WWYD - Vehicle budget buster

[ruadisneyfan2]

I could have written this exact post 3 months ago. Same vehicle, same problems, just a money pit. I was six months from paying it off and finally just had enough. We traded for a Nissan Rogue. I will never own a Dodge again ever! I can not tell you how relieved I am to be rid of that van, even though I have a new payment, I am 100 times happier not dealing with that piece of crap.

This is exactly what dh says about Dodge/Chrysler. He owned 2 or 3 in his lifetime & all had nothing but problems. He's been Ford or Chevy man ever since. He really loved the Durango when it 1st came out but refused to buy one.
Also my sister & bff had Dodge & Chrysler vehicles (1 each) and will never buy one again.
Dh feels so strongly about it, he says if he won one it a contest he would trade it in for another Silverado. lol!

OP, I hope you're able to trade your lemon in and get something reliable. Fwiw, I've had a Toyota Sienna minivan for almost 5 yrs. (2 more payments, yay!!) and still love it. Only 1 minor problem that was covered under warranty. One thing I can't stand is to have an unreliable car. It's funny when you're 17 but I'm too old for that crap now.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I had 2 Caravans (a 2006 and a 2008) and they were BOTH lemons, I will never buy another Dodge. I say trade it in and get something new!

 

[disneysmyhappyplace]

I agree you should get rid of the lemon! We recently traded our '08 Town n' country in for a chevy traverse. Our van was constantly in the shop for various problems, never the same so it did not qualify for the lemon law, but equally frustrating all the same! I decided that I did not feel safe with the warranty expiring! We still had two years of payments left on the van! I did not want to keep it and I did not trust it and felt I would be dumping money into left in right instead of chrysler covering. I felt the increase in payments would be well worth it! By the way love my Traverse! It feels solid and safe and runs and drives a thousand times better than the saltine box (town n' country) I was driving. The last straw with that van was when the transmission starting cluncking when shifting into reverse! That stinking van only had 20,000 miles! I could just imagine how bad it would be in a few years! So happy with our decision! By the way the Chevy dealer ending up giving us great deal on the traverse, we ending up not losing any money from trading the van and our payments went up minimally! Enjoy your new car when you get it! You will not regret it!

 

[nilseks]

Thanks for all the responses! It really does help me feel like we are making the right decision. I feel so weird getting rid of a vehicle that's not paid off, it's like it's ingrained in me that it's a bad economic decision. But continuing to dump money into this van certainly isn't a good option. I am also so pleased to hear so many positive reviews of Kia! Quite honestly it's not a brand I would have even looked at, but I'm so glad our mechanic recommended it.

Going to Carmax today to see what kind of appraisal they will give me for the lemon. Called our insurance agent yesterday and our premium would go up less than $5/month for the Sportage, $3/month for the Sorento. I can live with that!

 

[nilseks]

Had to update on this, because now it's just beyond ridiculous...I thought those of you with similar Dodge horror stories could relate.

On Saturday I took the van to CarMax and got a halfway decent appraisal. Nothing earthshattering, but enough. After that DH and I took the kids to the Kia dealership to put them in both the Sportage and Sorento, see if they were roomy enough, etc (meanwhile I have also looked at the Nissan Rogue and Toyota RAV4 but liked Kia best). As we were driving home from the dealership I was talking to DH about how it just seems wrong/weird to be getting rid of a car that we're still paying on, and I wish I had a crystal ball to know that we are making the right decision. My husband said no magic clue is going to fall into our laps and we should just do it and be done with it. So yesterday I was running errands and it was warm for the first time this year. Went to turn on the a/c...you guessed it...didn't work!!! Worked last time I used it in the fall, doesn't work now. The same exact thing happened 2 years ago and we already sunk $700 into the a/c system at that time. Looks like we didn't need the crystal ball, and the clue did in fact fall right into our laps. Unbelievable! This thing truly is a lemon.

I'm 99% sure I want to go with the Sorento. Have to hammer out a deal with the Kia dealer this week, before my Carmax offer expires!

 

[angierae]

If you are paying more than $1200 a year in repairs (the amount extra the Kia will cost you) then by all means, trade it in!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Had to update on this, because now it's just beyond ridiculous...I thought those of you with similar Dodge horror stories could relate.

On Saturday I took the van to CarMax and got a halfway decent appraisal. Nothing earthshattering, but enough. After that DH and I took the kids to the Kia dealership to put them in both the Sportage and Sorento, see if they were roomy enough, etc (meanwhile I have also looked at the Nissan Rogue and Toyota RAV4 but liked Kia best). As we were driving home from the dealership I was talking to DH about how it just seems wrong/weird to be getting rid of a car that we're still paying on, and I wish I had a crystal ball to know that we are making the right decision. My husband said no magic clue is going to fall into our laps and we should just do it and be done with it. So yesterday I was running errands and it was warm for the first time this year. Went to turn on the a/c...you guessed it...didn't work!!! Worked last time I used it in the fall, doesn't work now. The same exact thing happened 2 years ago and we already sunk $700 into the a/c system at that time. Looks like we didn't need the crystal ball, and the clue did in fact fall right into our laps. Unbelievable! This thing truly is a lemon.

I'm 99% sure I want to go with the Sorento. Have to hammer out a deal with the Kia dealer this week, before my Carmax offer expires!

Oh my! This would be my "when push comes to shove" moment.
Best wishes getting a good deal for your new Kia!

 

[nilseks]

Update: the van is gone, yay! Yesterday we purchased a 2011 Kia Sorento. I really love it, and it's such a relief not to have impending car repairs hanging over my head. We ended up a *tiny* bit upside down on the van loan, but it was worth it. We got them to within 250 of paying it off, but in our state you get a tax credit if you trade to the dealer where you are buying, so really it was like we were $10 in the hole after the tax credit. I can live with that. And our insurance only went up $3 month!

 

[cmwade77]

Congratulations, I definitely like not having to worry about car repairs for a while. And to end up only $10 in the hole is pretty good.

I wonder what the logic of the tax credit is, that seems odd to me. If only there was a tax credit here if your car was totaled by a drunk driver, oh well, at least our insurance covered it and are going after his insurance and/or him directly.

 

[nilseks]

Yeah, I don't understand the logic of the tax credit. We just moved to WI a few years ago and there are lots of things here that I don't understand. But if you sell your car outright, like to a private buyer or to Carmax without buying something from them, you have to pay taxes on it. When you trade it to a dealer, there's no tax. Weird. We were also a little taken aback b/c they asked us for the title as we were trading the car. We looked at them funny and said we didn't have the title b/c we were still paying on it. They told us in WI you get the title even if you haven't paid off the loan. That is certainly not how they do it in IL. We had never received the title--I'm 100% sure of that--so we had to pay an extra $25 to get a copy of it. Oh well, small price to pay for peace of mind and no more headaches.

 

[cmwade77]

How strange, we don't get the title in California until the car is paid off either. We do get registration, which we can use the back of to sign it over to someone else (the original party is still responsible for the loan though, but the vehicle will have a lein on it until it is paid off, unless paperwork to the contrary is done)