Humor Random Comments Thread

[Urwumpe]

EDIT: $550 for the alternator replacement. Damn.

On an old VW, it would likely have been enough to replace the graphite brushes...

 

[Thunder Chicken]

On an old VW, it would likely have been enough to replace the graphite brushes...

This alternator was all burned up anyway. Rebuilds aren't much cheaper than getting OEM anyway, just because. Everything in SE Mass. is expensive.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

My car, a 2005 Honda Civic, has 280,000 miles on it. If I were on a free return trajectory to the moon I'd be on my way home now.

All in all I can't complain.

EDIT: $550 for the alternator replacement. Damn.

Huh. In three years or so, check the output voltage. My '90 Civic tends to go into an overvolt failure... Wonder if that is still an issue.

 

[Urwumpe]

This alternator was all burned up anyway. Rebuilds aren't much cheaper than getting OEM anyway, just because. Everything in SE Mass. is expensive.

Yes, but in my case, as young apprentice back then, it was the difference between 600 DM for a new alternator (for a 1800 DM used car) and 120 DM for getting the brushes replaced.

 

[C3PO]

Yes, but in my case, as young apprentice back then, it was the difference between 600 DM for a new alternator (for a 1800 DM used car) and 120 DM for getting the brushes replaced.

:thumbup:
Old cars only make economical sense if you can do at least some of the repairs yourself. This evening I'm going to help a friend replace a broken hydraulic pipe on his van. Hydraulic clutches are still not that common. I guess cables are cheaper.

 

[Athena]

With all the car talk going around, i'm about to get my driver's license and i'm deciding on what car should I buy...

 

[n122vu]

I miss my '95 Cavalier. That thing got 38 mpg once driving 260 miles at 80 mph on the interstate in the dead July heat of summer, loaded down with myself, my ex-wife, and my ex-mother-in-law and our luggage, with the AC cranked and cruise control on most of the way. I was planning to literally drive it until the wheels came off. It had 253,000 miles on it in 2005 when I rear-ended someone on the way home from class one night. Barely hit them, did almost no damage to their car, but bent a 1-inch section of the frame right above the radiator back 1/8 of an inch. Bent frame = totalled. Insurance company seized it, declared it totalled, said I could buy it back for $795 with a salvage title. I foolishly said no thanks.

 

[Urwumpe]

:thumbup:
Old cars only make economical sense if you can do at least some of the repairs yourself. This evening I'm going to help a friend replace a broken hydraulic pipe on his van. Hydraulic clutches are still not that common. I guess cables are cheaper.

Exactly. I was able to fix a lot of small stuff on my old Polo, but the Golf IV was already beyond my toolbox. And with the new Polo, I now have a nightmare of pipes and cables under the hood.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

:thumbup:
Old cars only make economical sense if you can do at least some of the repairs yourself.

Not necessarily, but it helps. The insurance on my car is dirt cheap because of its age. Even with the recent big ticket repairs, the annualized cost is still many hundreds of dollars less than a year's worth of payments for a new car, assuming I can keep it going for just another year or so. I expect the head gasket and the new alternator to be good for the remaining life of the vehicle.

I figure that eventually the engine will wear out, and maybe the transmission. If I need to rebuild either to keep the car rolling, it's time to scrap it.

Brakes, etc.. are part of routine maintenance for a car (you have to maintain the brakes periodically, whether at 70k miles or 270k miles, new-ish car or old) and so that stuff doesn't enter to the cost/benefit analysis for me. It's the cost of car ownership, filed in the same category as gas and fluid changes.

 

[Artlav]

Insurance company seized it, declared it totalled, said I could buy it back for $795 with a salvage title. I foolishly said no thanks.

WTF?
How does that supposed to work?
Since when an insurance company can claim someone's property?

Or was it to pay for the other car's damage?

 

[mojoey]

I miss my '95 Cavalier. That thing got 38 mpg once driving 260 miles at 80 mph on the interstate in the dead July heat of summer, loaded down with myself, my ex-wife, and my ex-mother-in-law and our luggage

ex-mother-in-law

dead July heat of summer

My dearest sympathies for putting up with that.

 

[Urwumpe]

WTF?
How does that supposed to work?
Since when an insurance company can claim someone's property?

Or was it to pay for the other car's damage?

I have no idea how that works in the USA.

I know that economic total loss means in Germany, that the insurance only pays the cost to buy a similar car, and not the costs needed to repair the car. But you keep on owning it and can try selling it.

 

[jedidia]

I know that economic total loss means in Germany, that the insurance only pays the cost to buy a similar car, and not the costs needed to repair the car. But you keep on owning it and can try selling it.

Maybe they had to pay for the recovery? No idea, insurance companies claiming salvage sounds very confusing to me too...

 

[n122vu]

WTF?
How does that supposed to work?
Since when an insurance company can claim someone's property?

Or was it to pay for the other car's damage?

Basically if the car is deemed by an insurance adjuster as 'totaled,' the insurance company will give you a sum related to its current value to replace it, but they assume ownership of the old vehicle. It then has what is known as a salvage title. In some situations the insurance may offer to sell the vehicle back to you (a scam if you ask me). It can be registered for a license plate and insured, but they will charge you out the because it has a salvage title.

One blanket qualification for being declared totaled is if the frame is bent, because a bent frame typically compromises the drivability of the car and cannot be repaired such that the car will be safe to drive. In most situations, this refers to a serious collision where a corner or large portion of the frame is involved. However, apparently it applies to any portion of the frame.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

With all the car talk going around, i'm about to get my driver's license and i'm deciding on what car should I buy...

I'd recommend a basic used car - I am not sure where you are so I can't suggest anything more specific than that.

Don't blow a lot of money on your first car. You'll learn a lot about how to maintain the car properly (sometimes by seeing the consequences of failing to maintain the car properly).

 

[mojoey]

Might I suggest a sturdy Reliant Robin?

They're so well built, they've been sent to space.

 

[Athena]

I'd recommend a basic used car - I am not sure where you are so I can't suggest anything more specific than that.

Philippines - I'm pretty sure I won't be getting even one of the less-fancy cars from Volkswagen or something, it'll most likely be something from Toyota.

 

[mojoey]

Philippines - I'm pretty sure I won't be getting even one of the less-fancy cars from Volkswagen or something, it'll most likely be something from Toyota.

Toyota Hilux. They are near indestructible.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Philippines - I'm pretty sure I won't be getting even one of the less-fancy cars from Volkswagen or something, it'll most likely be something from Toyota.

My wife drives a 2004 Toyota Corolla. It's a pretty good car. I don't if that applies to more recent model years, but they seem to work.

 

[Linguofreak]

My car, a 2005 Honda Civic, has 280,000 miles on it. If I were on a free return trajectory to the moon I'd be on my way home now.

If your Civic had been launched out of the factory onto a free return trajectory to the moon, it would have (actually, would have had) zero miles on it. If you were in the car, your vacuum-dried corpse would have been incinerated a decade ago, along with the car, when it reentered the atmosphere about six days after launch.

:shifty:

Did I take that analogy too far?

Anyways, be grateful you are not on a lunar free return trajectory in a Honda Civic.

:leaving: