Hey all, just bought a 2000 S40 as my very first car, and as such I'm not very experienced in some of the small issues I've encountered.

It's mostly small things, and I'd basically just like to know how much it could cost to get these things repaired to decide if its worth it.

1. Broken Cup Holder (I understand this is a fairly common problem?)
2. Broken Headlight Switch
3. How much might it cost for a paint job for my hood? I've got quite a few paint flecks from where the previous owner neglected to clean off sap
4. What is a good sap remover that anyone has tried? My car is covered in the stuff

Anyways, as I have very little experience with automobiles whatsoever, I was just wondering if anyone could help me out here, thanks alot.

 

As for the painting of the hood. This is going to cost more than you might think. The reason is this: as a car ages the paint fades, you may not notice it, but over time it does happen. So you cant just paint one panel on your car and expect it to match. The body shop has to blend the paint into the surrounding panels, in your case the front fenders. They do this by spraying some color into the other panels and then clearing the panel. You can go to a body shop in your area that has a good reputation and get a free estimate.

 

Hmm, I'll do that tommorrow I suppose. Does that mean that it wouldn't be significantly more expensive to get the fenders painted as well? They need it, but not as much as the hood. In any case, thanks for the advice, and I'll go get a quote, I really am willing to put some money into it though, I'd love to keep this car up as well as I can. At least its fine mechanically, though some of the reports I see don't seem too promising mine runs fine so far *knock on wood*

 

I have a headlight/foglight switch for an s40 that I can sell for about $50 or so if you are interested and it is what you are looking for. It is in just about brand new shape and is tested and works fine...??? It is very easy to change out as well.

 

I dunno exactly what I'm doing about that yet but thats certainly interesting, what color is it though?

Thanks for the offer in any case.