My First Car!!!

'64 1/2 Mustang convertible, which I had to sell before I could drive it. Then drove a '67 Mustang. Want it back badly.
 
My first car update: So When life throws you lemons... *sighs* So we got burnt pretty bad by the previous owners of the 91 Camry. We were concerned when we took the car to a 3rd mechanic and found out there is over $4,000 worth of repairs needed, thats JUST to make it safe on the road (because its not even close to being safe now). This car will not pass smog and we should have known better than to go off of the seller's last yr smog report so its not completely registered in our name because in order to do that it must pass smog (in the state of CA as far as I know) We first tried to contact the seller, someone told us to call her back at 6 and she would be home. My girlfriend called her back and guess what, the seller is denying her own identity by phone saying she just got this number.... calling us from a different number than we already have. We can't reason with them, they illegally sold us this car (all this is happening yesterday, my birthday btw) We tried going to the police and they said they had no jurisdiction over the matter. We plan to go to the DMV next week to see if perhaps they know what we can do.

Luckily, my girlfriend's mom took us to Carmax and we ended up walking out with a 02 Toyota Camry with 110k miles on it! I mean yes monthly payments are scary, but we needed a reliable car. I really wish we had went straight to this place when we were first looking because now I will never ever ever never buy a car from a private party ever again unless its someone I personally know.

So techinically my first car is now a 02 Camry lol
 
Sorry to hear you were taken advantage of. Perhaps take her to small claims court?
 
Sorry to hear about that. Maybe you can salvage some money out of the car selling it for parts? But maybe not if you plan on taking her to court?
 
ladysolitary85 said:
Luckily, my girlfriend's mom took us to Carmax and we ended up walking out with a 02 Toyota Camry with 110k miles on it! I mean yes monthly payments are scary, but we needed a reliable car. I really wish we had went straight to this place when we were first looking because now I will never ever ever never buy a car from a private party ever again unless its someone I personally know.

So techinically my first car is now a 02 Camry lol
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You don't have to go to the point of not buying from a private party that is a stranger to you.

I am a single woman that has only bought one new car since the mid 1960's and that was when people first started hanging on to cars longer, a couple of dealers where people worked that I knew and liked for many years were having specials and my mother and uncle decided to be my banker with interest free loans. A good part of the reason I have stayed with used cars is that my dad (who was deceased by the time I bought the first time) sold new cars and thus I already had the thrill of driving new cars as we got to use his demonstrators like a family car.

What has worked for me to successfully buy from strangers over many years is arranging for an independent mechanic, picked by me, to go over the car completely BEFORE I agree to buy. In fact, I have even done this when buying from a dealer I am unfamiliar with and feel it has been money well spent. The only time I did not was when I got to buy a car that had been leased for a couple of years by the small company where I worked and as bookkeeper had seen every bill we ever paid for work done one it. I also knew well and respected the guy that drove it.
 
Total bummer, I'm sorry to hear that the deal didn't work out. But as for saying you'll never buy a car used from a private person, hang on there, there ARE good people with good deals out there. It just takes time and you have to be quick to contact the seller. Good cars don't last long on the marketplace.

My previous 3 cars were all bought from a private person that I didn't know and they all worked out well. I never had to spend thousands just to get the car up in a good condition. The golden rule is never look at cars with 200k+ miles because that's when they usually start breaking down.

Instead look at cars with 100k+ miles and an easy way to tell if it's good is to open the hood and look at the engine for leaks. If you see leaks or grease that's obviously been there for a long time walk away. And when you do a test drive floor it a few times, a good car shouldn't buckle and should accelerate normally. If the car struggles and hesitates, again, walk away.

And also check out edmunds.com they have some good unbiased reviews. The problem with car manufacturers is that even if you have a good brand like Toyota they still make lemons, especially with a 1st year model. That site can also give you a good idea about the cost of keeping the car. I thought about getting a BMW but after comparing the maintenance to a Ford I got a Crown Vic instead and couldn't be happier.

Take this as a learning experience; we all make mistakes and it's how you learn from this that counts.
 
I understand payments can be scary. My payment will scare S out of you. Its almost paid off and this is not my first, nor second times. Im telling you buying from franchise dealer is better than the rest. Small lots dealer is worst of all. Franchise dealer don't want to sell S vehicles to have their reputation ruined. All of vehicles I bought from franchise Dealer, never had issues with them.
 
It will be impossible to win over court like this.

Anything that is over 100K miles, and over 10 years old and when they were sold as private party is considered as-is. I learned my lesson back then. No way you can win back. You may have to chalk up the losses and move on. You might get at least 500 dollars back by selling it on Ebay as parts only.

Give you this thought, if you complained to judge that you bought over 22 years old with over 200K miles, what do you think judge would think?
 
Sorry that you had to go through this...

Chalk this one up as one big lesson learned. It is pretty much the only way to learn.

My first used car purchase was done through a dealer, and it was a Toyota too. A couple months after buying it, I noticed a clunking sound, so I lifted the front end up and crawled under it. To my dismay, the entire front half of the car looked newer than the rest, and there was evidence of welding. Turns out the car was wrecked not too long ago. This was back in '89, the car was an '87. Dealer could not find the clunking, but I did, and took it back. They fixed a lower arm bushing.

My #2 lesson learned: If I am going to finance a car, it is going to be new, not used. Payments on a 2-3 year old used car are higher than brand-new, and looking at long-term costs, they ended up being the same.

I haven't financed a used car since...ended up buying new only and keeping them for 7-10 years.

p.s. I swore I would never buy another Ford after owning a '85 Lynx, and it was the perfect definition of Detroit-produced shit....just bought a new Ford Focus last week...:lol:
 
green427 said:
p.s. I swore I would never buy another Ford after owning a '85 Lynx, and it was the perfect definition of Detroit-produced shit....just bought a new Ford Focus last week...:lol:
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I've read good things about the new fords. How do you like it so far?
 
jonnyghost said:
I've read good things about the new fords. How do you like it so far?
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I did not want to believe it, but I could not believe how well the new Fords drive, feel, etc. I got the manual, and the shifting action feels like a BMW, the handling & steering is on par with Euro vehicles. Even the seats are much more comfortable than any other car I've owned.

Power is not great, but it has no issue getting up to speed without feeling strained unless the a/c is on.

One thing that I must get used to....the engine revs so smoothly, if I am distracted, I will not realize that I left it in 3rd gear at 6000RPM until I look down at the tach. My older cars had enough noise & vibration to let me know that I need to upshift.


And, take a look at the fuel mileage I got on my trip from DE to VA last week:


0414131645b-L.jpg




That included the extra time sitting in traffic jams too.



It has the MyFord Touch nav package, which I really did not want, but am glad to have it. Way too many buttons & options, can get overwhelming at times.

Crappy pic, but you can see the Nav screen in Sirius mode...and check out all those little buttons on the steering wheel as well:


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Did not think it was a good idea, but the Sirius travel info is a huge help for deaf folks: it lists all the accidents & traffic alerts for you to see on your pre-determined trip route instead of relying on radio stations to verbally let you know.


Here is a pic of the Focus sitting in the dealer's lot just before I picked it up. This one has the Appearance package, which includes low-profile 17 inch wheels & tires, which make it handle nicely around corners. At 100MPH, it still handles very well.



0402132006a-L.jpg
 
diehardbiker said:
I understand payments can be scary. My payment will scare S out of you. Its almost paid off and this is not my first, nor second times. Im telling you buying from franchise dealer is better
than the rest. Small lots dealer is worst of all. Franchise dealer don't want to sell S vehicles to have their reputation ruined. All of vehicles I bought from franchise Dealer, never had issues with them.
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As far as payments go we got pretty lucky. we're paying $239 a month for the 02 Camry (she is a used car but also certified) car and insurance will be $82 a month, that's full coverage! so that didn't scare us so bad. We didn't have a huge down payment only because we used our tax return to buy the 91 car 2 weeks ago (lesson learned, it was a learning experience I can only hope that somehow withoit putting more money into that car we can get it completely registered to us so we can retire the car and get some cash out of that.) the only downside is we will be chained to the dealership for 5yrs but they were reasonable and understanding of our situation.


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green427 said:
I did not want to believe it, but I could not believe how well the new Fords drive, feel, etc. I got the manual, and the shifting action feels like a BMW, the handling & steering is on par with Euro vehicles. Even the seats are much more comfortable than any other car I've owned.
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+1 My first car was a 80ish ford mustang and when I'd get to highway speeds I'd feel so much rattling and rolling that I'd be worried that parts would start falling off. :eek3: But now with my 03 Crown Vic even going 100mph feels like cruising and for a big car it handles better than my Nissan Sentra. That's pretty crazy when you factor that the Crown Vic weighs at least 1,000 more pounds than the Sentra! Ford has clearly responded to the competition and have to say bravo!
 
ladysolitary85 said:
the only downside is we will be chained to the dealership for 5yrs
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Congrats on getting the Toyota.

Not the dealership, but the bank that they used. Join the club...all of us usually have to make payments for years, unless you have a lot of cash...
 
I want to know why someone was taking a pic of his new dashboard while driving on a busy I-95? :o :lol:
 
green427 said:
That's okay, the cruise control was doing the driving for me at the time...



:shock:

:giggle:
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Which reminds me of a story I've heard (don't know if it was true or a joke) of a guy driving a motorhome and got into an accident. He put it in cruise control then went back to get a drink or something. :o
 
green427 said:
That's okay, the cruise control was doing the driving for me at the time...



:shock:

:giggle:
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But.....but. . . cruise control ONLY controls speed not staying in the lane or slowing if you come up on a slower moving vehicle!
 
Jane B. said:
But.....but. . . cruise control ONLY controls speed not staying in the lane or slowing if you come up on a slower moving vehicle!
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Really? I have been putting my cruise on and taking naps for years without incident.....thanks for the warning, though.
 
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