Car problems

Ever since I moved to the US, I've been plagued by problems with whatever car I drove. Actually, as I ponder that, I realize that this has been prevalent all of my life, i.e. any car that I ever bought has been problematic - to say the least!

Let me take you back to 1996/97. My sister was getting married, and I was desperate for a car. However, being a poor student, (and totally unreliable when it came to finances), my father was finding reasons for me not to buy a car. There came a point however, when I was supposed to go to Cardiff for a month or so before my sister's marriage - to help out. At that time, I lived in Glasgow, and decided to buy myself something. My best friend Jamie had a Renault 19 1.9TD car back then, and I loved that car. So, I went with him to an Arnold Clark dealership - somewhere in Bearsden I think. They had a white Citroen ZX 1.9TD sitting on the forecourt - but with no price. Since it had the same engine as Jamie's car, I talked to the salesman, and took it for a test drive - I was hooked!!!

So we sat down, and he named a price (over 3K, which was overpriced for that car, but I was on cloud 9 already, and didn't think about things like that!), and I bought the car. This was in the middle of the week, and he told me that it would take a couple of days to get my finance approved, so I gave him some money to hold the car and went home. Early the next week he called me to tell me that all was well, and that I could come in to collect my car.

So, the day before I was scheduled to drive down to Cardiff to help prepare for my sister's wedding, I went to pick up the car. I was stuck in traffic all the way home, and didn't go over 40 mph. But I was ecstatic.

So the next day, we start the drive down to Cardiff. I have my niece and nephew with me, and my cousin and her cousin in her car. You'll never guess what happened.

The first time that I went over 45 mph, the car started to shake. Take her up to 60 mph, and she became undriveable. So we ended up taking almost twice as long to reach Cardiff, because I couldn't go above 45 mph!! To say that I was angry was an understatement.

So we get to Cardiff, and I take the car to a Citroen dealer the next day (since I had bought a national warranty with the car). I'm sitting with my friend in the waiting area, when the service manager comes in, and asks me to follow him. He goes on to tell me that he wouldn't normally do this, but he had not seen something as bad as this before.

My car is up on the lift, and he takes me underneath her. He points out the problem, and explains that these were the problems:

1. The wheels had been "kerbed". This happens when someone hits the kerb while driving and bends the wheels. This contributed to the wheels shimmying at speed.
2. Someone tried to balance the wheels, but did a "piss-poor job" of doing so. He said that there were so many extra weights on there, that he was suprised that I hadn't crashed the car.
3. The CV boots on the car were leaking. My understanding of the CV boots is that they are rubber pouches that sit between the axles and the wheels and keep them lubricated.

He said that he couldn't let me drive this car until it had been fixed as it wasn't safe.

Despite the sinking feeling in my stomach, I realised that I had a warranty! So I gave him the number of Arnold Clark, and he went off to call them

He came back a few minutes later saying that they wanted to talk to me. Arnold Clark asked me not to get the car fixed there, but instead, to take the car back to Glasgow so that they could look at it. I told him that the car wasn't safe to drive, and that I couldn't leave before my sister's marriage. He tried his best, saying that they couldn't cover it, blah blah blah - just trying to weasle his way out of it. He then told me to call back in an hour.

Luckily the service manager took pity on me, and when the hour was up, called up and persuaded them to let him fix the problems. Which they eventually did, and my car was back to her fantastic self :o)

It was only later that I realised what had happened. There was a 2000 mile discrepancy on the car's odometer from the time that I test drove it, and the time that I picked it up almost a week later. So I guess someone from the dealership took the car home for the weekend, and thoroughly abused it. They then just sold that to me!!

Needless to say - I never bought anything from Arnold Clark again.

My second car, was a couple of years later. My Citroen by this time was starting to fall apart, and was leaking oil (amongst other problems). So I traded it in for a newer Vauxhall Vectra.

Now this was a step up - she was larger, with a bigger engine, more refined, and just all round better looking. Here' s an example - looks just like mine, but I had a 2.0 DI model, and she was purple. I must admit that my family was not too happy with me buying this car, but I had started a new job in Edinburgh, and had a one way travel time close to an hour. Taking into consideration the fact that my Citroen was close to engine failure, I don't know what else I should have done.

So with the Vectra, initially I was really happy. She drove well, and there were no issues with anything at all. Then I started having problems.

It turns out that there was a problem with one of the pistons in the engine, and so I had to get the engine repaired. Just my luck!!

After that, I didn't have too many problems with my Vectra. I bought a Yamaha Virago motorcyle, and started using that a lot too. Then towards the end of 2000, I was offered a job over here in the US. So I went back to the UK, sold my car (sniff) and left my bike with a friend (for him to sell for me) and came to the US.

The first car that I bought in the US was a Chrysler 300M. Now, I know what you are thinking - why such a fancy car when you have just arrived here? Well, I spent a day looking for a Dodge Intrepid, but since I had no credit history in this country, when I could find a car, I couldn't get finance (Damn you Carmax!!!).

So along with some friends, I ended up at Hendrick Dodge, and must have test driven 7 cars when someone said - what about this.

She was a 1999 Chrysler 300M, and she looked gorgeous.

Take a look for yourself.

That's what she looked like. My friend called her the Batmobile!

What did I have trouble with ?

1. 14.99 % interest rate on the loan sucked up all my money

2. The driver's side window didn't go into the groove correctly, greatly increasing the cabin noise. I had to pay to get the window replaced as the power window motor was attached to it.

3. The sun roof visor came out and flew out of the sunroof

4. The car started to leak around the sunroof

5. The tyres kept on losing air, no matter what I did

6. Numerous small issues that kept my bank accout empty.

I think that I will stop here, and will continue this later!