Your worst car related mistake, disaster or error of judgement.

[SenorFunkyPants]

The car you bought that broke down 10 minutes after you bought it.
The car repair that went all wrong.
The day you muttered those immortal words..."watch this" to your pal or a date just before going backwards off the road.

Me:
Back in my youth - taking a lovely girl for a first date romantic drive in the hills north of Rome in a lovely dark red V12 E-type with the hood down and the sun softly shining. The road curving through a picturesque village nestled on a hill was just perfect, we were smiling and chatting easily, everything was going so well when a hairpin turn with the road dropping away sharply caused the view of the road ahead to momentary disappear.
The heavy banging and bumping was a bad sign, when vision of the road returned I could now see it was literally the end of the road and I had driven down the front steps of someone's house.
A quick reverse and all would not yet be lost…but alas no the car was stuck and it wasn’t coming out regardless of how much wheelspin was invoked. The owners of the house came out, a crowd quickly formed and there was much tittering. The final humiliation was that a rusty old Fiat 500 was fetched and used to tow me back up the steps.
Oh the humanity.

[Needbmwpartzz]

I once tried to pass on a gravel shoulder at close to 100mph and lost control by drifting sideways then once traction was gained it sent me catapulting back onto the road side swiped one car,came catapulting then side swiped another then I brushed off enough speed at that point when there was one final car that helped me come to a complete stop by smashing together in a head-on collision at 40kph.
Luckily no one was hurt...that one accident caused about 35000 in damages and was the biggest error ever on my part.

[infamousdiz]

Mazda B2600i.. High school, went off roading and got the pick up stuck in the CT river. It was low tide......Tide came up car went for a swim. The tow truck driver took my face off at $1200 to pull it out for 2 hours of work. I was 17, father reminded me of it the other day. From there the truck only started and odd days and when you sweet talked her

[jkoral]

16 yrs old, first day with my driver's license. Ask my parents if I can take their car (V8 Cutlass) to go to the store. Approaching train crossing and the lights come on/bars come down, so I decided to hang a right on a road that runs along the train track and race the train. Doing about 60 in a 30, keeping even pace with the front of the train. Finally noticed flashing red lights in my rear view mirror, local sheriff gave me a speeding ticket for 58 in a 30.

Parents weren't too pleased that I got a speeding ticket in the first 15 minutes of driving alone.

[Vanmarsenille]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

The car you bought that broke down 10 minutes after you bought it.
The car repair that went all wrong.
The day you muttered those immortal words..."watch this" to your pal or a date just before going backwards off the road.

Me:
Back in my youth - taking a lovely girl for a first date romantic drive in the hills north of Rome in a lovely dark red V12 E-type with the hood down and the sun softly shining. The road curving through a picturesque village nestled on a hill was just perfect, we were smiling and chatting easily, everything was going so well when a hairpin turn with the road dropping away sharply caused the view of the road ahead to momentary disappear.
The heavy banging and bumping was a bad sign, when vision of the road returned I could now see it was literally the end of the road and I had driven down the front steps of someone's house.
A quick reverse and all would not yet be lost…but alas no the car was stuck and it wasn’t coming out regardless of how much wheelspin was invoked. The owners of the house came out, a crowd quickly formed and there was much tittering. The final humiliation was that a rusty old Fiat 500 was fetched and used to tow me back up the steps.
Oh the humanity.

Great idea for a thread, and really funny story!

Originally Posted by Needbmwpartzz

I once tried to pass on a gravel shoulder at close to 100mph and lost control by drifting sideways then once traction was gained it sent me catapulting back onto the road side swiped one car,came catapulting then side swiped another then I brushed off enough speed at that point when there was one final car that helped me come to a complete stop by smashing together in a head-on collision at 40kph.
Luckily no one was hurt...that one accident caused about 35000 in damages and was the biggest error ever on my part.

I laughed out loud at this.

[M_Six]

I took an auto body class (painting) and used my '77 633 CSi as my project car. I realized I was probably in over my head about 10 seconds after I first touched the sander to the hood. Needless to say, I completely botched the whole thing and ruined the car.

[PopsnBurbles]

I had a passenger with me telling me that I'm not a d-bag like most BMW drivers she sees on the road. I apparently have great road manners, follow the rules, drive in a sane manner/speed/acceleration, and an overall smooth driver...APPARENTLY. Then, the light turned green and stepped on the throttle (1/4 in) like normal and the 1er just revved to 5k rpm in a crowded area as if I were demanding the attention. I got honked at and people were looking at me. When we drove off in shame, I stepped on it, car jerked a few times, I was accelerating hard, and reached insane speeds before braking (relatively) hard to a stop...APPARENTLY NOT a well-mannered driver after all, huh?

I didn't notice she moved the dct selector and put in N. She didn't even know that what she did resulted to that.

[Mr.SugarSkulls]

First week of living in CA which I also got my permit that week.

Took the family Honda out to pick up some new friends (we were starting a band), and on the FIRST stop sign leaving my home, I found out all too well why they call it a "california roll".

Sneaky cop ticketed me, called the parents to come pick up the car. Band practice cancelled :

[NickyC]

My first car wasn't a Z4M.

The end.

[1MOREMOD]

Too many to list I believe.
1. Speeding ticket before got licence.
2. Playing fall guy in parents Honda accord, jumping thing sometimes at 100ish.
3. Folding both fronts over on said accord on curb.
4. Alcohol related head on collision coming home from canada. Other driver on wrong side of freeway. We were bombed also.
5. Out running cops on r1 numerous times.
6. Speeding ticket in my driveway.
7. Riding rigid over train tracks at 70 flying off side of bike and hanging on for dear life.
8. Golf cart full speed into tree.
9. Golf cart into garage door. Not ours. Door or golf cart.
10. Totaled e90 m3 at track.
11. Previous mentioned accord wrecked in snow.
12. Wiped out both sides of lifted gmc in snow. Drinking involved first side from drifting it and hit speed sign. Second side because mad about first and hit trees with other side.
13. Drove same gmc into irrigation ditch deep enough to stand it on it's nose straight up and down when it was 1 month old.
14. 4 wheeling in wetland preserve with pathfinder, usually alcohol involved.
15. Hit abandoned car with yz250, took bar end in chest.
16. Sears van I was driving backfired and whole underside lit on fire while on freeway.
17. Burned wiring harness in mustang hooking up new aftermarket coil.
18. Folded hood of mustang over roof entering freeway when forgot hood pins.

Uh much more.

[F30lolz]

Shortly after getting my first BMW, a 528e nearly 20 years ago, I purchased metal ramps so I can try to get underneath the car and inspect an exhaust leak coming near the cat. I sped up a wee bit too fast and overran the ramps and dented the undercarriage a bit.

[MrRoboto]

Worst mistake was back in my late teens buying a Pontiac Fiero. Regretted it the moment I drove it home. Biggest pile of junk I have ever owned.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Worst mistake was back in my late teens buying a Pontiac Fiero. Regretted it the moment I drove it home. Biggest pile of junk I have ever owned.

I nominate this as the biggest mistake in the thread.

[BMW F22]

Had a 1987 325i manual some years back. It was a buddy's bday so me, him, and one other friend went for a drive late one night through a local mountain road. I had a spare tire on the back left, took a corner too fast and it lost traction and we went into a little ditch. The friend in the back didn't put on a seatbelt so he was bouncing up and down in the car and ended up with some bruises. I tried to get it out of the ditch but ended up only spinning the rear tires and burning rubber on the asphalt.

It was too dark to see so we gave up, walked down the hill until we had signal to call my brother to come pick us up. The next day we called a tow truck to tow it back to the house. It was a very expensive tow at $450-500 since it was only about 5-6 miles from home. The car broke a lower control arm, rear tires were flat, but the rest was fine. Ended up fixing it and sold it because it wasn't driven often.

[PINeely]

Got a flat tire in my Jaguar, two lug nuts wouldn't spin off. Called the police to help. Immediately after their arrival I was accused of being drunk, high, etc and given every field sobriety test in the book. Finally made to ride home in a friend's car after passing all of them. Come back the next day to a smashed window and stolen backpack. I should have just had it towed to my house.

[rabman5]

18 years old, I bought a 1980 Plymouth Horizon TC3. It get's worse.

Picked it up 30 minutes before I had to work at Red Lobster. Got to work a few minutes early and decided to go once around the block. Tried to make a quick left turn in front of an approaching car with their right turn signal on. They didn't turn or slow down and I mis-shifted. BANG! Bent frame and 30 days later I got the car back. The car was problematic until the day I got rid of it.

[1smokehouse]

LOL! Your steps story definitely gave me a morning chuckle!

And yes, I have my own ID10T story...

Back in the 90s a friend and I were on a late afternoon drive in the Wasatch Mountains above Ogden Utah in my ’88 Trooper. It was early October, not cold at all. As we meandered down the trail, fresh snow had fallen in the morning. It was only about 2 inches. We wend own a steep decline to an alpine lake, took in the view and since it was getting late, we decided to head back.

All was well until we hit the steep incline to get out. The trail made a 90 degree right turn directly to the incline so I put it in 4 low to climb the said hill. Needless to say, the snow already froze so we made it almost to the top and then we slid backwards down the hill and my Trooper slid into a ditch and landed on the rear door close to standing straight up. We were looking at the sky. So we climbed out, pushed the Trooper back down. No big deal. However, there was no ability to get a running start. We gathered all the branches, dirt and rocks we could find and threw it on the trail. After 2 more hours, in the dark, we finally made it out.

Not too bad you say? Here’s the kicker. A few weeks later I notice that I am burning more oil than usual. No big deal, add more oil! A few months later I am on a road trip and I am noticing that oil is building up on the back of the Trooper. I mean it’s everywhere! I can also smell coolant. Not good. So I bring it in to a shop. Diagnosis? Cracked head.

Apparently it happened on that fateful mountain drive. I never shut off the motor when my Trooper was standing on its rear. And apparently, water pumps don’t work to well in the vertical position. The whole ordeal cost me a full motor rebuild ($3500) and many trips back to the mechanic since the darn thing kept leaking oil. Eventually it was fixed…

[bmw1racer]

Worst error in judgement?

Taking the car to the dealership expecting the car battery to be covered by warranty.

There was a happy ending, but it took some prodding from the local news station.

[david in germany]

Scarred the crap out of myself yesterday. I was swapping wheels and stuck the jack under the jack point, went back around the car, grabbed the impact (only for removal not install) removed the bolts and then realized that I had the jack under the rear and not the front... Front tire was in my hands and jack was under the rear point.. The rear jack point was able to lift the entire side of the car.

[0exhaust]

Back in the 90's with my e30 318. First season in snow and first day of snow falling, gets to a open road with only a single truck trailer parked in the side, what are the odds?
20 seconds later I find myself stucked underneath the back of the trailer with the hood all under it scratched and folded,got pulled out and drove home in shame.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Heh...some of the replies remind me of my first drive after passing my driving test.
A day much anticipated, finally I was officially a man, 17 years old with a driving test pass certificate tightly grasped in my sweaty palm to prove it. Even having to borrow my Moms pea green Hillman couldn't put a damper on this momentous evening. At last a chance to show my pals my driving skills, to demonstrate the artistry of my gearshifts, especially my exquisite heel and toe downshifts.
It all started so well....this seems to be a common theme to these stories...with a car full of friends, off we set on a balmy friday summers evening to the theatre in Richmond (Surrey) as you do when you are a proper grown up. The double decker red bus stationary at the side of the road picking up passengers should have presented no problem for such an expert driver as myself but inexplicably I manged to hit it anyway. I swear to this day that some cosmic disturbance must have caused the bus to shift a couple of feet into the road just as I approached. Returning my Moms now mangled pea green pride and joy to her later that evening was a sorry occasion, but she got used to it as between me and my brother we crashed it 3 more times that year.

[DSB335d]

Was going to automotive tech school outside Chicago. My parents lived a couple hours away in Indiana so I would go home on the weekends. Was coming back to my apartment near school late one Sunday night/ about 2am Monday. Weather was kinda crappy, raining but not too bad.

Coming from I-290 W going to I-90 W the transition had poor drainage (in my opinion) was moving through some light traffic 5 cars and 2 semi's was passing the last of the group when I hit some standing water and spun out in front of the entire bunch! Wound up backwards in a ditch 30' past the other side of a guardrail next to an overpass! Car was high centered and one of the tires had broken the bead on the wheel. ('02 WRX which I still have)

I was frantic at first, it happened so quickly. Couldn't believe that I missed all the cars/ semi's and the guardrail! Called my parents and shortly thereafter probably the prettiest lady cop I'd ever seen stopped and asked if I needed help. I had already called a flatbed tow truck out to tow me out. So I just chilled in her police car for 30-40min till the tow truck arrived.

Was towed to my apartment near school and later that day I took that one wheel off and a friend brought me to school. Cleaned out all the mud from the wheel/tire and put it back together and balanced the wheel. Put the wheel back on my car and drove to a car wash; had so much mud caked in the rest of the wheels/ suspension. Car was completely fine! To this day I believe someone was watching over me that night.