<p>^^^ Yup, its a great deal! I find the creative uses of this option (eg that of “The Golf Cart Man”) interesting. Ahh… the spirit of free enterprise…</p>
<p>***** Forgot to mention-- be careful with golf carts. There have been a lot of accidents with them, and some ill-informed parents have let their kids drive them, sometimes unsupervised, thinking it was safe. Tragic results ensued in some cases.</p>
<p>Thanks, but I need a car to go to work 30 miles one way. </p>
<p>The problem I have now is “trusting” a mechanics. They all said: bring it in and we only charge you $50 ~ 100 to inspect it. Once they took the transmission apart and said “it is about 3K” then what do I do?</p>
<p>If I don’t have it fixed, what do I do with this piece of metal in my driveway?</p>
<p>Who does the routine service and maintenance on your car? If you have been having the car properly maintained according to service guides in the manual, you should have a service place you have been dealing with. If they dont fix transmissions, ask them who they recommend. And check the Better Business Bureau in your area for any complaints. And check to see if they are ASE certified. That guarantees a certain level of proficiency and reliability. If you haven’t been properly maintaining your car, it could have been leaking transmission fluid for a while and caused your problem.</p>
<p>My car goes in for its 50K service tomorrow. Proper maintenance is the key to the longevity of the car. Cheaper to replace a few gaskets than to replace the whole car.</p>
<p>I hate to say it, but this is consistent with my view of what’s wrong with the domestic manufacturers. And its not the lazy workers. Its the incompetent engineers and the shortsighted bean counters. I bought my first Japanese car in 1980. It never had any problems. Everything worked when I drove it home. Nothing broke off when I operated it. My first new car was a mid seventies pontiac that I really loved. We sold it when we moved to where we didn’t need a car after three years and 42,000 miles. For some reason, I had loved it despite: 1. Non-working odometer noticed in first day. Return to dealer to pull dash and replace part. Dealer dents hood in shop and has to repaint. 2. Voltage regulator fails on trip south over Christmas. 3. Thermostat fails and causes water hose failure. 4. Heater core develops leak and soaks carpets. I cant’ figure out why windows are so foggy. 5. Paint on rear marker lights rusts off within a year…on mine and every similar model. Happens again. 6. Plastic around bucket seat bottoms breaks off. 7. Center cap of factory mag wheels will not stay on and is lost on two wheels. </p>
<p>I still loved it when I traded it, but after owning my first toyota, and then three more, I realized the pontiac was the equivalent of an abusive relationship. I gave GM one more try in the mid 80s, but bailed out in only 9 months when my buick was having transmission shudders, a speedometer that sometimes read 0 at 60 mph, and the wiper motor quit in less than a year. Never again. Your car doesn’t have to beat you up.</p>
<p>IF you donate that car and can claim blue book, it might be worth a couple thousand to you in tax deducations, depending. I have no idea what anyone would pay in its current state.</p>
<p>I believe current tax rules allow only to take the value of the car if it is operational. When older s’s infiniti (bought for $3k!) had the little tensioner that holds the timing belt break (we had replaced the timing belt not long before!!) anyway- it ruined the engine and wasn’t worth fixing. We were told when we donated the car that we could only take the value of the car minus the reapir costs, or the value of the parts, or something like that. We got only about a $500 write-off :(</p>
<p>You WERE lucky. My transmission (in a Honda Accord I had years ago) died where two of Houston’s major hwy’s intersect. I coasted down a ramp and held down my horn as I scooted across the feeder til I could stop. Seems funny in retrospect. NOT funny that day.</p>
<p>I’d never seen it before, but its obviously very useful to used car buyers.
And I’m surprised about the same things, and also the RAV4 transmission issue. It does seem that you can make some informed judgement about the severity of these problems based on the numbers. </p>
<p>For new car buyers, its a little less useful, but could steer you away from disasters. I’m surprised at how many transmission problems are out there.</p>
<p>^^That’s what I was wondering as I pondered my #8 2004 F150. Did that data report actual numbers or % sold? I’m hoping actual numbers, as the F150 was the highest selling truck, so it might be reasonable it would have higher problems. Hoping so, anyway.</p>
<p>I think it’s all a matter of cash flow. We put $1800 into an 8 year old car last year (to replace the AC). That was a LOT cheaper than the cost of buying a replacement new or used car of the same quality…and having monthly payments possibly for more than a year.</p>
<p>I read Consumer Reports and Edmunds forum when buying cars. Also realize that CR is skewed by the data that is sent into them for their reliability ratings, but they also do test the models, so its not totally biased. History of repairs is determined by the forms that readers return. Nonetheless, Its helpful information.</p>
<p>I’ve been contemplating all summer whether to do this very thing. I’ve sweated all summer without an AC and now it’s November. I guess I’ll have a winter and spring free from thought and will take this matter up again next summer…</p>
<p>I read similar reviews and comparisons mentioned earlier, but I definitely take them with a grain of salt and consider their results as just one small factor of my decision.</p>
<p>ellemenope, one of the reasons we got the AC fixed was that it also is part of how the defrost works. We also sweated it out one summer…and then had to warm the car up in an extreme way for one whole winter. Since I love the car…we bit the bullet and put in the new AC that next summer. Now the AC AND the defrost both work as they should.</p>