Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Clank, Clank, Clank

.... not the Trolley, my central heat and air unit. Yep, that is the noise that we heard out of it yesterday while Chuck and I were sitting around. We went outside, heard this awful noise, turned it down and went on our way. Thought that it was something that was not coming back. BUT....

We heard it again today and decided to call to have them come out and look at it. They told us it would be between 2 and 5 when they got here. As with the refrigerator, it was closer to 5, isn't that the way it always happens?

Before they came out I called the utilities to talk to them about financing a new unit. They charge $7K for them to finance it through a bank, pay on that for 10 years at 6% interest. Ok, that is a lot of money.

The guy comes out and looks at the unit, it is the outdoor motor fan that has gone out on it. It will cost a bit over $400 to fix it, but, and I mean BUT.... the unit is 16 years old and at this point it could nickel and dime us to death. Time to make a decision.

Now Chuck is at work and I hate making any decision without him being here. I forget to ask questions and then I have to go back and ask them. I look like a retard, but he isn't here to ask, so I have to ask. They do finance, but at a 17.9% rate, no matter what your credit rating is, but this is for 5 years, not 10 like the utilities. Also it is $2000 less than what the utilities charge. Big difference, but the interest rate is outrageous!

What to do, what to do? We decided to get it fixed and then when the next problem occurs, go from there. It could be tomorrow or 3 years down the road. The unit is supposed to last for 20 years, so I would rather take the chance and wait,then to put out that kind of money right now. At least in the winter time, you can buy heaters. If it happens in the summer, it has to be fixed, no matter what.

1 comments:

Johanna said...

I left a message on your Facebook about HomeProtect. We pay for the insurance plan through Countrywide. Call Countrywide, they may be using another business, I'm not sure, but it's a policy against all of the electricals in the house the the central heat/air and the stove, refrigerator, washer/dryer, that sort of thing.

We pay the monthly fee through our mortgage payment, but it's a small deductible if they have to replace the unit. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Our unit is original to the house, so it's older than yours! We've had to fix it throughout the years and we primarily carry that insurance for that issue. I don't want to have to finance a new unit.

17.9 percent? That's highway robbery!

Look into that policy or look online for other like policies that way you can fix the fan now and then the next time something happens, get a new unit for a small deductible.