It was decision time this last week, as our aging Honda Odyssey sat in the shop.
After buying it used in late 2013, we've had it for twelve years, and it showed every one of those. There are minor scrapes and dings and divots on the exterior from our now grown boys bumping into things during the process of learning how to drive. Inside, it's still functional. No Nav. No Carplay or Android Auto. Just Bluetooth for audio. Cloth seats, still fine but careworn. It's gone from being our primary family truckster to our secondary vehicle, our utility people-schlepper, mulch carrier, and furniture mover. At just under 90,000 miles on it, could go another 90K. Hondas roll that way.
But not without major work.
The front axle was the reason I'd taken it in, grinding more and more audibly as bearings and other internals failed. Driveline losses meant we were seeing about a 20% decrease in fuel efficiency. The rear suspension had been shot for a while, pogoing about and thunking as both springs and rubber mounts had given way. But now the head gasket was leaking visibly. The timing belt was fraying.
To be reliably drivable, it was going to need what amounted to an overhaul. Thousands and thousands of dollars of work, getting perilously close to the value of the vehicle. The shop where we've had it repaired before was not even faintly pushy about proceeding. "This is a lot," they said. We'd be replacing so much of the vehicle it would barely even be the same van when they were done. A "Van of Theseus," so to speak, and that comes at a nontrivial price.
But replacing it with a new-used van would be tens of thousands of dollars. And it would add to our insurance bill. And it would quadruple our county property tax.
All around us, the local economy is beginning to fray. The tens of thousands of jobs vanishing from the DC job market wasn't going to have an instantaneous impact. But now, as those who've been jobless for months are starting to burn through their emergency reserves? Now things are shifting. More houses on the market. More people preparing to move to greener pastures in search of work.
The markets, in which our retirement savings are invested? They're not lookin' so hot.
We're fiercely conservative financially, and so could afford either, right now. But keeping that cash around for the famine years approaching seemed like a prudent idea. Dropping thirty two grand on a used van that we'd only infrequently use seemed unwise.
So the choice was to repair and restore, and to take the less expensive course.
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