Jodi -- a dilemma for sure.
You're leaning toward repairing for reasons I understand. Your DH is looking to replace for other reasons, I understand. Frankly I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation.
It's a 2000 model that you purchased in 2003. Do you know its history? Specifically its repair history prior to purchase?
Does it have a trailer hitch? Have you been pulling trailors or climbing hills? Have you been putting any kind of stress on the transmission or maybe this was a problem before you even owned the van and time was a factor in totally destroying the transmission?
Transmission repairs are the 2nd most expensive type of repair. And sometimes the repair does not work correctly either.
If you "repair" what happens if a year or two from now the transmission fails again? Or the engine fails? A 9-year old car with almost 100k miles (and American built) may not last too much longer anyway (sorry, I'm biased toward Japanese car manufacturing processes over American).
This is an extremely good site with what to look for when buying used cars:
What to look for when buying a used car, how to check a used car prior purchase - illustrated guide.
Please look at the "How to discover transmission problems" section of the above link.
Other things to maybe consider:
Do you really need a van with two small kids?
Mechanical failure with two small kids in the van will not be very comfortable either. Especially without AC.
The air conditioning issue may be more troublesome in some states than others.... but that's not going to get better by itself either.
Noppenbd also makes a very good point below:
Quote:
Originally Posted by noppenbd
I was ready to chime in to fix it but I thought I would try Kelley Blue Book first. I was surprised at how little this vehicle is worth! A 2000 Windstar with 90K in fair-good condition prices out at $2300-2700. When you subtract the cost to fix the transmsision and A/C leak, it might be time to bite the bullet and get another used vehicle. Call around to see what you can get for the vehicle as-is (try used car dealerships, mechanics, junkyards). Then add in your stimulus and see what you can get. You should be able to find a decently priced reliable used vehicle as LuxLiving suggested.
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When any mechanical item is going to cost 33% of the total worth of an item to repair, it's pretty much time to replace. I've replaced 16 year old washing machine and dryer last year because the repair people were wanting $500 for a new motor.
I know that cars even used cars are way more expensive.... but if you repair the old Ford, you probably will not get any of that money back and maybe 6 months or 1 year later you will need to throw in more money for repairs of one nature or another.
Guess I'm sorta leaning toward replacement myself.