I need to find nice dealers that could be willing to take on a leaking gasket as good will or under guarantee, without any BS or sloppy job.

 

Location: South San Francisco Bay preferably (Santa Clara, San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, MtView, etc.)

 

I am (finally) found a 2002 Subaru Forester 66k miles, I wanna buy in, my price range ($8k).

The car seems to have the "conditionner" recall on it.

 

In turn I could pay them to handle some of the other issues... it has many:

 

- There's a leak under the car (gasket?!) Not sure if it's oil tranny fluid or coolant.

More likely coolant and gasket failing, right?

- The power steering pump is wobbly and makes noise.

I think it's about to fail.

- The left fender is bent chipped and rust is starting.

- A few things inside are broken like the clock, chipped or dented.

- It needs new breaks pads

- The A/C doesn't work

I think it may need a refill. The owner probably never used it.

Why would you even concider paying $8000 for a car in that condition??? Do your self a favor and keep shopping. There's alot of deals to be found if you look about. Later, Tim

Well,

 

I figured $9~$10K for a 2002 with 66k miles is reasonable, and if I fix all the issues myself then it becomes a solid reliable car for another 100k miles.

 

However I called the Stevens Creek dealer in Santa Clara and the gasket is a $2500 job, plus on top of that the other repairs. We're looking at $13k. Not worth it.

 

The next in line is a $6500 150k miles outback with a full carfax dealer maintenance history, held in one family...