We own a 1996 Cadillac Deville, we are the second owners and it was in perfect shape when we got it in 2002. We have had little trouble with it over the years it has been a really great running car and we have driven it all over the U.S.A.. Saying that you may understand that we are starting to have some issues. Mostly small things like the motor on the antenna and trunk closer going out. However,we have experienced bigger things like the clear coat on the front hood peeling off, making the car look really bad. Also, I loaned my car to my children while they were in Lincoln going to UNL and it came home with a dent which made mom unhappy. So to keep my beautiful car beautiful it meant I would need to have it go to a body shop and have the dent repaired and a paint job on at least the front end. This means money. We were vandalized a few years ago (Someone poured paint stripper on my car on Halloween night. They dumped it on the roof and trunk area). Repairs for the vandalism just meant a paint job only to those areas and it cost $5,000 to fix (thank goodness for insurance). Since we don't have $5,000 to fix these issues and they were not insurance covered issues, we were on our own. I am lucky because my husband is experienced in paint and body work. It is his passion and if he could make money at it, that is what he would be doing today. To him, it is like art.
He came up with the idea of going to a pick a part and finding the parts we needed. You take it off, it's cheap. I had surgery in Iowa 4 weeks ago and on the way to the hospital we saw a junk yard with a row of Cadillacs. Since I had a follow up appointment I rallied the troops and got them motivated. I would drop them off and go to my appointment, then on the way back I would pick them up. Easy Peasy D.I.Y. for the mechanically inclined right? Wrong, they came across hornets nests and poison ivy. It was hot and these cars had been picked over A LOT. After several hours the guys were able to find a lot of parts we needed. They crawled under cars and pried open trunks and came home with a bounty of parts. Including a new hood and fender. They literally saved us thousands of dollars in parts and repairs. YAAAY, right? Nope not so fast....
We got the car looking good again and all those little annoying things that were going wrong were fixed up. But we still needed shocks. Shocks for this car 300.00 and up just for the parts. Newer cars and older cars $66.00, ours NO WAY. Sigh...
We own a 1996 Cadillac Deville, we are the second owners and it was in perfect shape when we got it in 2002. We have had little trouble with it over the years it has been a really great running car and we have driven it all over the U.S.A.. Saying that you may understand that we are starting to have some issues. Mostly small things like the motor on the antenna and trunk closer going out. However,we have experienced bigger things like the clear coat on the front hood peeling off, making the car look really bad. Also, I loaned my car to my children while they were in Lincoln going to UNL and it came home with a dent which made mom unhappy. So to keep my beautiful car beautiful it meant I would need to have it go to a body shop and have the dent repaired and a paint job on at least the front end. This means money. We were vandalized a few years ago (Someone poured paint stripper on my car on Halloween night. They dumped it on the roof and trunk area). Repairs for the vandalism just meant a paint job only to those areas and it cost $5,000 to fix (thank goodness for insurance). Since we don't have $5,000 to fix these issues and they were not insurance covered issues, we were on our own. I am lucky because my husband is experienced in paint and body work. It is his passion and if he could make money at it, that is what he would be doing today. To him, it is like art.
He came up with the idea of going to a pick a part and finding the parts we needed. You take it off, it's cheap. I had surgery in Iowa 4 weeks ago and on the way to the hospital we saw a junk yard with a row of Cadillacs. Since I had a follow up appointment I rallied the troops and got them motivated. I would drop them off and go to my appointment, then on the way back I would pick them up. Easy Peasy D.I.Y. for the mechanically inclined right? Wrong, they came across hornets nests and poison ivy. It was hot and these cars had been picked over A LOT. After several hours the guys were able to find a lot of parts we needed. They crawled under cars and pried open trunks and came home with a bounty of parts. Including a new hood and fender. They literally saved us thousands of dollars in parts and repairs. YAAAY, right? Nope not so fast....
