Rule #1 - Plan and Budget for Repairs

When I bought my 2002 Toyota Sienna, it was in great shape. It was a one-owner van with regular maintenance records. But because of the age, I knew it would be wise to budget for repairs. So I stuck $1500 of the cash I made on my group trip to the Camino Santiago in an account.

Before I left for Spain, I had been experiencing a weird thing where you'd be driving along and all of a sudden there would be a beep-beep-beep, the TRAC light would come on, and the brakes would put themselves on. Dangerous anywhere you were traveling more than 30 mph.

This was a frustrating problem because it might happen on one day and then not again for a week or two.

I took it to a Toyota Dealer in Fresno on my way home from the desert this Spring, and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it.

While I was in Spain, I let Joe borrow the van to take to the coast. By the time he got to Eugene, the light had gone off 3 times, so he turned around and came home.

When I got home, I did some research online and found many instances of this issue with this particular van. Most of the time, Toyota dealers SAID they had no idea what the issue was, since it was erratic and in general wouldn't occur when they drove the vehicle (convenient!)  And most of the time, it was solved by replacing the rack and pinion, a $1500 job.  (just what I'd saved!)

But in taking it to a local mechanic, he found nothing wrong with the rack and pinion and suggested I take it to ... a Toyota Dealer.

So I did.

I took it to a dealer out in Hillsboro.

As I was explaining the issue, I looked at the paperwork they'd given me in Fresno and it did not even mention the traction problem!

So when the guy at Toyota told me "We can't find anything wrong," I told him, I want you to state on the paperwork that I came to you complaining about the traction would turn itself on, and that you could not find anything wrong.  Because if I drive it away, and the traction comes on while I'm on the freeway and I get rear-ended, I'm going to sue Toyota!

He took the car BACK in and had one of this fellow workers go through every wire.  He said if they found nothing wrong, they could call in a specialist from Toyota.

That happened, and the specialist found it was a computer element that was bad.

The bad news:  The part alone was $1150 so with labor it will be about $1500.

The good news: That's the amount I had set aside for repairs.  This will clean me out, but starting next month, I can put $100 aside each month and begin building up my emergency fund again.

Some people might think that $1500 is too much to put into a used van. But I LOVE my van, and $1500 is cheaper than a couple of months of rent.  And... once this is fixed, the van should be fine for at least another few years.

So I'm happy.

And I'm anxious to get back into my little home. Living in my son's house for a few weeks has been nice, but I'm ready to get back into nature.

I guess the point of my post is this:  if you're going to seriously live out of your vehicle, take a bit of cash each month and stick it into an account for emergency repairs.