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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:18 am Subject: advise please

In January 2006, I financed a car for my son for graduation. we had a trade in and i put 600. dollars down. It's a 2001 dodge intrepid. Well the end of October, 2006, the motor went out and i still owe 4,000. it will cost an addition 5,000 to fix. My son didn't want to pay the extra for extended warrenty so now i don't know what to do. He just started college in september and i'm a singled parent and is trying to work myself plus i have a car note for my car. What can we do about this issue. I've already talked to the finance company who is financing the car and all they say is they're sorry. Please advise me on an option other then me having a repo on my credit.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:14 pm Subject:

My view is that since the title is with the finance company, you will have to make that payment first otherwise your car will be repoed.

Other than that, you have to bear any additional expenses for the broken car. I don't see anything confusion. Did I miss anything?

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:02 pm Subject:

Is it covered by the lemon law? If you just purchased it in January, warranty or not, there should be something you can do. I sympathize with you, Liz. My son is starting college next fall. It's almost four hours from home, so I want him to have a reliable car. That stinks that you bought the car not even a year ago and still owe all that money on it and that you have the added burden of fixing something major.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:06 pm Subject:

I've always been told that anytime a person buys a used vehicle, they should always have money put aside for breakdowns especially if there is no warranty involved.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:18 pm Subject:

Or you can join a class at your local college and learn and understand Auto repair. Imagine the money you would save if you,or anybody,learned how to change your own oil,replace your brakes,and a tune -up. These are all basic skills!

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:19 pm Subject:

Does your state have a lemon law? I know my state does.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:25 pm Subject:

Regardless,the automobile is a 2001 bought in 2006.

The only warranty would probably be only 90 days at best.

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:29 pm Subject:

Roadwarrior, Thanks for the advice about going for a class on auto repair. A woman I worked with and I were going to go to one years ago and never got around to it. I'm glad to hear they still have them around. I might check into it again.

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:24 pm Subject:

1) Lemon laws are usually good for about 90 days. In all fairness, you can't really say that the car dealer knew the engine was going to seize up 10 months down the road. That's just one of those freak gambles you take when you buy a used car.

2) Classes are good; I change my own oil and do most of my own work. I had my car in fo a 80K inspection, and the VW dealer said "you need new brakes, it will cost about $450.00." I said no thanks, I can do that myself -- went to Autozone, paid $19.95 for a set of brake pads, put the car up on jacks and changed them, and saved $430. (however, a quick class at your college isn't going to teach you how to replace an engine....)

Unfortunately, this is just one of those cases of bad luck, as you will. As much as we don't want to pay for something that doesn't work, the driveablility of the car is not a condition on your financing contract; the money is owed whether the car works or not.

Repo is the last thing you, and your creditor want. After all, if they repo a car with a bad engine, they're not going to be able to sell it for very much.

The person you talked to on the phone might have been just a regular rep, and they just tell you "sorry." Send a letter in, attention credit manager. State the problem, show a copy of the repair estimate, and that you do not intend to ignore the situation, but that you cannot afford the entire payment AND repair bill.

He will not like it, but chances are he'd rather you make partial payments than repo a piece of junk.

Consider finding someone who can throw a used engine in there, instead of a brand new one. That would save some costs.

I know your son is in college, so he doesn't have full-time or steady income, but maybe if he has a part-time job, you might ask him to help a little with repair costs.

In a worst-case scenario, if you can't get it repaired and you can't keep making the payments, you should initiate a voluntary surrender and give the car back to them. They would sell it, and you would still be responsible for the balance; but it would be reported on your credit as "returned voluntarily" instead of "repossession" (still a bad mark, but looks a little bit better to another lender).

guest · Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:17 pm Subject:

id also check with the local votech schools in ur area if u have any.. im not sure if they still do it but they used to do teh work for just teh price of parts.thats how the kids learn there

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