Freehold Nissan.
2015 Dodge Dart. ~60k miles, $11,888.00.
They have many non-Nissan used vehicles 5+ years old.
OT: Car repair advice
- Thread starter S_Janowski
- Start date
Freehold Nissan.
2015 Dodge Dart. ~60k miles, $11,888.00.
They have many non-Nissan used vehicles 5+ years old.
Do we really know?
If Hyundai has direct access to the part needed and can easily fix it and put the car on their lot for 10K more than they paid (trade in plus repair) why wouldn’t they?
Not saying they do this but the used car market has changed a lot since Covid…nothing would surprise me.
They've all been serviced. The extent to which they've been serviced is completely individualized. But yes, dealers will replace a major component and put the car on their lot if the math works. If their cost + repair costs < expected sale price then they'll fix it and sell it.
Reminds me of our Honda Odyssey that had the 100k transmission curse - we replaced it at a transmission shop but they couldn't get it right after 3 tries. One day we noticed the check engine light was off as we drove past a Toyota dealer. We went home in a new Rav4. Aside from the transmission issue, I miss that car and I'm sure the next owner paid a lot more then we got for it. The Rav4 was a solid car and fantastic long term value that we continue to run it into the ground. A dealer recently told us we could get $5k less then original purchase price to trade in our 2017 Rav4.
Is this true ? I heard something like car shield isn’t too great and most mechanics don’t want to deal with it
Have you seen the prices for used cars? They’re still out of control.
There’s still 1-3 month waits for new cars.
It’s not hard for the math to work in todays environment.
Sure it does. Depends on the cost of the repair and the value of the vehicle (which is currently inflated, across the board).
Your blanket statement simply doesn't make sense.
Agreed. Car dealerships have historically made more on used cars versus new. And in this environment they are killing it in the used car space. As mentioned earlier had issues with a 2012 A4. Was offered $8200 in 2021 no issues and roughly 60k miles. A year later 20k additional miles, with a minimum repair of $4k with a possible high end $7500 repair pending, was offered $8800 from a volvo dealership on trade in.
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I did suggest a couple of viable scenarios for reselling an older trade-in, but the point is they will never bother with a car with significant issues. In fact, the only reason to take in such a trade at all is to sell something to the owner for higher profit.
Ya just ain’t selling your 2015 commuter car with issues to a dealer unless he’s making real money selling you a car and/or via financing.
Something very, very clean with service records still under warranty, maybe. 95% of old cars, nope.
dealers low ball trade in price for cars, being traded in for a new one from that dealer, that they won't put on their lot for sale .
If that price is accepted they sell customer a new car and to get rid of trade in quickly send it to auction, getting what they can from that trade in
Don’t blame you on passing on that.
Often times you can contact the manufacturer directly about a manufacturer warranty, in addition many insurance companies offer ‘mechanical breakdown insurance’.
I never believed in extended warranties until about 10 years ago when my best friend who is a sac master certified mechanic started explaining to me just how many components cars have these days and how often they break. I thought he was nuts but when he told me he bought a warranty on his wife’s Audi because ‘I don’t feel like dealing with that German nonsense when it breaks’ I was sold on them.
Third party stuff like car shield isn’t that great. If you get a manufacturers warranty though it’s good at any dealership. Other big companies like JM&A are fine as well, but I wouldn’t trust a company you haven’t heard of.
Manufacturers warranty is your best bet.
Another nice thing about them is if you don’t use the whole warranty up prior to trading in or getting rid of the car you get refunded what you haven’t used of it.
Saved me around $5k last year when the touchscreen in my wife’s Acura malfunctioned and they had to drop the engine to access the wiring panel to replace the unit
Also prior to what has been discussed I can also confirm from being in the car business from 2013-2019 that Carmax does offer the highest trade in values typically.
The reason is they can ship their cars nationally to when they will sell the most. Think of the old joke about how much is a Miata worth in upstate New York? In Carmax’s case they can ship that Miata down to Florida from New York where as ‘joe shmo Chevrolet’ in Syracuse could only give you what they could still be profitable on.
Carmax is also the main culprit for the boom in used car prices (other than lack of chips). Once the realized people were going crazy buying during Covid they started buying used cars at auction $3-4k over book value.
The reason is they can ship their cars nationally to when they will sell the most. Think of the old joke about how much is a Miata worth in upstate New York? In Carmax’s case they can ship that Miata down to Florida from New York where as ‘joe shmo Chevrolet’ in Syracuse could only give you what they could still be profitable on.
Carmax is also the main culprit for the boom in used car prices (other than lack of chips). Once the realized people were going crazy buying during Covid they started buying used cars at auction $3-4k over book value.
This aligns with my recent experience on my other Hyundai car that I just traded in.
CarMax offered $3.8K
Toyota Dealership $3.2K and
Carvana $3.0K.
I got the Toyota Dealership to go up to $3.5K after I showed them the CarMax offer and just went with that as I didn’t feel like bringing it to CarMax or risk their offer going down after they saw the check engine light on (although I inputted that info when I generated their offer online).
Not sure yet. I’ve exhausted my options outside of the Dealership (both mechanics and the Lowcost Exhaust company can’t find an after market CC so they would have to get one from the manufacturer at about $3K).
I inputted honest info to CarMax and their offer was from $5K-$10K but because of the major issue I would need to bring the car in to be inspected (at which point I would expect their offer to be close to the low end once they realize it’s a CC).
The Dealership kind of has me by the balls right now. The car is sitting on their lot and isn’t driveable and I would have to get it towed anywhere. I’m not having them fix the CC (quote was $3.5K) because I guarantee they find other core issues that destroyed CC when they’re replacing it, or I won’t recoup the cost if I get it fixed and then sell.
I’m going to try and speak with someone high up at the dealership and request that they give me an honest offer considering this is the 7th Hyundai myself, wife and parents have bought. I’m expecting that to not work and I’ll probably just lose it on them and have to sell for $5K.
The bigger issue dealers run into is most banks won’t finance cars past a certain age or over a certain number of miles. So for example, you could have a perfectly fine 2005 Honda Civic with 150k miles on it, clean carfax exclusively serviced at the dealership for sale for $6000 for example, by the time tax, tags and BS fees get added it’s up to $7k or so, a bank won’t give a loan on that. The cars too old and there’s not enough collateral value in their eyes to finance a loan with it.
Makes it tough in todays market for sure
Yeah sucky and annoying situation . We don’t lease , but I see why people do and don’t have to deal with this type of BS
I would just try to unload it at this point for the best deal you can get anywhere and be done with it. Live to fight another day. Good luck
it’s essentially a wash at that price as well as I believe you get a tax credit on your trade. Meaning you pay taxes on the balance of your new car price plus processing minus your trade in value. Jersey tax on cars is 6.625% so on $3500 trade you got another $230 in tax savings on the deal. In the end it only cost you $70 to not take it back to carmax and I agree, not worth it at that point
This is not a bad option if the car is a 2018 and only has 80k miles on it
Yeah, but he said he’s done with it and moving on. That wasn’t an option
Basically you’re saying when a car gets to a certain age/mileage point that there becomes a point of no return ? Either trade it in and buy new or commit to keeping it as a beater and fixing it . What point would this be ?
Which is understandable but perhaps not the most rationale when looking at it from the outside in.
I can understand being frustrated and annoyed with a car but let’s also take a step back and consider Janowski says he also doesn’t care about getting a new car and drives them into the ground. A car is a terrible investment, it’s one of the most rapidly depreciating assets one can buy and prices are absolutely insane right now.
To find a replica of what he’s driving now would cost $15k give or take by the time taxes, tags, etc are factored in. Now he’s got $3500 in trade play but that’s still $11k+ just to replace what he has…
Meanwhile as annoyed at the car as he may be, a CC is a standalone part and not something that one often needs to worry about further issues down the line once replaced. Replacing the CC is still $8k cheaper than replacing the same vehicle.
I’d recommend he tow the car to a different shop and get the work done there, F the dealer. Just taking the emotion out of it and again, offering perspective from someone who was in the business for quite a while.
Everything I’ve read and talked to professionals about the CC getting clogged/melted says there’s another issue at play (engine misfire, fuel/oxygen sensor off, oil not burning properly). And these issues could easily cause the CC to go again.
These are the exact issues plaguing Hyundai.
Fixing and driving isn’t an option I’m gonna take.
That was my initial plan (even if the mechanic had to get the CC through the manufacturer at $3K) until I read about what could have caused the CC to go (see my last post).
Wouldn’t a new CC show up on Carfax history and crush the resale value?
Once a car gets older than 8 years old and has over 125k miles on it it gets tougher with banks.
Now there’s exceptions to everything, you might be able to get a loan on something a year or two older with a few more miles on it if you have A1 credit, but figure most of the time people with 800 credit scores aren’t buying cars 10 years old with 150k miles on them.
There’s no exact science to it and certain models do have exceptions, wranglers, FJ Cruisers and other specialty type vehicles can still fetch decent trade values past a certain point but really the rule of thumb is if you’re gonna trade it, do it before 8 years or 125k miles (whichever comes first). Once you cross either of those marks it’s best to just drive it into the ground as your no payment daily
See what kind of warranty they put on their parts, especially if it’s a genuine part.
From experience working at a dealer it’s not as common as you think a correlation to something else. It can happen, but more times than not you wind up reading the worst horrer stories on the internet meant to scare people into buying a new car (dealers and manufacturers fund and post those articles and even some message board posts believe it or not, people have no idea just how dirty the car business is)
Talk to your independent mechanic about it and ask his honest opinion, don’t take the opinion of some rando on the internet. He’s going to be the most honest with you
The second I mentioned my problem with my Hyundai to the two mechanics and also also the Low Cost Exhaust company (and tow truck driver) they all said in some form or another they’re very aware of all the issues certain years/models of Hyundais and Kias have been having with engines going and oil burning so quick as they’ve been receiving a lot of business.
Did the original mechanic try to determine the root cause? Everyone of those possible causes would be noticeable is some way, bad fuel milage etc.
P.S. my daughters 2012 Tucson had the engine rebuilt by Hyundai after it failed at over 100,000 miles, thanks in part to this board
I have to admit, this whole conversation is horrifying to me.
I don't own cars that don't have warranties. I just can't do it. To have to go through what this poor guy is going through would make me homicidal.
In this situation I would absolutely pick whatever brought the quickest, least stressful resolution. You have to like the car you drive every day. Any amount of maintenance baggage will ruin the relationship, irrevocably.
I don't own cars that don't have warranties. I just can't do it. To have to go through what this poor guy is going through would make me homicidal.
In this situation I would absolutely pick whatever brought the quickest, least stressful resolution. You have to like the car you drive every day. Any amount of maintenance baggage will ruin the relationship, irrevocably.
Not as such, no. I sail regularly, but I charter.
I'm 3 years from owning a ~40' cruising sailboat as part of my retirement plan. But I've budgeted for generous maintenance.
Original mechanic ran a test and basically said the car wasn’t “breathing right” and the convertor was clogged and advised to take it to the Dealership bc that shouldn’t be happening on a 5 year old car.
He was hoping to save me some $ and that the Delaer would cover some (or all of the repair) despite being over the warranty for miles.
Problem was there was no check engine light on and I didn’t ask him to try and look for a root cause (if there was one).
The engine on my Elantra was rebuilt last year at 102,000K (9 years old). They covered it under an extended warranty due to all the engine issues but it was a horrific customer service experience and took 4 months. The alternator seized when it was sitting on their lot (had to fight with them to cover it) and the Oxygen sensor was busted when they told me the engine was repaired (and they refused to cover that). So I left the lot with a check engine lot on after 4 months (even though my check engine light never came on when my engine was knocking and I needed a new engine and drove it there).
Since last year my Elantra with the new engine needed 4 different repairs for various sensors (two times it was the O2 sensor) and turned into a giant money pit so I just sold that this weekend for $3.5K.
Nice, part of my retirement plan is navigating the intracostal. I need to get a bigger boat than I have now
My general itinerary is to spend summers doing coastal cruising up around here, then take the boat straight down to the Bahamas in November and sail it there for the winter, maybe head down into the Caribbean. Fly back and forth a couple times, then bring it back home in May. No more winters, and don't even have to go to Florida to do it.
