Yahoo Finance Mechanics reveal which cars you should avoid buying: ‘$1,000 to fix’
Mechanics say these popular car brands are often expensive to fix and run into common problems.
Aussie mechanics have shared which four car brands you should avoid buying, unless you want to be hit with an expensive bill.
Procheck Automotive in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast recently asked its staff to share which cars people shouldn’t buy. The consensus? Don’t buy a Volkswagen, Jeep, SsangYong or Land Rover.
“Long story short is they are good while they are in warranty but, as soon as they are out of warranty, they are expensive to fix and have lots of common problems,” Procheck owner Shane Hewitt told Yahoo Finance.
Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
“It’s not a nice thing to have a customer constantly coming in having a problem with their car and taking thousands of dollars to get their car on the road, when they could buy something reliable like a Corolla and service it every six months.”
Hewitt said every brand had different problems. Volkswagen’s, for example, often had oil leaks, clogged intakes from burning through too much oil, and DSGs (direct shift gearbox) playing up, the team’s mechanics noted.
RELATED
“Say you own a Volkswagen Golf and it has an oil leak. While it is in warranty, you can take it back and they’ll do it for free,” Hewitt said.
“As soon as you click over the 100,000 kilometres and have that same oil leak, it could be $1,000 to fix, even though it is a common problem.”
With Land Rovers, Hewitt said the way they were designed meant the body car frame needed to come off to replace major components, such as an engine failing or a turbo failing.
“Comparing that to, say, a [Toyota] Hilux, to replace a turbo, you are looking at four hours compared to 30 hours. So, the price to repair them - because of the way they are engineered - is a bit overcomplicated,” Hewitt told Yahoo Finance.
What car brands should you buy instead?
Hewitt said it would depend on your car usage but, “long story short”, he recommended people buy Japanese cars.
For example, for someone who just needed a small car to get to work, the shops and gym, he would recommend a small Japanese hatchback like a Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Swift or Mazda CX3.
“But for someone like myself - who is a tradie and I tow boats, caravans, bikes and cars and need something with a bit more power - that’s where I’d go with a Hilux or a [Nissan] Navara,” Hewitt told Yahoo Finance.
“If you go with Japanese-made, you are going to find the parts are cheaper and more readily available.”
Hewitt noted they currently had a Jeep at the workshop that’s wheel bearing had failed. They now have to wait for the part to come in from another country, leaving the driver off the road for more than two weeks.
“Especially for travelling … Volkswagens are nice and American stuff is nice but, if you’re going to the middle of Uluru and something fails, are they going to have parts there or parts of a Landcruiser?” he said.
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
