I've had my 99 Civic LX sedan since 99. She now has 265K+ miles on it. She leaks/burns some oil, the transmission slips, the check engine light is perpetually on for misfiring (although I don't notice that for real), the temperature gauge creeps up when idling for too long and the brake rotors are shot amongst other things I probably don't know about.

She still gets me to and from work every day (about 50 miles) and I've had only minor problems and repairs over the past 14 years. The sad part is I'm going to miss her more than I'll enjoy having a new car. The worst part is, I don't think there is a single new car in the US with an analogue odometer, so I won't even be able to video rolling over 100K and 200K miles like I did with her.

Unfortunately my new car will have to be bigger. I'm looking at the CR-V crossover amongst other crossovers.

So any ideas of what to do with her when the day finally comes? Should I bury her, sell her, scrap her, do a trade in? What have you guys done with your old cars that aren't worth much?

-d

 

I have never looked into buying a new car, BUT if I was going to I would see how much the dealer would offer as a trade in (probably something like $1k at most), then try to sell it on Craigslist for like $1500. As long as the body of the car is good, I am sure someone out there will pick it up as project, or swap the motor.

You could always look into options to donate it, too. That would be a tax write for you I beleive.

Aside from the oil burning/trans slipping, everything else seems like general maintenance. Brakes, cooling system, ignition system can all be serviced easily. Let us know if you need some help diagnosing the problems

 

I know the issues are mostly maintainance. I just can't do most of it and the cost to get it all done is more than I want to put into her when other things may happen. As for the check engine light - It comes up as random misfirings. I've changed every single thing that could cause this and I've concluded it's got to be some sensor that is faulty that detects a misfire that isn't there. I could be wrong, but don't know what else it could be. I just ignore it at this point since I don't notice any misfirings anyway.

My problem with the dealer is they like to play games, they'll offer me as much as I want for the old car, but then just jack up the price accordingly on the new car. I can always take it to Car Max or something too just to get it priced out and take it from there.
So has anyone had any issues with selling a car privately and having the buyer come back a few days later complaining about being ripped off? How is that handled? I'm kind of worried about that. I would obviously disclose everything wrong with it and then some and get it on paper. I just wouldn't want to deal with someone angry who could easily get my address/info, etc.

BTW, just test drove the new CR-V yesterday - pretty nice ride, I love the fold down seats in the back with just a lever pull. Decent power, bluetooth is standard. Of course it's not a Civic, so I should take such talk elsewhere

-d