Car minor conundrum.

Submitted by Ihateporn2020 t3_126uuln in personalfinance

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'd appreciate some help thinking through this.

He has a 2009 Honda Civic with 95 K miles. He got unlucky and the the mechanic told him he has to replace his entire engine for about 4K. They offered him 1 k trade in value. Looking up the value online, his car would be worth about 8K if the engine were repaired.

At this point would it be best for him to just get a new used car and finance? It almost seems he'd be best of doing a combination of that, and then actually getting the engine replaced on the old car and then selling it for about the 8k. What am I missing here?

4

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

phil-l t1_jeaz3t9 wrote

Wait: A Honda Civic with only 95K miles... needs a new engine!?!? Did something spectacular go wrong, or was maintenance completely ignored from day one? I'd consider this to be a pretty unusual failure, in normal circumstances.

Just to be certain, I'd check with another mechanic (EDIT: specifically, a local, independent shop with a good reputation). Perhaps it can be repaired instead of replaced. Further: I see used engines for typical '09 Civics (presuming this isn't an unusual performance edition, etc.) for about $1K on-line, so a 4K replacement on a 14 year old car seems pricey to me. There are probably cheaper approaches to solving this problem.

Personally, I'd try to fix this car. My family fleet includes 6 cars; this car is newer and has fewer miles than 5 of my cars; I'm a believer in taking care of an old car - and keep driving.

13

tatt_daddy t1_jecsg91 wrote

That generation had a problem with cracking heads iirc. It’s pretty unusual for civics, an expensive fluke that PO didn’t address unfortunately

2

phil-l t1_jeegm2r wrote

Follow-up for those into the details: Yes, there are certain VIN ranges of Civic engines from that era that had problems with block cracks. Some info and links to a VIN status inquiry can be found here:

https://www.vehiclehistory.com/articles/a-look-at-the-honda-civic-cracked-block-recalls

2

tatt_daddy t1_jef15br wrote

Thanks for this! I guess it was cracking blocks and not heads, it’s been awhile lol

2

phil-l t1_jefaxvq wrote

Yeah, and this is not a typical situation expected by someone looking for a Honda ownership experience.

1

tatt_daddy t1_jegckdz wrote

It is not, definitely an unusual fluke. Most civics are very solid ime.

2

Werewolfdad t1_jeay2l9 wrote

Get a second opinion on the engine and probably replace it may be the play here. Then just keep driving it

10

BoxingRaptor t1_jeayyia wrote

Sounds like this car is at a dealership. Take it out of there, and take it to a well reviewed, independent mechanic. Do not tell them what the dealership told you.

6

ahj3939 t1_jeaz4x3 wrote

I think it depends on the condition of the car. 95k miles and impeccably maintained, paint cared for and waxed every 6 months probably makes sense to fix.

But if the interior is falling apart, the car is showing early signs of rust, the clear coat is failing and it needs new brakes, radiator is leaking, etc, it's probably best to cut losses.

Remember the engine is just the engine. They have to unbolt everything that attaches to the old engine and bot it on to the new one.

Insulation on wire goes brittle, breaks when you bend it. All the plastic bits on cooling system are good candidate for replacement, shouldn't cost extra in labor but you need to pay for the parts. Motor mounts for sure should be changed. If it's a manual transmission inspect clutch carefully and overhaul if nearing end of life, etc, etc.

3

Grevious47 t1_jec3o4p wrote

He got unlucky....or he never bothered with scheduled maintenance and tuning.

3

karankshah t1_jeb4r1v wrote

The 8K is if you repair the engine and sell the car privately to someone at the upper end of KBB. It’s unlikely you will sell for that much, and almost certainly not as a trade in. If the rest of the car is in great shape you might get $6K, and slightly less from a trade in perspective.

The engine costing 4K isn’t that surprising; and there is some benefit to doing the repair and then trading in:

A) you get some tax savings on the new car you replace this one with B) you might be a few hundred dollars richer when all is said and done C) you can also continue to drive this car for at least a little while longer, as the new car market continues to cool, so you don’t have to overpay for the new one

There’s a lot of contingencies between being able to find the right replacement car, at a dealer that will also give you the right trade in value, so that will take some time.

1