Rust on my daughter's car

Not sure where to post a question about a car that's not a Toyota. My daughter has a 2001 PT cruiser and she's absolutely in love with it probably mostly cuz it's purple. I've noticed it has quite a bit of rust on the bottom of it and it's pretty low to the ground so I'm not going to be able to climb under there. I was wondering should I take it to a auto body place or should I just go to a mechanic and find out how bad it really is? I don't know if they can maybe weld some steel plates onto it in some places to reinforce the frame?

 

You can do that, just know you will end up spending more on it then its worth. Those cars were built as consumables, you drive it for 10-20 years then part it out. Best option would be to trade it on something else and get what you can for it.

 

In my neck of the woods (Wisconsin) most body shops won't touch rust because it always comes back and the shops hate doing warranty work on rust. The other problem is if it's potentially unsafe, mechanics won't touch it because they don't want the liability.

So, you're left with few options. I would at least pay a mechanic to get it up on a lift and get his opinion. Maybe it's not too bad, and it's more cosmetic.

 

Good advice. Also consider that this might be the end of the line for the PT Cruiser. Decent lowish miles rust free ones you can't give away right now, one that's got structural rust problems is just one expensive repair away from the junk yard.