Automobile Enthusiasts

A number of maintenance issues are causing people to "throw away" used vehicles—that are perfectly fine, functional vehicles—when something "too expensive" breaks.

If something like a blown transmission occurs, if the vehicle is no longer under warranty, and no longer financed, then it might well make financial sense to trade it away, recover something, and the vehicle ends up in the hands of someone who can perform the repair themselves [although transmission repair is a tall order] or perhaps swap in a junkyard transmission.

Conversely, a heater core or AC evaporator core is a part that runs between perhaps $100 and $1000 (for a high-end vehicle). However, labor costs can run into thousands of dollars with some vehicles because so much of the vehicle has to be disassembled. With these vehicles, if a heater core or AC evaporator core goes, then you replace the other one as well. It is fascinating to look at a YouTube video demonstrating the replacement. I've seen some videos where a dozen carts are filled up with parts as they are removed. Sometimes, the result is that when the heater core goes out, the person takes the vehicle to Arizona to sell it. If the AC evaporator core goes out, sell it in North Dakota.

Some manufacturers are putting in owners manuals "never service the transmission, good for a lifetime." This isn't because it's a lifetime warranty. It's because original owners will generally trade the vehicle in after the warranty ends and before a time the transmission is likely to die.

My previous minivan, a 2005 Saturn Relay [and all of their GM clones], had a below average maintenance record, but I generally had good luck with it. I made it to 148K miles before it was totalled in a collision last year. I needed to flush the radiator and remove the thermostat in order to allow it to flush because the thermostat would clog up. I've removed thermostats before, and it was generally 2 bolts. This was 2 bolts, but it took me about 2 hours because of it's convoluted location. As bad as it was, I've seen videos of thermostat changes that involved disassembly of the front of the vehicle.

When maintenance is too expensive, then our vehicles are throwaways. That isn't sustainable.