Belt Auction

1988 Honda Accord Keep or Scrap or Small Claims Court?

I bought an 88 Accord for $2062 and it quit running the next morning. Ended up rebuilding the carburetor, new starter, & having multiple tune-ups because of stalling & starting issues. Then my hood was shooting out white smoke, I had no oil or water & it's been 700 miles since my last oil change. The temp. gague reads fine. I filled the water and the oil. Today the reserve was boiling and spitting out water & a worker at Penzoil told me it was overheating and my thermostat was broken. Went to Advanced Discount Auto-parts filled my radiator with water & air was bubbling back out & they said it was probably a blown headgasket. I've already put $2,700 into this car estimates are already $1,000 just on the headgasket not even knowing the whole extent of the damage. I want to get as much money as possible back from this. The salesman told me the car was running fine and pitched in $100 for the "suddenly broken" carburetor. I signed an as is warranty & driven the car for two months. 147,000 miles Looks great inside and out 37 miles to the gallon

Public Comments

1. If it were me, I'd bail out. I can't ethically tell you to burn it in a remote field. Look into the small-claims route. You might get at least half. Hope you got all this documented.
2. You will have no success in court. Caveat Emptor is the cry! Only you can answer whether to repair or sell. I would sell "as is". A scrap dealer may give you 50 bucks. A person capable of repairing it may give you 500 or more. You can go here;http://car-part.com/ and get another engine.
3. You dont have a case...you signed an as-is warranty. meaning if you went just off the lot and the car exploded you just ate it. plus, very few mechanics deal with a machoney carb. plus if you did fix the head you aren't guaranteed the botom end wont go out. it does happen when you put a tight to spec head on a loose bottom end. get it to run well enough to sell it to the next oblivious buyer as fast a you can.
4. Check your state laws on this. Many states have laws protecting the buyer for 30 days regardless of whether or not it has an "As Is No Warranty" sticker on the window. Dealers know that people generally take that at face value and won't pursue if there is a problem. That's why they put those stickers on the window. Still if your state has a law protecting you, it supercedes their "As Is No Warranty." Look into it. You might be surprised. Update: I agree with Brandon M. Spend the money if you like the car enough. Getting your money's worth isn't determined by the cost of the car but by if you will drive it enough to justify the spending the money. We buy cars to drive; not worry about how much it's worth; Unless the car is a high end limited production car that is or will appreciate, your car depreciates. Any car that depreciates in value is a money pit. If you bail out, do your homework even more next time. There's nothing wrong with an older car. Many last longer than most newer ones. Get that car on a diagnostic and find out what it needs. Then ask yuorself if you want to spend the money. Before you do that, find an honest mechanic (an independent one with a small shop preferred) who will treat you right.
5. Ok, to be perfectly honest it's all personal preference. Do you want to put another 1000 bucks into it? This is money you will likely never see again out of a car that age. I drive a 1986 Honda civic Si and I have put quite a bit of money into it and thats fine by me because I personally like the car and don't mind putting the money into it. It also helps that i work at a shop, and do all the work myself. There are certain cars that the general public shouldn't own because the age/mileage/condition makes them money pits, and you may have one on your hands. As far as the small claims court thing goes, good luck with that one it is a hard road because used cars are sold as is so it ends up being on you to get it checked out before purchasing it. Also there is no telling what will be found after they pull the head to replace the headgasket, so you are in between a rock and a hard place. Me personally I'm more of a "I've done this much might as well... " type of person, but I know how it feels to throw money into a car. The starting and stalling issue is likely just the ills of carburetor + age. On a side note PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop taking your car to these big name chains. There are a couple of good ones out there but find yourself a good HONEST mechanic that you always use. Check for complaints with the BBB and ask around... there are plenty of good honest shops out there. I have worked at the big name shops and it's all sales driven.
6. Your " as is " basically shows you the way to the scrap yard , unless you want to keep it and invest in a black hole .Sorry.