Expensive repairs

Sep 28, 2006 3 Replies
L

on my Toyota Sienna 2002. The plastic panels on the right sliding door and the small panel in front of the rear tire had to be replaced and the new ones painted and a small spot on the right front door plastic panel had to be cleaned and repainted. There was no metal damage and no damage to any painted metal surfaces. No realignment of any parts was necessary. Other guy's fault, his insurance paid $750.



Parts $400 for the two plastic panels ($350 and $50). The rest was paint and labor.



When I think that each oxygen sensor cost $230, and how much I got ripped off on the last brake job at Toyota, I really can't afford this Sienna. Glad the other guy paid for this latest repair.



Lena



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M

Yes and no.

For one, if I were the one paying for those plastic panels I'd have found used ones.

For another, for expenses to make sense you would want to amortize them over the length of time you own the vehicle. If OEM parts and repairs are 30% more expensive but you do them half as often as on another make of compact van, which is *really* more expensive?

Likewise with lifespan. If you can reasonably expect to get 150K miles from your Sienna while another make gets half that, you're either going to be buying a new car half as often, or the sale price of your used Sienna will reflect its longer expected life.

-- Mike Harris Austin TX

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D

In case you need new O2 sensors again, they are only about $160.00 on sparkplugs.com...

Dante

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A

Even cheaper if you use the Denso parts with OEM connectors. See, for example, alleurasianautoparts.com.

You can pay a lot for that Toyota parts box.

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