Welcome Back, Old Friend!

family, happiness, humor, lessons learned 1 Minute

Well as it turns out, the eulogy for my beloved 2006 Matrix was a bit premature.

For those of you who did not read my post from yesterday – a quick recap. I had brought my Matrix in for inspection last Friday. What I thought was going to be a relatively minor set of repairs, turned out to be quite the opposite. The car needed a new engine, and along with the other repairs, was going to cost about $4,000. I had bought the car in 2014 for $6,000 and at that time it had 130,000 miles on it. It now has 220,000 miles. My first thought, after realizing how much I was going to miss the car, was that it wasn’t worth fixing.

After spending a good deal of last night and most of this morning searching for a car to replace it, we decided that since the replacement engine “only” had 125,000 miles on it (less than the car/engine I had bought six years ago) and that it came with a one-year warranty it seemed, there was a good chance I was going to get a few more years out of it. And when comparing the $4,000 repair to the $15,000 price I was looking at to buy a used car, the repair cost didn’t seem too bad.

While talking about my options with the service manager (again, a plug for the wonderful Ardmore Toyota), he referred to Matrix owners as a “quirky” group of individuals who just really love their car. Given that I recently wrote a post about the word “quirky”, it seemed like it was meant to be that I should keep the Matrix for a few more years.

Once we made the decision, a sense of relief washed over me, making it feel like it was the right thing to do.

So now the 300,000-mile goal is back on the table.

As to what to do with the $11,000 I just saved?

I’ll have to think of something quirky…

P.S. One of the best things to come out of this process was finding out that when it is time to buy a new car, I know just the guy to help me – Pete Springer.

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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49 thoughts on “Welcome Back, Old Friend!”

  3. I love it! Now your vehicles are into their stats, too. 300,000 miles or bust! Here’s my ingenious idea for a future Jim Borden blog post: The Matrix setting its all-time mileage record juxtaposed next to you achieving your new plank record. You number guys set high standards. 😎

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  6. so funny, and your math skills are really paying off. i’d go for it just to stay in the ‘quirky’ category, if nothing else. and now that we know about pete, he may have a great retirement job as a ‘car buying consultant.’

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      1. I agree with all of that. when I bought my Subaru Outback, the saleswoman was sitting in the car with me showing me all the bells and whistles. she asked me for a radio station so that she could show me how to program it in. when I named the station, she yelled out, “you are the perfect buyer for this car, 99% of our buyers ask us to program in a station that is npr, just like you did!” how’s that for a stat? )

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      2. that’s a great stat. So Outback drivers listen to NPR, I wonder if Subrau knows that so they can advertise on NPR…

        By the way, an Outback is one of the cars we were looking at…

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      3. I’m pretty sure they’re onto it, if they talk to the dealers. yes, mine has been wonderful and reliable and their service is great. no, I do not get a cut for this ad –

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  10. I think it’s important that you trust this service department so much. It’s a gamble to have that much work done on a vehicle, but if they’re as good as you say they are, then you probably made the best decision.

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  13. Well, I am glad that you are happy and it all worked out for you, Jim. I am not much of a car person so I let my husband worry about all the car related things. I drive an Audi A3 and it is apparently very safe which is why I have it. It is also small enough for me to park it easily.

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  14. Hope you reach that 300,000 mark!
    Hey that extra 11,000 could go towards that wonderful beach house that you are going to buy for me to be able to use whenever I want to go to the beach! 🙂
    Just trying to help with ideas!

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