Hello All,
Well seems like I have an issue with my current vehicle and I am at a loss for what to do and would really appreciate adivce from people who have been in the same or similar situation.
My car is a 2000 Ford Contour SVT with 41,000 miles in relatively good condition with the only flaws being a few paint scratches, a slight mark on the drivers rear quarter panel, the drivers side skirt has a small tear in it from a maintenece job that was performed (they put it on the lift which pushed up on the skirt and then a moron opened the door..they paid me for it but I never bothered fixing it) and the leather seats are in ok condition with only a few marks on them. I believe that I still owe about 10K on the car (out of work for a while so only paying minimum and refinanced to lower my interest rate).
My problem is that my car even though it was purchased in VA is equipped with "california emissions" and since I moved to Mass, the exhaust (More importantly the catalytic converters and the pre cats) are only covered under a 3yr/50K mi warranty. Well yesterday I discovered that one of my upstream catalytic converters died in the car and needs replacement and this is neither covered by the 3/50 since my car is over 3 years old nor is it covered by my extended 6yr/60K since Ford doesn't cover Exhaust components, they said if I lived in any state other than Mass, Maine, NY, or Cali it would be covered for 8yrs or 80K miles.
I complained to Ford saying that I figured since the car was so new or has so few miles I didn't see why this was happening (owned other cars and cats are not an issue until at least 70-80K) and also was surprised that if I lived elsewhere it would be covered and that my ESP didn't cover the repair. After arguing they agreed to pay 60% of the cost which ends up costing me $300 ($118 for Diagnotics and the rest for Labor) normally this is a $700-800 repair job.
My concern is that if one went now then what are the chances of the other three going as well? and am I really going to want to complain to Ford on each occasion just to get assistance? and I really don't want to dump upwards of 3K on a car that KBB claims is only worth about $8,100 if that...
I figure my options are:
1. Have this first one fixed and see how things go, it is at a discounted rate and can't hurt anything
2. Forget having it fixed, the computer is reset and the CEL is not showing, trade it in now for something else and deal get out of this headache
3. Have it fixed and draw out looking for something new and pay off as much as possible of this in the hopes to trade it in.
4. Have this one fixed and if any of the others break just forget about them, when it comes time to get the car inspected just reset the computer and clear the code however this might or might not work, if it doesn't work I face one heck of a repair bill and a car I cannot trade in because it will not pass state inspection as is.
I am really leaning either to options 1 and 2, with more weight being on 2 but I have never traded in a car that I owed money on before...also as I said I owe about $10K but Kelly's Blue Book valued my trade in at only $8,095 (however it didn't take into account that I had a dealer installed premium alarm and also the transferrable 6yr 60K warranty). I would really like the trade this car in and start leasing a new Audi A4 or something along those lines but don't want to get screwed because the resale of my car is so low and also since I owe so much.....
any opinions/info on trading a car where you still owe money would be appreciated, also info on my cars trade in vs. private party value and how much demand there is for these cars would be apprecaited..thanks
