van A/C is kaput = arrrrgh + big bill

[hornblower]

Dh dropped our van off at the repair this morning b/e our a/c has been doing nothing - just blowing warm air in my perimenopausal face & ticking me off.

 

The repair dude called to say "blah, blah, blah, leak, compressor, broken, order, overnight, labour, blah, blah, blah, AND THAT WILL BE $1056 plus taxes, ma'am."

 

:svengo:

 

I'm getting soft because I can't imagine life without a/c in the car now. How did I deal with no a/c in my old Dodge Colt? And my Honda Civic?

[Mynyel]

Roll the window down? ;)

 

Seriously it actually costs that much for the A/C?? Gads I can get my transmission replaced for the same amount.

 

You sure they aren't taking you for a ride?

 

We had to get our brakes done (front only) and we went to Firestone (humph - we needed tires) and they came back and said..well basically said we needed a whole new brake system. Was going to cost over 2k! Humph again, we paid 2k for the whole dang van.

 

We took it to a reputable mom & pop place we knew of and had the work we needed done for about 300 bucks.

 

All that to say...you need a second opinion.

[oldskool]

I just had DH get my A/C fixed after spending the summer without it. I could no longer cart the kids around in a van with windows that can only be rolled down in the front in the 90+ degree days we've been having. The kids actually had resorted to bringing paper fans with them. On this horridly hot day I am glad we got it fixed, but that bill is sure hard to swallow.

 

Lesley

[Mejane]

I often say I'd go without food before I'd go without a/c. Sorry about the big bill. :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

That is a big bill. I'm afraid that if I lived where you did, I would just roll down the windows.

[hornblower]

It's the parts that are expensive & the # of hours they quoted is in line with what others say. These guys have been good to us; & actually, I keep reminding myself the whole van has been good to us.

 

It's a 99 Sienna with 160K & it's just kept on ticking. I think this is our first bill over a thousand.... most years I've done nothing more than an oil change & the ugly monster just keeps driving. :auto:

[hornblower]

That is a big bill. I'm afraid that if I lived where you did, I would just roll down the windows.

 

LOL.

 

But for all of July we were hitting >30C pretty much every day!

 

And I'm going camping in the Okanagan soon! Where they hit the 40's!

 

And I have dogs in the car! Yes, and they can overheat so fast! And they need to go to the park & the beach!

 

And when I roll down the windows, the smoke from the forest fires comes in!

 

 

See how many good reasons I have?

 

And no, there was not a hint of whining in my voice. Not at all!

 

LOL. I'm just spoiled.

[Jean in Newcastle]

LOL.

 

But for all of July we were hitting >30C pretty much every day!

 

And I'm going camping in the Okanagan soon! Where they hit the 40's!

 

And I have dogs in the car! Yes, and they can overheat so fast! And they need to go to the park & the beach!

 

And when I roll down the windows, the smoke from the forest fires comes in!

 

 

See how many good reasons I have?

 

And no, there was not a hint of whining in my voice. Not at all!

 

LOL. I'm just spoiled.

 

OK - I've gone camping in Okanagan - it is very hot. You've got your excuse:D :auto:

[Audrey]

It's the parts that are expensive & the # of hours they quoted is in line with what others say. These guys have been good to us; & actually, I keep reminding myself the whole van has been good to us.

 

It's a 99 Sienna with 160K & it's just kept on ticking. I think this is our first bill over a thousand.... most years I've done nothing more than an oil change & the ugly monster just keeps driving. :auto:

 

 

The age of the van is contributing to the high parts cost. I know it was very expensive finding some parts recently for our 97 Grand Caravan.

 

Our van has been great to us, too, though. It has 240K on it and is still very reliable. We consider the cost of repairs (which have all been age-related -- as in the part that wore out was 10, 11, 12, 13 years old!) to be part of the maintenance. It still costs less than car payments when averaged over a year, so I'm quite happy to drive 'er til she dies. :D

 

ETA: Oh, and I totally agree you need the A/C. Today, it is 32°C here. I feel your pain!

[QueenCat]

:grouphug: Not fun! We had to do that about 2 years ago. I can't stand to roll my windows down, and overheat quickly. Told dh I didn't care how we paid for it, it was being done NOW..... Spoiled.... and don't care.... thankfully, we could spread it out over 3 months with no interest, which helped.

[HollyB]

I haven't had a car that's had A/C in at least six years! That's probably why I'm in such a foul mood from June through August. :tongue_smilie:

[Garga]

My boys rode in a car with no a/c in the summer for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

 

I got to say in a creaky old-person voice, "I never had a/c in my car until I was twenty years old! We'd just sweat a lot back in the old days."

 

I really hated not having a/c. I used to show up at my job all sweaty and gross. I'm not sure I could go back to not having it.

[KidsHappen]

Oh my goodness. I'd be dropping dead. It has been over 100 every day this week so far. I just took the dogs out at 11:00 pm here and the humidity alone was overwhelming. I don't know that I could live without A/C. :svengo:

[SapphireStitch]

Sometimes the cost is high because of the labor and time to get access to the A/C. When we had A/C work done on our car ('99 Ford Taurus) they had to take the whole dashboard out to get to it.

 

Our mechanic mentioned to my husband that we should also get a couple of other things done while he had it apart. (Some kind of belts, I think??) If we had waited to do those things we would have had the labor expense of removing the dash all over again.

 

So...I'd not only agree that you should get the A/C fixed so you, your kids, and your pets don't melt in the heat...I'd also suggest you see if access is part of the issue and see if there's anything else they should do while they have it apart. I know...I have such a gift of encouragement, don't I? :tongue_smilie: "Pay to get your car fixed, and while you're at it, pay MORE!!"

[hornblower]

I know...I have such a gift of encouragement, don't I? :tongue_smilie: "Pay to get your car fixed, and while you're at it, pay MORE!!"

 

 

waaaaaaaa!!!!

 

Say, couldn't you just encourage me to go buy a new van instead? :D

 

JK, I don't really like cars & don't really want a new van, though when I'm shifting dog crates around & moving out chairs (I swear they weigh over 50lb) I sometimes yearn for the fold down flat into the floor seat thing that's on the newer models. Oh well, good exercise for the arms .....

[MyLittleWonders]

We have not had A/C in our van since last summer. It did what yours did - just started blowing hot air. We've already put a lot of money ($1500 or so) between various repairs that didn't work. Now they want over $2000 because they say the next step is to pull out the entire dash and get into the coils or whatever that's behind there. That's not happening anytime soon, so I just deal with rolling down the windows. Thank goodness our summer has been unseasonably cool (75 F daily), so it's doable. But, I'm also pregnant and not looking forward to what I suspect will be a warm "Indian Summer" in September & October. Oh well ... there's no way to afford the bill or a new van. So, rolled down windows it is.