New or Used . . .

I drive vehicles till they die, but that' s just me.
This is what I would do:
Fix it.
The $1,000.00 for the wiper motor sounds like it's having the dealer fix it.
Wiper motors are not hard to fix, it's probably under the fluid reservoir which they would need to remove, but the part it's self is about $215.00 and should be about an hour in labor. Basically find another repair shop, tell them you will buy the part yourself and ask they install. It will save you the up charge cost.

Then put away 50% of what you spend on a car payment and put in savings for the cost of repairs if needed. You will have the money for them.

2 moms found this helpful

S.,
There's a reason millionaires don't buy new cars. It's the worst sucker buy on the planet. Warranty or not. You'd be better off letting someone else take the depriciation "hit" and buy a used vehicle.
Get rid of your car and pay cash for as good of a vehicle as you can...or definitely trade down so your payment is as little as possible (but over as little time as possible) then you can bank money every month and then pay CASH for a reliable 2 or 3 year old car in a year or two. Best of luck!

2 moms found this helpful

I used to work for General Motors as an Area Service Manager (ASM), aka "Factory Service Rep".

As an ASM, I had the ability to fix customer's cars or trucks and pay for all of it or part of it or none of it. I would take into account the age and mileage of the vehicle, the expected longevity of the part, and the cause of failure. I would also take into account how well the vehicle had been taken care of and if the customer was a loyal GM customer. All of the ASM's I know of used the same criteria (as did the ASM's from other manufacturers). We were pretty much left to make our own decisions. If you were to approach me (being nice and poilte and calm) or one of the dealership service managers I supervised/managed and you were 3 months and 1000 miles out of warranty I would have you pay $50 or 30 minutes of labor and I (on behalf of General Motors) would pay for the rest of the bill.

You didn't say how many miles you have on your vehicle. If you are at 100,000+ you can expect considerably less help than if you have 30,000 miles.

Having said that. Here's what you need to do:
1. Ask the dealer service manager to have the factory pay for the repair and offer to pay a $50 deductable. (Be nice and polite and calm, even if you are told "no".) Always have your vehicle clean and vacuumed when you take it in to the delaership for repairs ! ! !

2. If the answer is "no", ask to speak to the "Factory service Rep".

3. If the Factory Service Rep says "no", call the Customer service line and file a complaint and ask for help. When the Factory service rep calls you back, be nice and polite and calm. State the facts again: only 1000 miles out of warranty, only 2 months out of warranty, $1000 bill, you take care of your vehicle, The wiper motor should last longer than 3 years/37,000 miles (or whart ever the facts are), you have 2 "special need" kids that you have to take to the docotrs office and that's why you bought your Hyundia Veracruz because its so "dependable" and the wiper motor shouldn't break at 37,000 miles. If he says "No", ask for him to let you pay a nominal deductable. If he says "Yes" be sure and thank him profusely and get a business card. (I worked for GM for 23 years and I spent millions of dollars fixing vehicles out of warranty and I only had 6 people tell me "thank you". If he buys it all and you only pay a nominal deductable, write him a thank you card and send it to the address on the business card and send a copy of your letter to the General Manager of the company. This never happened to me and I guarentee if you do this he will remember you and if you ever have another problem he will probably take care of you with out any difficulty at all.)

4. If the factory rep says "no", call the BBB and file a complaint to take your case to arbitration. Find out what the lemon law rules are in your state. Follow the rules and prepare your case. If you need more info about going to arbitration or how to prepare your case, e-mail me.

Good luck to you.

1 mom found this helpful

I would look for a certified used or a newer vehicle still under the manufacturers warranty and then pay for an extended warranty to get you to 100k. We bought a certified used w/12k miles on it and saved almost 10k. In your situation, I wouldn't pick option 3 because if something happens you could be stuck for a while.

1 mom found this helpful

My husband is a mechanic so I'm not much help in this department. Since you need something highly dependable I would choose one of the first 2 options. I'm not a fan of car payments, but if it means you don't have to worry about payments, then it may be worth it. Also, I'm assuming the dealer is charging $1000 to fix the wiper motor. Call independept shope it should be MUCH cheaper.

If you want a vehicle to be new always, you could lease. The fact is, the reason the warranty is so good on new vehicles is because it takes some time for things to where down. I refuse to buy new, have always bought used and made sure to have them thoroughly checked, and have always been happy with the cars. With no car payment you could put that money away for any repairs and scheduled maintenance (which even a new car is going to need). If you buy another new one you will find the same thing happens with what it is worth. In fact the value drops the second you drive it off the lot. My mom wanted a new car without the new car price, so she bought a lease return.

Certified used car is the way to go. Purchase through a dealership not a private individual. If you get one through a dealership you can buy a warrenty that will cover anything major that goes wrong. New cars are a terrible waste of money and they loose so much value in a short time that you end up still paying on a car that isn't worth as much as you own.