The Saab dealership had a free diagnostics clinic today (included a free oil change too) so we took advantage of it and limped in with our decade-old car. They said it would take about 45 mins but it took much longer. The list of things "wrong" with the car is astronomical. If we added up everything they said we needed to do the cost would be about $6200 plus tax! I checked KBB and the car is worth about $4,125 (probably less because of all of the problems with it!). Stephen did get new tires on the car today (which was listed as a problem but not part of the $6200 estimate). They did say we needed a new battery but the tire place said we did not (I think there is an electrical problem rather than a battery problem). The fixes that we will get done is a burnt-out brake light and replace the cracking belts. Otherwise, Stephen is just going to keep driving that car until it dies.

I think I mentioned before that we got the car (used) from a leasing company that was purchased by the leasing company that FIL worked for. They had a fleet of 25 to get rid of (all mgrs in the acquired leasing company drove Saabs for company cars - nice eh?). We got it for about $7k off retail price for a 1 year old used Saab but it has been a complete lemon. Less than a year after we had it we had to have the transmission replaced (it was still under warranty) while on vacation in Toronto. Of course it took one week for the part to come up from the States. We have had several engine problems with misfiring spark plugs (or something). One problem took 1 month to diagnose and fix so we had a lender car (a newer Saab!) for that whole month. Once the car went out of warranty though the perks of the Saabs as lenders went bye-bye.

Anyway, time to start saving our pennies to buy a new car in a year or so. I hope our car lasts that long!