Veterans struggle with two dead cars and little savings
11 posts across 3 communities in the last 30 days; 46% from r/personalfinance.
“The problem is you’ve bought an expensive car at a depreciated price. The replacement parts will be at showroom new prices. [re: On a scale of 1-10 how dumb am I?]”
“No, the problem is that you're taking it to a dealership that has no idea what they're doing, which multiple posters have already told you, and you're not acknowledging it. ...Take it to someone who knows what they're doing.”
“I had $7,000 to work with when I was vehicle shopping. Unfortunately, with how the used car market is in my area, $7,000 doesn't get you a whole lot of car. And I couldn't spend $7K on just the car because then I would have no money set aside for repairs. So, my initial plan was…”
Several posts highlight the financial hardship faced by a 72-year-old veteran who has experienced car breakdowns and lacks savings or good credit. Users suggest seeking help from vocational schools for free labor and parts, and recommend finding older vehicles in decent condition to minimize repair costs.
SOURCES (55)
“The problem is you’ve bought an expensive car at a depreciated price. The replacement parts will be at showroom new prices. [re: On a scale of 1-10 how dumb am I?]”
Find a Subaru specialist/independent shop and start there.
“Hey, I'm going to also throw in with suggestion for older Volvo wagons. You're probably going to be priced out of a 240 series now, unless you find someone who just wants it gone and has no idea they are no longer the $500-1500 car you just get off your lawn (seriously they go for $15k now sometimes lol) A V70 wagon is a solid bet IMO. Look for a 2005-2007, make sure the PCV valve has been serviced and the timing belt as well.”
“Not sure why you were downvoted. I am a Honda fan, but this is also solid advice. Again, harder to find these with so many vandwellers, but also a solid option.”
“+1 on the Element, if you can find one. They're so popular with the "vandwelling" community, and being discontinued have really held their value. I owned an 03 Element and an 07 Pilot and both were great vehicles. Traded the Element in to 07 Pilot, which someone hit me and totalled, or I would probably still have it.”
“youre on crack. you dont get intrest free home loans for serving. VA loan absolutely has interest thats on par with others and you also pay a large fee to even use the loan at 0% down. VA loan isnt good. someone lied to you. source: ive used it twice”
“Is that normal to have transmission problems? It doesn’t seem that old or the miles that high. Good grief.”
“We have an outlander and a asx actually…and since the manufacturer is already running a sale on the car we are not able to get a high value on the cars”
“I used navy federal two weeks ago. All the dealer said was "damn, I haven't seen anything in the 3.8 range in years" and finished the deal. Otherwise I would've done just as you did.”
“If anyone goes the route of getting a cheap car, you all may want to know mechanics personally to bring down your repair costs. Unless you know cars well, you have no idea what problems a 16 year old car has and if you rely on taking it to mechanics.... you will spend a lot of money on repairs Trust me I know what I am talking about here because I grew up poor and we had a lot of experience of buying cheap cars growing up”
“Insurance companies will total out old cars from minor hail damage and then pure sale auction them off. You can find tons of reliable JDM cars for under 1k that seem to be mechanically sound. May be an eye sore, but better than the 5k Facebook marketplace find. Copart is a good place to look.”
“Sounds cheap until the beater becomes the most expensive car you have ever owned lol. This is basically the textbook example why reliability isn't optional, its math.”
“A car that is too old will cost in maintenance more than it will save you in a purchase price. What is the lowest number it's still worth? Like is a $10k car usually good enough without needing $2000 repairs every 3 months? Ok what about a $5000 car then? submitted by /u/Tricky_Ordinary_4799 [link] [comments]”
“That dude fell for the sunk cost fallacy. For 14k he could have just scrapped or donated the 3k car and bought a much better used car. Or just realized he really bought a 17k used car. Instead he built one, and unless he did the work himself, spent a lot on labor to do so. If he's that silly, leasing may be the better move for him. For everyone else, not so much.”
“Why not repair the car? It's far cheaper than buying used. Do you not like it?”
“If you don’t have any major financial debts, you may be able to save some money. If possible try getting a part time job to help you save more. Don’t give up. It took me the last 8 years to get out of debt. It wasn’t easy and some days I felt like giving up but I got over that hump.”
“better the devil you know. look for a car when you want to or need to change cars, bad to be under a time constraint.”
“A newish car.. will still have things go wrong with it and need repaired. But NOW you have a repair bill and a car payment.”
“Yeah, if you replace those yourself they are cheap. That's $2-3k at dealership. For your accord, sounds about right for these new models. Quality is dropping fast. It's how these things oscillate. They make them super reliable for a decade, build a name, then cheap out, rinse and repeat.”
“No, the problem is that you're taking it to a dealership that has no idea what they're doing, which multiple posters have already told you, and you're not acknowledging it. ...Take it to someone who knows what they're doing.”
“I had $7,000 to work with when I was vehicle shopping. Unfortunately, with how the used car market is in my area, $7,000 doesn't get you a whole lot of car. And I couldn't spend $7K on just the car because then I would have no money set aside for repairs. So, my initial plan was to find a $5,000 car with minimal work needed and a $2,000 repair fund. I found some enticing options, but they were all hours away and would've been a logistical nightmare to get home. Then this Sienna poppe”
“Go get a job driving school buses. Great benefits. Save up for a Transit Connect and start your own mobile auto repair business. Roll your first 10k into a facebook ad blast. Raise your prices until you hit the amount of work you want to do.”
“Yes we need more of these where I live! Especially if you’re honest and dependable you could do great doing that. I always tip the guy about 40/60 bucks that comes do things on our vehicles cause he saves us so much money!”
“Small engine repair makes bank when during spring to fall. Most the guys around me charge 45 dollars an hour labor plus whatever parts cost. Never a shortage of work”
“How about a online teaching ramping ir knowledge based gems in relation to certain manufacturers like this issue woth Mercedes etc. Instead of u wrenching on the actuql cars staff young mechanics and u advise them to do the work along the way they become better mechanics u still get full blown billable even though not lifting a tool?”
“it is quite literally what OP asked. 0€ is a valid sum to allocate to car repairs. Did I say anything wrong? I don't believe so.”
“It makes sense to get rid of a paid for running vehicle when it starts leaving you stranded or has structural rust that won’t hold up in a collision.”
“Here you go: https://youtu.be/LlKt4zjPK2E?si=Z9z8Di793FJgGrEq You can do this. Looks like you can get a remanufactured alternator for $215-$300 from autozone. That leaves you $700 to spend on a jack and tools. You will come out ahead.”
“Yep, lots of good advice. Walk or bike to work. Rental/ cheap bike fine at first. Used, junkyard, FB marketplace wheels w/tires. I've gotten some good deals this way. Know size/ bolt pattern/ center bore for cross- compatibility. Work on maintain/car themselves, at least easily completed basics, like oil/ brake pads/ swapping wheels, wherever until they stop you. Take bus and research the car maintenance and repair methods/ tools on phone if the weather is really bad, or use the time to work”
“You also need to learn to replace things like alternators yourself if you are somewhat handy. It's not that complicated. You just need a serpentine belt tool, a socket wrench set, and access to YouTube. Unless you make a very nice salary (sounds like you dont) it's literally worth your time to do things like this yourself. And as for tool cost, think about it this way, you could pay somebody to do the work for you for an exorbitant fee, or you could spend the money on the necessary tools”
“We had a bunch of those buicks. Used to get tore up ones for $300-$400. Great cars. My Dad sold me one a couple years ago for $200 because it was broken. All the old GM front wheel drives: make sure the cradle and bolts are not too rusted. My Dad was getting on the expressway and the front cradle bolts broke. They had rusted inside the rubber mounts. I got it and bought new bolts. Now I drive it and people want to buy it. Maintenance on a good beater can be a small fraction of the cost of a leas”
“Can’t answer for sure, but from what you gave us, I’d get the repairs done rather than find new. We had a 2003 Honda Element we bought new and that had several $2500 or so repair bills along its 22 year lifespan. The only reason it’s gone is that it got wrecked into and the $8k repair bill was finally not worth it. I’d rather keep up a car that I understand than take a chance on a newer used car where I don’t have any background. And a brand new car is definitely going to cost you more than that”
“Maintain it and eventually drive it into the ground. The yearly repairs and maintenance are less than the payments of a new car.”
“You can get a 5-7 year old truck for $30,000 with under 100k miles. If you’re using a truck for work it won’t stay new and shiny long. Just skip the new vehicle and get a more reasonable lightly used one.”
“This is really dependent on location and the person lol buying a car for less than 10k. nowadays it is a way bigger risk than it used to be to get a used car for sub 10k. 15k gives you more options and opportunities and less likely have to have major maintenance costs. For my own personal experience I purchased a 2024 Hyundai Elantra SEL hybrid for 24k in North Carolina. My interest rate using my personal bank was 3.2% so you have to shop around. Of course there are scams and dealers are trying”
“You wanna dm so every comment you make doesn’t keep getting 30 downvotes? I’ll answer either but wanted to confirm that first”
“Before you all start judging here, I DID. I GOOGLED. A LOT. I dont know if anyones reading my whole post but I wasnt able to find answers on google for the specific questions I had and the financers have not been helpful at all with information, no one seems to know anything but how to get you to pay them and thats it. Hence, why I am here asking people on reddit. This is where people go when google fails them, obviously.”
“What I tried to say in my post is that you don't have a car to pick up any longer, but you may be on the hook for the fees.”
“The inflation on repair costs is no joke, stuff that used to be a manageable few hundred now routinely hits four figures, makes the emergency fund goalposts feel like they're always moving further away”
“Good news is that whatever the letter went is going to the the first place they look for the car. So that's a bit of time. Maybe buys him a few days. But if it's not in a garage, it's going to get picked up eventually. I was a skip tracer, and I was good at finding cars that people hid. What I hated was picking up a car from someone's work... but that was rare. Except this one asshole that was scamming his elderly aunt and using her SSN on his loan so he could drive a flashy spor”