I FUCKING HATE OWNING A CAR.

[Jevil]

It's not a II, it's a III. A -97 model with the 1.8 engine that's supposed to be one of the most durable engines VW have made. I hardly consider it jurassic, even though it isn't exactly a modern car, either.

Ok, I misundestood when you said "Golf 2,5 months ago".
You are right, the engine should last some years more... but tiny repairs and parts of other elements of the car make a second hand semi-old car a little money eating bastard!

 

[greyskull]

theres a jaguar down the road from me for £2800.
Just got paid from an album... so tempted to buy it. so i can scrap this ford focus nightmare.

 

[ttrentt]

That said, is there not some kind of "lemon law" in Finland? It's different for every state in the US (the specifics of it), but we have laws where if you buy a car and it fucks up based on the seller not advertising it adequately or a manufacturer defect or something, they, by law, are required to buy it back from you for the money you paid minus some fee for how long it drove well for.

Lemon law doesn't apply to used cars (unless it is still under the manufactures warranty), so with 155k miles on the clock that won't fly.

 

[Russtopher]

My Golf had probably THE most repairs I've ever had to have done on any of my cars in the two years I owned it. Starter, transmission, gearbox, accelerator... plus it was broken into and had the stereo and the rear deck speakers ripped out. When it died on the side of the road, I left it there.

So yeah, I feel your pain Even now, the computer on my 2004 Saturn developed a short so I had to have it replaced. $700 and no car for 3+ days. Always fun.....

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

My Golf had probably THE most repairs I've ever had to have done on any of my cars in the two years I owned it. Starter, transmission, gearbox, accelerator... plus it was broken into and had the stereo and the rear deck speakers ripped out. When it died on the side of the road, I left it there.

So yeah, I feel your pain Even now, the computer on my 2004 Saturn developed a short so I had to have it replaced. $700 and no car for 3+ days. Always fun.....

Hahah, that's reassuring! I'm feeling a bit more calm already. After all, it's just money, it comes and goes and there's never enough not to worry about it, so fuck it. It just bugs me that it's such a hassle to get the car, which was supposed to be a half-decent vehicle at last after having having only cars that are almost as old as me, to be in working order.

 

[JeffTD]

Lemon law doesn't apply to used cars (unless it is still under the manufactures warranty), so with 155k miles on the clock that won't fly.

It's different for every state - California has a statute that includes used cars specifically.

 

[slashvanyoung]

Jarkko, I know Finland has a quasi-equivalent to the German TÜV or British MOT test, called Katsastus.

Did you insist on having the car pass this test before buying it?

 

[Torniojaws]

Jarkko, I know Finland has a quasi-equivalent to the German TÜV or British MOT test, called Katsastus.

Did you insist on having the car pass this test before buying it?

You don't insist on it. It is mandatory by law for all cars, new and used. A car that has not passed the test (or the test has expired) is illegal. When caught, the police will give you a fine and order you to reserve a time at a test center. You are only allowed to drive to that test center, and nowhere else. If you get caught after this order, I guess they detain the car and will probably fine you with one helluva large fine for a repeat offense.

Oh and for people wondering about the high car prices in Finland, it is due to the ridiculous extortion of a car tax. Even the European Union has reprimanded Finland for this tax, If you buy a car (new or used) from, eg. Germany (or any EU country), there will STILL be an import tax (a rather high one) even though Finland is in EU, and within EU there should be no extra taxes. Here's an example:

If you buy a car from another EU country and import it to Finland, you will be taxed 39 % of that car's NEW average price in Finland, PLUS the VAT difference. In Germany it's 17% and in Finland 23 %, so 6 % from the price after the 39% tax(!).

So, that cheap, used BMW at 20 000 EUR from Germany will cost:

20 000 EUR
+ (let's say, it costs 40 000 EUR new, on average, in Finland) 40 000 * 39 % = 15 600 EUR
= 20 000 + 15 600 = 35 600 EUR
35 600 EUR * 6 % (VAT difference) = 2136 EUR

Grand total: 37 736 EUR

Congratulations! You just bought a used car at almost the price of a brand spankin new car! uke:

But recently they finally changed that. Nowadays it's based on the CO2 emission levels + the new price. So, instead of 39 %, it is around 30 - 32 % (whoope-dee-doo!).

 

[slashvanyoung]

You don't insist on it. It is mandatory by law for all cars, new and used. Without passing it every year, the car is illegal to use. When caught, the police will order you to take the test, right there on the spot (in the nearest test center, every city/town has one). If you don't, I guess they detain the car and will probably fine you with one helluva large fine.

It's the same here, only that it's every second year.

What I mean: If I buy used cars (and they're advertised to be in good shape), I insist on having the seller making the car pass the test at a shop of my choice (so that there's no dodgy favour work involved), regardless of when the test is actually due.

That way, I can drastically minimize the chance of facing nasty - and expensive - surprises.

 

[JeffTD]

That huge tax on cars in Finland - is it variable based on how expensive the car is? I know the Netherlands imposes a rather hefty 'luxury' tax on cars over a certain price.

 

[slashvanyoung]

That tax regulation is indeed ridiculous, but how often would you realistically import a car from another European country as a private person?

 

[AllanD]

Should have bought a Japanese car. I've honestly heard nothing but bad about VW and lifespan.

 

[Wolfeman]

Damn you guys have no luck. I have a 2001 Toyota Tundra, and the only thing I've ever replaced is oil, brakes, and shocks. 180,000 miles, still has OE bearings, tie rod ends, etc.... Stuff that usually goes bad after 45k on most cars.

Was a good investment. And it was pre-auto accelerate so I lucked out

 

[Torniojaws]

That tax regulation is indeed ridiculous, but how often would you realistically import a car from another European country as a private person?

Actually people *would* do it often, because in Finland there is some tradition about changing your car every couple of years. Mostly because it's so damn expensive to buy a new car (most average people can't afford it), they often have very old cars (15-30 years) and they keep "updating" them so they won't break so often. They bad thing ia that old cars pollute more, so I guess that's why the government made it easier to buy new/less used cars. The car tax is now based on the CO2 emissions, as I mentioned, so people also have an incentive to buy more environment-friendly cars (read: not 30 years old ones ). But it's kind of hard on the poorer (40 % of Finns ) people who can't afford a better car, so they pay more taxes.

That huge tax on cars in Finland - is it variable based on how expensive the car is? I know the Netherlands imposes a rather hefty 'luxury' tax on cars over a certain price.

It doesn't take into account the price when determing the actual percentage. In a way, it actually promotes more expensive cars, because they usually pollute less (unless it's a supercar ).

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Jarkko, I know Finland has a quasi-equivalent to the German TÜV or British MOT test, called Katsastus.

Did you insist on having the car pass this test before buying it?

The car had just recently passed the test, and if we had taken it to one on the day of purchase, it would have passed without a problem. The people doing the inspection won't notice if the clutch is going to break in the near future or if the gearbox is adding some nice metal flour into the transmission oil :/

That tax regulation is indeed ridiculous, but how often would you realistically import a car from another European country as a private person?

Quite a lot of people do that, actually.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

So the actual amount came out to $380. FML.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

It's different for every state - California has a statute that includes used cars specifically.

Yeah this includes any car I have ever bought here in NY. I always sign that lemon law paper. I'm pretty glad for it as well. If a car I just bought breaks down in the first month I GO ON A RAGE!!!!!!

 

[>>>GENZ<<<]

theres a jaguar down the road from me for £2800.
Just got paid from an album... so tempted to buy it. so i can scrap this ford focus nightmare.

Jaguar? Basically you gonna swap Focus for a Mondeo.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah so, showed up to pick it up today (he said $380 yesterday) and apparently I broke the other spring, so fucking $466.50 later. <FAIL>

Seriously. Fuck cars. Horrible investments, not as bad as a boat. But still a fucking money pit.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Yeah so, showed up to pick it up today (he said $380 yesterday) and apparently I broke the other spring, so fucking $466.50 later. <FAIL>

Seriously. Fuck cars. Horrible investments, not as bad as a boat. But still a fucking money pit.

I'd swap traveling by car to traveling by boat in a heartbeat. Fresh air, more space AND you're allowed to be a bit drunk, whoo!