Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:38 PM
 
274 posts, read 368,110 times
Reputation: 293

Advertisements

So I have a weird situation, I'll try to make it short.

We were driving home in our 2005 Kia Rio on Easter and our alternator belt went. We were 50 miles from home, zero money, so we took a chance and decided to drive it as far as we could. We JUST made it home as the car was overheating and dying. Pushed it the last block home. (Before you ask, we seriously had no money and no way of getting home or towing the car, so trust me- I would have prefered not to have resorted to driving it in this condition, but there you have it.)

We had the car checked out at Sears to see how bad it was, and they said it's anywhere from $2,000 - $5,000 to fix - could be the head gasket and some hoses and wires, or it could be the whole motor, and possibly the radiator on top of that. They can't tell how bad until they start taking it apart. I just don't have the money to fix it.

The problem is, I'm still paying for this car, and will be until November. I can't use it, so I don't know what else to do but let it sit there until it becomes my property in November and I can finally junk it. A friend tells me to have it repo'd, but I don't want to do that and mess up my credit. I'm unemployed right now, so I'm certainly not a good candidate for a trade in.

I've run out of ideas! I don't know of anything I could do except just let it sit and rot until I can junk the stupid thing. Any suggestions?

Please no lectures, it's been a crappy year and this is just the icing on the cake.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:52 PM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,946,373 times
Reputation: 1562
Overheated ... just plan for an engine.

When the time comes, Sears would be the wrong place for considering such a repair. Call to see what a local repair shop would charge to swap in a used engine (from a wrecked car). It would most likely be the most economical solution to a crappy situation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:53 PM
 
Location: un peu près de Chicago
773 posts, read 2,617,814 times
Reputation: 523
Quote:
Originally Posted by datacity12 View Post
Any suggestions?
Take it to an independent mechanic and get another estimate.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,113 posts, read 56,725,836 times
Reputation: 18374
Honestly, you are so clueless about cars, you need to live somewhere with public transport. You managed to parlay a simple broken belt into at least a head gasket job, maybe more, you didn't "take a chance", you ran the car and you knew, or should have known, that no alternator belt means the water pump also is not turning, and modern engines won't cool well enough without the pump as you demonstrated.

Who exactly held a gun to your head and made you drive the car in this condition? Those 50 miles cost you as much as $100 per mile, Buckwheat.

Quit paying on the car, you would be better off without a car and without credit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 07:59 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,568 posts, read 3,213,879 times
Reputation: 1623
^ Agreed on the indy mechanic--Best of luck to you!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:01 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,568 posts, read 3,213,879 times
Reputation: 1623
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch View Post
Honestly, you are so clueless about cars, you need to live somewhere with public transport. You managed to parlay a simple broken belt into at least a head gasket job, maybe more, you didn't "take a chance", you ran the car and you knew, or should have known, that no alternator belt means the water pump also is not turning, and modern engines won't cool well enough without the pump as you demonstrated.

Who exactly held a gun to your head and made you drive the car in this condition? Those 50 miles cost you as much as $100 per mile, Buckwheat.

Quit paying on the car, you would be better off without a car and without credit.
Lighten up Francis...the kid said it was a bad year.

Last edited by IDASpaceman; 05-05-2011 at 08:26 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:05 PM
 
Location: Traveling again
2,534 posts, read 2,245,310 times
Reputation: 6083
We had a similar situation a few years ago with our Jeep Cherokee. It had major electrical/wiring issues and transmission problems. It was close to 3 months before it was PIF. At that time we had absolutely no extra income coming in and only one person working in the house. So I know what you mean about ZERO extra money.

I contacted the bank and explained the situation. They agreed to reduce the payments based on economic hardship however they added more monthly payments as a result. We had it fixed and took the extra money from the reduced loan payments and made payments to the repair shop and picked it up when the balance due was paid. You could try that and see if it works.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:24 PM
 
Location: Western North Carolina
7,970 posts, read 10,537,946 times
Reputation: 18733
When you don't have money, you need to at least try to salvage your credit.

I didn't replace the timing belt on my Daewoo at the 60,000 like I should have. Great car, until at 80,000, the timing belt went. I had to have a rebuilt motor but in it, to the tune of $1200.00, but it ran for another three years. Have you looked at the price of cars out there, even used cars? Don't even think you'll be able to get anything "cheap for cash" that's usable. It's not happening.

Keep the car, pay it off, replace the engine later, keeping your credi up. Good credit is like money in the bank when you don't have any money.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:37 PM
 
10,494 posts, read 27,117,790 times
Reputation: 6716
Quote:
Originally Posted by datacity12 View Post
So I have a weird situation, I'll try to make it short.

We were driving home in our 2005 Kia Rio on Easter and our alternator belt went. We were 50 miles from home, zero money, so we took a chance and decided to drive it as far as we could. We JUST made it home as the car was overheating and dying. Pushed it the last block home. (Before you ask, we seriously had no money and no way of getting home or towing the car, so trust me- I would have prefered not to have resorted to driving it in this condition, but there you have it.)

We had the car checked out at Sears to see how bad it was, and they said it's anywhere from $2,000 - $5,000 to fix - could be the head gasket and some hoses and wires, or it could be the whole motor, and possibly the radiator on top of that. They can't tell how bad until they start taking it apart. I just don't have the money to fix it.

The problem is, I'm still paying for this car, and will be until November. I can't use it, so I don't know what else to do but let it sit there until it becomes my property in November and I can finally junk it. A friend tells me to have it repo'd, but I don't want to do that and mess up my credit. I'm unemployed right now, so I'm certainly not a good candidate for a trade in.

I've run out of ideas! I don't know of anything I could do except just let it sit and rot until I can junk the stupid thing. Any suggestions?

Please no lectures, it's been a crappy year and this is just the icing on the cake.
The water pump is connected to the timing belt so this could not have even happened. The alternator belt breaking could not possibly make a car overheat.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 08:39 PM
 
5,697 posts, read 19,072,739 times
Reputation: 8694
I would have another mechanic look at it. What do you owe on the car? DO NOT give the car back to the bank. Lots of people think that once they give the car back to the bank, all they do is take a hit on the credit report and they are done with it. That is not the case. The bank will sue you for the remaining balance plus hefty fees on taking repossession with the added bonus of having your credit trashed. I have seen this happen time and time again. The only way out of it is filing bankruptcy or paying for something you do not own anymore. Banks usually have up to 7 yrs to come after you. So they wait. They wait till you are back on your feet and then BAM! I know what its like being broke. It was a crummy time. Everything seems to go bad, everything breaks. I get it. I had a horrible SUV that I kept sinking money into but couldn't get rid of it. But right now make the best decisions as possible so you are not paying for mistakes 7 yrs from now, when you are climbing back up.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top