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piperl12

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 7, 2012
970
4
Well, not one to complain about crappy luck usually but this one has me frustrated and I needed to vent. A few weeks ago my wife wrote her van off in an accident involving an icy road and a tire blow out. It was an older van so we didn't have collision insurance on it. Well long story short I looked around and found her a 1998 Honda Accord in really nice shape albeit high mileage. Well it went in for safety today. Something all Canadian Cars must pass before being driven on the road. I paid a modest $1700.00 for the car and didn't negotiate on the price because it looked to be in such good condition. Well the mechanic informed me today the front sub-frame is rotted out and not safe to drive. Given the sub-frame is what the engine, front end and transmission all bolt up to it's kind of a critical component. So it sounds like he has to locate a good used sub-frame from the southern united states ship it here and install it. I am looking at around $2000.00 by the time is all said and done. I take some comfort in the fact that he says otherwise the car is in excellent shape otherwise and this is a common problem with that year. Something about an air conditioning hose that drains down on the sub-frame. Not the news you want the week before Christmas. Money has been really tight this year and work is not as plentiful as it once was for those of us self employed. Perspective though says, my wife and my four kids are healthy, they sit in a warm house tonight with presents bought and paid for under the tree. Sometimes though you just need to vent! Thanks for listening.

 

Perique

Lifer
Sep 20, 2011
4,098
3,884
www.tobaccoreviews.com
I sympathize, Piper. I'm going through a very rough patch myself.
Just remember Shackleton's family motto: Fortitudine Vincimus -- through endurance we conquer.
Hang in there. All storms pass.

 

escioe

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 31, 2013
702
4
Car repairs are a drag. And if they salt the roads in your area, it's no surprise you've got frame rot. My auto mechanic pals out here call it 'cancer.' Thankfully they don't salt in Montana, but in Michigan where I grew up, all the cars had rusty rocker panels and doors after 10 years. Here, I see cars from the 80s with little or no rust. All hail the dry climate.
Anyway, fire up a pipe and count your blessings.

 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,093
11,011
Southwest Louisiana
Pip ain't nothing wrong in venting, and you reconigized the important aspect when you said your family was warm and had presents under the tree. You got a good head on you.

 

flmason

Lifer
Oct 8, 2012
1,131
2
My mom has a 1999 Honda Accord. In June I had to have a rebuilt engine installed. The original engine had about 32,000 miles on it. The mechanic said Honda had engine problems in like 3 model years but since no fires resulted or no one died Honda was never required to issue a recall for free repairs.

 

piperl12

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 7, 2012
970
4
@Teddy I bought the car "as is" no warranty just one of those things that got missed in my initial assessment. I got wowed by what good shape the body and the interior were in and it had new rubber and brakes. Didn't put it on a hoist. That all said though I will have about $3700.00 invested in a car that should last at least another 100,000kms and hopefully should carry us through this rough patch. @flmason I checked the recalls and Honda has known about this issue but refuse to recall the cars for it because it happens over time. I always thought these foreign jobs were good cars. I guess we will see in a year or two.

 

rockymtnsmoker

Can't Leave
May 31, 2013
418
3
That is a bummer Piper but you have the right perspective. Count your blessings. I blew up my leg last week - fully ruptured quad tendon - and I'll be laid up for 6 weeks unable to drive, then 2-3 months of rehab. Doc says it'll be good as new eventually, though. Six months from now it'll just be a bad dream. Just about anytime I've had money trouble, it was the same thing. Painful and worrisome, but eventually something disappearing in the rear view. Also, I did the same thing with my first car back in the 80s. Bought the lipstick and didn't even see the pig :oops:

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Here in the US any car that has frame damage has to be listed on the title and you have every right to back out of the deal.I wouldn't go any where near a car with any kind off rame damage. There are too many good deals out there to be massing around with something like that.

 

piperl12

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 7, 2012
970
4
You know I said to my wife, my friends on the forum will get me. They listen, sympathize and then say ok now get on with it and move on. Just the kind of friends a guy needs. Thanks Gents for the ear and the kick in the ass. Every guy should have friends like that. @Harris, unfortunately Canada doesn't have such a law. @Rockymountain sorry to hear about your leg man that sucks. Blew a rotator cuff a few years back in a martial arts tournament healing is a long process but your pipe will help. @Captainsoucie now IRS issues really puts things into perspective man those guys are like piranha.

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
In the equation of doing it right this first time, when the car was manufactured, and cutting corners to increase profit, manufacturers long ago decided for profit. Corporations are like heat-seeking barracudas that will literally do anything for profit. The constant greed not only of business but also the people with capital, is in many cases at least highly disruptive to those against which it is exercised and many more times crushing.
How much would it have cost for the manufacturer to pay a mechanical engineer to find all possible flaws in design that will contribute or cause the consumer from having to shell out an extra $2000.00 for this and an extra $1000.00? How much would it cost to change the manufacturing specs to accommodate changes that are going to save some unlucky joe thousands to fix and that never should have been implemented in the design in the first place?
When I go car shopping I look forward to the time when the salesman says, "You like this car. Great. Now do you want the version this was pushed out the door to bolster corporate profit or do you want the one that they spent time on in the design to eliminate potential problems. The second car will cost you $2000.00 more." I'd take the second car, you betcha, and float the extra $2000.00 in the car loan.
There are so many answers to our financial problems but greed prevents the manufacturers from listening.

 

piperl12

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 7, 2012
970
4
All true Mike, a couple things as points of clarification. I worked in the Automotive industry for many years before leaving it to do something more rewarding. The Auto industry has what is called a DFMEA or Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. It is basically a spreadsheet for a given part of every known failure mode a part can display during its time under warranty. Each "event" is given an RPN number or Risk Priority Number. It is then rated by severity and chance of occurrence. The company that produces the part has a threshold number that the total multiplied number of all the other categories create can not exceed without an action plan for how to design that flaw out of the part. Where everything goes south is these meets are not well attended by all the Engineers, they are dry, boring and long. So most often the part designer is left in a room doing the work himself just to get it done so he can send it to the customer. The other issue is these days cars are designed in Silo's meaning a bunch of companies design different parts and they never meet each other and never speak. IGES CAD files are sent through cyberspace and a young kid right out of school is given the job of meshing it all together. Most often it looks like string art in different colours on screen and you couldn't tell much other than if one part is going to hit another. The chance of knowing an Air conditioning hose is going to drip on a key component is slim and none until it happens and then the car mfg does damage control until the car is out of warranty. So remember that scene in that movie where the guy says 60,000 pounds of high explosives built by the lowest bidder...... Yep that's modern cars.

 

pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
370
Mytown
Pal, I'm sorry to hear your news.
I can sympathize, we just had $1k work done on our only car, and have to have another $1k worth of work done on it soon. It continues to amaze just how much these vehicles can cost to keep on the road. You're darn tootin' that this is the wrong time of year to have to face unnecessary expenses.
This all being said, both the wife and I are employed, our cupboards and fridge are full and our family is coming to ours for Christmas. So I'll take it. Tough with the easy, good with the bad, and I'll unwind with a glass raised towards Huntsville with my next pipe.
You're a helluva guy, I'm cheering for you down here in tropical Toronto.
-- Pat

 

irish

Lifer
Aug 12, 2011
1,121
6
Texas
Piperl12 I hate to hear that for you my friend. I hope it works out for you. Sounds like you have the right attitude and have your head on straight. I recently had a similiar situation. I purchased a car for my kids to learn to drive in and had asked the seller point blank, is there any major problems I need to know about because I plan on putting two children in this car , I even told him It won't change my mind I am buying the car but would like to know. He told me none, zip, nada , good to go. The car is a piece of shit. Beautiful on the outside and inside but mechanically it is a huge pile of junk. The first time the kids drove it the front end fell out of it and they ran off road. I wrote it off as coincidence. Rebuilt the front end, I found several things that had been southern engineered and were definitly not repaired right. I drove the car down to fill it up with gas and as long as it was kept half full or lower it did not leak, but once I filled it up , it leaked severly. Long story short, after having to redo the complete fuel system, front end, ended up having a bad battery drain which required it to be rewired, and finding every little thing on car has been repaired in the cheapest and wrong way, I have spent another 2500 to 3000 dollars to make it safe to drive. But hey my bad , I bought the car, so I have eaten it, but it still makes you sick that people don't volunteer major damage, or at least price accordingly. I feel your pain my friend. Hang in there , have a Merry Christmas and keep your head up. :puffpipe:

 

allan

Lifer
Dec 5, 2012
2,429
7
Bronx, NY
Pat
Really sorry to hear about this, especially this time of year. I'm sure you've this over and over again, but I'll mention it anyway.
Buying a house, car, or any large tech piece of equipment needs a check=out by a competent mechanic. Even in my old days when I was an amateur car mechanic, I still brought the unknown auto to someone who knew more than me to check for things that I would not be aware of. Body damage and structural damage was not my forte. I knew engines.
Again, sorry this happened to you.
Be well.

 
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