What a day! (Car problems)

Almost the same thing happened to me a few years ago and I decided it was smarter to buy a new used car then to pour a bunch of money into the one I had. 

I have bought two used cars and found them both at:
[linkhttp://www.cars.com]www.cars.com[/link]

I swear by it.  You can look for what you want within a certain distance, find the car you want in the color, price, mileage and features you want without driving all over the metroplex searching for it.  You can also read reviews here.  Then when you have narrowed it down you know where to go look.  I always pay for the carfacts thingy to make sure it doesn't have a bad rap....I found both cars with under 20,000 miles that were less than a year old and in great condition at a great price.  The last car I got was a splurge...an RX-8.  I got the top model with all the features and saved myself at least $15,000 then buying it new and it was in perfect condition and my price range.  I ended up with a much nicer model of the car I got then I would have if I had bought it new...b/c I couldn't even afford the base model.  They also have a payment calculator there.  Good luck and have fun looking for a new car! 

Being the daughter of a car mechanic - a few tips on buying a second hand car.  If you are buying from an individual, hopefully the car will be parked on cement and not grass - why? - because if it has any oil leaks - you will be able to see them!  People have cars detailed to make them look nice, but they don't always think about what is going to leak after the clean up - so that would be a dead give away of problems.  Also, don't just glance at the car - open the doors and look around the gaskets and under the edges of the carpets for rust spots; open the hood and give a good look for oil spatter on and around the motor, etc. - give them a good going over!  Maybe, if you have a friend who is a good mechanic, they can go with you to look them over!

Or, if you are going after a newer car, maybe try one of the car rental places like Enterprise that sells their rentals - you might find an awesome deal. There is always a link off of their main web page for their cars listings.
Good luck hunting!

Ok, this is going to go against what most people think about car repairs but Im kind of a car guy and definately a cheapskate.

Do you like this car? 
Is the body in good shape?
What engine is in it?   (I have to Chevy vehicles that have been neglected for 200,000 + miles that I still trust.)
What kind of driving do you do?  (Long trips, or short commuter trips?)
What kind of car can you get for the $600 that this repair is going to cost you?

The last question is crazy I know, but what is $600 compared to the price of a different used car?  If your going to finance that "new" you are looking 2-3 months of car payments to pay for what you couldve fixed for $600. 

If you really like this car, the body isnt rusting out from underneath you, and you are driving a safe route, it would be crazy not to fix it (financially speaking of course).  Yes something else "could" go wrong next week, but maybe not.

Id like to hear more details of this "loose hose" for $600. 

Check out [linkhttp://www.cartalk.com]www.cartalk.com[/link] and you might find a simple answer to the problem with this car.

We just bought a used car for my 18 year old daughter and I think that buying a used car, if you are not a mechanic, is a total crap shoot- sometimes you loose, sometimes you win.  We lost.  My daughter's new car drove like a dream.  My DH was worried about her having an older model car so, while it was still under warranty,  he took it to the mechanic we use who said it needed $2,000 of front end work (rack and pinion, ball joints, etc) and should not have even passed inspection!  My DH went back to the used car dealer and raised heck.  The dealer said that our mechanic is full of crap and is just trying to rip us off and he (the dealer) sent us to the mechanic he uses.  His mechanic said that the car dealer knew about the bad front end and had him (the mechanic) just fix a few things (the ones that would be covered in the 30 day warranty) so he (the dealer) could make money on the deal.  The mechanic also said that while the car did need some additional work, it did not need all the work that our mechanic said that it did, meaning that our mechanic is trying to rip us off a little.  Who to believe?  Well, it turns out that we had the dealer's mechanic do the work that he felt needed done and the dealer agreed to pay half, so we ended up paying $800 rather than $2,000.  I'm telling ya- right now I don't trust used car dealers or mechanics- how do these people sleep at night?  Karma is gonna get them...
 
On the up side, we kind of like this new mechanic.  He is passing on a rebate that he is getting for parts used in the repair that he didn't even have to tell us about.  But the cynic in me thinks that he might just be romancing us so that he can get future business from us and take advantage of us like it seems everyone else does.   Sigh....
 
I'm so sorry for the rant- I hope you have better luck than us if you do decide to go with a new (for you) used car.

I'd be especially cautious about a used car right now...in the wake of Katrina....check it out carefully. 

'Nother estimate, please, for that "loose" hose.

I stopped at a tire place because I had a rubbing noise from a front tire.  All I wanted them to do was mount my spare because the tire was looking pretty funky.  They never did do that, but instead did a front end inspection (without ever removing the wheels) and told me I needed almost $1200 in work.  So DS and I went and bought the wheel bearings, the whatever all else they said that I needed, and guess what?  All it needed was a grease job.  DS learned a LOT about cars keeping his older Tempo running and can fix just about anything on them so when he says everything is fine, I believe HIM over a mechanic trying to screw me over.  And, the parts were a whooping $60!  That included upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, etc.  THEY tried to tell me that the ABS was tied into the wheel bearings?? That ONE part was gonna be over $200.   Do I really LOOK like I just fell off the danged turnip truck??

We just had our walk and we'll rest a bit, then we're going to the Dog Days of Summer in Denton and I guess we'll miss you. Good luck with your auto woes.
 

Marty, thanks for mentioning Katrina.  I saw a program on TV about how all these cars that had been totally flooded and under water for a long time had been sort of *spruced up* and were finding their way into quite a few states. They are very, very unsafe and anyone buying a used car needs to really check out the details and know for sure where the car came from.

Joyce & Max

I'm with the "fix it" don't buy a new one school. Do you really want to go back to having car payments? I just paid off my Nissan truck and I'm happy to fix the timing chain and CV joints when I can afford to (I'm not driving it until the timing chain gets fixed). Having no car payments is the best.

Of course I drive those Japanese vehicles that go for 300,000 miles if you take care of them. And if something major goes, you can buy Japanese "takeout" parts for them. Most people don't know about those....

In Japan you can't drive your car indefinitely. The government makes you scrap your car at a certain mileage or years for pollution reasons. So there are all these perfectly good, used, engines, transmissions, etc. that are brought over here to be sold. When the engine in my Toyota goes we'll put in a new one, probably cost $900 or so. It already has a "takeout" tranny in it. It's got 202,000 miles on the engine and still gets 28-30 mpg. Can't beat it.

Why go 100,000 miles when you can go 300,000? That's my thought. (And most of them are made in the USA now, too.)

I'm with you jeano- I live for the free ride!  I also buy Toyotas, Mazdas or Nissans, as I think they last way longer than domestic cars- although I feel very unpatriotic doing it!

ORIGINAL: luvarescue

I'm with you jeano- I live for the free ride! I also buy Toyotas, Mazdas or Nissans, as I think they last way longer than domestic cars- although I feel very unpatriotic doing it!

Think about it this way: we are polluting our fair country FAR LESS than folks with so-called "American" cars (many of which have components made in other countries, if not the engines themselves on the compact models!). Most of the Japanese cars are made in the USA now, anyway. If you have fewer emissions plus you don't scrap your car every four years the way lots of people do, well, I think that's taking care of the earth, and just as "patriotic" as anyone else. []

And the prices of new cars now, wooooooo! My parents bought a HOUSE in 1955 for $2000. Now a car costs seven times that much, minimum? Something is definitely wrong.

Nowadays $15,000 is a down payment on a house. I'd rather do that than buy a car any day. Not to mention if you figure out what you really pay with interest on that car loan, well, you don't want to know. [8|]

1. Do you like this car?
2. Is the body in good shape?
3. What engine is in it? (I have to Chevy vehicles that have been neglected for 200,000 + miles that I still trust.)
4. What kind of driving do you do? (Long trips, or short commuter trips?)
5. What kind of car can you get for the $600 that this repair is going to cost you?

Let's see.
1. It's my baby. She's my first car, so she means a lot to me.
2. Body is in very good shape, minor hail damage
3. I have no earthly idea about the engine. I do know it's a V-6
4. I commute from school about once a week (about 100 miles roundtrip) to go to work.
5. I've looked around, not much you can get for under $1k

Actually it was only $200. They replaced the radiator hose. That plus towing was about $200.  The $600 was the fact that the electricity in the defroster/heating element would have to be replaced. I just dont have heat. (which is just fine since it stays summer until like November). I can deal with wiping my winsheild instead of defrosting it, but that's okay.
They say her "Lifespan" (sounds like a person doesn't it!) is about another 50,000 miles or less if we're lucky.
All the cars that we've looked at so far are very fishy. One was bought and traded back the car  in less than a week of ownership- makes me think something was up with the car.

Thanks for the heads up about the N.O. cars. Texas is just one state away, so I'm sure many cars are like that. We got a "Car-fax" thing for a month, so hopefully we will check out certain cars.
I thought I could go without having student loans!! LOL


Wish me luck!

Oh, and as far as water from Katrina, don't forget the flooding that Houston got back in 2001.  Lots of cars floated that year too! 

I'm with Jeano!  My Accord just hit 150,000 miles.  I can't remember the last time anything went wrong with it.  I did change the belts and hoses sometime last year, I think, for maintenance only.  When someone asks me what car to recommend, I always say Honda first.  However, Toyota and Nissan aren't bad choices.  

A used Honda wouldn't be a bad thing, either.  Just make sure it has received good care, because if something does go wrong, it will be much more expensive to repair.

Oh, and I do not feel unpatriotic for driving a Honda.  It was built in Ohio.  Besides, why should I deal with an unreliable domestic, just to feel patriotic?  Doesn't make sense to me.