Buyers Remorse

I think we’ve all bought something we’ve regretted. The term for this is buyers remorse. My youngest son recently talked me into buying a 2005 Honda Civic 5 speed for him. At first, he really loved it, then, not so much. I talk a bit about his experience in this video.

Have you ever purchased a vehicle you regretted? If so, please elaborate in the comments.

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[MxSatNt]

Fun fact: if you put “buyer’s remorse” into Google Translate, you get Chevy Aveo.

[DaveSomething]

I experience buyer's remorse on EVERYTHING I buy... hmm

[JPRD]

"I love this car so much!"
*suddenly starts running rough and throwing codes*
"I hate this car so much"

[Madmike]

Ah, he’s learning how life really is. Sometimes the “cool” factor doesn’t pay off, haha. Some ppl aren’t lucky to even have something that nice for a first car-ish.

It’s a good life lesson for him no doubt. Having a father that’s a mechanic is rare and should be a humbling factor in itself.

[AcuraAddicted]

Hopefully an HID/LED headlight kit, and the transmission fix will rekindle his love for the Civic! Plus he can say he worked on it, which is extremely gratifying!

[theschooler]

I have a bit of a buyer's remorse story. Early this year, I bought a 1972 MG Midget project car with a swapped Toyota 22R engine that was supposedly tuned to make 150bhp. I wanted an engine swapped Midget for years; I always thought you would get everything: speed, nimble handling, good mileage, style, etc. all in one package. I also figured 150hp in a 1500lb car: awesome! However, once I got it home, I spent months fixing wiring in a custom harness with no diagrams. I also repaired and tuned about 12 other ods and ends (alternator replacement, breaks, windshield washer system, carburetor, etc.). It's pretty much on the road now, aside from having a small break leak that happened on the third drive. But, despite getting to drive it, it's not living up to the expectations I had. It's fast and cool and fun, but for whatever reason, it's just not clicking like I thought it would. Luckily, I did not pay much for it, so if I still don't like it once I fully flesh it out, I can profit on the resale. Nevertheless, I learned that you should always haggle and always be careful whenever you meet your automotive heroes.

[fritzkuhne]

having to hear something broken rumbling everytime you drive is really disappointing because your always reminded of whats broken.

[LiveFreeOrDieDH]

Been really fortunate so far. Every car I ever bought, or even had a part in the buying process, exceeded my expectations. Naturally, the cars with the lowest expectations have outperformed the most! 😊

[JeffBazell]

Sorry for his sadness. I know how he feels. However, it's also so refreshing to hear about a teen, a male teen, who really wants to drive a stick. So rare these days.

[thruthenever]

Dealing with it right now with my '03 EP3 Civic Si. When I was in college (15 years ago...I feel old), I had a 2000 EM1 Civic Si that I absolutely adored. I had it for four years and put close to 100k miles on it, but it was unfortunately stolen just as I was getting ready to graduate. I've pined after getting another one since the day it was stolen. It's impossible to find EM1s in clean/non-riced condition for a good price, so I thought maybe the EP3 would scratch the itch. I found one for sale a couple years ago and decided to pull the trigger. I was in love with it for the first couple months, but now all I see are the problems--the underside is covered in wonderful southwestern Ohio rust, the timing chain and tensioners are at the end of their lives, etc. etc.

I don't have remorse for the purchase of the car (it was cheap and all of the work I've put into it thus far hasn't cost much), it's more that I feel foolish when I think about why I bought it. I was chasing nostalgia and the EP3 doesn't remind me of my EM1 at all. I don't think I will ever be able to judge that car on its own merits. Now when I look outside and see it parked in the driveway, I just get depressed.

[youngcummins]

Having a small fleet myself, 6 and counting, I find myself in a similar boat. Not buyers remorse, but not feeling 100% about a vehicle when something goes wrong/bad. I always have something else to fall back on until I get it fixed, and sometimes I unconsciously take longer to fix something because whatever was wrong was off-putting. Headlights suck? I have better! Exhaust has a loud leak? I have quieter! throwout bearing starting to get loud? Not on the other 3 manual trans vehicles!

Bottom line, show him how satisfying it is to fix something correctly and how to appreciate it. I bet after its fixed he is 85% back to loving it like he did when you got it, which is pretty darn good!

[HR-wdcw]

I will say that I admire that you work with your son(s) on their cars and help them. My dad traveled a lot (even though he was a mechanical engineer and a good about doing general car repair work at least on older cars--brakes, tune-ups, etc). But in the end it usually came down to either I got a book and figured out on my own or I had to pay someone because I I either couldn't figure it out, or didn't have the right equipment. He would verbally walk me through some things, but it wasn't the same.

He was always with me when I bought cars (my "Beater" cars) to make sure they were at least safe and halfway decent and that I didn't end up buying some complete pile of junk, but I wish I had more time to work with my dad on cars. Most of what I know today I've had to figure out on my own from reading, having people show me, or watching videos (and when I was growing up, things like Youtube didn't exist, and the Internet as we know it today was still in its infant stages so there was almost no info available "online" as there is now.

[WillThat]

Brought my 2010 Lancer GTS manual to the dealer for some recall work and they had two Lancer Ralliarts on the lot. The sales guy comes out saying that they'd offer an awesome trade in on my GTS and I instantly bit on the bait. I went from a car that was paid off, drove spirited, and got good gas mileage to one that I had to pay a note, insurance went up a lot, and I was filling with premium fuel every other day. It was fast, basically being a "detuned evo", but the damn dual clutch transmission always defaulted to economy mode, always short shifting. Even when I'd put it in manual mode it would shift if it thought I was in gear too long. I was driving home from work one day thinking I either needed to sell it or wreck it, about ten minutes later I got rear ended and totaled it. I drive a manual diesel Golf Sportswagon now.

[JeffreyJMeyer]

2010 Nissan rogue. Was able to get out of the situation without losing my shirt, but it was difficult.

[jacmccauley]

I know you don’t usually feature your family on the channel, but it would be awesome to see the two of you working together to fix the problems with his car.

[JasonPrice]

My first car was a 6 year old white 1989 Honda Accord EXi 4 door. It was an awesome first car and a terrible purchase all at once. I bought it from the son of an insurance agent so that should have been the first clue. 3 months after getting it, the AC died. 3 months after that, the timing belt went. 6 months later, the engine had catastrophic failure of the ring lands. Having too little money to get out of the loan, I had to fix the thing a lot. (The AC stayed dead for the rest of its life as it would have been too much for a nice to have feature.) 2 years in and it started really getting those classic rust issues and that was just all manner of fun.

Eventually, my harsh use of the car also cost me a transmission rebuild. In the end, the cost of the car initially and all the repairs, I should have just bought a new Civic off the lot. Or a much newer Accord. I did love that car and miss things about it to this day but boy, did I learn a lot about decision making. I had the car for 5 years so when I let it go for just over a grand, it had almost 400, 000 KMs on it.

[murph]

My friend and former manager had a 1987 Honda Accord he'd brought back from the dead and souped up (coilovers, sway bars, camshaft, exhaust, a few other things), and I lusted after it for years. The day comes that he offers it to me (for way too much), and I jump on it...only to find out the wiring's been butchered and the engine's on its last legs. I had to replace the alternator, the radiator, the heater core (what a pain that was), the oil pan gasket, rip out the HID headlights and the audio system, and many many other things. It did teach me how to wrench and I got to do some mods of my own (converted from fuel-only OBD0 to fuel-and-spark OBD1), and I made lots of friends going to meets, but the thing was a money pit. Eventually it developed a top-end knock, but before that could get any worse, it met its end after an old lady in a Lincoln blew a stop sign and I T-boned her. I went so far as to go to the U-Pull-It and get a new front end to put on (from a car that had been stolen, funnily enough; the entire thing was painted in a thick and uneven coat of vomit green, and the VIN on the dash was upside-down and didn't match the one on the firewall), but trying to save it a second time turned out to be a fool's errand. The subframe was bent, and it just stopped wanting to run. I had neither the time nor the resources to fix either of those, so off it went to the great parking garage in the sky. And despite all that...I still miss it.

[turboflush]

F350 dually crew cab long bed.
Was fun at first. Untill you realize how complicated a simple task like parking or doing a u-turn is.

It has its purpose.. But stays mostly parked

[BlueBomb]

I have an 03 5 Speed Civic as well, I had the same problem with not being able to see at night but I put in some LED headlights and it's a night and day difference. Also, please please please do a clutch change video for that car.

[MrGoodrat]

Never really with cars but.... I bought a Kawasaki KLR 10 years ago when I was doing a lot of city riding. It was great for a out 4 months but when I changed jobs and started riding highway again more I absolutely hated that thing, just gutless past 40mph. I was stuck with it for a couple years but I was never happier than the day it left.