STS: Trade or Keep?

K

Kenwood

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About 7 months ago I purchased a 2002 STS...It had been a lease car with 34,500 miles...Since that time I've had it back to the dealer 7 or 8 times
for various problems including: Brake pads, brake cables, faulty cranking sensor, wheel bearings, piston problem (had to seal---pulled the engine---took about 10 days), plus a couple other trip for various sensor problems---I can't recall the names...Luckily, the engine was fixed under the factory warranty; and except for the brake pads the other items were covered by an extended warranty I purchased when I bought the car...I will say that the dealer service guys have done a very good job diagnosing and repairing the problems...But at this point I've lost confidence in the car's reliability and am reluctant to take it on a long trip...Am trying to decide if I should trade it in on another car (the service people said they will help me negotiate for a favorable deal) or take a chance that the worst is behind me...I love the way the car drives and handles, but at this point am wondering if I should just give up on the vehicle and go for something more reliable.

I welcome your comments...

Thanks,
KW
 
1. How much time left on the extended warranty?
2. Do you really like the car?
3. What kind of deal could you make?

If I really liked the car I would look to keep it as long as it has a clean bill of health. If there is good amount of extended warranty time left that would give me more incentive to keep it. I don't believe an extended warranty will transfer to a new buyer so that wouldn't give you a trade-in or selling advantage. If that is the case, then why not run the car to at least the end of the extended warranty period and see what happens. And by a AAA Platinum membership, just in case. ;)

Also, like mark said, what would you get for it and what kind of deal could you make.
 
Mark and MAC

Thanks Mark and MAC for your comments...

Mark: If I decide to trade with the local GM dealership, I would either go for a new Impala or a Cadillac CTS---they have a 2004 CTS on the lot...Of course they also have the 2006 CTSs, but not sure I can afford.... Have also thought about going to a Japanese brand such as an Avalon or Acura TL if they would give me any kind of an offer on the STS...

To MAC: I do like the car, and there is 36,000 miles remaining on the extended warranty...It's just that so far, there have been so many things going wrong---I'm getting the jitters about driving it on a long trip...The worst thing to happen was the cranking sensor---which stopped the car dead, without any warning...The vehicle restarted ok, but had I been in fast moving traffic, it might have caused me to wreck...

Thanks again for your comments...
KW
 
If the crank sensors have already been replaced you should never have to worry about them again. It's just possible that the person who leased it took bad care of it and you had to iron out some problems left by the previous driver. I agree that you should at least run out the extended warranty and if you are still scared of it then get rid of it.
 
Thanks Aaron...

Thank you for the encouragement---I would like to keep the car...One important factor is that the local dealer service dept. is less than a mile from where I live...
KW
 
i would say that you keep the car, just see how well it does in the next 36,000 miles and then see if you would like to keep it. But the bad part about it is that if you don't trade it in now and if you decide you don't wanna keep the car, the price of the car would go down.
 
Yes Mark....

Yes Mark, it is kind of hard to justify keeping this car from an economic perspective...I'm going to be paying over $400 per month for the next four years...I guess the question becomes, would I be better off applying this money toward another car with better value...At this point, I can't see the forest for the trees
if you know what I mean...I could trade the car in now and recover about 2/3 of the initial sale
price, otherwise I'll need to keep it for a long while to recover its value---which is not out of the question since I usually keep my cars until they're about 15 yrs. old---or until they get overly expensive to maintain...

Thanks for your comments...
KW
 
Hi KW: Several years ago I retired as a computer service manager & started a consignment car lot to help private parties sell their cars - I have since sold the car business, but continue to dabble in buying & selling cars. You're facing a dilemma most people face at some point with their vehicles... but I commend you for giving more serious thought then most.

I'd look at it this way:

Brake pads & cables are "wear" items, every car needs them replaced, some sooner, some later, depending on use and abuse. So wear items don't count. While the same is pretty much true with the wheel bearings, your low mileage probably dictates they failed a bit too soon - but it happens.

Sensors, including crank sensors, normally seem to have a life of 50,000 to 150,000 miles or more. Obviously, some never fail, while others fail too soon. As another responder indicated, your new crank sensor should (likely) last you for the rest of the time you have the car, ie. years, not months.

The engine problem sounds like it might have been there since the car left the factory, but I guess it doesn't matter. By anyone's standards, engine parts and seals should last well past 34,500 miles and 4 years!

Most modern domestic and foreign engines can be expected to last past 200,000 miles, assuming regular maintenance and oil changes. (I recently ran across a 95 Bonneville 3800 V6 running surprisingly well at 328,000!) Transmissions are a bit more "iffy" - several manufacturer have had some particular models with troublesome transmissions and/or transmission electronics (like Taurus/Sables in the mid '80s) - but your Cadi isn't one of them. Also, temperature kills transmissions... don't pull trailers, and if you must - add a transmission cooler (and avoid used cars with trailer hitches unless you know their history). Anyway, it sounds like your car had a serious problem, one that should not normally happen. Fortunately, sounds like it's been fixed, and under warranty to boot, so that's good. There's no reason to believe this problem is a sign of future major failures, is there?

Sounds like you like the car, and just want to feel confident that it's not going to continue to give you problems and be unreliable. I often suggest to people to have realistic expectations. With any used car (and new cars too) you can expect to eventually do most or all of the wear items: brakes, tires, shocks/struts, exhaust, belts, etc. In addition, expect some peripheral items to fail from time to time: a water pump, starter, alternator, windshield washer pump, power steering pump, fuel pump, radiator, etc. These are also wear items, although not necessarily with a well defined life. The problem you want to avoid is one of the major ones: the knock in the engine, the slipping transmission, etc. Obviously, these are the ones that cost thousands, not hundreds.

How do you put up with - accept - all these other problems? Well, you can avoid most of them, or at least paying for them, by simply buying a new car, with a warranty, ever year or two... but keep in mind, you can buy a lot of alternators and brake pads for that $300+ per month payment... and you likely won't have a failure every month with your used car, but you will have that car payment with your new one!... so that's one way to look at it. Another option is to renew your warranty (or get a new one). Generally they don't seem to be cost effective though, unless you have a major failure, but it's worth considering.

Assuming you like the car, and assuming you have no reason to suspect the engine or transmission are sick, I'd keep the car. I'd expect to continue to occasionally spend a few hundred on it - maybe once or twice a year depending on how much you drive. When you do, remember how much you'd have "invested" in those car payments, or how much you would miss that money from your savings account! Good luck!
 
442 Mike: Thanks ...

Thank you Mike: I was just reviewing some of my threads and hadn't seen this response...This is very good and I do appreciate...
KW
 
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