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Bad Purchasing Decisions: Share Your Stories

65 messages,  Last post on Oct 19, 2007 at 5:28 AM

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What is this discussion about? Car Leasing

Messages Page 3 of 7

#16 of 65 Re: Boy, I'm glad it was a lease. [jaserb] by kyfdx HOST

Jun 15, 2005 (11:57 am)

Replying to: jaserb (Jun 15, 2005 11:52 am)
Ha.. actually the bike was optional .. or, at least, you could get a credit for not taking it... Naturally, they didn't get one...
 
Funny, though..

#17 of 65 1980 VW Rabbit... by isellhondas

Jun 15, 2005 (12:02 pm)

Bought it a year old. Just a total piece of solid junk!

#18 of 65 Fortunately... by lemko

Jun 15, 2005 (2:22 pm)

...this didn't happen to me, but a coworker's sister-in-law just paid $9,000 at a Chrysler dealer for a used 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier coupe!!! I looked at Edmund's TMV for this car and it gave a quote of $2,700 Retail. What kind of sociopathic salesman would sell an 8 year-old Cavalier to an older woman for nearly four times its retail value? The woman is blissfully unaware of the royal screwing she just received.

#19 of 65 One of my own by jaserb

Jun 16, 2005 (9:19 am)

When I was young(er) and stupid(er) I tore apart my Datsun 260Z for a "restoration". The engine was tired and there were a few rust spots I wanted to take care of, so I decided to rebuild the engine and do some body work on it. Never mind that I had never opened up an engine bigger than a lawnmower, and that I didn't have any clue how to do body work. Anyway, while I was without wheels I went to a "public auto auction", thinking I'd pick up an old fleet car or something. Of course, being young and stupid I ended up buying a bright red '84 Firebird V6 that was there on consignment for $1300. Here's a little tip for the uninitiated: If the car didn't have something heinously wrong with it, it wouldn't be consigned at an auction. Duh.
 
To this day I'm convinced the car hated me. There was ALWAYS something going wrong with it.
The first day I took it to a car wash, which stripped the color magic wax that was hiding a horribly oxidized paint job. The next morning there was a huge puddle of transmission fluid under the car, and I found out that the tranny housing was cracked. The car sat for a while until I found a junkyard trans and put it in. The next time I started it up it ran horribly - I could barely keep it running. That's when my mom noticed an eerie glow from under the car - the entire exhaust, from manifold to tailpipe, was glowing bright red! Turns out the timing chain had skipped a couple of notches, causing burning fuel to shoot down the tailpipe. Another time there was a Mazda GLC parked across the street saying bad things about the Firebird's momma, or something. The car somehow came out of park - something it had never done, and never did again - rolled down the driveway, negotiated a small curve, straightened out, and smashed in the entire side of the Mazda. The 'Bird didn't have a scratch on it! That was the most expensive $1300 car I ever bought.
 
-Jason

#20 of 65 Re: 1980 VW Rabbit... [isellhondas] by smittynyc

Jun 16, 2005 (7:30 pm)

Replying to: isellhondas (Jun 15, 2005 12:02 pm)
isell,
 
'80 was the first MY that was assembled in North America, right? My folks had a '80 Rabbit, red with matching red interior (including the dash!) that simply could not have had more go wrong with it.
 
The fit and finish was disastrous. Every single knob fell off. The window cranks broke. The sunroof leaked to the extent that I often wondered if it'd make for easier clean-up just to leave it open during the rain. The upholstery came apart at the seams. All of the interior lighting failed. And anything that was fixed broke again just as quickly.
 
There were a whole host of mechanical problems as well, although the specifics escape me. Just a total dog of a car . . . and sadly, we kept it for three agonizing years.

#21 of 65 My first purchase by manamal

Jun 18, 2005 (3:44 am)

It was Dec. 1992....My '84 Honda Civic needed about 2500K worth of repairs. So I decided to get a new car. As I was still in Graduate School (long time, long story), My parents offered to help me out. I was looking at a new escort. My father talked me into looking at some "program cars". Well, the Lincon Merc. dealer had a used Tracer LTS which was basically an escort sedan with the Escort GT engine and tranny, and all of the goodies.
 
 knew to ask if the car was ever in an accident. I was assurred it was not The car was priced at $9300. I agreed to pay it....but needed my father to cosign the loan. The sales guy must have felt sorry for me, because he then dropped the price $500 to $8700.
 
So I get the car home, and notice that the passenger door did not close quite right. I ask a fiend to look at it, and he saying that he thinks it had been hit and repaired. So, I take it to a body shop, and they show me the repair.
 
I go back to the dealer -- and find out that they went bankrupt. Closed. So I am SOL.
 
I called ford customer care, and they were actually somewhat helpful. I got the "bad" body work fixed by the ford dealer in down for free.
 
And, I had the car for 120,000 and it *never* gave me a problem.

#22 of 65 Re: 1980 VW Rabbit... [smittynyc] by isellhondas

Jun 19, 2005 (11:01 am)

Replying to: smittynyc (Jun 16, 2005 7:30 pm)
Yeah, I think you are correct. That Rabbit was just a tinny piece of junk inside and out. I think that was the beginning of a long line of junk from Volkswagen.
 
Too bad since the beetles of my youth were well assembled and caused me no trouble.

#23 of 65 purchasing mistake and now wants to swap by ksap

Jun 19, 2005 (3:32 pm)

Need advice: A female friend, for whom English is her second language, purchased a car at a Rhode Island dealership on Wednesday. She made a mistake. The dealers kept her waiting for so long and pressed her into making decisions she wasn't sure about. Instead of just walking out like she should have, because she really needed a car and she got so flustered and impatient, she signed the lease and put a down payment on a car and drove it home. The next day she realized the car was just too big for her and returned to the dealer to ask if she could swap it for something else. The dealer made her wait three hours and then said he couldn't help her. She doesn't want to end the deal, just swap the car for something else. I went with her yesterday to advocate for her, but I was given the same treatment--completely evasive and cold.
 
She knows she made a mistake. Now the question is, is she stuck with this car or does she have any recourse? Any help would be appreciated.

#24 of 65 Re: purchasing mistake and now wants to swap [ksap] by kyfdx HOST

Jun 19, 2005 (7:45 pm)

Replying to: ksap (Jun 19, 2005 3:32 pm)
The car is hers..
 
The only reasonable course of action.. is to learn to live with it..

#25 of 65 Re: Speaking of leases... [jaserb] by jaserb

Jun 20, 2005 (9:39 am)

Replying to: jaserb (Jun 15, 2005 11:51 am)
I finally talked to my sister about their new SUV. It's a Pathfinder, not a 4Runner, and a pretty nice rig. They're aware of the mileage limit but plan on just buying it at lease end. When I pointed out that they were going to have to pay the buyout amount (almost $19k) at lease end even if the market price is much less than that, my BIL said "oh, that doesn't bother me." Well, OK. As long as that doesn't bother you...
 
I'm just amazed that they would so blithely plan on making payments for the next 8+ years on this thing. Their buyout (on a 3 year old, likely 60k+ mile vehicle) is more than I paid for our MPV brand new.
 
-Jason

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