My car has been poisoning meFollow

I was told last November when I got an oil change that I needed a new muffler soon. I brought my car in today to have the mechanics examine it so they could order the part, and they discovered a giant hole in something called the "B-Pipe" that sits right underneath the driver's seat.

The repair is gonna run $680 (ouch) but more horrifying is that there was a very real possibility that I could have experienced carbon monoxide poisoning, especially if I was stopped in a traffic jam. 100 ppm is the maximum safe amount of CO that a human can be exposed to, and with basically no exhaust filtration, a much deadlier amount could have been seeping up from underneath my car. We were stuck in traffic down in FL while we were on vacation. I'm stopped in busy traffic every morning on my short commute. I've probably been breathing in elevated levels of CO for months without realizing it.

Until the repair is done, I've been warned to crack a window any time I'm stopped at a traffic light.

Well, at least I have something to blame my short term memory problems on these days.

And poison the old one as revenge.

Sounds kind of fishy considering you were unaware of the problem before taking it in.

I'd be worried whether or not the hole existed before you went to the shop, or if there is even a hole there at all. I'd make sure before dropping $680.

On the plus side, you can roast marshmallows on those cold winter days inside the cab now. Mmmm, Extra Sooty!

This is a 17 year old car.

Wow. Buy a new car. Really. You can spring for $40k once every 17 years. (30k? What do you people pay for cars?)

I can buy a new car once I've paid off my student loans in full, and not a day sooner.

$15K for a good Honda that'll last forever.

What do you mean "you people"?

Damn, I meant "folks" I need to work on that. Actually though, we currently have one car, a few years old Carola. I forget what we paid for it. Probably like $15k. We keep almost buying a new car, but never actually get around to it. I have to say, while a little small when all 4 of us go on a journey, that happens rarely enough that it's such a well executed example of "car." that's it's hard to bother getting a new one.

God fearing nuclear families had a small run-about for the wife

She takes the train is the thing. If Nexa drove anywhere I'm sure we'd have another car by now. We have public transport hat's not precariously perched parallel par pavement in this area.

Hell, I couldn't even manage $10k on a two year old Chevy. But I got a work car, so I don't need to pay anything.

Sounds about right our Corolla was like $17k, and it came with a bell and a couple of whistles. It finally did get too small though, bring on the small SUV/Crossover thing that everyone else has.

They're for while you're working, of course.