For the billionth time, they didn't have the money to make the repairs on the van. I guess they were just supposed to walk out in the back yard and pick that money off the tree, right? And again, they rolled in $4k, not 5 or 7...
I helped my daughter with a bad vehicle situation
- Thread starter grampi
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I can, $2800 was ridiculous...
At that age though, there are probably used motors in the junkyards or on eBay or maybe there are aftermarket ones or just buy them cheaper online directly from a dealer and find someone who is ok with installing parts you provide. I never have a problem finding mechanics that will do that. The ones that won't, I just keep looking. Some of them like it that way, they don't have to warranty the job afterwards and very rarely do I have a problem with any parts I buy.
There were repairs in there that didn't need to be done immediately. Buying another vehicle just compounds their financial burden and snowballs the problem. This was a very poor financial decision, there is no way around that.
Well that's the reason you're getting raked over the coals, why didn't they? They didn't have any savings? Standard advice is to save at least 10% of your income for a rainy day. They couldn't borrow the money from anyone or stick it on a credit card? I think Prosper is still around as a site where you can borrow money online. How are they these days?
Sounds like an LX. Hopefully, it is FWD (less to go wrong.)
Suggestion: Sit down with her and write out a maintenance schedule for her to follow, to minimize issues.
Tell her she needs to budget for the TB. It will be that kind of money. She has about 30K to come up with it.
At this point, all she can do is drive it out to minimize the hit.
If taken care of, it can be a 250K vehicle, anyway.
Hope she got a good one.
She is prime prey for a dealer. Upside down, cannot afford repairs so slap a high interest dealer financing and play with her on undervaluing trade.
Being broke you are prime meat for dealers , they love customers like this.
Broken doors lead to trade , my sis in law traded hers but got a mechanic for $300 to fix doors to appear working.
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For this discussion to have been useful, it needed have taken place before the trade in.
But what's done is done. So let's go forward.
As a minimum, your daughter needs to immediately start a vehicle repair account (say $100/month). That just might get the Pilot to the end of the 7 year payment plan. It won't be worth a lot at the end of 7 years but at least she won't be under water.
If she can't afford that, she can't afford to maintain the Pilot given her current life style. In that case she should get some financial advice/counseling which could involve life style changes.
Otherwise she has just kicked the can down the road and will be in the same boat again in a very few years. And that is not the road to happiness or prosperity.
But what's done is done. So let's go forward.
As a minimum, your daughter needs to immediately start a vehicle repair account (say $100/month). That just might get the Pilot to the end of the 7 year payment plan. It won't be worth a lot at the end of 7 years but at least she won't be under water.
If she can't afford that, she can't afford to maintain the Pilot given her current life style. In that case she should get some financial advice/counseling which could involve life style changes.
Otherwise she has just kicked the can down the road and will be in the same boat again in a very few years. And that is not the road to happiness or prosperity.
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After all the timing "chain" fails I constantly read about, I don't thing a timing belt is a bad thing at all. But, the only chain failure I have ever heard about is Ford. This was back in their W-20 days, so maybe the thin oil was to blame and not Ford's craftsmanship?
Fwiw, I've had lots of timing belt vehicles and never a single failure.
Fwiw, I've had lots of timing belt vehicles and never a single failure.
There were too many expensive repairs that did need to be done immediately. I think a poorer decision would've been to keep pouring money into a sinking ship...at least now she has a vehicle that should be reliable and not need any expensive repairs for at least another 30K miles....and then hopefully it won't need a bunch of expensive repairs all at the same time...
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I agree 200%!! Society has brainwashed everyone into thinking you have to be a loyal plastic robot and own a soccer mom bus, or else you're a bad parent.
The doors were the least of the reasons she traded it....
No, they didn't have the savings. And what's the difference if they borrowed the money to fix the van, or borrowed to buy the Pilot? At least the Pilot is not falling apart and they have a reliable vehicle to drive...
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I think I would have went for a Honda fit or similar.. much cheaper costs.. still fits 2 kids just fine.
Friend had a pilot(2012?)it was a total money pit.. about 10k in repairs.. HG twice at the dealer and and a laundry list of normal and not normal maintence...
it made it to 150k and his wife replaced it with a new one.
I'm missing what was wrong with the van.. you havent told us yet? half the repairs didnt need to be done immediately.. brake pulsation is usually pad deposits on rotor.
7year upside down loan on a 7-8 year old pilot is super scary.. still have those big payments when you got big maintence and repairs.
Friend had a pilot(2012?)it was a total money pit.. about 10k in repairs.. HG twice at the dealer and and a laundry list of normal and not normal maintence...
it made it to 150k and his wife replaced it with a new one.
I'm missing what was wrong with the van.. you havent told us yet? half the repairs didnt need to be done immediately.. brake pulsation is usually pad deposits on rotor.
7year upside down loan on a 7-8 year old pilot is super scary.. still have those big payments when you got big maintence and repairs.
It is an LX, but 4WD. And I've already done the rest of what you mentioned with her...She is already preparing for the TB change...
The van needed some sort of electronic oil switches (I don't even know WTH they are) replaced, the mechanic showed me the old ones. They were mounted internally in the engine The plugs were bad and had to be replaced and they were $28 a plug. The air and cabin filters were both bad and replaced. Then the mechanic told me about the TB being 20K overdue, the TSB (which had something to do with the rocker arms), and the brakes either needed work, or would need work soon. In all they were looking at about $3K in repairs. My concern was that even if they had the money for these repairs, who's to say there wasn't another expensive repair or multiple repairs lurking around the corner? With everything that was going wrong with the van in such a short period of time, I thought they would be better off moving on to another vehicle with fewer miles...like I said, either choice was bad, hopefully for them, getting the Pilot will end up being the least bad choice...
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While I understand that I still question being upside down and moving to a 6-7 year old pilot.
the 20000$ spend on that could have bought a nearly new fit providing years of economy (2x mpg for example)
and cheaper/no maintenance. for an extended period.
2 kids need a suv?? no 2 kids want an suv. now 4 kids... need 3 row or minivan.
I'm not dave ramsey though.. I dont think you need to make 80k a year to buy a new car
Just curious. What interest rate on the loan, what was the price of the Pilot and what did she get on trade for the Odyssey?
JHZR2
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How does that help setting your daughter for success, or learning from choices that weren’t that great to most on here?
It seems like you were looking for a pat on the back for choices that weren’t great in many of our eyes…
”Everything”? “Short period of time”? “Least bad choice”?
Sorry, maybe it hurts to hear, but it seems like the worst choice was made. They don’t have the money to repair and maintain a 3.5L Honda gas guzzler, so they bought another Honda 3.5L gas guzzler that will have the same requirements, and probably poorer MPGs and less volume inside. And the TB thing is on them. The TB was overdue from a while ago, so it’s not everything at once. That was self-inflicted… They deferred it, and then they bought another vehicle with the same “issue”… the definition of insanity!
And they rolled the $4-5k they owed into the next vehicle, so when this happens again, they’ll still be in the hole for the odyssey they owned two rounds ago. The gift that keeps on giving.
So to avoid $2800 they couldn’t afford, they refinanced $5k of debt into another vehicle, on top of its purchase price, in a hot market. So let’s finance $5k plus another vehicle over 7 years instead of paying $2800. Do you not see how this makes zero sense from a third party perspective?
If anything they needed to give up vanity and convenience and buy an econobox with a fraction of the purchase price and “recurring” maintenance headache of the TB…
From what I can see, there's over $20,000 difference ($16-17k + $5000 that was rolled into the new loan). Some shops can set her up with finance options too. Ooops, sorry, need to subtract $2000 or so from that number, so instead, and $18,000 difference.
The plugs aren't $28/each. You can buy them for $11 at O'Reilly (or $18 for 100k mile versions) and pay a DIY guy or mobile mechanic $50-100 to replace them. Both air filters can be replaced by you for $30-40 in parts. TSBs do NOT affect every vehicle of that model that's on the road so it's entirely possible hers wasn't impacted.
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