Hi!

I just joined a couple weeks ago, and it was suggested that I post my questions here.

I have a good friend; a middle-aged widowed woman, who has no car-savvy guys around to help her with a situation.
(She lives in NH, and I'm in IL, so distance is a concern)

She owns a 2004 Accord EX; V6 and 5-speed automatic.

Her transmission went out a couple weeks ago, and she went out and bought another car.
Her money is tight, and I hated to see her go out and incur more debt, but that's what she has done. She added the cost of the used Prius she bought, onto her mortgage.

She's been told that she can only expect around $2500 for her car, as it sits. She tells me that it's in very good condition, but for the tranny.

I looked up the VIN, and considering the options that it has as well as the 117,000 mileage, I'm seeing a value (not figuring for the bad tranny, of course) of between $8200 and $9200.
KBB had the low number, and NADA the higher one.

My local mechanic has given me estimates of $1500 for a used tranny, installed, and $3000 for rebuilding the one it's got.

She is a very good friend of mine, and I think the car is surely worth more than $2500, even with the bad tranny.

I'm considering buying it from her myself, to help her out.
But I would just like to get some input from the folks here, who definitely know more than I do about these cars.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

I personally wouldn't expect to get more than 2500 for it. Not a lot of people out there looking to buy cars that they have to tow home. Especially because they can't test drive it to see if anything else is wrong with it. With cars like this it is almost always more cost effective to fix the car before selling it than to sell it not running.

 

NH vs. IL ??
You knew her before moving apart? Or you're real good on-line friends who have never met in person? I don't care what the answer is to that question, but that's how you have to evaluate Rice's advice. I think Rice is right-on unless she's a long-time personal friend or family friend.

Even a good friend, you said yourself she isn't "car-savvy". Even a completely honest mistake on her part might make the deal worse than you think. Do you have to rent a trailer to get the car home? You have to consider those $$ as part of the deal.

I'm not trying to sour your friendship, but you have to consider all those things. And if you do it anyway, we're still here for mechanical advice...

 

Thanks, guys! I respect and appreciate your opinions.

Truth be told? We were a couple, forty years ago. Split up because we were young and foolish; I went into the military, she moved away.
Believe it or not, we're very good friends now.

Her husband died two years short of receiving a pension, her health hasn't been the greatest, her money is tight, and I want to help her any way I can.
She won't accept anything from me, other than a "fair deal" on the car.

I just have to decide what I can and should do, to help her out a little.

 

This is tough, since you are so far away.

Ask her if there was any work done on the car not long before it broke down.

I'd say verify that the transmission is shot. I would plug in a code reader and check for codes. You can get a cheap on that will read only codes for ~$20. Some auto parts stores loan the tool (you pay a deposit and get the money back when you return). Post the actual code on here.

The other thing to do is check the transmission fluid level. That is pretty simple to do. The owner's manual in her glove box should have some instructions. If not, here is a video on changing the fluid on a V6. At around 22 min, he pulls the dipstick from behind the battery to check the fluid.

 

Good advice they have givin you..

 

Geeze it's 4AM..time to go to sleepy again..Boo-Hoo --sleep ruins every morning..

 

A new wrinkle here. A potential buy looked at the car, was able to limp into a nearby garage, and had the car looked over.

Results are, the tranny is indeed shot. But potentially worse is the fact that a couple cylinders have low compression.
He has lost interest in the car, and I'm not sure what I want to do, myself.

I'm going to assume the worst, and guess that the car needs at least a valve job; maybe even piston rings.

I used to do my own mechanical work back in the "old" days.
And by that, I mean way back when engines had carburetors and points, and every backyard mechanic had a timing light in his toolbox.
But I don't know whether I'd want to tear this motor down myself, and I'm guessing big $$ to have that kind of work done professionally.

Not sure what to do now. I might just help my friend whip up a Craigslist ad and get rid of the car for whatever she can get.

Any other ideas??

 

Find out the cost of replacing the transmission and/or engine to see if you would make more money repairing the car, then selling.

What were the pressure readings on the cylinders? Maybe repeat the compression test dry and with a cap full of oil added to the cylinder.

 

Thanks! I have an estimate of $1500 for a used tranny, installed.
$3000 to rebuild the bad one.

I don't know what the pressures were, or whether the test was done wet or dry.