Count on it ....
Right now I'm waiting on my oldest to get off the pot and decide whether he wants to spend the money to fix his '04 ...... or whether he wants to commit to purchasing a new truck and making payments for another 4 or 5 years ..... (the latter being what he was really inclined to do, having not alot of mechanical experience ....)
When he called me he wanted to know what the alternatives were to a Sprinter as far as vehicles were (he owns 4 Sprinters currently) ..... for this particular route he doesn't really need a large parcel delivery van .... the route is a country route .... and tends to be low-volume, but high miles .... so he needs something that gets good mileage ....
The Sprinter in question is paid off so he currently has no payment on it, and other than the problem with the turbo the motor still seems real strong. He has spent some significant money on the vehicle in the last year, replacing both the transmission and the rear end.
Repair shop quoted him $5K to replace his EGR, turbocharger, and radiator ....
I spent about 15 minutes checking prices online and calling to verify parts availability and suggested to him that he might wanna suck it up and spend a day or two of his weekend and replace the parts himself .... which would result in him saving at least $2700 (using new parts, possibly more with used) and gaining some badly needed mechanical experience ....
As someone who is spending somewhere between $50K and $75K a year on vehicle maintenance, it would be time well spent, IMHO ....
but this ain't like a backyard hobby we are talkin ... time is very important ...
Undoubtedly it is, but it's always a question of trying to strike a balance between
time (or effort) and money .....
Dunno about you, but if I could throw another $25K in my pocket every year, might be worth a little bit of my time and a busted knuckle or two ...
However I understand that not all folks are similarly motivated ....
