How trashed can a six year old car be?

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: DemoFly
I rarely meet a smoker who isn't a slob.


I know a few smokers who are definitely not slobs... But they also do not smoke in their cars.


+1 Not all smokers are slobs, in fact I know quite a few that are neat freaks.

 

[The_Jeff]

That car's probably a "come on" that's nailed to the floor. They won't sell it for a nickel less.

I know a nurse who works at a hospital where it's policy they can't smoke on break on the property. Can't smoke in the car unless coming or going. So she drives in circles every few hours to get her nicotine fix. So there's a thousand cold starts to drive maybe a mile on top of the other issues of wrecking the interior.

I dumped her 13-year old car on craigslist for her... pulled the removable floor mats, wire brushed them, hosed them off... the nicotine water running off was as vile as you could imagine.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: DemoFly
I rarely meet a smoker who isn't a slob.


I know a few smokers who are definitely not slobs... But they also do not smoke in their cars.


+1 Not all smokers are slobs, in fact I know quite a few that are neat freaks.


Jetta's owner did not smoke.....well, let's just say that she didn't smoke tobacco.

People are nasty whether they smoke or not.

I should have gotten a better picture just to show how filthy this Jetta was, but I was trying to be subtle.

The car smelled like cannabis, red-bull, feces, and armpit.

 

[dailydriver]

If it belonged to my third brother, it could be trashed to not running in 6 WEEKS!!!

 

[Tdbo]

None of this amazes me.

This reminds me of what I have been through with the 2003 Ranger in my signature. Bought it used in November,2008 at a Chevy/Buick/Chrysler dealer as a 1 owner with 56K and was always serviced since new at a Ford dealer in Cleveland (verified through Carfax). Only problem was that it had been fairly heavily smoked in. Burn hole in the seat, several on the carpet, a couple on the headliner, and despite the best efforts of the dealer, smelled somewhat vile on the inside. Initially, they wanted 9K for it and refused to even entertain an offer.

Two weeks later, after GM came in and told them that they had 7 days to raise 350K or they would lose their floorplan, I bought this truck for $5500 at their fire sale. It smells better after 5 years but still reeks at times (especially in warm weather.) Next project with this truck is to replace the stereo in this vehicle because it is impossible to clean all the nicotine stains off of it and the preset buttons stick at times because of all the smoke.

Without a doubt, the best way to abuse a vehicle is to smoke in it. However, gallons of Febrese sprayed librally throughout the interior and a tray of cat litter placed in the cab helped dramatically.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
That car's probably a "come on" that's nailed to the floor. They won't sell it for a nickel less.

I know a nurse who works at a hospital where it's policy they can't smoke on break on the property. Can't smoke in the car unless coming or going. So she drives in circles every few hours to get her nicotine fix. So there's a thousand cold starts to drive maybe a mile on top of the other issues of wrecking the interior.

I dumped her 13-year old car on craigslist for her... pulled the removable floor mats, wire brushed them, hosed them off... the nicotine water running off was as vile as you could imagine.


They did want to move this car.
They came down from the 8995.00 price it was listed at on their website to 6900.00 over the phone.
I figured they'd come down another 900.00 after I showed up, drove the car and pointed out that the interior was trashed, the car was on tires I wouldn't have selected for anything fairly new and that it was a stick, which few people want these days.
No dice.

 

[jayg]

Why did that dealer not just auction it? I cant stand cars with gross interiors.

 

[rjundi]

My MDX was not trashed but pretty well worn for 4.5 year old when purchased. Just grungy and diry and odd leather wear inside. Grimy around buttons(50 of the 80!!!!) etc. Pretty dirty light carpet.

However this and some shoddy body work on door (which of course has a bit of rust surfacing) I got the car for auction price ($16.5k w 70k miles). That all being said the owner did ALL dealer maintenance to a tee and replaced brakes/tires prior to selling to me. So for kids I did not worry about mucking it up much.

It has been trouble free except for defects covered off by campaigns with Acura for free. I have 107k and if it makes trouble free on these brakes and tires till 150k I am happy. I did have to spend $600 at dealer for timing belt only replacement. I do fluids DIY.

I want so bad to take it to the detailer but he said $300 to make it look decent and condition seats. My kids would wreck the rear quickly and we go to beach/park in sand twice a week.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
I had a client with a Lincoln Town Car. It was about 4 years old at the time.

When the ashtray filled up, he began to just throw the cigarette butts on the passenger floor.

The pile completely covered the passenger floorboard, no less than 8" deep.

Out of some sense of perverse curiosity, I dug through the pile. The carpet was completely burned. There was evidence that the pile had caught on fire a time or two. The leather seat was burned in many places.

when I removed the knee bolster cover, an ash cloud worthy of Vesuvius blew out. (I literally coughed just now just from thinking about it)

His identity will be withheld to prevent the BITOG army of Panther chassis enthusiasts from hunting him down and putting out cigarettes on him



Give him some credit--at least he didn't pull out the ashtray every time it was full and dump it in the street.

 

[Propflux01]

I smoke cigars. I am not a slob. I do not smoke nor ever have in my car, I do not smoke in my house - not even in the garage. Most people in general do not treat their cars with the same amount of care that most on this site do (after all, that's why we are here), and Ive seen some real slobs and nasty cars who's owners DON'T smoke.

The dealer won't budge from that price because the used car market is so strong that he doesn't need to: it will sell...

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
None of this amazes me.

This reminds me of what I have been through with the 2003 Ranger in my signature. Bought it used in November,2008 at a Chevy/Buick/Chrysler dealer as a 1 owner with 56K and was always serviced since new at a Ford dealer in Cleveland (verified through Carfax). Only problem was that it had been fairly heavily smoked in. Burn hole in the seat, several on the carpet, a couple on the headliner, and despite the best efforts of the dealer, smelled somewhat vile on the inside. Initially, they wanted 9K for it and refused to even entertain an offer.

Two weeks later, after GM came in and told them that they had 7 days to raise 350K or they would lose their floorplan, I bought this truck for $5500 at their fire sale. It smells better after 5 years but still reeks at times (especially in warm weather.) Next project with this truck is to replace the stereo in this vehicle because it is impossible to clean all the nicotine stains off of it and the preset buttons stick at times because of all the smoke.

Without a doubt, the best way to abuse a vehicle is to smoke in it. However, gallons of Febrese sprayed librally throughout the interior and a tray of cat litter placed in the cab helped dramatically.


I wonder if leaving the heat on, windows just cracked, on a sunny/hot day would help bake it out.

 

[nitehawk55]

Only a strong cleaner on all exposed interior parts will help rid most of the smell and tar from the smoke . The carpet must really be shampooed well or sometimes if damaged much best just replace it .

 

[jayg]

Originally Posted By: supton

I wonder if leaving the heat on, windows just cracked, on a sunny/hot day would help bake it out.


Or bake it in.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: jayg
Originally Posted By: supton

I wonder if leaving the heat on, windows just cracked, on a sunny/hot day would help bake it out.


Or bake it in.



Probably baked in already, since it does that every time you leave it with the windows up (just in case it rains). My thinking is, heat it up so that all the aromatics get a chance to finish coming out.

 

[01rangerxl]

Work the detail shop at an auto auction and you will see what people can do to a 2-4 year old car.

- Broken meth pipe in a two year old Grand Caravan.
- Pile of Black & Mild ashes a solid 6" high in the center console of a Buick Rendezvous.
- 3 55 gallon cans worth of trash in a Kia Rio.
- Two year old Mitsubishi Galant with so much food in the seats and carpet they needed to be pressure washed.
- One year old Cobalt with so much unidentified grime on the seats and carpet it needed to be pressure washed.
- Cadillac Deville with empty codeine cough syrup bottles, completely trashed dashboard (botched heater core replacement?), and clothing associated with prostitution.
- Nissan Xterra with severe meth head damage...hard to describe, but basically like a bomb went off inside. Meth found inside as well.
- Concrete all over 4-5 year old pickups.
- F-150 with coal dust literally everywhere, totally impossible to clean.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Work the detail shop at an auto auction and you will see what people can do to a 2-4 year old car.

- Broken meth pipe in a two year old Grand Caravan.
- Pile of Black & Mild ashes a solid 6" high in the center console of a Buick Rendezvous.
- 3 55 gallon cans worth of trash in a Kia Rio.
- Two year old Mitsubishi Galant with so much food in the seats and carpet they needed to be pressure washed.
- One year old Cobalt with so much unidentified grime on the seats and carpet it needed to be pressure washed.
- Cadillac Deville with empty codeine cough syrup bottles, completely trashed dashboard (botched heater core replacement?), and clothing associated with prostitution.
- Nissan Xterra with severe meth head damage...hard to describe, but basically like a bomb went off inside. Meth found inside as well.
- Concrete all over 4-5 year old pickups.
- F-150 with coal dust literally everywhere, totally impossible to clean.

One of my clients has that car. There was a football wedged under the center stack. when one of the installers removed the football the whole dash fell down. I'll see if I can post his video. She must have had TB or something because the floorboard was full of prescription cough medicine bottles. I'm sure that there was a pair of clear heels in there too. Lot's of clothing. I didn't examine it too closely.

I have another client with a New Beetle. Whiskey dent/scratch/crack on every body panel. Interior had some unknown black sticky substance on virtually every surface. Smelled like rotted food, feet and ....ummmmmm......unwashed lady parts. Empty cups and food containers filled the back of the car. And I mean it was filled to garbage avalanche level. No cigarettes, just filth. She asked me, "Will my car still be the same when you take the breathalyzer back out?"
"I hope not lady."

 

[hattaresguy]

This is why I don't buy used vehicles, most people are slobs and seem to have a contest to destroy them as rapidly as possible.

 

[mrsilv04]

I've had better luck with vehicles owned by older people. They still value a dollar, and still seem to care about what they've paid for things.

The only downside? At certain times, the Town and Country *still* smells like "old people" on the inside. I think what I'm smelling is remnants of the perfume that the lady wore. I've used leather cleaner on the passenger seat more than once, but it still lingers.

When you find a 5 year old Town and Country with golf pencils, expired coupons, a full set of dealer maintenance records, and no signs whatsoever of children *EVER* being inside of it....buy it fast.

I'd rather catch a faint smell of old lady perfume every now and then, compared to permanently stained seats and carpet from juice, broken and scratched interior panels, doodles from markers in the headliner, and the smell of spoiled milk and melted ice cream from summers past.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
This is why I don't buy used vehicles, most people are slobs and seem to have a contest to destroy them as rapidly as possible.



My truck is the first "mildly" used vehicle I've bought--I've done either brand new or very very used. I think if it's got a CPO rating then odds are it's decent.

It's the ones on the lot with 10kmiles or less that would have me worried the most. Almost priced like new but traded for a reason.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: jayg
Why did that dealer not just auction it? I cant stand cars with gross interiors.

Cannot/will not buy any vehicle that has been smoked in! YUCK