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I love buying used cars

R

R-code

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
469
Not.

We've had our Contour for exactly one week and already we're $500 deep in repairs. New pads and rotors on all four corners, new caliper at the rear left, new front left tire, and a pile of prefentive maintenance because the previous owner stopped caring for the car 5000 miles ago while he was trying to sell it.

*sigh* The things we do for fun...

~Mike~
 
Whenever I buy any used car, I plan on it needing AT LEAST brakes all around, four tires, all fluids changed, and spark plugs/wires. Most people simply do not take care of their cars either because they are lazy or they just don't know how.
 
the brakes is something you should have known where bad in the first place, why would you buy a car and not check it out first especially the brakes?
 
Private party sale? That's what happens sometimes when you think you are saving a few bucks by going to a private party over a dealership. Obviously if that was the only way you could get the car you wanted, you had no choice. But if the same basic car was available at a dealer, a lot of that stuff would have been taken care of most likely. You might have actually saved a few bucks. Food for thought for the future.
Karl
 
Those are general maintenance items anyway. Heck, my SVT wouldn't pass state inspection till I replaced all four tires and brakes (pads/rotors). Although, the seller had the courtesy to tell me before purchasing.
I also had to replace LF caliper bracket and RR caliper.

Consider though, as long as the car remains reliable you are still spending less per month than a new car payment.
 
rouar said:
Consider though, as long as the car remains reliable you are still spending less per month than a new car payment.
Click to expand...

That is by far the most important thing. Instead of paying outrageous new car payments, you are paying for repairs. I don't see myself buying a new car in the next ten years at least for this reason. I'd rather buy a car that I know what's wrong with it and fix it. And just think, you're brakes are going to be fine for the next 40k miles :shrug:
 
regardless of the brake's condition, I usually reaplce them anyways, 9 times out of 10 the car has warped rotors, so it makes no sense to replace the rotors and not the pads, considering a new set of pads is like $30 for a decent set.

fluids? Yeah thats a given, I have changed the oil the day after I have gotten every one of my cars, same thing goes for trans fluid and the coolant.

sucks you had a bad caliper, but meh, 10 year old cars tend to do stuff like that, and as far as the front tire goes... either you ran over a nail, or didnt properly inspect the tires before purchasing a car you didnt say why the tire needed to be replaced; but again just something that wears out over time.

its preventative/regular work and really has nothing to do with who made the car, I think I wrenched on my Corolla almost as much as I did on my 99 contour. the only thing that happened to me on my contour that didnt happen on my corolla was an alternator.

Ugh, talk about nightmares of brakes, my corolla was the WORST, the brakes would grind and squeal for no reason what so ever. I replaced the pads and rotors 2 times and finally gave up. It was so loud.
 
I have bought 2 used contours and each of them i have had to pay out the butt in simple repairs in the first few weeks. It is usual, but after that everything is generally good for a while. I would suggest to try and do the repairs first so you can get to know more about your car and possibly determine any other problems that might arise in the future so you can fix them when you realize it before it is too late.
 
Did you test drive the car?

Did you ask when the last time brakes, tires, etc had been replaced?

Did you ask if he had maintenance records?

Those are all things I check before buying a car.
 
beyondloadedSE said:
Did you test drive the car?

Did you ask when the last time brakes, tires, etc had been replaced?

Did you ask if he had maintenance records?

Those are all things I check before buying a car.
Click to expand...

Service record was immaculate for the first two owners on carfax, it's the last year that wasn't recorded. I suppose I didn't know this guy as well as I thought, he told me everything was perfectly fine. Came to find the oil filter was barely tightened on, too, explaining why the dipstick was barely getting wet. On the bright side, it turns out the caliper was OK, it was the e-brake cable, $50 less out of my pocket.

It was kinda hard to really give it a once over, we met halfway between Dover, DE and Boston at a college campus on a Saturday afternoon. Guess we're treating this car with kid gloves until all the other gremlins surface :nonono:
 
BOMBdig said:
if i did all the repairs on my car that it needs...i'd probably be in debt..thats why i just stay in denial about it.
Click to expand...

When I bought my 95 SE, I bought it sight unseen from another CEG'er. He drove close to 4 hours to get the car to me and when the car got here I was somewhat shocked at its condition. It was pretty rough. After about a month worth of trips to and from the junkyard I had the car ready to go on the road. When I finally got the car ready to go on the road, I found out that all 4 of the rear trailing/control arms were bent. At this point I had enough and sold the car as it was for a few bucks more than I paid for it and called it a day.

I can't say the story has a bad ending though, because once I found this out, I found my SVT local and bought that. So, in the end it all worked out!

But, Junkyards are your friend for fixing problems cheap. I think I spent less than $40 on all the stuff I needed for the 95...
 
Used cars are just that..... if you got a good enough deal then a few repairs are really nothing......

Sounds like you are just getting introduced to the pleasures of owning an obsolete car that has a few design quirks..... LOL

So tell us the good stuff about your Tour.... color, options, miles, etc...

AF
 
Aussie Ford said:
Used cars are just that..... if you got a good enough deal then a few repairs are really nothing......

Sounds like you are just getting introduced to the pleasures of owning an obsolete car that has a few design quirks..... LOL

So tell us the good stuff about your Tour.... color, options, miles, etc...

AF
Click to expand...

It's a red/blue '98 with 82k on the clock and a sunroof. After replacing the brakes and doing all the usual tune up stuff, it runs like a champ. It's got all the jack covers, both bumpers are intact, and it came with some nice new headlights :)

~Mike~
 
Well that sounds like a good deal..... What you need to finish that off is the Aussie Ford lighted moonroof switch kit....... you can pm me for details. It is a simple mod takes about 15 min, just one of many little items that ford didn't but should have done.....

AF
 
Aussie Ford said:
Well that sounds like a good deal..... What you need to finish that off is the Aussie Ford lighted moonroof switch kit....... you can pm me for details. It is a simple mod takes about 15 min, just one of many little items that ford didn't but should have done.....

AF
Click to expand...

I might look into that once all the regular maintenance stuff is taken care of.

~Mike~
 
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