader that you are!) are undoubtedly thinking that since I didn't bother writing about it last January, only to bring it up now, something must have changed.

You're right.

The CHECK ENGINE light came on, and TBC took the car to the mechanic. I just got off the phone with them. Seems like stuff happened, then other stuff happened, and now there are serious problems, with things bent that shouldn't be bent. Fixing it will be expensive. Very expensive. So expensive that the mechanic assures me it will be cheaper just to completely replace the engine.**

I'm still waiting to find out their estimate on the cost of putting a new (to us) engine in the car. The last time we had to do something like this it was $1,000, so I'm assuming it will be at least that.

Is it worth it? Do we junk the car or fix it? My sweetie is sleeping and we haven't talked it over yet. We haven't yet gotten rid of TBC's old car, but it probably needs a new (to us) engine, too. I doubt it would cost much less to replace that engine, than to replace the nicer car's engine. Or we could just get rid of both cars, let TBC use my car to get to work, and save lots of money on car insurance. Of course, I'll be pulling my hair out with frustration since I won't be able to do anything while he's off having fun with his friends in my car, so that's maybe not such a great idea.

I'm just glad we went ahead and got a new car already. Whatever decision we make now, we'll be able to take some time and figure out the best approach, not have to beg for speedy repairs while also begging rides to work. (The last time this happened to us it was our only car, and it took that mechanic a month to get the car fixed. Not a fun time at all.)
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*You might be wondering what he was driving. A Santa Fe. He took very good care of it and did all the maintenance immediately if not sooner. We didn't wind up buying another Santa Fe, but we were more than willing to consider it.

**And I believe him. The best mechanic I've ever had, with picture-in-the-dictionary kind of integrity. Sooo nice to be able to work with someone I can trust completely.