I love going to garage sales. In fact there is one that I frequent just about every week. The lady who was having the garage sale had a Kirby G4 vacuum cleaner. She told me that she paid a lot of money for it back in the 90s. She initially wanted $40 for it and eventually said $5. I never pulled the trigger on the used vacuum. $5 for a used Kirby is a steal right? Well it might have been a steal but it was also a huge money pit.
In fact the Kirby was missing a majority of it's parts. It was missing a cord screw, the brushroll and the rug plate and most importantly the belt. You can't simply use a Kirby without the belt. It's all in the belt lifter. Anyway I kept on joking to my Mom that I was going to get her a better vacuum than her Shark. I kept on at it for weeks. My mother wouldn't let me bring the vacuum into her home if I had bought it. In reality the metal head of this Kirby was really dusty. It had a nice layer of grime on top of it. It wouldn't even pass a white glove inspection.
So I did some calculations to see how much of a money pit this vacuum was. The parts were as follows.
- Rug Plate-$14.99
- Brushroll-$34.95
- Belt-$5.50
- Cord Screw-$2.98
- Pack of 9 Bags-$17.99
- Light Bulb-$1.98
- Hose-$49.50
The total cost would have been $132.89 minus shipping costs. Anyway I did return to that garage sale to find out that someone actually bought that Kirby G4. I was relieved that somebody actually spent $5 on a money pit. Sure Kirby's are great vacuum cleaners but that one at the garage sale was a bad buy. Who knows what other parts it may have needed. What if It didn't work? Then what do I do? I would be out of $5. There is always the Kirby Factory Rebuild Program. Did you know that if you are not the original owner of the Kirby, you can still have the vacuum rebuilt? In fact if you aren't the original owner and want to get it rebuilt, you're going to pay a lot more than the original owner would pay. I checked out the rate for non original owners and it was $350! That's an insane amount of money to get a vacuum cleaner rebuilt. I would never consider spending that. My dad wouldn't even spend that kind of money on rebuilding a vacuum. He repaired appliances for a living and he didn't work on vacuums though. He would think that $350 to rebuild a 20 year old vacuum would be a waste of money.
In the long run, I saved myself a lot of aggravation and headaches by not buying that Kirby G4. My wallet even thanked me. I like USA made vacuum cleaners, so If I were to spend the money on one that is made here in the USA I would buy a Sanitaire or a Hoover commercial vacuum.
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