sigh..because i REALLY needed this stress right now..

xok85xo · #1 08-13-2002, 09:22 AM

So..as of most of you should know by now..i'm scheduled to move this coming sunday to NJ from NM..so yeah, thats 5 days from today..well a week ago I had my car serviced, had them check everything (supposedly) to make sure it wasn't going to break down in the middle of indiana or something, well my car came back clean bill of health no problems at all..good, great, grand wonderful..well..

fast forward a week later

sunday i was driving home to santa fe from my friend's house in albuquerque (about 60 miles) and i'm about 15 miles from home, when my "service engine soon" light comes on so i'm like f*ck..okay..so i pulled over, whipped out my handy owners manual looked it up, and it said itwas okay to keep driving..just get it to be looked at as soon as i can..okay, so i turned my car back on..the light didn't come back on so again..great, grand wonderful..i continued on my way

about a mile from the exit for my house the low coolant/overheated transaxle fluid/overheated coolant light comes on(this light had actually come on once before, and i told them about it when i took my car in to be serviced and they told me they couldn't =find a reason for it to come on) so again, i pulled over..turned my car off for a minute, let it cool down..turned my car back on and the light went away again..
so i'm thinking great, the light turned off it can't be anything TOO serious right? But still, i'm concerned so I call my friend at the dealership yesterday morning to get my car serviced, he tells me he can fit me in at 2:30..
So i bring my car in, thinking it can't be anything too serious, if it was the lights probably would have stayed on i would figure..but what do i know? i don't know a thing about cars..

so i'm sitting there waiting for my friend to come and pick me up..when my friend the service guy comes over to me..like a doctor who has to tell his patient's family that he's lost them..he tells me it's not good..basically there is something wrong w/my transmission and essentially my car is not worth what it will cost them to fix

so last night i was trying to get approved for a new car at saturn, was approved for a car w/my mom cosigning but they wanted more $$ down then i could give them, and quite frankly i didn't want the car that badly(call me prissy, but it didn;t have the options i wanted) he sent back my application for a higher interest rate to see what the bank said, but by 6:00 we hadn't heard from them and i knew we probably wouldn't..so today i have to go over to a used car dealership (that had a slightly used civic that i LOVED in my pricerange) and try and get approved for credit there..i'm pretty hopeful because the only reason my friend was not appoved was b/c she didn't have a fulltime job, and couldn't get a cosigner..i have a full time job(well, until thursday) and i have a cosigner..so please pray for me people..cuz if i don't get approved at this place i really don't know what i'm going to do..i know the only thing thatwill be hurting me here is that as of thursday i am unemployed..and i don't know if my boss will say that when they call for employment verification..
has anyone else ever been in this situation? having less than perfect credit but needing to buy a car in a very short amount of time?
any kind words and support would be so appreciated right now..i've been on the verge of a breakdown since i found out..i don't know whether to laugh or to cry..i really didn't need this right now

thanks for listening everyone!

SigmaChiCard · #2 08-13-2002, 10:30 AM

xok85xo...

would it make you feel at all better were I to say I still love you?

DeeGeePee · #3 08-13-2002, 10:34 AM

At least you are blessed enough to HAVE a car and someone who is willing to co-sign for you. Some are not that fortunate.

aephi alum · #4 08-13-2002, 10:46 AM

Never rains but it pours!

I'm sorry your car died.

I have had to buy a car in a hurry. You're lucky in that a lot of dealerships start offering 0% financing and other good deals around Aug/Sept to get rid of cars of the current model year and make room for the new year's cars.

Hit every dealership you can. Most towns have a street somewhere that's just dealership after dealership... just take a few hours and visit them all... don't limit yourself to Saturn.

See if they'll take your current car as a trade-in - though if it's in such bad shape, you may only get a little $ for it. Since it needs major repairs, I doubt you'd be able to sell it privately.

If you do want to buy a used car, check its history.

Good luck!

valkyrie · #5 08-13-2002, 10:55 AM

I don't know if you have time for this, but could you go to your bank or credit union and get a loan, and then find a car that is being sold by its owner? I'm not meaning to diss used car dealerships, but they're not always known for being honest and giving really good deals.

I don't know a lot about NJ, so I don't know if you will absolutely need a car right away where you're going to be living. If you absolutely can't find anything now (although hopefully that won't happen) could you just rent a car for the move and then look for one later, after you have a job?

I hope everything works out for you. I understand both car problems and a lack of money, so I'm right there with you. It sucks, and it's very stressful to have to deal with stuff like this that comes up unexpectedly. Good luck, and keep us posted!

DWAlphaGam · #6 08-13-2002, 11:40 AM

Wow, that sucks.

I hope things turn out ok!

I got a Saturn 6 months ago and had no problems with them. I got my car within 5 days, and the most trouble I had was finding an insurance policy to start on the day that I got my car. You might want to call the guy and see what the deal is because they're supposed to be really customer-friendly.

Civics are really good cars, too. You might want to ask the dealership if it was affected by the recall they just announced to make sure that was taken care of. I think it affected '97-'00 Civics.

Anyway, good luck with everything!

GreekLetterGirl · #7 08-13-2002, 01:29 PM

I hope everything works out ok. Car problems are never fun. Best of luck to you with this and the move!!! Hope you get the civic, I drive one along with a CRV and LOVE LOVE LOVE my Honda!!!

dzsaigirl · #8 08-13-2002, 02:09 PM

Can you move without your car? If you were going to use your car to trasport stuff, obviously you can't, but from experience, moving that far by car SUCKS majorly. If there is any way that you can ship your stuff and fly, just do that. And then you can buy a car later.

Also, how could something go THAT wrong so fast? I would be asking whoever gave you that "clean bill of health" what the hell they were thinking!!!

I am really sorry this happened!

I drive a Civic and it is awesome. I hope you get it.

xok85xo · #9 08-13-2002, 03:59 PM

thanks everyone for your support/kind words..i really needed it

basically, i'm a major stress monger, and i'm very neurotic and pessemistic most of the time..so despite the fact that all my friends and my mom told me how everything would be okay, i refused to believe it until i knew for a fact that it would be..

that being said..i did get a new car today..i got a 99 civic ex..silver, fully loaded, sun roof, cd player, automatic/power everything..she is basically what i would have gotten even under different circumstances..i love her! while it sucks that this had to happen now(i was planning on getting a new car by the end of the year..but i didn't want to have to worry about car payments until i had a job out there) but everything happens for a reason..and everything does have a way of working itself out in the end..but it still makes me sad to have to put my baby to sleep(my other car was my first car that was all mine)..

but, now i have to go clean out my old car because my parents will be here in about an hour to go sign the paperwork for my new car..again..thanks everyone!!

ps - yes cory..it definately would help if you told me you loved me

pps - deegeepee - was it really necessary to say that? i think it was pretty bitchy, rude & uncalled for

DWAlphaGam · #10 08-13-2002, 04:12 PM

Congratulations! I'm glad it worked out for you.

Tom Earp · #11 08-13-2002, 05:29 PM

At least ya got a good car! Change the oil every 3000 miles!

NM To NJ are you friggin Nuts!

Damn gods country to god forsaken country!

Remember, Shit runs down hill and sometimes you are on the bottom of the food chain!

When it looks like it could get worse, it will!

Park your butt at the side of the road cry a little and get back into the H car an go baby go!!!!!!

Tomarrow brings a new day!

Keep us informed on your travels!

DWAlphaGam · #12 08-13-2002, 10:26 PM

Hey Tom, there's nothing wrong with New Jersey!

So, which part of Jersey are you moving to? NY suburbs or Philly suburbs? (That's pretty much all of NJ.)

aggieAXO · #13 08-14-2002, 12:08 AM

Just something to think about-you may want to donate your old car to a non-profit organization for a tax write off-you can then place a value on it (within reason of course!-or at least within reason by govt standards

). Trading it in or even hauling it off to a junkyard-you will not get much for it if anything.

SATX*APhi · #14 08-14-2002, 02:47 AM

While in HS I had my own GMC Sienna pick-up, extended cab, very nice. Things happened my freshman year of college, when I was 19, and I ended up w/o a vehicle, so after having my own vehicle while in HS, I was rather upset about having to rely on other people to take me places. Well....

On a Sunday afternoon, I looked in the newspaper, saw what specials there were on brand new cars (I wanted something I knew would last me a good while) then went to look at them. I decided on one that was about $11,500 and went to the dealership first thing Monday morning. They ran my credit and told me that althought I had good credit, I didn't have enough; I needed a co-signer. Of course my parents were furious that I was trying to get a vehicle; they said I didn't need that kind of responsibility, yada yada. Well, I call my grandpa up, explain to him what was going on and he told me that he would co-sign. We went into the dealership the next day. Of my $1,000 or so of TTL, I only paid $300 (that's all I could afford). The other $700 was financed with the amount of my car.

I do not know how I did it, or why they decided to allow me to do it that way, but it was done. Things really worked out for me. I really wanted the car, they really wanted to sell it to me, so tada! I was the owner of a brand new car!

I know you are somewhat in a hurry to get a new car, but keep in mind that this is *YOUR* car that will take you everywhere you need to go until you get another vehicle. The main reason I wanted a brand new car was for the warranty. I go to school a few hours away from where I live, so I knew if anything happened to my car while at school, I wouldn't be able to borrow a family member's vehicle right then and there. If something broke, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to throw out however much I needed in order to have it fixed. I bought a Hyundai, which has a 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain protection, as well has a 5 year/60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper coverage. Hyundai is SUPPOSED to have the best warranty in America.

Hope I was able to help you some! Look at the bright side, you are able to get a new vehicle that you will be able to rely on.

Best of luck!

Oh yea, I forgot! Hyundai also has a 5 year/Unlimited miles 24 hour roadside assitance, which covers towing (including accident-related), lock-out, flat tire and jump starting. **This comes in handy when you are somewhere where you know nobody who can help you. Just call them up and it's FREE!!**

*****APPARENTLY I DIDN'T READ THE ENTIRE POST!!! CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!*****

DeeGeePee · #15 08-14-2002, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by xok85xo
pps - deegeepee - was it really necessary to say that? i think it was pretty bitchy, rude & uncalled for

I'm sorry if my message was misconstrued, I was in now way shape or form trying to be "bitchy" or "rude". I was showing you the brighter side of the situation. At least you were able to get a new car, even if it did come with a minor drama. Some people can't do that, so you should consider yourself blessed. Plus you HAVE A NEW CAR!!!!!! You can't be too upset about that. Now you shouldn't have anymore problems anytime soon!!!! I wasn't trying to be rude.