<p>
In my experience this usually means something has completely rusted out on the bottom of your car. The carpet may be the only thing keeping you from a Fred Flintstone imitation.</p>
<p>Depending on where the hole(s) is/are, this could actually be a pretty serious safety issue.</p>
<p>Do you have inspections in your state? In my state, if the insurance company totals your car, they take it. Some of this other stuff probably wouldn’t pass our inspection.</p>
<p>The car is perfectly safe, I would not be driving it otherwise. It is only actually 11 years old but we live in a state where we have severe hail storms (this is my 2nd car to be totaled out for hail damage to the body). Cars are often totaled out by the insurance companies here after severe storms because the damage to body work would cost more to repair than the car is worth. We are allowed to buy them back for 10% of the “value” that was totaled out. It is a good deal as the car is perfectly roadworthy, just not pretty anymore. Obviously they would not allow us to buy back a dangerous car, nor would I buy one back if they did. I had a new car that was totaled out when someone rear ended me and completely crushed the back of my car up to the back seat. I was not allowed to (nor would have wanted to) buy it back. </p>
<p>The floor of the car is perfectly sound as is the rest of the car. No rust anywhere, just covered in little dents from golf ball size hail. We suspect the water is coming from some part of the sun roof area, but have not figured out how to fix it, plus the car is not worth spending much on.</p>
<p>I doubt I would have any problem with my car passing inspection in your state. Unless they fail cars for not being pretty, having no airconditioning and having windows won’t stay rolled up. In which case I would be in trouble.</p>
<p>Landcruiser 280,000 miles.</p>
<p>This is a rather happy thread. Nice to know not there are other automotive tightwads out there. </p>
<p>My '98 Voyager now has 138,000. It runs just fine, and is so comfortable as well as great in snow. But the air con died again at the end of the summer, and I need to figure out whether to invest another large chunk of change next summer or apply that to another vehicle.</p>
<p>2001 Toyota Avalon 121,000. Hope it lasts many more years.</p>
<p>
It might fail for the windows not rolling up, although I can’t remember if they test the rear windows; they did test the front windows. It would definitely fail if any of the windows or lights or reflectors are cracked from the hail. Body damage would only fail if it was deemed a “safety hazard”.</p>
<p>My first car (the 18 year old Chevy Nova) had pretty much no floorboards left when I got it - you could see the road through them in numerous places. I had to get galvanized sheet metal and rivet it in to what little metal was left in order to pass inspection (this would probably not be acceptable today).</p>
<p>2000 Lexus RX 300. 160,000 miles. Son was in middle school when we got it. Has carried HS band instruments and took a road trip to Cleveland for phi mu fraternity convention. I cannot think of anything I would replace it with. Son graduated HS 2004. Road trip 2005. </p>
<p>2002 BMW 525 170k. It kinda just sits out front and H runs it on Saturday. </p>
<p>2010 infinity g37. 50k I think. Piece of junk workmanship. Consumers report was wrong:(.</p>
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</p>
<p>Best vehicle in the world. </p>
<p>My first had 185,000 miles on it when it was sold. It would have easily made 250K.</p>
<p>Only once bought a car with less than 150k. By then, most everything important except the motor has been replaced, and should be good for another 150k.</p>
<p>Nissan Sentra '88 - 288,000 (loved it!)</p>
<p>Ford Escort Wagon '93 - 248,000
Suburu 87 Wagon - 265,000
Suburu 91 Wagon - 237,000
Nissan Maxima 91 - 257,000
Volkswagon Bus 77 - 300,000+
Saturn SL2 95 (my current) - 188,000
Saturn SW2 97 (my wife’s current) - 224,000
Dodge Dart '67 - 424,000</p>
<p>
One of the first cars I bought, I got talked into buying a 6 year, 100,000 mile warranty. Of course, I never had any trouble with the car, until I hit 99,500 miles with about 3 months left on the warranty. At this point the compressor for the air conditioner blew up. If it had held on for 3 more days it would have cost me $1200 to fix. :D</p>
<p>In the good old days, sometimes you could get a couple months out of an air conditioner by refilling the Freon. Not sure if that’s possible these days.</p>
<p>1999 Lincoln Navigator with 203,000 miles. We were planning to replace it at 150K miles, but with 2 in college, that didn’t work out. Then the joke was we would see if we could get to 200K, really not planning for that to happen. Now we want to see if we can get to 225K. </p>
<p>In the past we have always replaced cars about every 4 years; this is the first time we have has a car go past 125K. We have keep the car in decent shape, but within the last year the driver’s leather seat has started to come apart at the seams on the edges. There are many scratches, dings, etc… on the body, but otherwise looks good. My husband likes to wash the cars, so it has had a bit of TLC. My mechanic thinks I could go another 100K; I hope I don’t have to find out!!</p>
<p>
Surprisingly, non of the windows or lights were cracked or broken by the hail. A previous car I had one of the lights was damaged but the windows were not (I was in the car that time and was sure the windows were going to break - it was scary). Kind of funny that the glass windows survive so much better than the car body.</p>
<p>The plan with the back windows is try and do something to make them just stay closed. Don’t care if they can open as no one ever sits in the back anymore anyway. Certainly not worth spending hundreds of dollars on.</p>
<p>
Maybe you could use silicone caulk as a glue to hold the windows up, that stuff holds pretty well once it sets up. It would give you a waterproof seal, too. $4 for a tube would be a pretty cheap fix. :)</p>
<p>Hmm, that sounds simpler than our plan. We were thinking of taking the inside door panels off putting wood blocks under the windows. or something.</p>
<p>Notrichenough, that is one plan, try more freon, or rather the freon substitute used in '98, see if the seals hold. There is a leak, or so say the mechanics. I had the compressor fixed, and paid a bundle post the 100,000 warranty expiration, unfortunately. Another thought would be to take it for a second opinion, as am wondering if the shop is trying to cover for work that didn’t last. </p>
<p>swimcatsmom, my last van had hail damage. Hadn’t washed it in a while, and the dentist and his assistant were talking about hail damage on their cars. I dusted off the roof and sure enough, little dents. The insurance co wrote me a check, and I was a happy camper, as the car was too old for me to care about fixing it. Hope you can get those windows to stay up!</p>
<p>Had a 1996 Camry with 168,000 before S totaled it in a black ice accident. 2004 Camry is at 97,000 and we expect to drive it at least that much more.</p>
<p>I think we can all try to sell our high mileage used cars to ‘mini’ so he can take the miles to the next level.</p>
<p>My daily driver is a 1966 Mustang convertible with some hundreds of thousands of miles (it rolls over at 99999). This is a very reliable, inexpensive to maintain, and fun car - especially in San Diego where the top can be down most of the year. This one won’t be going to mini. Am I the only one who enjoys that ‘old car smell’?</p>
<p>My newest car is a 1998 Dodge Durango with around 184K miles on it. It still feels new to me and has no issues but I’ll probably replace it within a month or year or so (I’ve been saying that for a few years now).</p>
<p>1989 Nissan Sentra 386,000 miles</p>
<p>Bought it new in 1989.</p>
<p>Have spent thousands on repairs over the years (replaced the engine not once, but twice) but none in the past 2 years (hope I didn’t just jinx myself). I used to love how this car drove which is why I kept fixing it, but something is wrong with it now that is causing the driving to not be so fun, and the latest engine is so loud people sometimes stare - and I refuse to fix it again. But obviously I have a hard time moving on from a purchase :)</p>
<p>I would love a 1966 Mustang! Please give it to me!!!</p>
<p>My Dodge Caravan has 226,000 miles on it. It’s just too handy to get rid of.</p>
<p>My Dodge Caravan was a clunker after 50,000 miles, but we drove it until 125,000. When we traded it in, we had to filled the car with freon outside the dealers lot, in hopes they wouldn’t realize it was leaking!! We were trading it in for the above mentioned Lincoln Navigator and had received a fair price for it. We usually sell the cars ourselves, but the Caravan was too problematic to mess with.</p>
<p>I keep the Navigator because we love the size to haul stuff; it no longer hauls children and their sports gear though!!</p>