I have a 2001 Camry with almost 100,000 on it. I am the original owner and have maintained it religiously at Toyota dealers. It rides beautifully, but is getting older. I'm not mechanical, know almost nothing about cars -- I just want a reliable, safe ride.

About six months ago I paid $1,000 for a catalytic converter. Now the "check engine" light went on, and I also had a low hum noise. I took it in and I have almost $2,000 of expenses! Charcoal canister about $600, left rear hub and bearing (that was causing the low hum noise), they recommended something else with transmission fluid, something with throttle body injectors too.

My question is: does this sound like normal things to be happening to a car at this age, in other words, can I expect $3,000/year of maintenance from now on? I've never had a car for 100,000 miles, and I know I will pay more $ the older the car gets, but I thought these cars lasted to at least 150,000 miles before major things happened. Would appreciate your input.

Or am I being ripped off by my dealer (I've only been going to this one for a year since I moved).

Thanks.

 

Sorry to here about your troubles. The issues you have described are not uncommon for Camrys of your vintage. I work part time at a friends garage and I have experienced converter, vapor canister, wheel bearing failures on older Camrys. Unfortunately all these things went about the same time frame for you, I would not worry about large repair bills reoccurring in the future, these cars are typically durable, with regular maintenance this car should last another 100k with no big issues. We have a couple of regular customers with Camrys in the 1995-01 year range with over 200k miles on the odometer and they are very happy with their cars. The transmission fliud service should be done about every 30-40k miles, you can get that don't elsewhere besides the dealer at a cheaper price, the injector service & throttle body service I would leave alone if the car is running well. Putting off the injector service and throttle body service will not harm your car.