I'm very, very sad about trading my car in and need a hug

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Gosh, I just wrote a bit ol’ long screed on this then it disappeared into the ether(net).

My 12 year-old Nissan Xterra is suffering, probably to the tune of $1500-2000; I spent $1800 on her last year and she only has 124k on her, but both my brothers had the same SUV and lost them around the same mileage. My girl’s compressor has gone out (second time in 18 months), there are very ominous noises happening, leaks, skreeks, etc . . . one bro says the same symptoms happened with his Xterra shortly before the master cylinder and transmission went.

I went to a dealership today and spent quality time with a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee; she has all the bells and whistles, but I can afford her. Oddly enough, my brothers who had the same Nissans also now drive G. Cherokees and love them.

I’m close to making a purchase deal, but am truly upset at the low trade-in price they’re offering for my Xterra. I know she’s headed from being “Fair” to “Poor” (Kelley BB), but my heart hurts to let her go so cheaply. OTOH, I can’t keep pouring money into her and I don’t want to sell her myself.

This SUV has saved my life twice in bad crashes (neither accident my fault and she’s had $19,000 in bodywork done throughout her life!) I know I’m a big old dork to sit here crying about a car at 1am in the morning :frowning:

Car hugs/advices welcome. Sniff

2

I’m sorry you’re feeling sad. You’ve got a lot of mileage on your car, and have good memories of all the things you’ve done together. Plus, it protected you. People used to feel bad about their horses, so why not cars?

Go ahead and grieve a little. Maybe take a floor mat or something for memory. And I hope your new car serves you as well as the old one did.

3

A few years ago, I sold my Aerostar with a bit over 230K miles. We’d bought it new and most of the miles on it were mine, and I really, really liked that vehicle. But, like yours, mine was showing its age and every time I drove it, I worried that it would be the day it’d die on the side of the road.

I gotta tell ya, the sheer relief of driving a newer and more reliable vehicle went a long way to making me forget my old faithful. While I was sorry I hadn’t been able to take it to the quarter-million mile mark, that disappointment dwarfed against the knowledge that I no longer needed to worry about the transmission dying or the numerous creaks and rattles or the fact that the a/c was long dead and not worth replacing.

Remember the good times and enjoy the peace of mind!

4

Dealers always fuck you on trade in. You absolutely could get more money for your car, if you wanted to go through the effort of selling it. Dealers sell you convenience, not a good trade in value (obviously - they have to make a profit on the car they take in trade)

Told this story before, but years ago I had a Mazda 626 LX, 13 years old but 110 on the clock – dealer offered me $200. I said, “are you high?” and left. I sold it, from a newspaper listing, in 24 hours, for $1000 cash, and the ad included the words “needs muffler.”

5

Sigh. I understand. I still miss my big old dorky van and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over my 1993 Camry. Faithful friends who transported me and the children through thick and thin.

6

And I’m moving this to MPSIMS from IMHO.

7

So far my car has been an angel, all I’ve spent on its maintenance has been the yearly checkups, the bi-yearly legally-required checkups, one set of new tires and a set of replacement wipers. I’m in the process of saving for when it decides to break down spectacularly…

8

Man, just thinking about getting rid of my car makes me sad sometimes. If my employment situation ever sorts itself out, the plan is to buy a new car soonish, but at the same time I know that when I walk away from the current one I’ll be in tears as well.

I got this car when I was 17. I’m turning 31 in a few weeks. It had just come off a 2 year lease.
My first purchase with the car was a tank of gas. The second was a CD player (Pioneer, $321) to replace the crappy tape deck. The third purchase was a pair of speakers (demo model, $140) to replace the crappy factory installed ones that disintegrated under the weight of Nine Inch Nails.

I moved to another province when I was 19, and took the car with me. I commuted to school with it, which allowed me to live with my boyfriend. He is now my husband. I met him in college (in our home province), and got to know him by offering him rides home from school. I flat-out wouldn’t be with my husband today without that car (or a car, at least!)

It got me through my first university degree.
I commuted to my first job - 56km each way - for a couple of years.
I moved back to my home province, and commuted to work for a year and since then it has helped me get through my second university degree.
That car has been called up for emergency drives to various places, racking up the mileage to assist friends and family at various points in their lives. That car brought my dying cat to the vet, in an attempt to help her…at least we could ease her pain.
That car drove us 1500km round trip to surprise my mother for her 50th birthday. It got me to my wedding, and then to the airport for my honeymoon (my brother kept it for the week). To my sister’s wedding, to the airport for my best friend’s wedding, to my friend’s house to celebrate her 10 years in remission…and this summer likely to her house again, to celebrate 15 years. It got me to my home town in time to say goodbye to my grandmother when she died.

323 000 km (200 000 miles) and counting on a rusty, cracked-windshield, engine-light-on-for-two-years, no air conditioning, no clock, dusty and scraped up 1996 Toyota Tercel. I’ve changed the timing belt twice, had to replace the windshield wiper motor, and had to fix a wheel that I banged on the curb thanks to black ice, but otherwise the car hasn’t cost me all that much in unscheduled (or even scheduled) maintenance. It doesn’t burn oil and still has pretty good gas mileage.

I start to think about what other car I want, and I keep thinking that I want the same car: reliable, practical, cheap to own and operate… but with air conditioning. I don’t even care if there isn’t a clock! They don’t make Tercels anymore, so I’ll have to get something else one day, but I can’t believe that any car, anywhere, could be better than this one.

When the time comes, I’ll likely use this program. But I’ll still be crying! :slight_smile:

9

I’m also buying a new car, or rather, have signed for one already. It’s coming over from Japan. I am happy to trade in my old car, though. I haven’t loved a car since my first one, and I already love this new one coming in…the rest have all been hand-me-downs.

I also didn’t get a wonderful deal on the trade-in, but it was worth it not to have to deal with selling it on my own.

10

Not an “old car” story, but I still get sad about the 2008 Mazda RX-8 that I had to trade in last year because it would randomly stall at highway speeds and Mazda couldn’t figure out the problem. Except for that tiny reliability issue, though, I freaking loved that car, and I miss it whenever I see another '8. There were still two months left on the original warranty when I had to get rid of it. :frowning:

11

Reading this thread is like a glimpse into my future.

I’ve only had Ghost for two weeks now, the first car I’ve ever owned. I love it and hope to spend a lot more time with it, (although it needs a new stereo ASAP!) but someday, the time will come…

12

Avoid that Jeep like the Clap.

Sell your Nissan on your own. You’ll get 3-4x what the dealer will screw you for. Actually, I’d shit-can the compressor and drive it another 100k. Our Nissan has 260k and is a dream to drive/work on/maintain. One of the best thought-out vehicles I’ve ever seen.

No hugs, sorry.

13

Hard truth, the dealer will always offer as little as possible for your trade-in, and practically nothing if it has over 100k miles on it.

Do you have a Carmax near you? They’ll give you a written offer that’s good for (I think) a week. In my experience, they’ll offer close to KBB value, possibly even more.I’ve been pleasantly surprised a time or two.
Then go back to the dealer and finalize the cost of your new ride before discussing the trade-in. When that’s done, simply show them the Carmax offer and say “Can you match this?” If yes, great. If no, sell to Carmax.

14

I agree, Grand Cherokees are terrible. Poor reliability, poor gas mileage, and terrible resale value.

Keep the Nissan, disable the AC. You still need a mechanic for this, but it should be a much cheaper fix. Before you do anything, you should have a mechanic go over the vehicle completely, so you’ll know what those ominous noises are.

15

((hugs))

I know how you feel. I used to have a 2001 Dodge Neon which I loved to death. That car was my baby. 6 mos after I finished paying it off, I was driving Slim to preschool and an idiot teenager blew a stop sign, hitting my car so hard I did a 360. Because of the age (the car was close to 8 years old at that point) and the damage done to it (the driver’s side back quarter panel was totally trashed) the ins. company decided to just call it totalled.

Since then, I’ve been driving a 2001 PT Cruiser, affectionately known as The Love Child. The Love Child and I do not have the same relationship the Neon and I did. Love Child hates me…she’s constantly doing things to irritate me and the last straw was when the handle on the inside of the rear passenger door just BROKE for no good reason. I could put up with a lot from her–wire sticking out of the little pouch thing on the back of my seat, ignition being so effed up the keys fall out at random, even the fact that when I back out of the driveway (it’s on a hill) the car sort of stalls on me and refuses to go forward unless I really mash the gas pedal and it sort of makes a fart noise before accelerating. But this…this I cannot take. The broken door handle was the LAST straw. As soon as I can afford to trade it in, I’m going to.

Stupid car. >_<

16

Just a couple of months ago, I got rid of a car that had served me for 15 years. It was hard to let it go, but it had really become a money sink. I kept it for about a month even after I had bought its replacement; I can be resistant to change (and I liked being able to fancy myself, however temporarily, as a two-car guy). Even now, I have trouble remembering that the controls in my new car for the windows and the windshield wipers trigger in the opposite directions than my old car.

17

While I was aware of both facts separately, it just hit me that I’ve had my car longer than I’ve been on the Dope.

Weird.

18

So off the top of your head what is the value of an Xterra with
124,000+ miles
2 Major accidents
Bad A/C compressor
And other undiagnosed faults (read the OP again)
So what do you think its fair market value is? $500? Or do you think you might squeeze $750 out of it?
The vehicle as described is a POS and not worth very much at all.

19

Well, top-o’-the-head,* not exactly*. It so happens we’ve been looking for a newer Nissan truck and I’m kind of familiar what they are going for.

Now, I’ll admit I didn’t consider the “2 Major Accidents” (were they in the OP or down-thread?), but the A/C is a simple fix (even an easier by-pass) and the rest of the “faults” seem anticdotal (for someone who drives old junkers and can keep them running forever).

All the XTerras I’ve seen in that age/milage range are going for $4-6k.

Top-o’-the-head, kinda, without actually seeing Jennshark’s Nissan, or knowing what the dealer offered her. If its running, I’ll be willing to bet its fair market value is* far *more than $750.

And remember, stay away from that Jeep!

20

Went back for a re-read. “Leaks, shrieks and ominous noises” mean next to nothing. Cars make noises. Doesn’t mean they won’t go for another 100k, especially a Nissan. $19k in body damage? Not impressed, but I would want to make sure the frame isn’t FUBAR. Remember, to fix a simple rear-ender with busted tail-lights will run into the thousands. If the airbags didn’t deploy, it wasn’t totalled. Never know Nissans to have rust issues, but I don’t know where Jennshark lives. I’m assuming little or none.

I stand by the “top-o’-the-header”. :smiley:

Point is: don’t let a dealer put the screw to you. If the dealer offers you $500, you could drive it to the junkyard and get more than that!