The Car Care Thread

[Peggy Lane]

I had a VW, a 2001, that I loved but I finally sold it because the maintance was so expensive. Even routine things like brakes would cost up to $1000.

[chonies]

Oh, no. How often do brakes need replacing?

[Peggy Lane]

Not that often, I forget exactly, but EVERYTHING with the VW was insanely expensive. I'm not trying to scare you, but it is something you might want to take into account just for planning purposes. I would say that my repair bills with the VW where about three times higher than similar repairs with an American car, and the VW did have a lot of just weird stuff that needed to be repaired.

Granted, I did something that I usually never do and bought the first year model of a major upgrade of a car, and there were just a lot of bugs. However, all of that aside, I'd probably buy another eventually because it was so much fun to drive.

[chonies]

This might be more a post for the financial thread but how does one with crappulous credit get a car loan? I applied at one of my credit cards and was rejected, have another request pending, and might have to go to the Bank of Mom, which I really don't want to do. I'm buying from a place that doesn't do financing. If I don't get approved for an auto loan at Capital One, am I SOL? I am a grad student and don't have any real income other than loans and my meager stipend, but I'm graduating soon. Should I look for another car at a place that does financing?

ETA! Nevermind! things seem to have been worked out! yay!

[Deleted]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I hope it's okay to just jump in and start posting.

I have a question for the Canadians out there. Does anyone in Ontario have any experience transfering ownership of an "as is" vehicle? As in, the car is not currently certified or e-tested, but the registration has been signed over to me (The car was a gift, and a last-minute thing)

Anyways, what I'm wondering is what will happen if I can't get the e-test and certification done in the six days i have to officially transfer the vehicle.

My brother had thought we might be exempt from some requirements because it was a gift between family members, but it looks like that's only for spouses.

So any info or experiences with this would be greatly appreciated. This is my first car and I'm kind of confused by the process

Thanks!

[petals]

siera5 said:

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I hope it's okay to just jump in and start posting.

Just jump in and start posting and throat kicking!

Yeah, I have no advice for you though. I just wanted to welcome you.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the welcome, Petals!

[chonies]

Ruh roh. My new (to me) 1997 Honda Civic just got all grouchy on me. The Check Engine light just popped on, and the car was shuddering and vibrating strongly. I just took it in last week for a new timing belt, and was going to bring it in for new CV boots, but I have no idea what this could be. It started suddenly, and I can't really find anything through google, Car Talk, or Edmunds.

[csmolko]

Sometimes your cylinders can misfire and cause the shuddering and the check light to go on. It happened once or twice in my previous car ('97 Taurus). The light would stay on until the engine had successfully started with no cylinder misfires 3 times. After the 3rd time without a misfire, the light would go away. Which meant if it kept misfiring over and over, something was wrong and it should be serviced.

Of course this might not be what's happening to your car at all, but just thought I'd throw that tidbit out there.

[chonies]

Thanks, Firefly! My sister said it might be the alternator, but someone else said it could be dirty gas. In my experience with alternators, they just die, and there's no prelude. I think I'm more relaxed knowing it could be anything rather than something specific and expensive.

I think I'll err on the side of paranoia and take it in anyway.