I tried again to schedule a time to see the Focus. The lady said that someone told her that it has a bad head gasket.
"So not sure if u want to waste your time unless u have another motor for it."
At least she wrote out "Your."
I have replaced two head gaskets and an engine with 111,000 miles may be worth saving, but with a bad head gasket on top of whatever prevents the car from starting and caused the serpentine belt to fail twice, but she still thinks that it is worth $500, because, you know, wheels.
How much would any of you pay extra for particular wheels? I don't think that I have ever seen Accord or Civic HX rims for less than $200, but I wouldn't pay $200 for them, and if someone had a Civic with steel wheels I cannot imagine they would negotiate down $200 for having the wrong wheels.
If I went to Discount Tire and asked for steel wheels with name-brand tires, how much do you think they would give me for these?
Car-part shows a junk yard with alloy rims for a 2003 Focus for $25 each, but somehow steel doesn't count when it comes to wheels.
I found aluminum wheels for $40-50 each, but 4 different junkyards have 1 each.
Have any of you tried negotiating at a junkyard? "You only have 1! What good does that do you?!"
So, I could have nice stock rims for $170. Decent tires would start at $350 and then good luck selling aftermarket wheels for $250, right?
It sounds like it would be cheaper to keep the aftermarket ones until the tires wear out!
That is the only picture that shows the wheels.
She went on and on about the perfect condition of the car. So what?! I would need to diagnose two major problems and possibly replace a couple hundred dollars'-worth of parts, plus the engine! Then we had this gem of a conversation:
Is her gender a disadvantage or an excuse?
Well, Kelley says that it would be worth $2,044 if it were in good condition. She kept claiming that it is in excellent condition--except, you know, for everything under the hood, and this:
That definitely looks like a case of passenger headlight: Broken!
She claimed that it was never in an accident. Mom pointed out that maybe her son kept it from her. Is it me or does the bumper right in front of the broken headlight look like it was hit?
Missing paint! That's not getting better!
She talked about how clean it is. I honestly can't tell. Even with Google: CSI all that I can see is a bit of dust, that the stereo is pushed in for some weird reason, and a cigarette lighter in front of the stereo.
"It smells like cigarettes?"
"Marijuana! My son is a pothead! HAHAHA!"
Great! I could get a contact high just driving it!
Are potheads known for meticulous car care?
What is to the bottom-left of the steering wheel, with that cable going into the door jam?
For the record, car-part.com says that there is an engine in Tucson with 133,000 miles for $745.75, so not $1,000 like I said, but with 20% more miles.
Let's say that it needs an alternator and a belt.
$500 car
$745.75 engine
$165.99 alternator
$031.49 serpentine belt
$085.49 replacement headlights
Total: $1,528.72
So, if nothing else is wrong, and engine swaps are quick and easy like this woman indicates(!) I could get a "$2,000" car for "$1,500."