My GODDAMNED car. Life is a piece of shit.

E

Edward Elric

New member
Well. This is really the first time I've ever bought a car on my own. I bought my FIRST car, but my father took care of all of the details and stuff. I bought a truck about a year ago for $185. You can't really go wrong there, even if it IS a POS and lasts just three months, it was only $185 and I've gotten my money's worth

SO! For about two weeks, I'm checking Craigslist ALL DAY to find the perfect car. I find it. My 1988 Volkswagen Jetta GL. The pictures look excellent. It's listed for $800 and the only thing that's listed as a problem is the A/C needing a recharge. You don't really NEED one in Colorado anyways.

I have to ask my work for an advance in my paycheck so that I can give the dude half of the money for him to hold it for me... as a deposit. They do, I do and everything is great. I'm scheduled to pick it up a week later with the rest of the cash.

I go to pick it up and he tells me that he "forgot to tell me" that a plastic part of the shifter is broken off. He buys the part FOR me and tells me that it's easy to fix. I think, this guy is AWESOME and HONEST! I met his family and even had decent conversation with them. I felt like this was a good thing.

My brother-in-law (Paul) knows a bit about cars. He says that he'll put the stick shift in for me. This is NOT easy to fix, as this asshole told me. Paul has to get under the car, remove a pan to even get to it.

I got some oil on Friday to put into the car because it has NONE in it. I put it in and it all pours out of the bottom. Fuck. :( The pan is cracked and gasket is useless. The car is ALSO leaking anti-freeze from somewhere.

Paul goes out today to fix the shifter. He tells me that I can still drive it afterwards, I just have to keep filling it up with fluids until I can get the problems fixed.

Awesome. I'll be able to still drive it to work on Monday (tomorrow).

Well, as Paul is trying to put the shifter in today, guess the fuck what. The GODDAMN ignition is out. He can't start the car to get it onto the ramps.

Fuck! I'll be riding the bus until god knows when. I don't have any money, because I spent ALL OF IT, buying the fucking car that is doing me NO GOOD.

I've had this car for two and a half weeks. It is useless to me and all of my FUCKING MONEY IS GONE!!!

I don't know anyone that's a fuckig mechanic. I'm screwed.

I plan on calling the asshole that sold me the car, and giving him a piece of my mind. It may not solve any problems, but it sure as fuck will make me feel better.

Why would someone DO THAT? He knew that I didn't have any money and all that I was asking for was a dependable car. :mad: :madder:
 
He probably doesn't have any money, and wants to get a dependable car.

You can't trust anyone. You should know that, and you should always check out a used car thoroughly before buying it. This includes making sure it's fluids are at the right levels, and starting it. You should always ask if it's ok to take it for a drive before putting down any money. This is not an unreasonable request, and if the person selling the car has a problem with it, it usually means there's something wrong. Don't buy a car that doesn't run, even if they tell you it's something little. Just don't do it, period.

But yeah, enough lecturing. I'm sorry you got ripped off pandie, People suck.
 
LOL @ Two Ton Paperweight.



It ran just fine when we drove it out of there. I didn't have anyone to look at teh car for me and I don't know the first fucking THING about them.

That motherfucker had a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I live in the ghetto. He had JUST BOUGHT a 155 gallon fish tank. That motherfucker isn't poor. He also has two other cars. TWO!!! :mad:

I'm so fucking upset. Especially because I have a car, and I HAVE TO TAKE THE FUCKING BUS still. FUCK! :mad:
 
You can ask to get it inspected professionally, some places even do this inspection for free.

However, since the deal is done, I'm sorry! Shit usually happens to the better people, but karma will kick in for that bastard one day. Maybe a tornado will come by and pick up his 155 gallon fish tank and drop it over his head. Who knows?
 
Man. Just when you think you're getting a break, life hands you an epic fail.

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I hate that. I hope you can get it running and that it becomes a great reliable ride.
 
It may not have been something he knew about...

On older cars, your can't tell how long till something starts going bad. Whats worse, if he drove it around the block to and from work and to and from the store and babied it for a really long time, and you drove it on the highway for 30 minuets after you bought it, your bound to have problems.

JB weld the oil pan, and clean the engine up as best you can and use new gasket anywhere you think it might be leaking oil. Under no circumstances should you put the radiator stop leak in. It will blow up your engine.

I'm good on cars but I kinda hate working on them these days.
 
For what it's worth, I have a Jeep Cherokee lying around that I'd make you a deal for if you were up here. Hell, I'd probably give it to you just to get it out of my hair. :P

Buying used cars is always a gamble, that's why I'm keeping it. I'd hate to sell it and have it break down as soon as they buy it. That would make me feel bad.

With a little work, maybe you can turn that Jetta into a great vehicle. I know you don't know much about cars, but neither do I. That's why they make Chilton's manuals.
 
Chilton is not a great source for repairing used cars. You have to keep in mind that after any repair, the area is always damaged to some extent. Having a good source to help ain't a bad idea, but using a Chilton's manual with out having any idea what your doing will do more harm than good.

I had a Chilton for my Ford Escort, and the only time I used it was when I needed something to clean the windshield.

Getting a manual is not a bad idea, but don't rely on the information to assist in any repair. Use it to get an idea on what the problem is or how much you might spend on the repair. Use it for trouble shooting and changing your oil, but ether learn how to do some work or get someone that knows what they are doing to help you.

And I hope you were working with your brother-in-law to get an idea on cars.
 
Im relatively car savvy so Im pretty good at catching things like that and finding out if something is a deal-breaker. If nothing else you check the oil, and if it's low you use that to negotiate a better price. That sort of thing.

WHat you need to remember is, true, you just bought a car and you have no more money and you cna't drive it. But I would never buy a used car, especially from a private party, and expect it to work great right out of the box. You've gotta be ready to start replacing things as soon as you get it, that's pretty normal. I redid my brakes, intake manifold gasket, serpentine belt, and did an immediate oil change as soon as I brought my Camaro home for the first time.

I wouldn't consider you ripped off at this point at all. If you have to dump 2 grand into it, then yeah, but if you have to put $500 into it to get it running, then don't sweat it. It may be a lot of money but that still doesn't mean you got ripped off per se.

I would never buy a car from a dealer, either, unless it was new, but that's just too expensive. A dealer will lie to you just as much or more than a private seller will, and it's the salesman's JOB, his livelihood depends on coercing you into buying that car. Besides, there was a GM certified used car that broke in half a while back, and GM told them tehy were SOL, even though it was certified. It was a hackjob of two wrecked cars welded together. There are other companies who spit in the face of "Certified" also. I dont count that for much, it's one of the biggest scams they have going. They check off "tires" "working brakes" "working E-brake" "air filter" and before you know it you've got a "120 point" inspection and they cna charge you an extra $1000 on it.

I'd much rather just check that theres no rust, the frame is straight, and the oil pressure, rather than be concerend about the ignition module/coil and broken shifter. Those are easily fixed.

A private seller will usually know more about the car than a salesman will (if it's used) too. He'll be able to tell what kind of maintenance he was able to keep up with and so forth, and even though he may be lying, at least you get to ask him to his face and make a judgment on whether or not he's lying to you.
 
I'm guessing you have never worked on a German car. The engineers over there do everything backasswards. It wouldn't surprise me if it was easer to replace the engine than the shifter.
 
Another thing: the title says "Rebuilt from salvage". Is this a bad thing or a good thing?

My bro-in-law says that my buying the parts will cost about $150.

I don't think that I've been ripped off. I'm just fucking pissed that the dude didn't tell me so much was wrong with it. He could have taken a little more off the price for fuck's sake. :sad:

My one stipulation was that it should be able to make it to Denver. He told me that he bought to car to commute back and forth to Denver. Fucker.

I plan on calling him and giving him a piece of my mind. He should feel like shit. :mad:
 
I don't think that is such a good thing, but I could be wrong. Like what was mentioned earlier about the welded-together car that split in two, I'll bet it was 'rebuilt from salvage'.;)
 
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