Make Lemonade?
It’s interesting that when you go to purchase the car, very few of us actually think of the price of the car as the price that it will be to make repairs on the car throughout its lifetime.
Most of the time, I know, I just look at the sticker price, shake my head, and wonder how long it will take me to save enough to buy one outright. “Forever” is the usual response!
We’ve been blessed by our current vehicle. A 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan that’s held up pretty well. This year we’ve had a few things go wrong, and we’re currently looking at repairing the A/C.
But what if you’re not so blessed? What if you get a lemon?
Well, fortunately there are laws in place that protect the buyer in case the item they purchased was defective1. In fact, in some states you may get a better deal using a Lemon Law firm or finding a California Lemon Law attorney if you need one in California. These places specialize in the laws surrounding that car that really looked good and test drove well, but fell apart after you got it home.
It’s important with the cost of cars and gas that you don’t overlook problems with your vehicle, but that you take care of them right away.
In the case of my car, I’m hoping it sticks around long enough for me to get a 2 year old Saturn Outlook or something like that—though I wonder if I wouldn’t be able to pay off the mortgage on my house faster!
- Detailed Lemon Law facts [↩]
Oh, goodness. How I hate to go car shopping. I refuse, refuse, refuse to buy a new vehicle. Too much depreciation involved there.
We have a 2000 Chevy Venture and we’ve had it for 3 years. It has been a great vehicle for us. I like the new folding seats they have out, but it’s not worth buying a new one. I’ll hold out a few more years, unless we decide to upgrade for something nicer and used.
Posted by Thrifty Karen | August 18, 2008, 12:02 am@Thrifty Karen: Have you ever bought new? Not us. The earliest we’ve purchased was one that was 2 weeks from being 3 years old. Was that smart considering there was an identical car 2 weeks older than 3 years and a thousand less? Probably not.
Still, I liked having a car I could consider reliable.
Posted by MInTheGap | August 18, 2008, 9:22 amUnfortunately, we have purchased a new vehicle before. We even did it after we said we wouldn’t. We couldn’t find a better deal on a used one. It was a mistake that cost us. Now I’m even more determined not to buy new.
Thrifty Karens last blog post..Do You Take “No” for an Answer?
Posted by Thrifty Karen | August 18, 2008, 11:26 am@Thrifty Karen: What do you mean it cost you? I mean, if it was the best deal? Was it depreciation that cost you?
Posted by MInTheGap | August 18, 2008, 1:05 pmI mean it cost us in depreciation. We bought the new Kia Sedona mini-van and they knocked off a lot of money and we got a rebate, and we talked them down from that. In addition to that, we gave them our Chrysler Town and Country mini-van for trade-in. We made payments on the van for about 2 years. Then when we went to sell it, no one wanted to buy it. We got the Kia place to buy it back from us, but only if we gave them $1000. Basically, we gave them our van, made payments for 2 years, and gave them $1000. It was a horrible mistake!!!!
Thrifty Karens last blog post..Do You Take “No” for an Answer?
Posted by Thrifty Karen | August 18, 2008, 1:31 pm@Thrifty Karen: Wow. When I first got married my wife and I both owned 2-door sport cars. Mine was in better condition, and we knew that we wanted a family, so we traded hers in for a 4-door. That’s the last time I ever traded a vehicle in. They’d only give me $300 for it, and they said it was only good for spare parts.
Wouldn’t you know that we saw the same car not a month later driving around our little town?
I did much better with this latest car where I actually took out ads and sold them myself.
I wonder why no one wanted to buy your new vehicle. In any case you definitely had a bad experience.
Posted by MInTheGap | August 18, 2008, 3:36 pm