I hate my car

[Aquarelle]

I bought my 02 Honda Civic in 2006. It had 40,000 miles on it. Clean Carfax, "Certified Pre-Owned Honda"; seemed great.

A few months later, one side of the body cracked out of the blue. I took it to the dealership to have it fixed. The technician says, "This car has been in an accident." Well, so much for the "Certified Pre-Owned" crap. Cost me $1600 to fix it.

About a year later, same thing happened on the other side. Still haven't gotten that fixed.

A couple of months ago, I had to have the control arms replaced, an $800+ repair. The car had 60,000 miles on it. Another product of the accident, I suppose - a car shouldn't have to have an $800 repair with 60,000 miles on it!

Now, the engine is being super loud and I hear a scraping sound when it shifts into 2nd and 3rd gear (I think - hard to tell in an automatic). I have no idea what to do. If it's another costly repair, I think I just need to offload my car and start over.

Car will be paid off in February. I really was looking forward to having no car payment, but I just don't think it's work it if I'm going to have to put $800 into it every 6 months.

I like Hondas, and I trust the company, but the dealership is just as shady as any used-car dealer. Next time I get a new(er?) car, I'm making an appointment to take it to my trusted mechanic the very next day, so I can tell the salesman that if my mechanic tells me there's anything, and I mean ANYTHING, wrong with the car that the salesman didn't mention, I'm bringing it right back to the dealership.

Sigh.....

Anyone else hate their cars?

 

[Tiltyred]

I had a yellow VW bug two years ago ... all my life, I wanted a yellow VW bug. Finally I get one, the turbo one, used, but supposedly it was a good car. It had CheckEngineLight-itis, 'bout broke my bank, and besides, it was a stick shift and there is a sharp incline coming out of the parking garage at work and it was sometimes terrifying. One day I drove it to the dealership and said take this car and give me anything you've got with an automatic, I don't care what it is. The guy pointed out a new gray Rabbit and I said that's fine without even looking at it, and I drove it off the lot. It's been a good little car (knock wood). I don't care about the negative equity, that's how much I grew to hate the yellow bug, that had been my dream car.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I have a 2001 Honda Civic and I would marry it. I've had it since 2004 and all I've put into it is a set of tires and about $1000 in various minor repairs. I think you got a lemon. That sucks

 

[Aquarelle]

^^Yeah, I had my mom's old hand me down Accord before that... it was 10 years old and had like 200,000 miles on it, and I loved that car! I'm sure my current car would be great as well, if it hadn't been crapped up in an accident. Poo.

Tiltyred, that sucks. Glad to hear theRrabbit has been good to you!

 

[Tiltyred]

Yeah, that bug was a 2002 bug that I bought in 2004 ... hm. Maybe 2002 was a bad year for cars?

 

[onemoretime]

At least you have a car.

(sorry)

 

[JAVO]

I have a 98 Civic with 103,000 miles on it. Other than normal maintenance (including brake jobs and batteries), the alternator has needed replaced, but I suspect that was due to an electrical surge caused by a nearby lightening strike. I also replaced the front driveshafts because the boots were worn and needed replaced.

On Civics, the heat shields around the exhaust components aren't very durable. The supports rust through, and the shield rattles at certain times. This might be what is causing the scraping noise when shifting. The fix on mine was a $2 stainless steel radiator hose clamp around it.

I also had a 92 Accord I traded in at something like 250K miles. It ran great, but needed an entirely new exhaust system. These are stainless steel on Hondas. They last a long time, but are more expensive.

I do nearly all of my own maintenance and repairs.

 

[JustHer]

My parents had a strict rule of only getting gray cars (to hide dirt). I've been driving generic gray vehicles for the last 6 years.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

I've never owned my own car.

It would be awfully convenient. And at least in North America, there seems to be a lot of social significance to owning a car.

But on the other hand, they are ridiculously expensive. House and car are often the two biggest expenses in a person's life.

What do you think of the idea of not having a car?

 

[Tiltyred]

I think if you can do it, that's great. Getting to work and back takes me 4 hours if I have to use public transportation. I'm just not up for it.

 

[Stanton Moore]

You should get rid of that Honda. It's a lemon. Sorry. Once the transmission starts to go, you need to say goodbye...

 

[Aquarelle]

I would love to not have to own a car. I could probably manage it most of the time, because we're fairly close to public transport, but it would take me an hour to get to work and an hour back, whereas with my car it take 20 minutes. And during Ren Fest season I need a car, as even driving it takes me an hour to get to the grounds.

Meh. I am thinking about just getting rid of it sooner than later.

 

[Oaky]

[YOUTUBE="K-34Fdtg1dI"]Be grateful.[/YOUTUBE]

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

Seriously. Look into your state's Lemon Law. You may not have to pay for the car and you may be able to get the money you did pay for it back. If the frame was damaged in a prior accident and that information was not disclosed to you and you did not buy "as is" that is some serious business and the integrity of the vehicle is severely compromised.

Lemon Law Statutes and Guides - State Lemon Laws

 

[Willfrey]

Actually, that whole 'take it to a tested mechanic' is something you should do on the test drive, there is absolutely no reason you can't make an informed decision, and takes a few cards out of a greedy salesman's hands.

 

[Aquarelle]

[YOUTUBE="K-34Fdtg1dI"]Be grateful.[/YOUTUBE]

Ha, I love that song.

 

[Aquarelle]

Seriously. Look into your state's Lemon Law. You may not have to pay for the car and you may be able to get the money you did pay for it back. If the frame was damaged in a prior accident and that information was not disclosed to you and you did not buy "as is" that is some serious business and the integrity of the vehicle is severely compromised.

Lemon Law Statutes and Guides - State Lemon Laws

Hmmm, thanks. I'll definitely look into this!

 

[angell_m]

I have two cars and I don't like either of them. They take too much space, too much time. Unnecessary money-sucking objects.

 

[Chaotic Harmony]

Ugh... My car is slowly falling apart now. I'm really disappointed with Chevy here lately... And I was a die hard Chevy fanatic... Now I'm pretty sure I won't be buying another one for a long time. Every Chevy we've had has had some kind of electrical issue. I'm actually going to look at a car tonight to see if I like it enough to trade mine in on it...

Here's the problem with Carfax... If someone doesn't file an insurance claim, it doesn't hit the Carfax report... I had two wrecks with my 94 Camaro. If you pull a Carfax on it though, it only reports one. One of them we did outside of insurance because we didn't want the insurance to go up. The other one, we put through insurance and it is the one that shows up....

 

[Aquarelle]

Ugh... My car is slowly falling apart now. I'm really disappointed with Chevy here lately... And I was a die hard Chevy fanatic... Now I'm pretty sure I won't be buying another one for a long time. Every Chevy we've had has had some kind of electrical issue. I'm actually going to look at a car tonight to see if I like it enough to trade mine in on it...

Here's the problem with Carfax... If someone doesn't file an insurance claim, it doesn't hit the Carfax report... I had two wrecks with my 94 Camaro. If you pull a Carfax on it though, it only reports one. One of them we did outside of insurance because we didn't want the insurance to go up. The other one, we put through insurance and it is the one that shows up....

Good luck tonight, Kym!