Should I repair my trade-in?

Try posting this to alt.autos.subaru

Wow... And people bitch when they have to have their cylinder head replaced for roughly the same price on a old sohc Saturn? I know subaru's are a pain in the ass to work on but I think you can have that work done for less elsewhere.

I highly recommend a 4cyl Vue or you'll be buying another engine that has a timing belt, buried water pump, and is expensive to service.

They will tell him to fix it and forget the Vue, he wants a Vue not repair help.

I looked at it more as a value question, as in will it be worth it to get this fixed before trading it.

If he wants to get out of it, he would be far better off selling it himself and buying a different vehicle. But, he doesn't want to do that.

Better you see what kind of trade they'll do for your broken Subaru than put a bunch of money in repairs and then trade it.

Ken

Ya, I did post to both groups at the same time. But my main question was what would give me the best overall payback for a trade in?

In researching used car values at several web site it seems the car has a 'Trade-in' value of about $3,100. (if it didn't have the water pump problem.) As it is now I don't know if a dealer would give me anything...

Phil,

Why would you fix it for the dealer? If you fix it and trade it in and you'll get your $3100 and be out the $1063 you spent fixing it, OR don't fix it and trade it in, and you'll get your $3100 as long as you don't mention the problem ...(or maybe more with a Saturn, as trade-in's are where Saturn dealers with the "no-haggle" policy play the numbers game.) Rule of thumb is you keep your mouth shut and get as much for the car as possible. Don't worry about screwing the dealer over as if you haven't been screwed over by a dealer (of any make car), you will be sooner or later. I traded in a '94 SL2 that wouldn't pass emissions and they gave me $1500 for it for my '06 Vue.

I also agree with Blah-blah about the 4 cyl, but a 5 speed if you can get to like a manual. If you worry about mileage, it's pretty good (almost 28 hwy on mine), but keep in mind that according to Saturn literature, the 4 cyl automatic gets worse mileage than the 6 cyl. FWD. The worst mileage is the

6cyl AWD. I like the car so far (since 11/05) and have had no problems, squeaks, or anything and I put 60 miles minimum a day on it.

Good Luck!!

Scott

IMHO unless it has a lot of other problems not mentioned, you should fix it yourself for about $200. and keep it. This car has depreciated about as far as it is going to and is now almost a free car. Gas prices are going to go crazy this summer so we are all going to be driving a lot less. By the time the dust settles you may want a car with a lot lower fuel consumption than a Vue and you may want to keep the old Outback for a winter beater or for those times when you really need a 4WD. The combination of an old 4WD for winter and a super fuel efficient FWD for summer will give you lots of options and redundancy and will make the FWD last years longer.

just my .02 YMMV

The normal rule is if you can drive it onto the lot then any mechanical problems are the dealers problem.

They are probably going to tow it to a dealer auction anyway as they probably do not want it on their own used lot as it is not a good mix with what they are selling new. When I purchased our new Saturn cars the dealer agreed to a trade in price sight unseen and when I gave them the keys when I picked up the new car they did not even look at the old car and it was off the lot to the auction that day. The one thing you can be sure of is that they will not give you any more money after repairs. Because your trade is worth more than mine was your dealer may do a walk around to count the wheels and fenders but they are only checking for big problems.

YMMV

when you trade the car in you don't get anything for it. they just jack the price up of the vehicle to compasate for the trade in value so you lose out on it.best bet is to trade as is. no sense of losing more money than you have too.