Buy A New Car or Don't?

[theryno665]

Alright, here's my situation: my car's a piece of crap and I don't make a lot of money. I make $9 an hour and money is really tight right now as our business is slow during the winter months. I make a decent amount of money during the Spring and Summer but I'm not sure if it's enough to keep up with car payments and insurance. But my car is on it's last legs. To give you an idea, here's everything I can think of that's wrong with my car, starting with the most important:

-Broken spring on front driver's side. (Needs to be fixed ASAP but it'll be at least $400-$500)
-Temperature issues during summer. Doesn't go in the red but it heats up moreso than normal, which causes problems. I had to replace a sensor last summer that somehow caused my car to just shut off once it hit 200 degrees (which is the average temp of my engine anyway).
-Rear power windows are off track. Have been held up with duct tape for the past couple years.
-Needs new tires.
-No AC (Definitely a freon leak as a refill lasts about a week).
-No rear defrost.
-Sunroof doesn't work.
-One of the airflow knobs broke off and I can't put it back on.
-Stereo could use replacement. The CD player skips like crazy during cold temperature and some of the buttons don't work occasionally...like the volume knob.
-Radio antenna broken in half.
-A hole has been gouged out next to the trunk lock, due to a possible break-in. (I had nothing worth stealing in there.)

There's a few more cosmetic things but those are the more important ones. And I'm really only concerned about fixing the first couple as those are the ones that affect my actual driving. I've lived with the other things for the past few years.

If I get a new car, I'll probably get a Kia Rio as that's about the only one in my price range. I'll look into used cars too but all the cars I've had are used and though they run fine at first, it only takes a couple years for them to screw up. Plus I'm worried about insurance too as I'm currently paying about $300 per six months on a liability plan in my old hometown, despite having moved to a bigger city a couple years ago. Getting a new car would mean getting a new policy here, which is sure to be more expensive.

I've recently applied to a couple jobs but the job market sucks here, so I don't know how long I'll be at this job. Like I said, the money is good during Spring and Summer but it tapers off during Fall and Winter gets pretty tight for me. I'm going to talk about my dad about this and see if he can help me out but he's a penny-pincher, plus he's getting some work done on his house now. I'm sure if I ask for a favor, he'll be reluctant and give me some lecture about it, which is what I want to avoid and why I only talk to him about a few times a year.

Anyways, to sum up: Should I go for a new car or try to keep the old one running?

[jobber2thestars]

Many dealerships have MLK Jr. and President's Day sales, where they give you some deals. Mayve you could look into that.

[4real]

Id look into buying a new car at some point but don't rush it and make sure you not going over and beyond your means. Remember you want a car that drives well don't buy anything just for the sake of it looking 'cool'.

[Red Impact]

What year/model of car? How many miles?

It sounds like your car is at the stage when everything that can start failing will start failing. It's very likely that, as soon as you fix those, something else could go and you could be looking at a lot more expensive repairs. Take a look at the blue book price of it, if the necessary repairs (Springs, tires and temperature) are greater than the blue book price, you should definitely look at getting a new car, either a bare bones Rio or a used Honda Accord or something like that. If you go used, make sure you take it to a mechanic of your choosing to give it a look over. It may be an extra initial expense, but it could save you in the long run if there's something wrong that you can't tell (like a transmission about to go out, like what happened with my old truck).

[theryno665]

I'm driving a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am with just under 120,000 miles.

And yeah, I'm not gonna get a "cool" car. Pretty much the only thing I can afford right now is a Kia Rio, which is probably as much as I paid for my current car. I don't think I want the lowest model considering that one doesn't have anti-lock brakes but I'd probably get the next step up. When they were doing Cash For Clunkers (which my car didn't qualify for by a mere 3 miles per gallon), they were selling the bare bones one for about $3,000. But looking at them now, unless I can get a good sale, I'm not sure if I can afford what they're going for now.

Another thing to keep in mind is getting a loan. I still have yet to talk to my bank to see if I'm eligible. I got my loan through the same bank for my previous car but that was pretty much my only line of credit as I've never had a credit card, until about August where I had to take a credit card out just to pay for an $800 brake repair.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

My advice as someone looking to do the same thing in the near future. Is research. Just remember that buying a car is a huge investement. The second biggest one in your life behind a house. So when your going to dish out the kind of money, your better know what your getting. I brought the Consumer reports car issues they have put out in the last 3 months. Last fall was the ratings and pricing guide and right now you can get the new car buying guide. I recomend getting these things and make sure the car you want is going to be the right choose. Then look at the other cars in the same class. Chances are there will be small changes in prices but you might find something better it all apart of research. But I can tell you by looking at the books I have the Rio looks to be a above adverage car but there is not enough info on them compared to other cars. But what they have about them got good ratings. But other cars in the class you may want to look at are Corallas which may be a little more but have a great history of being reliable. I have a 92 right now. It doesn't look like much on the outside but damn has it been a great car. The thing started right up in single digit temps.

Now why am I looking to get something different. Well being that it is nearing 20 years old. It doesn't have a rear deforester which I want. Being that it is a pain to be out in very cold times trying to clear the ice off the window because you can't melt any of it. The trunk does leak and I can't figure out how to stop it. They are mirror compared to what your dealing with.

Like I said it research is the key. Yahoo answers can help to because I'm sure you can find some people who owned one imput. But realize how much your going to spend fixing that car compared to what your going to pay on a new one and how much is your car really worth.

The spring and tires alone is going to be close to a 1,000 buck. If you went to fix the AC again that will cost a lot. Same with trying to fix the car from shutting off because of Temp. So that something you have to look at.

[Big L]

idk!!

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

If it's a new car, get a 2009 -- cheaper, and still with that new factory warranty/smell

[i.Sarita.com]

Yeah, don't let them sucker you into buying brand new. Get a 2 year old car with a warranty.

[-Lithium-]

I wouldn't ever want a new car because I'd be too worried about making a mess in it, atleast for a while. I mean I'm not gonna have a car full of trash, but I want a car I dont have to worry about being a little messy. A car I can throw stuff on the floor and it not be in contrast to the rest of the car...

[theryno665]

A bit of an update here. I talked to my dad last night about the whole car thing to get some sort of help. I'm not sure if he's gonna help me with money, which sucks, but he's gonna keep an eye out back home for cars this week (he's going to Aruba for the next two weeks). He's a mailman and has befriended a few car dealers on his route, one of which being the dealer I got my current car from.

I've been looking at various dealers' online inventories and not finding much. At first, I had found a 2006 Kia Rio for $6,995 with only 15,000 miles but after talking to my dad last night, I checked it out again and found out it's manual. I've never driven stick in my life. So I kept looking and another dealer has a 2006 Kia Spectra for around the same price (maybe about $10-$20 less) and about 18,000 miles. Basically, I want something not too old and not a lot of mileage. My car is a 2000 and I got it in 2003 with 50,000 miles so if I can get something less than that, I think I'll be alright. The thing is all the used car inventories kinda top out at 2004 cars in my price range and most of which have pretty high mileage.

I don't want to rush this but between my car needing pricey repairs soon, my insurance coming up in March and the fact that this car could be gone by then, I kinda need to decide soon. I'm gonna drop by the bank this weekend to see if I'm even eligible for a loan. Hopefully, I should be considering I'll be going through the same bank as my previous car and this car costs less than that one did. But I'm making less than I did then and I know they're not exactly handing out loans like they used to. I'm gonna see if my one mechanic friend will buy my old car off me (under Kelly Blue Book's Fair rating, it has about a $900 trade-in value and $2000 private sale) but if he doesn't, I don't know who will.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

www.autotrader.com

Go there, enter the price range and mileage you are looking for... good luck.