Downshifted from 6th to 2nd and destroyed the flywheel in a really nice Pontiac Vibe GT.
Probably one of the few times you’ll see a Pontiac Vibe described as “really nice”.
Submitted by Christopher Ashby (Facebook)
Spent too much money keeping too many crappy cars going.
There seems to be two camps on this site - people who firmly believe in buying a nice newer (or lightly used) vehicle at low interest and enjoying the reliability and peace of mind of a warranty, and those who only pay cash on older vehicles, do all of their own wrenching and enjoy the money saved from not having a monthly payment and a vehicle that represents their hard work and frugality.
That’s nice and all, but sometimes you pay cash for a car that ends up being a real shit pile. But before you can sell or save up for something better, you end up pouring all of your money - or borrowing it - just to keep it running, because it’s your DD and it’s all you can afford right now. So before you know it, you’ve spent five times what it’s worth just in maintenance.
Maybe I’m just unlucky, but I was in that place for nearly 10 years. Each time I would get something else (usually after said vehicle was mercifully put out of its misery by a deer or a falling tree), I would think, “surely this one won’t suck”...right up until the transmission would explode, or the wheels would fall off, or I’d show it to some mechanic, who’d scratch his head and say, “I’ve never seen one of these do that before”.
All that is a large part of why I had to file for bankruptcy two years ago. Lots of RockAuto.com and local garage charges on those credit cards. After the dust settled, I was able to get two surprisingly good vehicles, lightly used with low monthly payments and reasonable interest rates considering the bankruptcy. And I’m sure right now, the “pay cash” crowd will howl at my idiocy, but it’s better than nearly $15K in unsecured credit card debt.
Submitted by: dbeach84
I was leaving work late on a random Tuesday night in 2002 and the lot was dark because they were re-doing the parking lot lights, but I could still mostly see important things like trees and light posts.
I pull out my 2000 Trans Am out of its spot, hit the gas, and BOOM, now I’m looking at the sky. Turns out that part of the lighting work was to remove a light pole, but they had not yet removed the concrete base, which I couldn’t see over my enormous hood in the dark.
The frame of the car was struck on the concrete base about 40% down the right side. It took two flatbed trucks and a tow truck almost 2 hours to dislodge it. I was able to drive her home, but she needed a new front bumper, right fender, right side skirt, and a few suspension components. Insurance covered it, but that $5000 deductible hurt at 23 years old.
I wish Jalopnik allowed pictures in comments because the picture of it is pretty funny.
Submitted by: Tom Gaydos (Facebook)
Overcorrected my 2003 Mercury Maurader. Almost hit a 300zx whom cut me off to turn into a gas station, I pulled left, fishtailed, pulled right, curb, pulled off curb, jumped other curb, smashed the front end into a tiny oleander bush.
I had it for 6 weeks.
Submitted by: Trittonix
My 20 yr old self bought a Savanna RX-7 while serving overseas in Okinawa. Financed through Okinawa Shinpan right outside the gates of Kadena AFB. Entire finance agreement was in Japanese. Realized I couldn’t bring it back home. When it was time to rotate back to the States I parked it in front of the finance company, caught a cab into Kadena and flew home.
Submitted by: 900turbo
My first car was a ‘04 VW Passat. Had a small leak from a plastic cooling pipe on the back of the engine. Replacing it wouldn’t have cost a whole lot, but I just kept topping it off since it was cheaper (I was a broke college student). Eventually, the pipe decided to just explode on the highway, which meant I then had no coolant. Warped the head pretty badly.
Submitted by: Oswaldo Portillo (Facebook)
When I was about 19 I had a lifted 2000 Ford Ranger 4.0 2WD that was starting to stutter at certain points. I took it to AAMCO because I thought it was the transmission... they being the great company they are, decided I was right, so they replaced it to the tune of about $2500 in 2002 money. After they replaced it the problem didn’t go away and it ended up being a leak in the head gasket. I took them to court to get my money back and while waiting for the proceedings the owner of that AAMCO offered my 1/2 of my money back to make this go away. Being the stubborn 20 year old that I was I said no... I subsequently lost the case.
Submitted by: MikeofLV
1993: A couple days after failing to reach a deal to trade my ‘87 Saab 900 SPG for an ‘87 Honda Accord LXi hatchback for my soon-to-be ex-wife to take to Alaska, I was headed to our attorney’s office to finalize our amicable split. Suddenly, there was a peculiar “clink-clink-clink” in first gear, which I knew wasn’t good. Had it towed 60 miles to the dealer. A transmission teardown revealed the “clink” to be a missing tooth on first gear.
Then the service manager said, “Oh, look. The head gasket leaked. Better replace that too.” The final bill: Something close to $3,000 (more than 10 percent of my gross annual income). All because I wouldn’t cover the 500 bucks to get that damned Accord.
Submitted by: Kurt Batdorf (Facebook)
I loaned my brother my extra car (09 WRX hatch) after a bit he called to ask if he should get an oil change, but I said nah becuase I didn’t want some cheap ass jiffy lube and then he ran it dry and the engine threw a rod so then I sold it cheap to a friend who wanted to replace the engine, I bought it back from him after for the cost of his parts and some for labor and it was just a shit job. I ended up having to take it to a Subaru specialist shop to get a new engine after tons of problems. All in all I bought it for 27k, paid him 6k then 10K to the shop and now it runs great and it’s my fun car and a manual but holy crap.
Submitted by: WayDude
I once bought a brand new Jeep Patriot.
Submitted by: As Du Volant