Picked up a beater to flip

[supton]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
$1200 for a hopefully life lesson, is pretty darn cheap.


Yes.

Originally Posted By: madRiver
The girl nicely asked if she could get her money back. It did not seem to have anything implied in that text otherwise.


You know, to put the shoe on the other foot, it never hurts to ask. Let's say she realizes it's a big mistake, and Nick takes the car back. How many times have you heard of this story happening? I've heard several times of it happening, in real life and on the web. The times I've heard about it the buyer learns a lesson and no one seems to be that "burned" by it.

Unless if she goes stalker then she did what is probably the first step she should have taken upon realizing she made a mistake: see if she could back up to the beginning and start over.

Originally Posted By: madRiver
The unfortunate reality is typical person who buys a car under $2000 from a stranger cannot afford a vehicle. They are in their situation due to youth Or bad decision making.


Perhaps. I'm not typical so my go at this sort of thing isn't applicable. Will say I've heard of spending far more to get into the same exact situation though--people spending more far only to have an undrivable car.

That said, how many here, as a teenager, bought the $2k equivalent back in the day? I bought a $200 truck back in 1993 (wouldn't move) and later bought a $150 truck (moved but found out later why I got it cheap). I think I was a typical teenager.

 

[SirTanon]

I remember buying a 1981 Buick Riviera from a used car lot, back when I was about 19.. Paid $700 for it, and didn't think about needing to give it a real test drive on the highway. I only test drove it about 2 miles on city streets by the dealer.

After I bought it, I realized it had a REALLY bad 'wobble' to it.. which I found out was tie rod ends, etc..

And of course, at the time, I was both naive and inexperienced in terms of vehicle repair, so I ended up paying the local Sears Automotive shop over $1200 to fix it. Sure, it was fixed when all was said and done, but I had ended up paying about $2000 for a 10 year old car with worn paint.

I also realized a little later on, that it had cooling issues, so I paid another shop to do a coolant flush and replace the thermostat. Luckily, that wasn't terribly expensive.

I liked the car. It was fun to drive, luxurious inside, and it was roomy and powerful. My friends all liked it, but it had really cost me. If I only knew then what I know now, I could have fixed it all out of pocket for about 1/4 of the cost.