Big D

Don't agree with that at all - maintenance is inevitable

Molly Malone

Maintenance isn't "inevitable", though it is recommended of course. Again, I think most first time buyers are lower-income teenagers and/or students. When you buy a used car, get an oil change, get a tune-up, check brakes, tires, and alignment. But after that, what do you check? Who knows if a car with 150,000 miles is about to blow a head gasket or the cooling fan is about to stop working or the wheel bearings are shot? The transmission will be well into old age at that many miles.

In my experience, a half-way decent beater for about $1000 will last about two years before a serious engine problem results (serious meaning it will cost more than the car is worth to fix).

P.S. I'm no car expert by any means. I only know what has happened to my cars (all of the above!).

dakota44

Maintenance is necessary, regularly, or problems are inevitable. Oil and filter changes every 3000 miles, transmission flush (automatic trans) every 50,000 miles, radiator flush every 50,000 miles, among other things. You've been buying the wrong cars. I see many Toyota's with 300,000 miles on the clock that have never had a transmission or engine failure of any kind, nor any major repair other than wear items like brakes etc. . It's all in what you buy. You can only find used cars that cheap in states that do not have mandatory mechanical fitness inspections before resale. In may places a vehicle has to meet certain standards for brakes, suspension, exhaust, wheel bearings among other things in order to be registered to a new owner. No mechanical fitness, no registration. You get what you pay for.

Bob

True...but my motor had to get it's head gaskets re-planed at 130K and apparently according to the bloke that did the work, it had had the job done previously...and the car's been well maintained, one exhaust issue wasn't the cars fault, but the first one was down to the strut braking when it shouldn't have, and the o2 sensor carping it, but to be fair to the o2, it was a bit past due.

Maine does have inspection requirements, but that doesn't mean shit, because most garages don't bother doing a proper test as it only cost $12 to inspect a motor, they can't be bothered wasting the time doing it properly, so the inspection isn't worth the paper it's printed on tbh.

Rushman

Why have the head gaskets "skimmed" instead of just the head itself mate

dakota44

Yeah i would say they planed the head not the gasket. What kind of car? That could explain a lot. Some vehicles with aluminum heads mated to cast iron blocks have had problems.

The inspections I refer to are full mechanical inspections for safety...not for engine or transmission issues. NY requires an annual inspection of all vehicles and last I knew PA. required it every 6 months. There are cheats, but there are also state run inspection stations and if they catch a cheat his shop is shut on the spot. Ontario only requires mechanical fitness inspection when a vehicle changes ownership. Pretty thorough too. The average we spend on used vehicles exceeds $600 because most need at least some brake work etc. I've seen vehicles that we spend well over $1,000 doing mechanical fitness work. When you get a used vehicle here, from a franchised dealer, you can be pretty certain that it is in safe condition. Mandatory annual or bi-annual inspections should be mandatory to force people to keep their vehicles in safe operating condition. You would be amazed at how many people trade in cars with the brakes totally gone, the front end in bad shape etc.

Bob

that's what I meant

Rushman

NYS has all testing stations run the OBD11 through the shop computer right into the NYS D.O.T at Albany but that dont stop a lazy tester letting a car with shot ball joints passing his mates car....also a local testing station here had "a visit" from the NYS D.O.T and they let a cracked windshield pass....they didnt shut the shop on the spot...the tester has to go to a hearing and will no doubt be fined.

As a further point, the NYS annual inspection is a complete load of bollocks. The testers will let a unit construction (monocoque) vehicle pass safety inspection with rusted out door sills (rocker panels) because they don't consider it part of the frame..........it IS part of the frame on a monocoque car but not a seperate chassis/frame vehicle such as a pick up. A UK car with so much as a pinhole of rust in the rockers fails automatically for that very reason, furthermore all repairs to rockers panels have to be seam welded and not spot or stitch welded.

Just FYI...UK new cars don't need an inspection for the first 3 years of their use.


Judging by the state of bodywork in the NE the state of the mechanical equipment would never suprise me.

Rushman

I know....I just wanted to bust your balls

Ray

Stating stations ..what are they ...we don't believe in them ...
anti ..red-neck ...

Bob

It's a saab 9000, '96 so it's a bit of a donkey.

and the inspection is mechanical too, and it is required on all motor's every 12 months, but like I said, cost $12, so most places that do 'em don't bother do them properly, as long as the indicators, head lights, horn and wipers work and there's isn't an animal sized amount of rust visible, it'll pass...some of the state wide garages like VIP etc will be a bit tight on the inspection, because they make their money in screwing people over.

As for places getting into trouble, that's rare, though the chevy dealer out near where the folks live lost their license to do inspections because they weren't doing anything, but giving out the stickers and the new local cop stopped a bunch of well dodgy cars that had been "inspected" there, so kind of amusing that they have to take the cars down the road to get inspected at the ford dealership, or one of the other garages

dakota44

There will always be fraud in anything. Shame when it comes to safety.

Bob

aye, least there's a requirement to get them looked at...some places don't, well Florida doesn't need an inspection every year...but then again, half the people out there shouldn't be driving.

but then again, there isn't much alternative out there, up in maine, I think there's something like 20K people who have lost a license 10 or more times, around 80K people have lost a license at least 2....that's scary when there's hardly 2 million people in the state

dakota44

Florida used to have inspections, but dropped them for some reason. Bad idea. Maine..what's to do but drink and watch Moose. lol Although I worked there for two weeks and scored quite well.

Molly Malone

As far as I know Michigan doesn't require inspections either. But I don't know if you guys mean inspections on cars coming from dealerships or from any seller. I can assure you that no car I've owned has ever had any inspection, but they were all from private sellers. My mom buys from Buy Here Pay Here dealerships, and pays three times as much for the same beaters I usually get - they are also not inspected. In fact most of them exhibit engine problems soon after she drives them off the lot. (Unfortunately her credit is in a bad way and she can't buy them any other way.)
My dad buys from reputable dealerships. I think they do thorough inspections irregardless of any laws that may or may not exist because they want to sell quality cars. He usually buys them just a few years old with a warranty. He says new cars aren't worth buying for a few years because the "bugs" need to be worked out, and they depreciate quickly in value.