advice for buying back a car. PLEASE HELP!
lngtonge18
Member Posts: 2,228
I bought a 91 Nissan Stanza, as is no warranty, 3 weeks ago. I want to return the car because it is having more problems than it is worth. I did not buy the car outright, I simply put a down payment of $1200. What are my options?? Am I stuck with the car or do I have a 30 day leeway to return the car and get my money back? Would appreciate any help or advice on this. The car overheats because the fans don't turn on unless you run the AC, the radiator is leaking, one of the hydraulic lifters is knocking loudly, the car smokes, and it ate almost 2 quarts of oil in 3 weeks. Please help!!
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I don't believe you have much legal recourse given the slim details you've presented, but they would know for sure. Sometimes, even without any legal ammunition, you can approach a dealer and work out some compromise, with help from these agencies. Whatever you do, don't default on your loan. That is the worst thing you can do, because the car will be repossessed and sold, and you will then definitely be at risk to have to pay for the difference between the price you agreeed upon and the repo selling price.
You can delete this discussion now if you like.
Mr. Shiftright
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I love it when things work out!
Himmm, what you did is not matching with what you said.
snowman: The car I'm referring to I did not buy myself literally. The car was bought by my partner, who has bad credit and cannot get a nice car from a respectable dealer. It would not have been my choice for a car, but the options were very limited. I could not have known the car was an oil burner because it was not visibly smoking when I test drove it. The knocking lifter was caused by an oil change place that overfilled the engine by an entire quart. I redrained the oil to the proper level and the lifter quit knocking (goes to show that it is always a better idea to change the oil yourself to make sure its done right). When I drove it, I was using the AC which forces the fans to turn on. So they appeared to be running fine. However, a few days after it was bought, it began to get hot while idling because the AC was off and the fans were not turning on like they were supposed to. It turns out there was a break in the wiring to the radiator fan sensor. The radiator was not leaking when the car was bought (the plastic probably cracked due to the engine getting hot). All these problems surfaced within a few weeks after buying it. And yes, I am a do-it-yourselfer and will be replacing the radiator and fixing the wiring myself. Something I'm sure you could not do. If you had let a shop replace the radiator, expect to pay $300-500. It only cost me $95. It will only cost maybe $5 max to fix the wiring. So, yes, I will still be saving lots of money and know what I'm talking about concerning maintenance. I suggest you find out the whole story before you open your mouth and try to claim I was lying.....
Why you are writing these things when you are responding to me (in fact you did not have to respond me). You think I care why you made a wrong decision by buying that car, how much you paid, what the problems are, when they were surfaced, how much you save by doing things yourself, whether you know what you are talking about or not....Are you trying to prove your expertise level to me (regardless of you have it or not)??? Well you should not waste your time, I don't care.
Whatever you do, you are doing it for yourself and you will be facing the consequences of your own actions.
When I was in college, I changed the radiator in my Dodge Aries and other maintenance items. I don't do it any more. Not because of I can't but because of this is very low level challenge for my expertise and intelligence level and there are much much more important things to do in my life. I can not waste my time by spending my weekend to change oil filters, couple wires etc.
But you can keep practising , who knows you can become lube technician one day.
Ohh! by the way there is a way to check the car whether it is burning oil or not even tough someone put a bottle of smoke eliminator oil into crankcase. You don't have to have smoke coming out from the pipe. I guess your expertise level did not rich that level yet.
I see people go through all kinds of changes when they pay out lots of hard earned money for a car that doesn't perform well. First they are disappointed, then they get angry, and then, (worst of all), they get this idea in their heads that their car is a LEMON, and that they don't want it anymore.
In most cases, a new car's defects can be fixed and the car will settle down...but negativity destroys any chance of success. I personally don't believe that there are very many LEMONS out there...most cars called "lemons" are really 99% okay and 1% not okay. This hardly makes an entire car BAD.
I tried not to make you more upset after this purchase by telling you things straight. But it appears to be you are having problems to understand it.
Actually, I should have stated in a way that you could understand.
You post your problem to a public forum, I responded, not because of I care ( you think people respond each other here because they care each other???-this is not a question), because I wanted and surprised.
I was surprised because you meet a reader that states how he is knowledgeable about cars and maintenance, tells you how much he saves all the time by using after market filters-rotors. etc, tries to give you advise and couple days later in different topic, you find the same person, already dumbed his saved money into a junk, crying and bagging an advise about how to return the car, thinks that it was a pair of sucks that he could return within 30 days. Yeah right, make sure you bring your receipt-where you are from?
I never claimed you were lying. You accused me by accusing you were lying and tried to mock me by telling me "Something I'm sure you could not do". I did not like it. If you respond in a civil manner you will be treated the same way. That was why I answered you. And you figured out correctly, this is exactly what I was trying to say in my second posting "I determined from how you worded it that you figured I was an idiot for buying the car and that I have no business giving tips on maintenance because of that mistake".
Bingo. Good job!!!!!!!!!
I still think the same way and I believe you have some personality problems or you are not medicated well.
Anyway, you need to know that I am not a professional or advertise myself here or there as qualified person to give advise. All I can do is to express my daily experience and hope it helps.
I wanted to e-mail you but your e-mail was not there. Remember, majority of Saturn are burning oil but they don't have smoke coming out from the pipe.
This method worked for me many times when I was buying used car. Hope it helps you too.
While your car is idling, close the tail pipe with inside of your hand, hold it there like 3-4 seconds. If you see oil or tar looking (not carbon deposits)residue in your hand most likely it is burning oil. If you wanna get more accurate result use toilet brush and stick it into tail pipe and see what comes out. Please don't get mixed up by carbon residue + water. Because some healthy cars drip little waters from the pipe when they start to run. If you like you run this test after you drive 5-10 miles, you might get accurate results. No matter what, if it is burning oil it will leave oil residue in you hand. Hope this helps and let me know, I am in Honda Accord problems topic.
But if other side is hostile and angry because of wrong purchasing decision and finds himself in a humiliated position because of the reason that in his previous postings he was approaching issues and people in a authoritative way even tough his lack of technical knowledge, or whatever the problem he is running, that he should not be carrying his negative attitude to public forums.
I think you might wanna eliminate this topic because this is enough humiliation for him, people already saw how obnoxious and uncivil he is.
As to repair costs, most legit shops use one of the aftermarket labor guides such as Mitchell, Alldata, Chilton, etc. My Mitchell Mechanical Labor Estimating Guide prices that job at 4.3 hours @ whatever hourly rate your shop charges. Add the cost of the valve seals, valve cover gaskets, shop supplies, (might as well replace the plugs while they're out) and you'll get a good ballpark of the cost.
Mr. Shiftright
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