Car Trouble, Need Advice

[KLHJ2]

Trade it in for a new car.

Last spring I needed new brakes and rotors on my EVO VIII. The parts alone cost 4K. On top of that I did have a check engine light on and my Turbo wasn't boosting properly. Kelly Blue Book had it going for 8K in fair condition. Sorry but I'm not going to put 4K into an 8K car to make it a 10K car, when I was a teenager I would have but not now.

I traded it in for 7K, avoided a huge maintence cost, and got 5 car years younger. The real beauty is that due to the fact that I had a 6 year loan on the EVO and a 3 year loan on the new car I didn't add any additional years to my payoff. In fact I subtracted 2 months.

Since my payoff was more than what they gave me for the car I was a little bit upside down and I carried the negative equity over to the new car. To cover myself I purchased the gap insurance. Gap insurance covers a vehicle with negative equity in the event you get into an accident.

I ended up with a 2008 Scion so it wasn't brand new, but it's newer used and my payments stayed about the same.

Recap: I avoided a huge maintenance cost, purchased a newer vehicle, cut loan payoff date by 2 months and essentially eliminated my negative equity. It's worth looking into.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Angry

Trade it in for a new car.

Last spring I needed new brakes and rotors on my EVO VIII. The parts alone cost 4K. On top of that I did have a check engine light on and my Turbo wasn't boosting properly. Kelly Blue Book had it going for 8K in fair condition. Sorry but I'm not going to put 4K into an 8K car to make it a 10K car, when I was a teenager I would have but not now.

I traded it in for 7K, avoided a huge maintence cost, and got 5 car years younger. The real beauty is that due to the fact that I had a 6 year loan on the EVO and a 3 year loan on the new car I didn't add any additional years to my payoff. In fact I subtracted 2 months.

Since my payoff was more than what they gave me for the car I was a little bit upside down and I carried the negative equity over to the new car. To cover myself I purchased the gap insurance. Gap insurance covers a vehicle with negative equity in the event you get into an accident.

I ended up with a 2008 Scion so it wasn't brand new, but it's newer used and my payments stayed about the same.

Recap: I avoided a huge maintenance cost, purchased a newer vehicle, cut loan payoff date by 2 months and essentially eliminated my negative equity. It's worth looking into.

I really really thought about it and then saw the sticker tag on a Nissan Murano and came to my senses. I can't afford a 40K car right now.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by saden1

Ok, thanks guys. The Nissan dealer does inspection for free and they looked at the car yestarday and said I need to get the 105K service done. Of course they told me to get the ps flushed.... even worse they tried to charge me $40 to replace my license plate lights. I just told them to do the service which is $400 with a 10% coupon I printed online.

Car is running smooth again and they either replaced the plate lights for free or them mother fckers tried to cheat me because they work.

Those inspections are not for free. See the $400 you paid them.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

OTM if your check engine light has been on 7 yrs, how do you get past md emissions? My car also started doing the same thing, then emissions came due, and they failed it straight out since the check engine light was on...

If its anything like Va I don't think they check emmissions. If they do I have never seen them check it on my inspections.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by firstdown

If its anything like Va I don't think they check emmissions. If they do I have never seen them check it on my inspections.

Maryland checks emissions every two years. The first thing they do is plug into the onboard computer and if it's reading any error codes you fail.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Those inspections are not for free. See the $400 you paid them.

I am free to walk away after the inspection. I am also free to pay for service and thus my inspection as well as everyone who gets an inspection and walks away.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Maryland checks emissions every two years. The first thing they do is plug into the onboard computer and if it's reading any error codes you fail.

I have lived in both states and MD is way easy compared to VA. Just the emissions every two years. VA they check everything expect emissions every year.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by saden1

I really really thought about it and then saw the sticker tag on a Nissan Murano and came to my senses. I can't afford a 40K car right now.

Don't buy brand new, buy a certified used that's only a year or three old. They are still in excellent condition and the major depreciation from driving it off of the lot has already occured. You can find one anywhere from 20K-30K

[SolidSnake84]

Off-Topic, my wife and i just mailed out our last payment for my pickup truck today. I will never again by anything brand new. It will be used cars from here out. I made up my mind after they wouldn't refinance me last summer. My truck is a 2006 and doesnt even have 100K on it. I will pay cash for my vehicles from now on....

[mredskins]

I say buy used if you are keeping it for 5 or less years, buy new if you plan to keep 5 plus years.

Actually the best deal is wait for the new model to come out then buy a new last year model. They always want to move those off the lot especially if the body style changed.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by mredskins

I say buy used if you are keeping it for 5 or less years, buy new if you plan to keep 5 plus years.

Actually the best deal is wait for the new model to come out then buy a new last year model. They always want to move those off the lot especially if the body style changed.

I will never buy brand new again because the car has you by the balls. You owe way more than it's worth and you have to hold onto it beyond it's prime unless you want to loose money on the deal. Buying a brand new car is a terrible investment.

You might say that holding onto it until it's paid off might be more beneficial but the truth is that you can buy a used car much cheaper, pay it off sooner and still enjoy no car payment like the guy who paid twice as much and had to wait twice as long to do so.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Angry

I will never buy brand new again because the car has you by the balls. You owe way more than it's worth and you have to hold onto it beyond it's prime unless you want to loose money on the deal. Buying a brand new car is a terrible investment.

You might say that holding onto it until it's paid off might be more beneficial but the truth is that you can buy a used car much cheaper, pay it off sooner and still enjoy no car payment like the guy who paid twice as much and had to wait twice as long to do so.

Depends on the car you buy. Buy a car with high resale value you should come out ahead if you keep it the life of the loan. Done it all my life never been upside down in loan. Buying a used car you lose value as soon as you drive that one off the lot as well.

A car (outside of classics and exotics) is never a positive finical investment. New or used when you go to sell it you will never recover your original purchase price.

[SolidSnake84]

Drive Free. Retire Rich.

I dont know if any of you have heard of Dave Ramsey, but this pretty much summed up our strategy for paying off my truck and setting up a "vehicle replacement" fund for the future. He is actually right and if you can afford to save the money each month, you basically have enough cash every 2 years to buy a good decent used vehicle without going in debt.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Drive Free. Retire Rich.

I dont know if any of you have heard of Dave Ramsey, but this pretty much summed up our strategy for paying off my truck and setting up a "vehicle replacement" fund for the future. He is actually right and if you can afford to save the money each month, you basically have enough cash every 2 years to buy a good decent used vehicle without going in debt.

I have seen this guy before Dave Ramsey, he seems like he is around for the finical challenged. His plans have a lot of assumptions in them, even this car one. He is completely forgetting or omitting maintenance/repair bills.

Also sorry but their is not a new or used car that I will drive that the purchase price is $6k or even $11K. Plus to think your $6k car is going to be worth anything near $6k a year later is full hearted. Do a search for $6k cars, I willing to bet most won't make it through the year with a major reapir expense.

This guy is so full of crap, I hope you didn't buy any of his stuff or go to his lame classes like my co-worker, who now also agrees with me that his plans are fair fetch.

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Drive Free. Retire Rich.

I dont know if any of you have heard of Dave Ramsey, but this pretty much summed up our strategy for paying off my truck and setting up a "vehicle replacement" fund for the future. He is actually right and if you can afford to save the money each month, you basically have enough cash every 2 years to buy a good decent used vehicle without going in debt.

They had a Dave Ramsey class here in town back during the summer. I wanted to go to it, but couldn't at the time. I hear he can definitely change your life financially.