Friday, September 28, 2007

Cost of Fixing the Car Shelter

Princess and I have to replace the tarp of our car shelter, and this is going to cost us more than expected. We were planning about $500 for this, but it looks like it will cost us twice that.

When we bought our house three years ago, we also bought the previous owners' car shelter. Although it was paid seperately from the house and wasn't new, it was still a deal at $100.
Now, after patching it for two years, the tarp is so old that it's tearing up in multiple places. Princess' brother, who used to work in that sector, had told us it would probably cost us something like $300-$400 to replace it.

Turns out he hadn't realized how large our shelter is. It's big enough for two cars comfortably, and we've even managed to squeeze in a third small one when we had to. When I asked for a quote from the original company, as well as a second one referred by the brother, the amount was pretty much the same -- around $800. I figure that after we ask for a few modifications, replacing a few of the missing anchors for the legs, and taxes, the total bill will be pretty much $1000.

This had me questionning the necessity of having a car shelter for the winter. I've thought about shoveling the snow for one winter, but I must admit that the prospect is far from appealing to me. We will probably end up replacing the tarp, but it was a shock to realize the amount of money we will have to spend on this. Convenience has it's price!

The money will come out of my emergency fund. I will make sure to plan better for this in the future.

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