I'm so tired of throwing money down a hole

[Food Lady]

I know my car was a very generous gift but it's become a burden. In the last 7 months I've spent about $2,000 on repairs (full brake job, steering column replaced, exhaust system supposedly fixed) but now it's super loud when I accelerate. I can afford a repair, but WHY?? For that amount of money I could buy a car. I'm angry because the $2,000 could've been saved for that. I could easily throw another $1,000 at it but I just don't want to.

Financial situation: I have black marks on my credit history but my score is not bad. I've gotten credit cards again, after 8 years, with limits raised periodically. I pay waaaayyy more than the minimums. That has to speak well of me. I think I may be able to get a loan. It might be higher interest, but still. I have no idea if my creditors could do anything regarding my car. I now make enough money that it can be garnished. I've heard of liens being put on cars at times, but a couple of people have said a loan itself is a lien. I just don't know if getting a newer car is the best idea. I did find one for about $7,000 that has less than 140,000 miles on it. Mine has over 200,000 miles on it and is a '93.

Lack of infrastructure: this town is not built for pedestrians nor bikers. They are working on it but if there is snow there are literally no sidewalks. You are walking in the road. And in many places you are anyway, even in summer. The bus stops going by my job at 6:30 pm. There are no buses on Sundays nor holidays. I work all weekend, Sunday nights, too. I need that income not only for the car, but for the bills I'm trying to pay off. I feel like I'm forced to drive unless I want to quit my job and work at the local fast food I can walk to. I hate owning a car but here it's just necessary.

I am trying to make an appointment to have the car looked at again. This weekend I'm doing my best to avoid the cops so I don't get a ticket for loud exhaust. I'm thinking of cancelling my Memorial Day plans because I don't even want to go to the store for food for it. It's so loud I have to plug my ear; I don't want to drive any more than I absolutely have to, like work and back. I don't know how long it will be before I can get my car in. They do have a loaner car.

So my question is: should I try to buy a new car?

[protege]

So my question is: should I try to buy a new car?

I'd probably look and see what's out there. If your car is a '93 and has north of 200K on it, you'll eventually reach a point that it's just not worth fixing. You'll be throwing money down a bottomless pit, which tends to increase in diameter, the longer you keep the car. There's no point in constantly throwing buckets of cash at a car, especially when you're fixing the same system(s) over and over. Applying more patches on what's already been patched, in other words. The other thing, is that some insurers are more likely to write a car off if it has high mileage.

If it was me, I'd look at used Civics, Accords or Corollas. Those tend to go on forever, and can usually be picked up for a few grand. In fact, up until last August, I was tooling around in an '07 Corolla CE. The body was a bit rough, but even after 100,000 miles, it still ran like new. Had the car not been totaled in August, I'd still be driving it.

[Food Lady]

The one I looked at online is a Civic.

[wolfie]

Don't overlook Hyundai (and post-merger Kia). Quality-wise the Koreans are roughly 10 years behind the Japanese (in the '70s, the Japanese had a reputation for selling cheap crappy cars, while the "big 3" had a reputation for selling expensive crappy cars, but by the '80s Japanese quality was pretty good - the Pony and Stellar from the '80s were crap, but by the mid '90s Hyundai had a decent reputation - in fact, for '93 new cars, according to Edmunds NO Hyundai scored worse in any area than the BEST score for a GM product). Still, reputations take a while to change, so Hyundai products are still taking a hit on price in the used market - which is good if you're buying.

IMHO, the Accent is too small. Go for an Elantra - it was offered as a sedan (all generations), wagon (2nd generation - probably older than what you'd be looking for, and the Elantra Touring which is a model of its own from '09-'12), and a hatch (Elantra GT - 3rd generation, which is probably the oldest you'd be looking at, and current generation, which is probably too new and therefore expensive).

The big thing to watch out for is rust - before buying, jack up the car using all 4 jack points (one at a time). If there's any "give" to the jack point, cross that car off your list. They tend to rust out from the inside, so while the rocker area looks good it's got no strength left.

Don't know about other models, but the Elantra Touring can take a full-size spare (have to get rid of the foam tray under the cargo floor), and so can the 2nd generation (at least the wagon can - but need to extend the hold-down bolt). My '96 wagon (2nd generation was from '96-'00) is still running fine with 200,000 miles (or at least the metric equivalent). One caveat is that the worst-rated area on Hyundai products (at least according to Edmunds) are the automatic transmissions, but since I drive a stick I've ignored that.

[Blue Ginger]

I will second the Corollas. Mine is a 1991 and has 300,000 + on her. Most of the maintenance is fairly straight forward and not too expensive.

Just had the transmission serviced and a full check of everything under the hood in September. My mechanic has said that I will probably get between 2-5 more years out of her before the cost of repairs and service out weighs the fuel/insurance/rego savings.

The transmission and check was AU$600 done by one of my dad's friends that is a fully qualified mechanic. He used to have his own shop, but now works for a chain that has all the computers. He still works on the old cars at home though.

[Pixelated]

I will third the Corollas. Only reason I'm not driving one right now is because even a used Corolla was above what I could afford when my last one bit the dust.

I know the feeling about "Damn, I should NOT have done that last round of repairs." Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20. Do you have a trustworthy mechanic? Mine will flat out tell me, "Don't bother putting any more money into this vehicle; it's had it."

[greek_jester]

Just throwing it out there, but have you considered a motorbike or moped? Cheaper to buy, run store and maintain and you can get trailers for when you go shopping.

[Food Lady]

^ It's been brought up but I have several reasons for not getting one. A better option would be the bus.