New car?

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by jd937, Nov 4, 2007.

  1. jd937

    jd937 Well-Known Member

    Off the topic, anyone know what the gold colored envelopes on the main page mean?
     
  2. Dark Jedi

    Dark Jedi Active Member

    My story along these lines:
    It has been my habit to sell a car after i fix the first major break. I had a 1992 LeBaron GTC convertible. It was a great car for many years. Then the transmission went out. hard.
    $1800 later, it runs like a champ again. As per my custom, I trade in this perfectly running car that is paid off for a "new" one. (I never buy new, I love 1 year leases... not that I'd ever take one, but the lots are full of great deals on near new cars because of em!)
    So I went from no payments to $325 a month. And I lost a little fuel economy to boot. (FYI, a 92 LeBaron gets better economy than a 2002 Tracker.)

    I got curious, so I researched. Chrysler had a transmission problem in the A6 automatic transmission. Rebuilds resolve the issue (a plastic valve wears out, takes out some expensive critical pieces as it goes. rebuild kits have a steel valve in it's place). That engine, and that transmission after rebuild, are legendary for their high mileage reliability. Many owners reporting 300k and more without issue on regular maintenance.

    D'OH!
     
  3. jd937

    jd937 Well-Known Member

    Actually I looked into a lease and a Hyundai lease might be an option. Being that I now live in the city as oppposed to out of state as I did when I did drive 20000 a year, that has made a huge difference. In one year I've only put on 13,000 miles. So a 20000 mile lease that Hyundai offers might be a choice. That with a guaranteed value at the end of the lease makes it an appealing option.
     
  4. bizwiz41

    bizwiz41 Well-Known Member

    A "Hot Topic", lots of activity re: reading and replies...
     
  5. Hedwig

    Hedwig Well-Known Member

    Sounds like you have made a good decision.

    In a year, if the car still runs well, think about putting that payment amount in the bank and saving so you have a down payment on a new car. I know it may not be "cool" to drive an older car, but in the long run you'll end up in a better financial place.

    I don't think I've ever had a car less than 200K miles except one that got totaled the first year I had it.
     
  6. Big Al

    Big Al Active Member

    JT: Congrats on the quick turnaround on the credit issues. I'm still working on mine, hopefully I'll get results like you.

    The alternator issue on your old car stinks. I'm surprised that you had to pay to fix it again after only six months. Usually when you get a replacement part (even if remanufactured or refurbished) it comes with it's own 6 mo.-1 yr. warranty that has nothing to do with the car's warranty. Always ask about this in the future. And always try go get a second opinion about things like that alternator issue when having them fixed. I've seen mechanics tell customers they need a new alt when it was a battery, battery wires or something as simple as the alternator belt being loose. These days many auto parts chains (AutoZone, etc.) will check alt, battery, and other electrical parts for you so you can avoid the stealership alltogether.

    For the tires, try tirerack.com or one of the other online sites. You can put in your car make and model and get a bunch of options. Pick the cheapest ones as long as they have decent customer reviews. Then, when they're delivered, just bring them to any tire shop and ask to have them "mounted". Shouldn't cost you more than $5-10 per. Doing it this way is cheaper than buying them and having them mounted at a repair shop. They'll probably try to convince you that you should have all wheels balanced at that time but take a pass if money is an issue. However, balancing your wheels when mounting new tires is not a bad idea.

    As for the rotors, cutting them (machining them) is usually a little bit cheaper than brand new ones, but not significant enough to be worth it. Ask for the price of cutting the rotors versus getting new ones. Congrats on getting the good repair estimates. Meinekee is great since they give them for free then you can shop their price. And as a national franchise chain, they are bound to uphold a certain level of service.

    Dark Jedi made mention of the Chrysler trannie issue. Anyone about to buy a new or used car should do a search for "TSBs" before purchase. A TSB is a Technical Service Bulletin that all service depts get when a particular model of car is having a lot of recurrent problems. Some cars have hundreds, some have 20-30. Less TSBs means less potential problems. TSBs that affect more than a certain amount of drivers become recalls. BMW, Mercedes and other high end luxury cars that have more moving parts than "regular" cars have a lot more TSBs meaning unless you want to drive with a broken power auto-folding mirror, you'll probably be in the shop a lot.

    Last thing: the lease. As a current Hyundai driver and former Hyundai salesman/manager I can tell you that they are cheap enough so that leasing probably won't be your best bet especially since you drive a lot. Lease programs (from factory) usually include 15k per year. But to show low prices on TV or in the paper, dealers show you a price with 12k or 10k. Lowering the alloted mileage on a lease raises the car's residual value (what it's worth at the end of the lease). Raising the alloted mileage, as you may imagine, lowers the residual so might kill the benefit of leasing. Since your lease payment is basically [purchase price - residual price / months x money factor (interest rate / 24)] you can see that lowering your residual value raises your price.

    Keep driving that thing 'til it's dead and buried.
     
  7. Hedwig

    Hedwig Well-Known Member

    I agree about the alternator. I just went through something similar. I had some problems on one of my cars, and one of the problems was the alternator. I have all my repairs done at a local shop. When he called to give us the estimate, he was quick to say "the alternator won't cost you anything, because we put it in less than a year ago and it's under warranty."

    I didn't even remember having it put in, but he's good about tracking all of our repairs.
     
  8. jd937

    jd937 Well-Known Member

    Actaully I guess I should clarify, I didn't have to pay to have it replaced again. What happened was I had it replaced, then about 6 months later my car began dying again for no apparent reason. So I had the battery and the alternator checked out at several different places. The battery tested ok. The alternator sometimes tested good, sometimes it didn't, depending on which shop I took it to. Another shop thought that it could be a short in the electrical system that was draining the battery, but couldn't find one. So at that point I said, ok, I'm going to trade it in. Midas would have replaced it free, but it never consistently tested bad. Advance tested it, it tested bad. Oriley tested it, it tested bad. Walmart tested it good, and Midas tested it good. idk, lol.

    Actually heck now that I think about it, I could probably just go to any auto parts store, buy some good ones cheaper than I could at the shop, then call my roadside assistance and make them put them on, lol. jk PS anyone that needs car work done, stay away from Sears auto. Just for replacing rotors and pads, they charged about $200 more than Midas did for replacing the rotors and pads and the front two tires.
     

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