Insurance doesn’t cover that stuff. Home warranties will, but in some cases, if your stuff is newer, you end up spending more on the warranty than replacing the one thing that breaks. Maybe see about financing? Also, if you haven’t already, call at least four companies. I was originally told 8k to fix mine. Ended up under 6 and has a pretty good warranty on it. That was the only company that didn’t offer financing though, so I got a credit card just for it. 0% interest for the first year. Paid it off before it kicked in.

OP said "air conditioning system" so that could mean anything from the units themselves to the piping to the insulation to the compressor to the gas. My air conditioning system recently died and we had to get it repaired. The compressor died, the condensor died, and the insulation and piping were all wrong. Total cost to repair? $7500. The labour cost is the killer.

Oh and a decent vacation for 7k is pretty good. A few years back we went on a 10-day vacation to Singapore and it cost upwards of $10,000. It depends where you're flying from and where you're going and where you're staying and what you're doing and a million other things, but imo 7k is pretty good.

I don't know anything about AC costs, but I completely agree about the vacation cost.... seems wayyy too pricy. I can't think of anywhere you would want to go (for lets say, 2 weeks) that would cost more than 4k. (I'm being generous there, I would personally never spend that much on a vaca, and I travel all the time.) And I'm including airfare, food, lodging, everything. 7k is reasonable if you're leaving for many months, I'd say. Only exception is if OP has a family that they're taking with them.

I'm with you. Just got a 17 SEER Bryant unit installed for $4200. Unless the furnace went kaput too (for the fan itself) OP, get some windows units if you have pets. They'll last until next year, and they hardly go down in value. Can always sell them next year when you get a full unit in.

A lot of US Home Owners associations and condos do to allow window units.

You can also get portable units that use a tube to vent out the window.

You don't know where and how long she wants to go. You don't "blow" money if it's important to you. I spent about 6500$ last year to visit south east asia for 3 months and a half and I surely don't regret it.