Sorry for the random post/rant. I'm starting to feel the anxiety coming on more in regards to the high likelihood of losing my car and being a non-driver again for the rest of my life. See, I live in one of those few nazi states that does yearly visual car inspections that basically keep the poor man down by not allowing us poor folk to have older model cars. You're literally not allowed to have the tiniest speck of rust, scratch or dings and your choices are to pay in excess of $5000 per year for major body work & restoration or else receive $50 to junk your car and be stripped of your right & privilege of being a driver. Now my car came with some big dings & dents along the passenger side and the place I've gone to for my inspection sticker has overlooked that and the rust. But this year, woah, it's really rusted the f- out, bad. And this is a rural, mountainous place, and I have a bad back due to an injury, so bad so that I'm able to get the handicapped parking placard. So yeah, walking everywhere isn't exactly a possibility for me. Also, my car is like everything to me, my one truly prized possession and to lose it would be like cutting off my virtual dick, you know? (Any other car guys here?) But without a car, I wouldn't be able to get out to even try to get things on track. I won't be able to do the big run around and jump through the millions of hoops that I have to in hopes of getting counseling and medical care here. I mean it is possible, but there's literally like a 3-6 month process of going to a million different places to prove that I'm both poor and need medical care. So I can't really begin that stuff right now with my inspection due right around the corner. My entire life and future would be cut off without a car. It's just so essential in an area this rural. And what makes it worse is I grew up in one of those uptight religious, overprotective, controlling families who didn't let me learn to drive when I was 16. I spent most of my life not having a life at all because I didn't drive. And I honestly didn't expect to ever drive. But it finally happened for me when I was 26 and bought my first car, a real clunker that was in the paper for $300. And I poured so much money into that piece of crap over a period of 5 years that the mechanics who did all the work on it cut me a huge deal for the car I have now, which was nearly in pristine condition 2 years ago because it's a formal rental car. But we must have acid rain or something because it went from no rust at all to looking like hell in 2 years. It has it's problems, like a really loud exhaust and sometimes can be tricky to start (it's the ignition switch), but otherwise runs and is reliable. But they're just totally picky about body condition here. If it doesn't look like a brand new 2012 that just came off the dealership lot, you won't pass inspection. And I just realized the other day that I haven't seen any ->-bleeped-<-ty cars on the road lately. Like 3 years or so ago and earlier, I've seen cars on the road that I don't know how the hell they were even being held together. So way far worse off than mine is by a million miles. But lately I really haven't seen any redneck cars in a long time. All I see are everyone's brand new Lexus's, Mercury's, Escalades & BMW SUV's anymore. They are cracking down on the owning of older cars and shutting down mechanics who give stickers to people with older cars.  Anyhow, I just found out about something on yahoo answers called a rust converter and I've never heard of that before. So I think I'm going to get some of that one way or the other and try patching it up that way to pass if I can find one of the last old redneck holdouts to get my sticker. But this time of year always causes me such huge anxiety, both because of my absolute need to have a car and because I've always thought and wished I could be one of those car guys who can fix any problem and keep his car running on his own. It frustrates me to not know much about car repair & maintenance. And then my anxiety goes over into total panic mode and I become even more useless at handling my car situation. *breathes deeply* I wish I could not freak out. I wish I could undo all the babying, conditioning and pussifying that my parental upbringing has done to me. I wish I knew someone who'd sell me an inspection sticker under the table.... 

-sigh-

But yeah, I had to get that out.

If its any consolation I am afriad of drivin on freeways.

Wow, I've never heard of anything like that.  What state are you in that a car must pass a cosmetic body inspection to be on the road?!

Also, I'm kind of shocked that a newer model car can rust out in 2 years.  I've never had to deal with acid rain where I live, but here the road salt is brutal on a car.  You need to wash it frequently to keep the salt off in the winter (at least once every week, maybe more depending on how often you drive or if the road was heavily salted).  I would think the same would apply for acid rain: keep it cleaned off, and also park the car under something (if possible) to limit its exposure to rain.  Keeping the car waxed may also help to slow acid rain damage.

For fixing rust, I've usually heard of it being sandblasted off and then repainted, provided the body isn't completely rusted through.  That might be expensive.  I guess you could try using the rust converter and then repainting, though I have no experience with how long something like that would last.  And for it to look decent, you would have to closely match the paint color to the body of your car and even then you would have to paint the entire section, not just the spot.  Also, using a paintbrush won't do; you'll need to use an airbrush to apply the paint for a smooth finish.  It's best to remove each section you're painting, so that might be kind of hard depending on where the rust is.  Just don't go spraying a whole car outside where any little breeze can come by and mess things up.

If you have the right tools, it's not too bad.  My dad and I fixed up an old car (for my 1st car) and it needed some body work, including painting.  It turned out pretty nice.  However, the panels that needed painting were easily removed and he already had the paint sprayer, along with a friend to consult who does bodywork for a living.

Of course, if you can find someone who is lenient on the rules... you might be able to get away with a not-so-pretty 'cover up the rust, who cares if the paint matches or has brushtroke lines' type of job.  I see a few of those on the road around here.  Really, it's just to get a coat of paint over the steel (these are older cars) and prevent further rust; they probably use something like a rust converter, since just painting over plain rust is a bad idea.

Good luck with this, it sounds like a pretty annoying situation.

I know someone who will pass any car inspection for $50. There are still plenty of guys around like that but the trick is in getting him to trust you!

Have you thought of getting a car cover?

Dude WTF? I've never heard of anything like this.... What state do you live in?

This is border-line oppression. Taking away someones car because they don't have the money to get a good looking car? That's messed up.

 Dude , the rust converter works like this, you spray or brush it on brown rust, and it chemical change s the rust to black rust, still rust but just rust that doesn,t rust . Then this black rust will have to be covered and painted somehow.How bad is it , just scabs of rust or holes and stuctural collapse?  Are you safe to get a shop to go over the car for a pre inspection before your sticker is up? The muffler needs fixing asap, so you don`t get pulled over. THIS SUCKS,no matter where you are. If theirs no structural rust maybe yo can fix it, or get it fixed cheap. Can you find out the actual state regs on the safety inspection,? I ve had stuff fail for things that wern`t even in the book cause the guy was a dick. Hope you don,t mind help from a girl:)

If it's structural steel that has rusted then you are pretty well reduced to cutting the whole piece out, and welding new steel in, which is an expensive job best left to the experts. 
Rust converter will work as it seals the rust off from the air, and you paint over it.  Best to sand off as much as possible to bare metal if you can though. It will eventually come back though.
Have you thought of replacing the whole panel with one of a wreck?  If they are as tough on this as you say, where you live, there are bound to be a few wrecks around.
Could always try a hippy paint-brush flowers etc paint job over the lot!!
Karen.
PS you could always just get a motorcycle or scooter, better for my back than any car seat,and tell the car industry to get stuffed!

No, to fix the rust on my car would require several new panels being welded on and I don't have the money to so much as get a new muffler. I'm surprised I haven't been pulled over, but then I drive a classic "mom car" so I fly under the radar. And mine is an older model, it's a 96. Everyone else can afford brand new cars but I can't. And yes they do pretty much take cars away from you here in West Virginia, unless you own land then you can house a car without a sticker, plates or insurance for however long you want. And yes most people will just be a dick to you, especially to women, because they think that everyone's got tons of money to throw around. And I know it's not just me because I had a big discussion about this last year with the women who were working at AutoZone the day I went to get more black duct tape. They were telling me how they get harassed and have to fork out over $5000 every year in cosmetic repairs to keep their cars and I believe it because I've gotten the same ->-bleeped-<- since I've been driving. Last year I got my sticker by covering the rust with duct tape (black car - black tape - no one saw it), going to a redneck shop wearing a fast food uniform so that I looked like a "good ole boy" and played the part of a man, and told them I had been in some trouble and had to put my car in my sister's name, and they bought it hook line and sinker because they slapped a sticker on with no bull->-bleeped-<-. I just don't know if I can pull the same thing this year, especially since the place I have a shirt for has changed uniforms. So I might be able to pass as a guy, but I can't pass for a good ole workin' country boy this time around. I'm just going for a quick fix though, because I hope like all hell I can figure out a way to get another car by next year. It's pretty hard to get cars here too. Used ones start at more like $5900 and that will get you something with 200,000 miles on it that needs a new engine or transmission. So when I said that the mechanics I go to cut me a huge deal for the car I have now, that's because they gave it to me for $2000 instead of $5000. But I don't have any way of getting $2000 again even if they would be extra generous and help me get another car right now. I was hoping against hope that I could have something in place by next year to get another car from them. But I sure can't do that if I lose my car in a couple of months and have no transportation.

That is the craziest thing I ever heard. I know in Cali we had smog inspections that were an attempt to get older cars off the road but after a certain year it falls off and you don't have to get them anymore.

Yeah, 30 years, so for you to have a vehicle that is exempt in Cali from a smog check it has to be a 1980 or earlier.

I have a friend in Sacramento who was telling me about how they don't have any visual inspections and that she sees cars way worse off than mine all the time. I used to see crappy cars around here too, but not in the last few years. They're really cracking down on old cars, or soaking us poor folk for every penny they can extract from us and our possessions, whichever way you want to look at it.

 i can think of a ton of other reasons why west virginia is a crap place to live. Why don't you just pick up and move?

If you don't move to another state, what about buying a car in a part of the state where they are cheaper, or in a nearby state?  I live in the country and if I wanted to buy a cheap car I would take the 2 hour trip to Melbourne, our state capital.

I wish I had the money to get out of here. I was hoping I could somehow, someway, be out of here within a couple of years.

I found a ton of vids on rust repair on youtube. You could try and fix it yourself check it out, walmart sells fiber glass and stuff, just ,it would be nice to get it on a shop lift to see if the underside is solid and what you need besides body work and exaughstI couldn`t find specifics on your states regulations,but the state police website says, the owner can choose to repair the defects himself.  If you can strech duct tape, you can lay up fiberglass,  you can`t ruin it.   Thats more helpful than tellin you to pack up and move. Wish i could offer more but Im way up here in canada and i can`t see your car from heremaybe if you stand on top of it and wave.