There goes the Christmas bonus

Damn cars. Yesterday SWMBO car started acting up. She said the steering wheel wouldn't turn and barely made it home from the store. I figured it was either out of power steering fluid or the pump was shot.

I looked at when I got home and it wasn't the pump. The steering wheel would only move about 1/4 turn and made the most terrible grinding noise. Of course, the worst case is what happened. The entire steering rack and gears are all shot.

Stupid cars. There goes the Christmas bonus.

Sorry to hear it. That is always the way of things.

That totally bites! Seems like some kind of Murphy's Law thing.
Every time I get a few dollars ahead and think I can have some fun, something breaks that requires big bucks to fix/replace.
I've actually gotten a bit superstitious about it and now when I get some unexpected money, I get very nervous.

That sucks man, what kind of car is it on?

I am of the same mind set as Nurmey though. I have given up on trying to get ahead and just let it happen, seems that when i quit worring about money it sticks around longer.

I feel your pain! The same thing always happens to me.
I've replaced the power steering pump on my POS 2002 Ford Windstar twice! The second time the pump was under warranty and it only cost $300.00 to replace it!

i feel ya man, my $500 xmas bonus was sucked up by bills... way to go automatic withdraw...

I hate cars, they are nothing but a sink hole for money. Sorry to hear about your troubles man, we've all been there.

adx said:

Damn cars. Yesterday SWMBO car started acting up. She said the steering wheel wouldn't turn and barely made it home from the store. I figured it was either out of power steering fluid or the pump was shot.

I looked at when I got home and it wasn't the pump. The steering wheel would only move about 1/4 turn and made the most terrible grinding noise. Of course, the worst case is what happened. The entire steering rack and gears are all shot.

Stupid cars. There goes the Christmas bonus.

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Is it a ford product? I had the same problem on a T-Bird I had and on a Cougar and had to find a Rack from a Junkyard because the dealer wanted like 1500 for a new one I found mine for 250 and the Labor was awful and then had to pay for an allingment.

It's a 2000 Dodge Intrepid and is in great shape with only 70k miles in 7 years. We thought about just getting a new car, but don't feel like dealing with that right now. The parts are reasonable, but 6-9 hours of labor add up pretty damn fast.

The good part is that we have the resources to cover the expenses, even without the Christmas bonus, but it just sucks any way to look at it.

At least you lucky bastids GET a bonus.

My company doesn't believe in either Christmas, or paying employees what they are worth.

I don't get a Christmas bonus either, it's SWMBO's. However, I am starting a new job next week, so hopefully next year I'll get one.

jezter6 said:

At least you lucky bastids GET a bonus.

My company doesn't believe in either Christmas, or paying employees what they are worth.

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You must be my Co-Worker then Because The idiots I work for are the same way but they give money and gifts back to there customers however.

No bonus for me either. A doctorate and a job managing 30 people gets me about $12 an hour.

My car broke in November, I still don't have it back, which is just as well because I needed a couple extra paychecks to pay the $2,000 repair bill. Anyway, I am selling it when it gets back to me and buying another motorcycle. I will ride 24/7/365. Why should SWMBO and I have two $15,000 cars when we're making so little? At least on a bike, if something major goes wrong, it's $250 for a low-mileage trans out of a wrecked bike and you can put it in yourself.

Personally at least, I was leery of dropping the engine and trans to get at the differential in an unheated, poorly-lit 1.5 car garage with no walk-in door and no lock on the folding door. Theft of tools would've really worried me and vandalism could've set me back ten grand or more. And, with winter coming in, I didn't even know if I'd have the stomach to do the work. Cold steel is, well, cold to work on... If it were a broken motorcycle, it would've been a no-brainer (especially if I had a back up bike). Cars are nice for carrying old people around, or handling anything bigger than a couple bags of groceries, but otherwise, it's a rather silly luxury if you think about it.. especially for what insurance and everything else costs...

Sorry to hear that man. I know the name to that tune too.. Got a looong overdue promotion, the following week my home owners insurance trippled and my property taxes doubled. Easy come, easy go. Just be glad you had the bonus to fall back on and not end up in the hole.

jezter6 said:

At least you lucky bastids GET a bonus.

My company doesn't believe in either Christmas, or paying employees what they are worth.

Click to expand...

Right there with you. I even work for a catholic hospital and they don' t give us **** but a coffee mug. I guarantee my boss gets a bonus though.

I sympathize with the "broken car" part. I have three vehicles; one I can't afford to feed, one I can't afford to fix, and one I can't afford to break. Luckily they all run and drive right now. The difference is that I do all my own work on them. It's a PITA sometimes, but it saves mucho dinero. I have no idea how to change the rack on an Intrepid, but I did it in an '89 Mustang GT I had(power rack) and it was not a fun job. I have to do the same thing to an '84 Mustang SVO I have now. The kicker is that the rack is a one-year only part for that car.