Do people take care of their cars anymore?

LR Max

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Location
Atlanta, GA
So I'm trying to buy a new (new to me!) car and have been mainly looking at private sellers. I've looked at three cars and all were GIANT POS machines. My god the dipshit didn't even take the time to get all his crap outta the car, let alone clean it.

Every car has obviously not been cleaned in over a year (I know what this looks like b/c my boss's truck hasn't been cleaned in a year) and then they've all got something unusual wrong under the hood. Yet each car, "Runs strong and is in perfect working condition because my mechanic checked it out." Well your mechanic forgot to look at the dash at the check engine light and your brakes feel like they are about to fall apart.

I regularly washed my car and if the interior needs it, vacuum, bust out the armor all wipes and clean windows. Once a month throw some wax on it.

So is taking care of a car a thing of the past?

Gonna go look at one more tomorrow, already know it has a salvage title. Maybe at least I'll know the paint is good :lol:.
 
you can take care of crap. most cars today are disposable pieces of junk. you wont find anything were driving today around in 40 years. the era of the classic car ended. there wont be any classics for our grandkids to collect and restore.
 
BigRedB2 said:
you can take care of crap. most cars today are disposable pieces of junk. you wont find anything were driving today around in 40 years. the era of the classic car ended. there wont be any classics for our grandkids to collect and restore.
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They are disposable next time out just look around either new or old rides, hardly no in between they've been crushed. The only thing in common is the driver on cell phone!
 
I keep the maintenance up on mine, as long as funds are there. As far as cleaning it out, not too big on that part. Kinda got out of that habit back in the younger days when I was getting ready for a date.
 
I try and clean the inside and wash mine at least once a month, the Trans Am sometimes more. I wait till the inside gets so bad my son has trouble fitting in the back before I clean it though.

But seriously, if you are selling a car you need to clean that shit out! When I bought my truck I had peopel sending me pictures of their trucks with mud on them and McDonalds trash on the interior. WTF, mate?
 
You can polish a turd, but it is still a turd.
Once we had our kid, I quit cleaning the car as often, but I keep up with maintenance because I don't want my wife and daughter to be stranded.
 
I try to keep the maintenance up on my jeep just because I have three kids to worry about now (step dad). As a matter of fact I just dropped 300 smackers on pads, rotors, and oil change. It would have been cheaper to do it myself but I live in a townhouse and they frown upon that sort of thing. There are times that things get looked over just because I have other bills to pay as well. Plus people are pretty lazy in this day and age which accounts to them not wanting to clean their cars when trying to sell them.
 
Based on what I see at my shop on a daily basis...I'd say no. It's even worse in a shitty economy, we used to do a lot of service work, now I repair stuff that just won't work anymore. Hale to the check engine light , my savior, my bread and butter. It scares the hell out of people and they can't get the car inspected unitl it's off! Thank you ,tree hugging, enviromental, liberals for keeping us all safe and ours cars operating properly!
 
Yes and No.

My DD which I bought new in 1998 gets dirty. It stays somewhat dirty (I clean out the interior 4 times a year or so and wash it once or twice a year). It stays out in the weather and I'm not cleaning all the time to keep it looking good. For the first 6-7 years I did, but after the weather and normal wear and tear it's not worth the trouble. However... if something mechanically needs to be done, it gets done. I believe in preventative maintenance, particularly if I plan on keeping the car a while.

Our 2 vehicles that stay in the garage are another story, they are maintained and cleaned.
 
I do take care of mine. If something breaks I do spend a few bucks and fix it. My daily driver has about 200k on it.

Most people are don't care about anything. They don't care about their cars either. My advise is simply to keep looking.
 
When my DD gets really dirty, God takes care of it by sending water from the sky.

LR Max - you didn't mention what kind/price range of cars you are looking in. This makes a big difference.
People take care of vehicle that are worth something. But when the car is worthless anyway - alot of folks say, why bother. If you're looking at anything for a few thousand bucks or less, I owuldn't be surprised at all.
 
RatLab,

I'm looking in the $12k range and have been looking at cars from 2007 to 2002.

Trying to get a diesel Jetta just because I'm a cheap ass and fuel will probably go back up.

Gonna go look at one more today. Probably gonna pass unless this guy gets his price back down to earth!
 
I "take care" of my vehicles the way the mafia "takes care" of problems.

I've washed the jeep and subaru exactly never, I've washed the 300D once mainly because it sat under a tree for a year before I bought it so it had all kinds of crap on it. Probably wash it again, polish the chrome and rattlecan all the plastic matte black. Its a pimp car so it deserves it.

Armor-all wipes and a shop vac whenever the trash/paperwork reaches critical mass in the interior, annual pressure washing for the jeep interior.


+1 more on you've got to clean a car out if you're trying to sell it... Even if it is a turd, people prefer some polish.
 
Im a once a monther, and I pretty much never let junk accumulate in the interior. I drive intensely, and I hate it when stuff moves around under cornering or braking.
 
LR Max said:
Trying to get a diesel Jetta just because I'm a cheap ass and fuel will probably go back up.
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Jetta. there's your problem. theres only one car i loathe more than a landrover....its a Jetta. i hate how the rubberized coating on the dash wears off at a sinlgle touch of the finger. The cheap plastic on the cup holders and the way the white lettring seems to wear off quick.

Not to mention the plastic water impeller on the water pump.


but...i would still take a jetta over my landrover.
 
I think that you'll find that enthusiast-type cars get taken care of better, GENERALLY speaking. Anything with 4 doors tends to be far less so.

Guy in our club just picked up a '02 vette that was dirtier sitting on the showroom floor.. granted it was low mile (25k), but it's still been well-taken care of.

People with kids (in my personal experience with buying/looking at cars from them) have a WHOLE other definition of "clean".. Not being able to see the Cheerios all over the place anymore is "sparkling clean", as is not having grime/dirt all over the exterior.

Because I have a long gravel driveway, my truck tends to have some dirt splashes on the outside and dirt/dust on the floormats (I bought the big "extreme" all weather ones to contain it), but it gets washed weekly/bi-weekly. Wax every 6 months, but the wax I use (Zaino) holds up that long.

The T/A tends not to leave the garage without being clean these days, but it doesn't get driven much.
 
Since I am a ASE mechanic.
I usually keep all the maitence on all my vehicles
I keep my DD clean and my wifes car I have detailed once or twice a year . If you follow the sechedule in the oweners manual you can get 300 to 500k out of any car . but yes since I buy second hand cars for dirt I end up spending alot of mine to get them where I want them . But you can tell if a car is in good shape if ask to see the repair record .
 
BigRedB2 said:
Jetta. there's your problem. theres only one car i loathe more than a landrover....its a Jetta. i hate how the rubberized coating on the dash wears off at a sinlgle touch of the finger. The cheap plastic on the cup holders and the way the white lettring seems to wear off quick.
Not to mention the plastic water impeller on the water pump.
but...i would still take a jetta over my landrover.
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Most interesting. I've got a rover and I figure the jetta is the COMPLETE opposite.

I guess I need to keep looking. I thought about picking up a cobalt but the trunk is pretty much useless. If I can't get a cooler of beer in there, I don't want it!
 
awspence said:
Do i take care of my cars? Yes.

Do I wash my cars? Hell no.
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x2, i do regular maintenance on my jeep, but never wash it. i clean out the passenger floorboard when someone rides with me and the back seat/hatch area between hunting seasons. right now its slammed full of waders, deer stands, camo, etc.

the last time the outside of my jeep was washed was the day i went to my senior prom, the time before that was junior prom, im a jr in college now. i have enough dirt in my carpet that im pretty sure i could start a garden. my dash is brown, it started off charcoal colored.
 
I 've got 2 totaled toyotas, neither one gets washed unless God wants it washed. The interior on the dd 4runner stays pretty clean cause I drive the guys to lunch in it fairly often. I hate shite sliding around when cornering/braking so the tool bag etc stays tied down. Not much else in it. The truck gets cleaned out after every 4 wheeling trip. Then it pretty much sits there til the next one, unless I find something I want to do to it at work. Then I drive it to work. On a side note, the truck drivetrain will be going in the new to me 85 4runner I just bought and the truck with the window air conditioner will be headed to the big off road park in the sky. (well, what's left of the truck. I'm pretty much taking everything but the body and frame.)
 
My dd is a 97 acura integra. i bought it about 2.5 years ago. I run it through the automatic wash a couple of times a year, toss the trash out when i fill it up with gas (every other day), and try to change the oil at least every 10,000 miles. the current oil has about 12,000 on it. The car has about 280,000 on it and still runs strong. Has an automagic that will bark second if it shifts in the middle of a turn.
 
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