Skip to main content

$500 accord sold

I acquired the 2003 Honda Accord back in 2015 for $500 from my brother-in-law after it had been involved in a broad-side collision on the left rear quarter panel. The car came to me at a time when my family had only 2 cars (one for my wife to take to work, and one for the kids to take to school) and a mountain of credit card debt. Getting the car allowed me to work a temp job without either me or my wife leaving early from work to pick up the kids from school.

It came to me with 35k miles on it after I sent my daughter and her friends to NY to drive it home for me and over the last 5 years, we've traversed the country several times putting over 75k miles on the odometer and getting some memorable road trips in the books. During that time, I spent a few hundred dollars fixing things that broke and making the car work as well as or better than an $8k dollar car. here's a rundown of the changes:
  • 2 lower rear control arms
  • 2 upper rear arms
  • sunroof relay
  • 2 door lock actuators
  • heater control valve
  • upgraded battery
  • new factory radio
  • upgraded speakers front and rear
  • tinted windows
  • led headlight bulbs

immediately after the accident. 


My wife got into a broadside collision on the right rear quarter panel and the repair estimate was over $5k so I bought a new control arm to get the car back on the road. 

This year, I purchased a 2015 Toyota Prius using profits from selling Tesla stock and inherited a 2016 Honda HR-V when my sister passed away, so there was no need to have this car cluttering the driveway (we don't have enough drivers). 

I wanted the car to go to a family that needed it so I offered it for sale for $500 even though it could probably fetch $1k in it's current state. No matter, we're in a much better financial situation today thanks to this car and I hope it will help out another family the same way it has helped us.  

Sold for $500

Sold to a family of kitchen helpers that my wife became acquainted with in her stint as a hostess after she retired early from her finance job. They were planning on financing a used $15k car when my wife reached out to them and asked if anyone needed a car.  I told them the car needs a right rear wheel bearing and a new parking brake cable and they seemed pretty excited after the test drive since it's still a crazy good deal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

how to open your door when neither handle works

My recently acquired 2003 Honda Accord EX 4 cyl had a faulty door lock actuator in the front passenger side door.  Here is a run down of what I did wrong in case you find yourself in a similiar situation. Shopping for door lock actuators - Prices go from around $10 to over $40. I mistakenly ordered a pair of door lock actuators ($20 for left and right) for a coupe and received 2 black actuators that were not sized correctly for my 4 door sedan which has smaller white actuators. I did not discover the problem until after I had the door panel off and the actuator removed from the door latch assembly. It was hot, the flies were landing on me and drinking my sweat and I just wanted to button the door back up and stay cool inside so I searched for the closest parts store that had the part in stock and went there to buy it for $45. (I did return the 2 wrong parts but did not get a full refund, but I'm ok with that...$16 back in my pocket is better than $0) Reassembling the door l...
1 comment
Read more

GSX-R750 Caruretor swap for the CB750c Part1

As an owner of an early 80s cb750, it quickly becomes obvious that the CV carburetors on these old motorcycles require the original airbox to run properly. It would seem like a minor price to pay for the reliability and dependability that we get with the design since no jetting changes are needed as we change altititude or swap exhausts. The constant vacuum (CV) design automatically compensates for the difference and keeps the bike running happily. Just don't change the airbox or use anything other than the original style airfilter. I got my bike running perfectly so I'm either a glutton for punishment or just a dumb geek who can't leave stuff alone. "If it aint broke, fix it until it is" might be my motto. People tell me I wouldn't be happy with a new bike because there would be nothing to fix. Maybe it's just a way for me to keep my mind busy so I don't have to think how much I hate my job. I started noticing some posts from people on cb1100f...
1 comment
Read more

Universal Speedometer/Tachometer install

I wanted to replace my original speedometer and tachometer for something more compact. I'm not sure why, but the original 85mph speedometer always bothered me. I guess I felt like the bike deserved better even though I've only pinned it once in 10 years of riding.   After casually looking around and almost pulling the trigger on a cheaper universal speedo with an analog sweep needle for the tach, I stumbled across this product. It can be found in all the usual places such as Amazon and eBay but it's usually buried behind 2 or 3 pages of search results with vastly different prices ranging from mid 40s to mid 80s (US$). The description typically includes a listing of what each wire is intended to be connected to, but in typical fashion for these kinds of imported products the English translation leaves a lot to be desired. For example: the product detail notes: "Oil Quantity Indicator" as one of the display areas, but they really mean fuel level (my bike doesn't...
Post a Comment
Read more