In 6 years, I’ve had over $5000 in repairs. Obviously cars don’t last forever, they are a machine. But this is the second Chevrolet I’ve owned and even the previous required more than preventative maintenance. Every 2 months something goes wrong with the vehicles I have owned from them. Yet, we have a Toyota that’s 15 years old and has only required preventative maintenance all these years. American made cars have absolutely went down hill and that’s the bottom line.
Furthermore, before trying to “educate” an individual you should ask for background information before implying the person is ignorant of common sense and basic operation of a motor vehicle.
I'm not trying to get into a bashing debate with you, and I didn't assume that you have any less common sense than the rest of us. You have every right to gripe, and my comments acknowledged that fact when you first spelled out all the repairs you've had done in just 6 years. I didn't see any mention of mileage, but I assumed it was somewhere around the usual 10-20K a year, so between 60K and 120K.
You also didn't share what kind of maintenance you've performed, only that you've made massive outlays for repairs. But if we separate what you've shared into two categories, I think we'll get a better picture. There are repairs of things that probably shouldn't have gone bad (PSHGB), and there is maintenance on items that are considered normal wear (NW).
In the PSHGB column I see air conditioning and fuel pump. In the NW column I see brakes, rotors, and tires. I'm not sure which column the exhaust actuator belongs in, and the common recommendation here and elsewhere is to replace both at the same time and do a complete oil change, not just the filter.
If the HP fuel pump, which is under a lot more stress than the LP pump found in the fuel tank, ended up costing around $1000, then you poured $4000 into the air conditioning. But then again, deducting the actuator and the NW column, we arrive at a slightly smaller figure of under $3000, or somewhere around there. That's still a bunch more money than I'd spend on an AC repair, so maybe your figure of $5000 includes some other things that haven't been shared. Or it could just be gilding the lily, so to speak. Either way it doesn't matter much.
All in all, normal maintenance is not the same as PSHGB. In both of your comments, you shared only 2 things that could go in that column and a third that might, and I sincerely doubt that you spent that much on just the AC. If you did, then I am sorry for you, your family, and your wallet, because you were royally taken.
So, in 6 years or 72 months, your claim is that you've had to do 36 repairs ("Every 2 months something goes wrong"). And your commentary suggests that it has all been out-of-pocket. In the first 3/36 it was likely covered by B2B warranty, so that leaves only 36 months or 18 repairs, which comes to just under $300 each time, or $150 a month . I'm of the mind that I would have stopped that drain on my money a bit sooner, if possible. Maybe it wasn't possible, and that's okay. Different folks are in different situations and that's not always possible.
Except for the AC repair, my only comment above in an effort to "educate" you, as you put it, was to bring a little bit of reasonableness to the conversation. It seems that you've already decided that your car is junk, and therefore so is every car of the same brand. You'll find that same mentality in every brand that you and I can afford, without exception. One car does not make the brand, either as a lemon or a wonderful success, anymore than a mass killer from a family means that all of his/her brothers and sisters are going to kill others. Your sweeping dismissal of a brand based on 2 experiences is yours to make for yourself, but it just doesn't belong in the public consciousness. It ruins it for others and is based on a very small set of data. It is illogical. Yours is an outlier, and for that we all feel badly for you. But when you share wild claims of many dollars spent, there needs to be more data presented if you expect others to take you at your word. I found your claims to be highly unlikely, but I'm not saying they didn't happen. You'll need more evidence to convince me, and you still might not convince others.
We're not all driving "junk" or most of us would have gotten another ride already. Including me! I have no particular loyalty to any brand. The car I choose has to demonstrate the ability to run and have a reasonable pedigree based on years of data and massive quantities of vehicles, not just 1 or 2 cars. I don't claim to make the best choices, but so far, my rides have been good to me for the most part. A few have been bad, but they were well-used and worn out before I got them, and I knew it going in.
So, let's change the tone of this thread to one that brings more data and less emotion, okay?
How many and what repairs have you actually paid for? Not maintenance of normal-wear items, but hard parts like AC, fuel pump, etc.
How many and what repairs were done under warranty, and hopefully at no cost to you?
Were you asked or expected to pay some kind of deductible on any of them? If so, how much have you paid?
Answers to questions like these bring information to the table that we can use to help you.
In closing, 2 repairs in presumably around 120K miles is not unusual. However, $5000 in bills for only 2 repairs is very suspect! If you can provide a more rounded picture of what has been going on with your car, then our members will be able to help you better than they can at this point.
