Husband dumping money into old jeep...wwyd?
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Anonymous
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DH is hell bent on getting a vehicle road ready and driving me nuts. No pun intended. He comes inside with dirty fingernails and arms covered in grease. Then refuses to shower because he said hes just taking a break and heads out again later. I am trying to convince him to just sell it and be done with it but he won't budge. Looking for tips or advice?
Its a 20 year old wrangler- and his first car. The vehicle sat for the past 3 years in the driveway and lost its luster. It used to be his daily driver until a friend gave him a Subaru. The vehicle has tags and about 150k miles on it. Is this worth anything? He refuses to even consider selling, but I want a new car. Even the Subaru is pushing 300k miles, although in very good condition as maintenance schedule is always followed. I guess my dilemma is I don't like him putting money into the vehicle when its probably not worth it. It gets horrible gas mileage (15-17 mpg) and has essentially noise insulation from the road. Its only has 2 seats as well. So its not for the family. To be fair he did fix a bunch of issues with it and got it to pass emissions and safety inspections on his own, but now hes talking about upgrading brakes and other performance stuff I don't understand. He's even talking about modifying the dash to wire in a backup camera (which you dont even need as the vehicle is so small and is essentially a convertible). What gives!? |
Anonymous
OP, do some research. You can start on Bring a Trailer: https://bringatrailer.com/jeep/wrangler/?q=jeep%20wrangler How much has your DH spent on the car this year and how much is he projecting to spend? |
Anonymous
| If you can afford it, let him have this. It’s sounding like a labor of love, for both hubby and wifey. |
Anonymous
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It's his first car, and his current hobby is to make it works again. It has sentimental value to him. Nothing is practical about what's he doing.
Leave him be. It's not a battle you want to fight, unless you want him to resent you for it. |
Anonymous
| It's a hobby, not a practical decision. If you can afford it let him have his Jeep. |
Anonymous
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Sounds like a fun hobby for him and better for your marriage than chasing skirts.
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Anonymous
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Sounds like this long ago stopped being a practical, financially rational project. As said, it's a labor of love.
It's not worth anything because he doesn't really intend to ever sell it. It will never be reliable for use as a daily driver so there will still need to be a dependable car in the stable. As long as you can afford it and everyone agrees what is going on here, you should be fine. |
Anonymous
| If money is not tight let him do what he wants. |
Anonymous
Thats the problem! There no projection. He spent 250 alone on sensors and at least another 250 on LED lights, hardware, new fluids, filters etc. There seems to be no plan. I hate to criticize him because he is doing a good job I just hate to think that this phase is never-ending. |
Anonymous
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Jeeps actually retain their value REALLY well... so you're likely not losing money on this. What would you rather him do as a hobby? Video games? Sports? Gambling?
My dh loves to work on our cars and I just let it go. I don't know why he likes to, he just does. He even enjoys changing the oil on my Honda Odyssey, which isn't a sports car or even anything fun to work on. |
Anonymous
| It is true that sounds like a hobby or labor of love, but the fact that you only mentioned one second car (Subaru with 300k) sounds like you might be tight on money. Is money an issue? Is the fact that he is putting money into the Jeep keeping you from getting another car to replace or supplement the Subaru? |
Anonymous
He keeps telling me that and says that if you were to buy the same one today it would cost more than he paid for it 2007. Hes showed me listings in Craigslist and ebay that show his point...but who is actually wasting 10k on a 20 year old car these days? He did take me on an off-road trip in Frederick and was impressed that it was able to cross a river, tow another jeep out of the river, and not flip over through ridiculous obstacles. But that seems qbout the only good use for tbe vehicle. I want a less bumpy, noisy, ugly, car. I would say less dirty too, but its pretty cleaned up now. After the trip a couple weeks ago there was probably the same amount of mud inside than out. It was filthy disgusting, swamp smelling, viscous mud. Everywhere. |
Anonymous
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So there are auto sites that will project estimated cost as a car ages. These sites use a formula based on mileage(wear and tear) and age of the parts to determine future cost.
Sounds like you have two cars that are fairly old. You might want to upgrade one. |
Anonymous
He is cheap! Money is as tight as he makes it though. We could afford a pqyment on a car if he wasn't so willy nilly witb how he spends. Its ironic to call him cheap, because he will spend however he wants but then insists on 'making do' regarding my wish lists. |
Anonymous
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It's a hobby, OP. The costs are sunk. If it keeps him out of trouble, why not? I would have difficulty countenancing repairing such a polluting, unsafe vehicle, but if he's very emotionally attached to it, and would be wasting his time on stupid things no matter what, then why not this? |