How many times do I have to be saved?

All I can say is, be careful with used cars! If you have a trusted friend who is mechanic, have them check carefully any car you intend to purchase. I learned my lesson the hard way, as I have bought many cars, both used and new in my life.

I'd love to save you, Jen. Save you for a rainy day! The second-hand car market seems to attract the most unscrupulous people. Sellers who will do their utmost to pass on unroadworthy vehicles onto unsuspecting buyers without a care. I always try to buy from a reputable dealer, but it always comes at a price. They usually give at least a year's guarantee and say they have done a 136 point check before giving you it. Years ago I had a wooden car. Wooden wheels, wooden engine, wooden go.

This is going to be my attempt to help you out, from a distance. Small cars that get good fuel mileage, long lives and low frequencies of needing repairs are probably your best bet. Factor in, however, that SERIOUS accidents are more likely to be hard on the occupants of those types of vehicles. A REPUTABLE REPAIR FACILITY should be able to do a thorough check before you spend your money. Most of those will, however, expect to be paid for that kind of inspection. Is there a good reason for not repairing that head gasket? If it is already paid for, fixing it could be a less expensive way to go and you would have the knowledge of knowing what you have already. I hope this helps you. If you have any other questions about this subject you could PM me here and I will try to help.

I hope u can find a good honest dealer if there is such a thing.. I fought w/men for years about vehicles. In 2004 i finally got a good one. It was a program car & had very few miles. don't want to brag but so far so good.GOOD LUCK.

dont know what to tell you on this. as thats how my son got in over his head with his sister here. his car was the only transportation and they were sharing it till it got to much for us all. so she went to try and find one with him and they couldnt find a decent cheap one so he ended up signing for her to be buying one. co signing that is. now hes afraid if she moves out she might miss payments and ruin his credit so thus another factor in the room mate/living in his house factor situation.

Ok..so there is my first post in ranting Welcome to MyLot dear JenInTN But this is supposed to be a serious place where I shouldnt be using any of those lol emoticons!!! For the discussion - of course there have been many many times when I have been taken for a ride and I almost ended up losing faith in people. But then, they say faith is stronger than many other strong people and hence it is still alive in us (and me too). For one, this friend of mine, he promised to take me to lunch with one of his clients and it was presumed we would discuss business and work over lunch. I waited, and waited and waited... no calls no signals from him and he even didnt care to pick up my calls. That evening he turned up saying the meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for next day. (at least he could have told me and I could have cooked my own lunch). And the same happened next day. I gave up and forgot it all. A week later the client called up and asked me if I could do that assignment and guess what, that client was my client earlier and I had introduced them... He left me because the friend told him he would do the same work at 50% lesser than my charges so the client and he were together, only to realize that they could not go on well. And now that client wanted to revert back to me with older prices... to which I had to refuse.

Try finding a carmax place to buy a car have them show you the results of the test they make I know its hard to find a good car that hasnt been abused or let go for the problems they have had with it. Good luck in finding one soon!

Oh, I know how you feel Jen. I myself just recently went hunting for a used car. I thought I found a couple of decent ones through private parties on craigslist too. The way these people described their vehicles, they sounded pretty darn good...that is, until my husband took a look at them in person. Well, time was running short for me to get a car, so we decided to look around at used car lots. Eek! LOL After 4 car lots (and several disappointing cars) we finally found one he was happy with and that was within our price range too. Anyway, don't give up hope. There are people out there that are honest about their cars. It's probably rare, but it does happen. After all, I'm one of them. Whenever I've sold any cars, if it had any issues I always made sure to list them. By the way, it's too bad you're not in Ca. I could have sold you the Pathfinder I had. It was a great car too. Big, safe, and reliable. It was even a 4x4. The only reason I was selling it was because I needed the money at the time. (Oh, wait, you said little car...) I hope you find a (reliable) car for your daughter soon (try to avoid Fords, Dodge, and anything else American made). Good luck!

Hi Jen, I think the world over, there are rogues in the car business. It is always perfect when you are going to buy one, but when they look at yours, if you are trading it in, then it is rubbish and not really worth anything! That is the way it is here. In the UK it is best if we can take a mechanic or engineer with us. It tends to cost a few hundred pounds, but that could be money well-spent if you know nothing about cars. I am fortunate that I taught myself quite a lot about cars when I was first driving. My dad bought me an old car that needed constant maintenance and not having the money for expensive repair bills, I learned a lot about what could go wrong. My friends at the time were in the same boat and we would often be fiddling about with our engines or other parts, and that's how we learned. Girls didn't tend to do this though, but usually knew of somebody who knew a thing or two. I would say it is a question of "buyer beware" in the car market, unless you are going to the bigger franchise dealers where there are guarantees, but in order to give guarantees they tend to sell used cars with low mileage and service histories etc, and that means they are more expensive. It would be worth considering allowing in your budget for an engineer's report on the road-worthiness of the car and never take a seller's word for the condition. Over here sellers don't expect to be trusted even if they are honest. I have sold cars myself and although I knew they were OK, I fully expected for a buyer to turn up with a mechanic to check it out and was surprised if they didn't. Good luck with your purchase and I hope you get a good buy.. _Derek

Hi J enINtn I don't drive and have no car bu my friend nelda hds q yuite a time trying to find a decent used car when she went by herself. like she told me that they thought she was just an ignorant older lady so they steered her to overpriced junky cars. so she got the bright idea to take her adult son Michael with her. he is totally awesome as a car mechanic. so he knew cars and they started showing him decent working used cars.but it took a man to deal with the male chauvinst men in the used car lots.

When it comes to cars, you should try to get someone you trust to take a look at the car--especially if the car is being sold privately. When it comes to choosing a dealer, it is good to have a personal recommendation--or multiple recommendations, if you can. When we bought our current car, we bought it from a dealer that my boyfriend's cousin had recommended. He had personally dealt with them on multiple occasions, and he had always had good experience with them.

I think the word integrity has been removed from American dictionaries and from the hearts and minds of the American people.

I have never been in such a situation when buying a car. In life though trusting people is sometimes hard. If you go to a complete stranger selling a car from their home you can't always trust that. However, if you go to a dealer selling used cars they have a carfax to tell you everything about the car. If the car was in an accident, how many owners it had etc....! I would go that route if I were you. My hubby's cousin got a used car for 2700 dollars and it is in great shape no body damage and it is working great. I hope you find something soon because getting up at 4am is not a good thing for your well being.

its just social well being and you are so lucky to get saved all the time for saved all the time and its all faith,just stick with it for sure

I find especially when it comes to working with a Car dealer, and being a woman they are not easy to deal with. You constantly hear Horror stories about the way they like to take advantage or sell you a car that needs a lot of work. We decided after this happened to us, it is best to buy new, but even then you could end up with one needing a lot of work after a yr. or two. So in the end you might need to find a reliable male friend you can take with you to help in this decision as well.

Part of the reason why I use hatred as a defense, in relation to my discussion about are we born to hate is because I lost faith in people. As a child I was badly bullied, and abused, even through my teenage and adult life I continued to get bullied, and after being in two abusive relationships, I have resigned myself to being single for the rest of my life, I can depend on only myself, I have grown up to be independent, I don't rely on anyone else. I keep myself to myself and yes I am a loner, I hate being around people, I am uncomfortable and feel awkward. The only person who can save me is me.

Hi Jen, I have lost faith in people over things but I have to say that when it comes to cars, I have been very lucky. You need to find and make friends with someone that knows about cars. The most I ever paid for a car is 1000.00. That car lasted me 2 yrs and was still running fine when I got rid of it. I always buy 2nd hand and most of the cars will last at least 2 more years and I usually pay around 500.00 for them. The one I have now I paid 800.00 for. I have a couple of friends that work on cars and I always have them look them over for me first. I've been lucky, I guess. I hope you find something soon. I have a daughter that is without a license and it isn't fun.

Me again Jen, Not so long back there was a certain red car won´t say the name or the make but I knew right from the start that is was a really bad buy. I told them so and not to buy it but buy it they did. However after months of using it they managed to sell it and only just about I knew it had an electrical problem but they kept laughing and saying no. Was I so right it has a huge electrical problem it just goes to show what some people will get up to when it comes to getting a car sold and for them to benefit from it as well. Really glad to see the back of that "crock" Actually it is a good make of car but old now but with lots of electrical problems.xxx

I also have problems about my van and how not having a trusted mechanic has duped me into buying this piece of lemon that I drive. I think that the amount of money that I've already paid for its numerous repairs has already doubled the amount of money I paid for it. I hope that by now you've already found a 'decent' ride. And that if even for a little, you've regained a little bit of faith in people.

I got it recently from the one whose future we had sponsored. She came in our life when she was around 13. We educated her, got her married and here is the shocking news. She was helping us around as she was not able to pursue whatever we had offered her to ensure she had a good future. Finally she was helping us full time. During my accident she was a great help and so we promised to build her a small house in her own property. We were dishing out money at our pace which did not suit her. She was in a mighty hurry and so she robbed my gold all prompted by here rogue husband. Someone whom we had trusted and someone who had gained our trust by her exemplary behaviour during the 9 years she was with us, doing this to us was unacceptable. I trust no one now.