Oprah's Little Car Giveaway, causes Tax nightmares

[Krazy Hawaiian]

Originally Posted by AnnieMei

Ever buy a car from grandma/grandpa who only uses it to go shopping or doctor? That's how i scored a near perfect condition 91 CRX SI . It only had 3,000 miles on a car that was nearly 7 years old. It was one of the best cars I ever bought and less problematic. Though, i wish i went ahead and bought their 67 Mustang in the process (original interior, 60,000 miles on original engine - that car was sweet)

Our current car is a 2nd hand car (CRV). Had all of 2,000 miles on it, and nothing wrong with it.

Sorry to be a "bubble burster" but there's a problem lurking in your grandma's car just waiting to leave you stranded out in no mans land out past Makakilo...

things like you say arent free, nor do they last forever. If you have some knowledge of engines you would know what I'm saying. (I'm a certified mechanic) Theres a bit of rubber in those engines and as we know rubber detererioates with age. (think about your tires.... see all the cracks that appear after a year?)

Its the timing belt. When it breaks and yes it WILL break, the valves stop actuating. The pistons keep going. Can you picture the image? CRASH!!! Instaneous catastropic engine failure.

Trust me, I know what I'm saying. Have someone look at the belt and have it changed. It's in the owners manual also it will tell you exactly what I'm saying. (they try to hide info like this so it may be hard to find) They use rubber belts because its "quieter" "cheaper" than using a chain or gears like bikes do. It has a limited life expectancy. Leave it be and your gambling.

Changing it involves about $400 - $1000+ depending on make model or who you know. Crank seals are another rubber problem....... Sorry but there isn't any free lunch. I'd much rather get a $20,000+ car thats new than a deal waiting to explode leaving you in "no mans land" late at night sometime to become a stastic on KHON news.....

Ulgy but true. Sorry Annie. I just don't want to see anything bad to happen to a friend.

[AnnieMei]

True, but in the hands of someone who takes care of their cars ( and watching my grandfather who has bought all of 4 cars in the time i've been alive), I know a good taken cared of engine when i see one ( the CRX when I bought it was just as nice as the my engine in my car now). The grandma/grandpa i bought it from did everything by the book with the car (from replacing worn out engine parts, timing belt) and he changed the sparks plugs, brakes, clutch etc. The only thing wrong with it was a small crack in the rear tail light. $30 part to fix.

A friend of mine is on the 237,000 mile mark on his 2nd gen prelude. 237,00 miles IN hawaii! He currently uses it as his race car for SCCA events. Opening up that car is like stepping into one that rolled off the show room floor. ITS STILL in that good condition. And I wont even go into what he does with his engine.

[Exodus]

**quote**
Its the timing belt. When it breaks and yes it WILL break, the valves stop actuating. The pistons keep going. Can you picture the image? CRASH!!! Instaneous catastropic engine failure.
**/Quote**

only if its a zero tolerance engine, alot of them arent....

AnnieMei, your thought process must be WAY our in right field.. on the first page, you claim you would rather give up the car than have(and i still dont know where you are comming up with your figure) 14k, just because you think it will be a hassle to file your taxes... YOU HAVE AN EXTRA 14K DOLLARS!!!! YOU CAN HIRE A TAX PERSON!!!

also, i dont know what bank in their right mind wouldnt loan out 7k to anyone with a 28k dollar car... what happens if they dont pay... the car gets repossesed... they would make out like a bandit...

and another thing... your claiming they did all this work on a 7 year old car with 3k miles on it... if they changed the clutch after 3k miles they are idiots, unless it was screwed up from sitting so long, in which case they are idiots for not driving it a few times a year to keep everything lubed up and working... Hawaiian is right, a car that old, with that few of miles has to be completely gone through, but it is still a good find because hondas go for ever.
and what maintenance book were they going by to replace all that stuff, ive never seen one that says replace the plugs/wires/brakes/clutch/ after 3,000 miles..

what kind of depreciation are you calculating... if dealers cars depreciated 1000 dollars a week just sitting on their lots, im sure there wouldnt be ANY new car dealers around....

[Krazy Hawaiian]

^^^ there hasnt been a engine made in god 50 years or more that when the valve train drive system goes the pistons dont meet the valves in at least one cylinder....
no matter how you look at it thats the pits.
And miles isnt the case. its TIME. think rubber 7 years old. vaccume lines AC hoses radiator hoses...

200,000 miles lol thats nothing.

See the black Toyota truck? Tiny 4 cylinder engine Won the State Sand Drag Mini truck Class several years in a row. It had almost 500,000 miles on it when this pic was taken. I'm VERY destructive on vehicles. That truck hauled a 21 foot Mastercraft inboard ski boat (a very heavy boat) over the pali every weekend for 4 years when I was in Tournament Skiing at Kehei Lagoon - Na Alii Waterski Club.

Then I was racing a friend in upper Helemanu and flipped it off a cliff (I was racing a Yamaha 490 YZ and lapping him about once every 4 laps on a large flat track around a pineapple field) drove it home fixed it painted it yellow and abused it until it had 600,000+ on it never went inside the engine. Just did maintaince.

The lower picture is close to where I went off the side of the mountain LOL

I now have a Z-71 Chevy I put 250,000 on and its still un opened intact as from the factory. Both these particular engines use chains for timing drives.

I built all my race car engines. I was 3 time state champ racing sprint cars at Cambel Industrial park.

The Yellow Camaro with the hood up has my last sprint car engine in it, it ran low 10's occasional 9's.

It just might be that I know a little about engines....

[Gimpdiggity]

AnnieMei, what are you talking about the G6 only being worth 21,000 even if these people just turn around and sell it?? The things are selling like mad. My father went to look at one a week ago. The dealership had just recieved like 15 of them. There aren't any of them left this weekend. You could advertise the thing in a few papers, and easily pull 25,000 bucks from it.

Also, what kind of moron says "No thanks, I don't want 14,000 dollars for free because then I have to worry about taxes." News flash, the $7,000 bucks is the tax that they are paying on the income made from the "free" $28,000 bucks. You don't have to pay income tax twice. You pay it once, then you don't worry about it. So you wouldn't end up paying tax on the $14,000 bucks.

[falco]

Some of those liberals are brainwashed so heavy they can't think on their own.

[falco]

He's the scoop, most of the 83% of people that got free cars that are recieving state assistance will not be eligible to recieve our money anymore because of the spike in their assets. Poor libs gotta get a job now instead of getting the working mans money for free.

[RSixxygrl]

Shoot I'll buy a brand new car for $7K that's a bargain...can't believe people are whinning about it--booo hooooo