Your biggest automotive regret

[Barry]

What’s your biggest automotive regret?

I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff over the years but my biggest regret was rolling my corolla on the side of a mountain. That car was super reliable and never let me down once. I ended up having to walk 7 miles to and from a 12 hour night shift in the snow for weeks until I replaced it. Probably would have kept that car for a long long time. 

[Frederic]

Bought a brand new car long time ago, and as full comprehensive insurance was mighty expensive and my father kept telling me not to take one, i went for a third party insurance only to have another car flying into the side of the car 6 months later, rendering it as good as total loss. 

As per the rules the vehicle that hit me was driving on a road where it had right of way, but drove 92km/h instead of the allowed 50km/h, so when i crossed the road it came flying out of the nearby corner, leaving me no time to react. 

Because it had the right of way, the car could never be held liable, so after 2 years in court i ended coughing up a lot of money and that driver only had to pay a fine for overspeeding. 2 lessons learned:

- Do not buy a brand new vehicle

- If you do buy a recent vehicle, get FULL comprehensive.

- Only the lawyers really win if you go to court....

 

[Rahimdad]

Before joining off-roading I did 6 months of reading and research after which the car that would suit my purpose for off-road as well as on-road was a Jeep Grand Cherokee or a Jeep Commander but the top of the range 5.7 Hemi V8 engine. After a lot of search i found one which I found to be a great price since the brand new one from the showroom costed AED 170K, I got one used 40K Kms over a 2 year period for AED 85k and it was used by the French Ambassador in Dubai. Once I went to Trading Enterprise to transfer the warranty to my name they informed me that it was a rare vehicle as only 4 were made for Dodge/Chrysler Middle East.

It was an amazing vehicle with lots of positives and I enjoyed it a lot. In off-roading though it seemed to be a bit low and the under body protection was not in the front portion with the hoses exposed. These hoses carried hydraulic oil as being a special edition the steering and cooling were hydraulic. It was all too powerful and had a great fuel economy due to MDS system which closed 4 cylinders when on stand still or driving under 2000 revs. However the power used to cut off when doing side slopping where you have to keep the power up. Couple of times when the hose was hit by sand and yet leaked having to pay through my nose for the works as it was not a warranty issue.

Finally i had the car lifted and put a bash plate in front which helped me enjoy the ride for 2 years. On one of the intermediate drives we were doing some criss crossing and the side airbags popped out. Being a special edition it took 8 months to get it repaired. Now exhausted with the number of challenges faced I decided to sell the car and but 2 cars, one for daily use and the other computerless car for off-roading. By this time Jeep had decided to discontinued the Jeep Commander and the last few pieces were selling for AED 130k. With a few months warranty left I could not get a decent offer, managed to sell it for AED 40K and that was one of the best decision I have ever made. With a loss of AED 45k in 2 years, this is the most I have lost on any vehicle owned. I still feel it was a best and the worst decision ever made by me and my biggest regret.

If you think this is the end of the story you're in for a surprise, as I bought a Jeep Commander again, 5.7 Hemi because I got it for AED 36K, but in 1 year it reminded me why I sold it in the first place. My luck that the Oman government placed a restriction on Omanis buying old cars from Dubai and I ended up with AED 14k, that is a loss of AED 22K in one year. So this is how my story ends with regret over making the same mistake twice.

I would like to see who can top my stupidity.

[desertdude]

Not buying which I knew were soon going to upcoming classics with prices going through the roof.

One a freshly imported very low mileage German import 1987 Mercedes 560SEL coupe for 7k. I stood firm at 5k and the other a 1995 soft dash Range Rover Classic for 5k. 

If I wasn't able to sell to a huge XJ Fanatic at a very high price, I would call buying a Jeep XJ as my biggest automotive mistake and regret. 

[Wrangeld]

Not bringing my Triumph TR6 with me from the UK to the Netherlands when I moved there.  

The car cost me £6k and it was undergoing a nut and bolt rolling restoration. When I left for NL I thought I had found a reliable garage to continue the restoration but at the last minute he told me he could not do it and I should leave it with my UK  garage. 

 

All well and good until they went bankrupt and I found the garage owner had been creating bills for work on my car so his financial position would look like he had more money due. Myself and 2 other owners found ourselves fighting the receiver for our cars which he had decided to sell off to pay the 'outstanding' bills.  

It still pains me 20 years later to have lost that car. All because of the dishonesty of someone I trusted to perfect what was already a wonderful car. 

[Frederic]

14 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

Not bringing my Triumph TR6 with me from the UK to the Netherlands when I moved there.  

The car cost me £6k and it was undergoing a nut and bolt rolling restoration. When I left for NL I thought I had found a reliable garage to continue the restoration but at the last minute he told me he could not do it and I should leave it with my UK  garage. 

 

All well and good until they went bankrupt and I found the garage owner had been creating bills for work on my car so his financial position would look like he had more money due. Myself and 2 other owners found ourselves fighting the receiver for our cars which he had decided to sell off to pay the 'outstanding' bills.  

It still pains me 20 years later to have lost that car. All because of the dishonesty of someone I trusted to perfect what was already a wonderful car. 

OMG..... I once came across a brown Triumph Spitfire 1500 for sale from a retired grandfather that started the restoration but gave up due to health problems. I really really wanted to buy it from him, but my other half righteously claimed we had no space to put it and i had to let it go. That car was like 80% finished and had original paint. I saw myself driving across the Belgian cornfields but alas it was not to be.