update on the update!

[mamajoan]

I called the Subaru dealership near my house and asked them how much a clutch would cost to replace. They said it would be $1150 including labor, and the timing belt is $265. So when I got hold of Jerry, the seller, I told him this, and said that I would give him $4000 for the car. He whined that he paid $4700 and after a bit of dithering, said that he would sell it to me for that same $4700. I told him I'd think about it.

Then he started in on me again about the timing belt and his receipts. I rolled my eyes and told him I don't give a crap about the timing belt, what concerns me is the clutch, and within a certain margin of error we all agree that the clutch will cost somewhere in the general vicinity of a grand, and that I'm not going to drive around on a bad clutch and endanger my life and the life of my child just to save some money on a used car. And when he started up again, I just said I'd think about it and hung up.

Heh. OK, now to let him stew a bit. I think I'll give it a day or two and see what happens. I know for sure that he has had the car for a while; the first time I saw his online ad and emailed him about it was Sept 22. So he has had the car for almost a month now. Is that a long time in the used-car biz? It seems like a while to me. He should be getting anxious to sell. Maybe he'll call back and make me a lower offer. Or maybe I'll decide it's worth $4700. Or maybe I'll find something better. Who knows? :)

Ahhhhh, drama! :)

Comments

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

IMO, I hope you find something better. Best of luck whatever you decide!

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll probably give up on it, although if he does come back with a lower offer I'll consider it. I liked the car, but I have to keep myself from getting too impatient.

[kenboy.livejournal.com]

Hey, be careful with the timing belt, too. First, my own experience, though not with Subaru, is that timing belt replacement ends up more around $350-$450; they typically replace the water pump at the same time, because you have to take the timing belt off to get at the water pump anyway, and timing belt removal/replacement is evidentally a lot of labor.

Thing with a timing belt is, if it breaks, it actually breaks your engine. With few exceptions, and I don't believe Subaru is one, the timing belt is positioned in such a way that if it breaks, it snaps off pistons or something. The timing belt in my VW Passat just went, doing exactly this. Thankfully, it was covered by my 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty, because that's a monster job otherwise.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

If you read my previous update you'll see that the water pump was in fact included, but I was eliding it in this update because it's not the main issue. But yeah, it's definitely included in my calculations. It's also one of the things that the seller claims to have had fixed recently, but my mechanic claims otherwise. So either way I'll at least have to have someone open up and look and decide whether it needs (re-)replacing.

Keep looking!

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

You may find something better, or simply by advertising to the buyer that you are still looking, he may stop being a butthead on the price. Because who else is going to take a car sans clutch? You can't be the first person to balk at this, or the car would be sold by now.

Re: Keep looking!

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Right, that's why I'm kind of hoping he'll come back and agree to the $4000. Because for $4000 plus the cost of replacing the clutch, it's still a good deal. At $5000 plus new clutch, not so much.

one more thing...

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

if you need suggestions for your negotiation skills:
http://www.ucomics.com/stonesoup/2004/10/16/

:)

[retch.livejournal.com]

If the car isn't worth the money, don't let yourself drift into buying it just cuz the seller whines a lot. If you know it is worth no more than $4k, don't pay more! You've got very convincing arguments with the price of those repairs, don't saddle yourself with something too expensive! :)