What is the most money you paid for service on your vehicle?

Sigarms · Oct 21, 2023

The Subaru thread made me think of this as I made a comment about a large invoice we paid for some service work for our 2008 Honda Piliot.

What is the most you've ever paid for a service invoice for your vehicle and at what point do you "throw in the towl"?

For myself, that Pilot was the biggest one, pushing over $5k (it was a lot of work head to toe, about 4 pages of service work, including 4 new tires which it needed). I know some people would think I'm crazy for that kind of money with a vehicle over 200k on it, but the reality is I look at what I paid for the vehicle vs what have I paid out so far for the maintence of the vehicle, and for ourselves, sometimes a high service bill (for appropriate work to be done) beats paying 15-20k in cash for another used car. Added the pilot is my wifes car so to speak, and she loves driving it.

I had a 98 Toyota Avalon with 399K on it before I junked it per wifes orders (I really wanted to hit 400K LOL). Got to be to the point where my wife refused to drive it due to all the nuances of driving it. Around the 300K mark, had a service bill for around 3.5K. My wife wasn't so certain about that one, but I really liked that car, and in hindsight, getting another 90K of mileage out of it was worth it to me.

Thing is, between my wife and I, we've never ever bought a new car through financing. Try to find the best deal on used, then keep track of maintence dollars vs mileage. That pilot was bought with 75K on it, paid a couple of grand for service over the years for the most part, the vehicle never nickled and dimed us to death, so when it we got with a big potential service bill, since my wife loves the car, and we figured if we ever financed a new car with a monthly payment, the high service invoice at over 200k in mileage has already paid for itself by not having to buy another vehicle.

Currently 4 personal vehicles not including company work truck, so if one vehicle needs work, we aren't in a pinch to get it done ASAP because we always have a ride. My viewpoint has always been to by high dollar ticket items when you don't need to vs an emergency and you HAVE to have it. I'd just rather save on the upfront money of a used vehicle vs a brand new vehicle where you lose money on it driving it off the lot, added both my wife and I have a philosophy of running the vehicle into the ground.

Generally local mechanics who we trust, not a dealership does the work.

I just know my one cousing had a new SUV with 100K on it and when they stopped in to visit, they were thinking of getting something new already due to the high mileage. Heck, all of our vehicles had over 100k on them and I was scratching my head about her comment.

When the boy ships out next month, he'll be leaving his car at home. Yet another reason why my wife not only wants to downsize the house and property, but only wants no more than two cars LMAO.

dodge man · Oct 21, 2023

I do most of my own work so it’s tough to say. I had some rust repaired on a 2004 Ram with a Cummins that was a few thousand dollars if that counts. Tires alone can be over $1000.

MoKelly · Oct 21, 2023

My Honda CRV has 175000 miles. I recently needed new tires, brakes and rotors. That cost me $825. Most I paid so far for that car at one time.

Sigarms · Oct 21, 2023

MoKelly said:
My Honda CRV has 175000 miles. I recently needed new tires, brakes and rotors. That cost me $825. Most I paid so far for that car at one time.

Generally when buying a used car with higher mileage, we look to see what has been done with the timing belt/chain per maintence and play that into the cost of a used vehicle.

You ever change the timing belt on that CRV? That's usually not cheap as if they're doing that, generally the water pump is added in since your halfway there.

Needless to say, on the expensive service bill, both the belt and pump were replaced on the Pilot.

Joel/ak · Oct 21, 2023

Besides tires, in the last couple decades I spent money only on alignments. I can get close with a tape measure but some things I can't do.

Hell, I got a spare engine, transmission, transfer case and a complete front end for my wife's f150.

The super duty I'm sure I'll have to pay a shop for in the future but we got the f150 as a back up if need be.

ultrarunner · Oct 21, 2023

$1300 for transmission rebuild for the truck with torque converter…

Had too many problems with exchange auto parts so had my trans rebuilt and so far so good…

MoKelly · Oct 21, 2023

Sigarms said:
Generally when buying a used car with higher mileage, we look to see what has been done with the timing belt/chain per maintence and play that into the cost of a used vehicle.

You ever change the timing belt on that CRV? That's usually not cheap as if they're doing that, generally the water pump is added in since your halfway there.

Needless to say, on the expensive service bill, both the belt and pump were replaced on the Pilot.

No - I haven’t had to replace the timing belt. Knock on wood!

2manyrocks · Oct 21, 2023

It used to be that there came a point when car repairs exceeded the resale value of the vehicle and they got scrapped. Now that new car prices are so high and used cars are so high mileage, I find myself willing to spend more to repair the cars we already have. The used cars I see for sale have high mileage and I suspect the owners are dumping them for as much as they can get while prices are still high. At least I know what I have with the cars we already own.

Some stuff I do at home to save the hassle of dropping a car off at the mechanic's shop and picking it up, not to mention it's less expensive. Timing belt/water pump replacement isn't the easiest job, but I have done it. I'd rather do it as scheduled maintenance at my choice of time, too.

Not sure how long we can all play this repair game because eventually cars do wear out. Some of that depends on how they are driven and how they are maintained. Evidently, the people in Cuba got pretty good at keeping cars on the road for decades.

If your son's car is good, I'd keep it in storage. No telling what the car market will be like when he needs a car again.

ultrarunner · Oct 21, 2023

To be young again... lots of credit for doing the work himself... consider it as on the job training...

CloverKnollFarms · Oct 21, 2023

$1000 for a new a/c compressor. We spend very little to maintain our vehicles, and they are usually 100k plus mile cars. Simple stuff like brake pads, rotors, wheel bearings etc, I just do myself, so it's very affordable

2manyrocks · Oct 21, 2023

I had a boss who I suspect was yaking on his cell phone instead of paying attention to his driving. He ran into the guardrail in the middle of the interstate in his Mercedes. Destroyed guardrail. He wasn't hurt. Mercedes was repaired and kept going.

From what I understand, everything about a Mercedes is pricey, but apparently they are solid cars.

ruffdog · Oct 21, 2023

CloverKnollFarms said:
$1000 for a new a/c compressor. We spend very little to maintain our vehicles, and they are usually 100k plus mile cars. Simple stuff like brake pads, rotors, wheel bearings etc, I just do myself, so it's very affordable

^^^Same here. I've been doing my own maintenance and repairs my whole life and saving money doing it. We don't drive much now so the need for repairs have lessened quite a bit.

ultrarunner · Oct 21, 2023

My brother had 350,000 miles on a 300 turbo diesel the last year before trap oxidizers...

He never did anything to drivetrain.

The kicker is when he finally sold it he got a very good price to a guy that used fryer grease for diesel...

Sigarms · Oct 21, 2023

ultrarunner said:
To be young again... lots of credit for doing the work himself... consider it as on the job training...

Sometimes brains and looks skips a generation. I got skipped. One of the jobs he's looking at in the AF is cehicle maintence. He's actually using the tools I bought him for his car and used them to help his buddy work on his car.

But, per vehicles, what I explained to him is what he puts in or on the car is not always what someone else is looking to buy which doesn't help the resale value.

I don't see middle age people flocking to his car if he ever wants to resell it, and for what he put into it per his first major service bill, not many teenangers have the money to spend on that kind of car.

Reality is European cars aren't worth the parts costs alone IMO.

MossRoad · Oct 21, 2023

About 2-3 years ago our 2013 Impala roasted an engine. A cam sequencer failed, it threw off the timing, the pistons ate the valves, and that's that. $2500 for a junkyard lower mileage (I use that term lightly) engine installed by my mechanic.

Same year, our 2012 Malibu that the kid was driving had a cam sequencer fail on the echo tech 4 cylinder. Same deal. Throws off the timing, pistons eat the valves, metal goes everywhere, and poof! I took the valve cover off, removed the spark plugs, rotated the engine over by hand and only about half of the rocker arms moved. Toast!

That was right around $4K with 1 year warranty used engine. Both cars are still being driven daily, so cheaper than car payments.

2manyrocks · Oct 21, 2023

Maybe that Mercedes isn't so bad in costs after all?

MossRoad · Oct 21, 2023

Sigarms said:
...Yet another reason why my wife not only wants to downsize the house and property, but only wants no more than two cars LMAO.

We've almost always had a pair and a spare when it comes to cars.

Comes in handy some times. Not just for us, but if family flies in to visit, we can loan them a car. If someone else in the family needs to have their car in the shop for a few days, we can loan them one of ours.

And it's kinda nice sometimes to just say, "Which car do you want to take today?"