Really Bummed my car got recycled

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by joekingcorvette
Here is how I look at it. That car may have helped many students in the three years before it was crushed. Unless you were right beside the car 12 hours a day you have no idea what the teachers did with the car to help students in auto mechanics. They could have taught students anything from changing a tire to brake repair and the list could go on and on. I do think they should have offered to give it back to you at the end of the 3 year period instead of taking it to the recycling yard. Just a quick phone call.

The class instructor can pull his personal vehicle in and demonstrate how to change a tire out for a spare one. And teaching them how to work on the brakes of that car wouldn't teach them anything useful that could be applied to their future ride...unless their future ride happened to be another Prism from last century.

Use the scrap yard cash to take them on a field trip to a local automotive shop and tell them to watch closely and take notes. Then give them a pop quiz later to see who is truly interested in learning the subject matter at hand.

I don't disagree with the sentiment of utilizing old cars to teach the youth about maintaining their future vehicles, but the reality of the situation in this instance doesn't make sense. That ancient dinosaur of car was worth more as scrap (turned into cash) than as a teaching tool for today's adolescents getting ready to drive yesterday's hand me downs.

Could it have been made useful for one or two special circumstances? Sure, but that is inefficient at best in today's education system and frowned upon by all who make the decisions.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted by supton
I "loved" my last car and didn't want to let go, but knew that it was better for me to get over it. It's a thing not a person, it can't love me back. When the numbers say to sell, sell. Should be no emotion involved.

True.
But despite it being an inanimate object, doesn't stop some people from developing feelings for them.

For instance my old BMW. There was many times I'd be pulling my hair out at it's costs, inconvenience, speeding tickets etc.
But then I think of the good times, the awesome handling, the places I went with it, the friends I drove with (some dead, some still alive etc.), the great sounding stock stereo system, etc.

After all that I'd realized I love it more than any other car I've owned. I've had fun with it, enjoyed it's company despite it's issues and as a result it's been there for me.
Which is a lot more that I can say for any family members in recent memory.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted by Ignatius
Originally Posted by Trav
I don't get it, questioning why a 22 year old cheap car with 250K on it going to the junkyard? There was very little educational value in that car, it was scrap and went where it belonged its that simple. Once I get rid of a car Its gone whatever happens to it after that bothers me as much as a bicycle falling over somewhere in China.


I have seen this far too often in the car business, someone trades in a car and gets very interested (and often times worried) about what is going to happen to a vehicle that they remove from their possession. Will it be resold, auctioned, salvaged, sent to a third world country, etc? Why should you care? You relinquished this property so it really should not matter to you.

This whole "they coulda woulda shoulda done THIS with my former car instead" is just wasted time and energy.


I tend to get attached to my cars, and I wonder/worry about what happens to them after I've sold them...that's why I never sell any of them!

Originally Posted by The_Nuke
The class instructor can pull his personal vehicle in and demonstrate how to change a tire out for a spare one. And teaching them how to work on the brakes of that car wouldn't teach them anything useful that could be applied to their future ride...unless their future ride happened to be another Prism from last century.

Use the scrap yard cash to take them on a field trip to a local automotive shop and tell them to watch closely and take notes. Then give them a pop quiz later to see who is truly interested in learning the subject matter at hand.

I don't disagree with the sentiment of utilizing old cars to teach the youth about maintaining their future vehicles, but the reality of the situation in this instance doesn't make sense. That ancient dinosaur of car was worth more as scrap (turned into cash) than as a teaching tool for today's adolescents getting ready to drive yesterday's hand me downs.

Could it have been made useful for one or two special circumstances? Sure, but that is inefficient at best in today's education system and frowned upon by all who make the decisions.
I disagree. I think a lot could've been taught with that car. How would learning to fix the brakes on that car NOT be useful on a modern car? Disc brakes haven't changed much in the last 50 years; you perform the same procedure on an '18 car as a '77 car. There's plenty of things that apply to new cars that can be demonstrated on an old car: Suspension work, brakes, exhaust repair, A/C systems, basic electrical troubleshooting, etc.

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted by 97prizm
So three years ago i donated my 1997 Geo Prizm to the Local "alternative " high school automotive shop. It needed a harmonic balancer and some minor tlc and it would have gone another 246,000 miles or, (328,306 km for everyone else) no problem. I was told "Oh yeah we keep donated vehicles for 3-5 years and get them running, show students how to rebuild vehicles." I went down to pull n pay today for some parts and was curious if my old car was ever scrapped. Well come to find out yep November of 2017 "we crushed it sorry". What a bummer. I'm so bummed that this country disposes of 13 million cars annually. Anyone else have this happen? I kind of wanted to purchase it back. I was surprised they got rid of it so quick.


They probably got something newer and didn't have the space to keep the old car.

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by exranger06
I disagree. I think a lot could've been taught with that car. How would learning to fix the brakes on that car NOT be useful on a modern car? Disc brakes haven't changed much in the last 50 years; you perform the same procedure on an '18 car as a '77 car. There's plenty of things that apply to new cars that can be demonstrated on an old car: Suspension work, brakes, exhaust repair, A/C systems, basic electrical troubleshooting, etc.


My opinions are based on my own experiences, so far from absolute, but I still think the theory of that approach doesn't play out so well in real life.

I've worked on my vehicles since HS, and starting in HS and going through college and a little beyond, my vehicles were all domestic and spanned '79 thru '96. Yet when i got into my current LX craze, all that knowledge got archived. The systems perform the same functions, but the procedures for servicing them are much different.

A 4 corner brake bleed on that Prism doesn't require special equipment to operate the ABS system to get out the dirty fluid inside. It will on a modern domestic auto.

A trans fluid and filter change on that Prism is about as far from complicated as it gets. Not so on the Mercedes Benz A5 and ZF A8 transmissions in a modern LX. The Prism probably has a trans fluid dipstick too. The last 3 cars I've had didnt even come with a trans dipstick. Just a cap that says service at dealership.

The factory stereo in my Charger went out last week, and as a result I lost the ability to control the HVAC system and could no longer access or modify any safety and comfort options. Sadly, the Prism likely had a much different, likely better, design for its audio, HVAC, and system configurations.

The best case scenario I can see for an auto shop class with that Prism is to use it to demonstrate general theory of repair and maintenance., but why deal with that car when YouTube videos would be just as effective?

Drag the car and get some cash, apply toward class's other needs. That sounds like the most useful way to handle the resources available in this scenario, and it sounds like the one the school went with in the end.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Originally Posted by WagonWheel
Reminds me of Clark Griswold In National Lampoons Vacation going to the dealer and seeing that they crushed his trade before getting the Family Truckster.

Best line in that movie was delivered by Navajo sitting on his horse watching that fool lost on the rez. "What an *** ****."

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by berniedd
That's a bummer. I thought the whole idea was to have a car in need of repair so the students have something to work on and learn how to diagnose and fix stuff.

They may get too many, enough to last them plenty of time. Then they have to store them. By the time they get to them, they can be in worse condition and have little value in repair (even for "educational purposes").

 

[dareo]

Super easy and cheap auto loans enable us to simply throw away/crush perfectly usable older vehicles. Simply because its so easy to get a new one and dump your old one on the used market. Imagine if new cars were not able to be financed, or terms like 25% down and 20% interest applied. Used cars would be so much more valued and cared for. I certainly would't have newer vehicles without bargain basement 1.99% loans.

 

[Trav]

What is the problem with that? The junked cars get recycled which supports a whole different industry and the auto manufacturing industry needs vehicle turnover, it always did.
Today the owners are keeping cars a lot longer than they ever did. In Europe the countries use draconian tax laws to push people into getting rid of their cars and buy new ones.

So many industries and job rely on the automobile production that without ample turnover the economy will suffer, the effect trickles down to many many industries.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by dareo
Super easy and cheap auto loans enable us to simply throw away/crush perfectly usable older vehicles. Simply because its so easy to get a new one and dump your old one on the used market. Imagine if new cars were not able to be financed, or terms like 25% down and 20% interest applied. Used cars would be so much more valued and cared for. I certainly would't have newer vehicles without bargain basement 1.99% loans.

I want to agree with you, but I feel like it's not truth. Cars last longer than ever before, but, there was a healthy new car market throughout the decades, and that was before 0% financing and the like. I'm not sure to what extent people abused cars back then, though.

 

[The motor guy]

If it only needed a harmonic balancer, then why did you get rid of it?

 

[PimTac]

You could check the scrapyard. Maybe they can track the remains for you so you could salvage a small momento for your mantel?

 

[Andrew1972]

When you donate something, gift or give it away or even sell let it go. They can do what they want with it.

 

[KrisZ]

This reminds me of my coworker with a clunked out Civic that she parked at our employer's parking lot for like a year. After it got towed to the impound she signed off the title because the fees were much more than the car was worth. Afterwards she lamented how this car was so special to her and how sorry she was to let it go.

I didn't say it to her, but my thoughts were that if it was so special, why did you let it rot in the parking lot for a year in the first place, knowing full well it may get towed any day.

 

[dareo]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by dareo
Super easy and cheap auto loans enable us to simply throw away/crush perfectly usable older vehicles. Simply because its so easy to get a new one and dump your old one on the used market. Imagine if new cars were not able to be financed, or terms like 25% down and 20% interest applied. Used cars would be so much more valued and cared for. I certainly would't have newer vehicles without bargain basement 1.99% loans.

I want to agree with you, but I feel like it's not truth. Cars last longer than ever before, but, there was a healthy new car market throughout the decades, and that was before 0% financing and the like. I'm not sure to what extent people abused cars back then, though.

2002 they had 0% loans, my mom got a dodge dakota brand new, she still drives it, only 55k miles on it today.

Before that, like 1990s, i dont know what rates were but cars were so cheap compared to middle class incomes. Today inflation has moved car prices way up while wages have not kept up. You could get a diesel truck for around 20k in early 90s.

Today, they see if you are still breathing and approve your car loan. I was shocked at how much $$$ a credit union said i could borrow on cars.

 

[PandaBear]

If the seller has sentimental value on it he shouldn't sell or donate it, he should have chosen someone that needed a car and give it to him.