Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

isellhondas

ab348 said:

Sales of the new model Honda Accord are so soft that Honda is taking 2 weeks worth of production out of Marysville. I wonder if they have ever done that before?

http://www.autoverdict.com/honda/honda-halting-accord-production-for-two-weeks/

I talked to my former Sales Manager a couple of weeks ago and he said that the 2018 Accords are blowing people away and selling well. He also said that there are zero programs on right now. It seems the car manufacturers have created a nightmare my constantly offering low interest rates and subvented leases. shoppers are now spoiled and may be pushing back. Like being on withdrawal sometimes.

I know I would be much happier buying or leasing a car that I like than one I would just settle for because of some interest rate but that's me. I guess time will tell. Personally,I hope Honda doesn't blink!

tbirdmarco

 I sell Hondas did hear about this it’s a beautiful car sudden it yesterday at the show like it even the Camrys nice to know that I sent him both 

driver100

tbirdmarco said:

 So driver 100 yes we’ll see what my mom and also my aunt side to get a new car in the coming months 

Thanks for the reviews of the Auto Show Marco.
Good luck hunting for a new car for your Mom.

driver100

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

Imid, that bridge is so out of date I would gladly pay $5 to go over it each way if they built a new one....if we were still driving that way.

10 bucks once a year ain't bad but that gets old real fast for working stiffs.

jmonroe

That is just for Canadians passing through. People who use it daily just pay $1.
I pay $1.50 to go over the Sunshine bridge and it is worth every penny.

I have heard about that by-pass idea. If it is like the Atlanta by-pass it takes you miles out of your way and is actually busier than just going straight through. The Atlanta by-pass, people try it once and then never again.

driver100

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

I don't expect a bridge to withstand an extra strong earthquake, a meteorite, a plane crashing into it, but, I thought, with computers and and with the knowledge available today, every possible everyday problem would be tested and retested and the bridge would not fail.

And for the most part, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, very rarely, but just like with anything else, things sometimes go wrong. People get complacent, negligent, or arrogant every day. The “system” catches it and stops most of these cases, but nothing is perfect.

Human error. Ever hear about the Gimli Glider? To make it brief:

It was 1983, Canada had just converted from Imperial gallons to metric system...using litres (4 1/2 litres = 1 gal)
Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on July 23, 1983 ), midway through the flight. The crew was able to glide the Boeing 767 aircraft safely to an emergency landing at a former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, that had been turned into a motor racing track. This unusual aviation incident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli Glider."[1]

The subsequent investigation revealed that a combination of company failures, human errors and confusion over unit measures had led to the aircraft being refuelled with insufficient fuel for the planned flight

The pilot did the impossible in landing that plane. All caused because they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed...when we started using the Metric system.

bwia

tbirdmarco said:

 I sell Hondas did hear about this it’s a beautiful car sudden it yesterday at the show like it even the Camrys nice to know that I sent him both 

@tbirdmarco, are you dyslexic or are you doing it on purpose? Pardon my rudeness but I find your posts hard to read and in some instances incomprehensible. Try a little harder next time.

abacomike

@driver100:

Have a safe trip home, driver.  We’ll miss your contributions to our economy - at least until October/November.  I expect a drop in the stock market Monday due to your departure. 

qbrozen

driver100 said:

I don't expect a bridge to withstand an extra strong earthquake, a meteorite, a plane crashing into it, but, I thought, with computers and and with the knowledge available today, every possible everyday problem would be tested and retested and the bridge would not fail.

And for the most part, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, very rarely, but just like with anything else, things sometimes go wrong. People get complacent, negligent, or arrogant every day. The “system” catches it and stops most of these cases, but nothing is perfect.

Human error. Ever hear about the Gimli Glider? To make it brief: It was 1983, Canada had just converted from Imperial gallons to metric system...using litres (4 1/2 litres = 1 gal) Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on July 23, 1983 ), midway through the flight. The crew was able to glide the Boeing 767 aircraft safely to an emergency landing at a former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, that had been turned into a motor racing track. This unusual aviation incident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli Glider."[1] The subsequent investigation revealed that a combination of company failures, human errors and confusion over unit measures had led to the aircraft being refuelled with insufficient fuel for the planned flight The pilot did the impossible in landing that plane. All caused because they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed...when we started using the Metric system.

Soooo...no fuel gauge??

imidazol97

driver100 said:

Imid, that bridge is so out of date I would gladly pay $5 to go over it each way if they built a new one....if we were still driving that way.

Maybe we can just impose a tax on Canadians of $5 each per annum to pay for the new bridge, whether or not they drive over it. Sort of like they tax my dividend check. LOL

As for "out of date," the Ambassador Bridge was finished in 1927 and the Detroit Windsor tunnel in 1930. The Rainbow Bridge was started in 1940. I didn't check on the age of other bridges along the Niagara River. The Brent Spence bridge was built in 1962 IIRC. Pretty recent compared to the others.

The eastern bypass is a 65 mile proposal by Kentucky to connect I75/71 south of Cincy around Cincy to near Lebanon Ohio. There are other more reasonable, non campaign proposals that are out there that would take a lot of traffic off the bridge downtown. Search for eastern bypass cincinnati. It's not a circle freeway being proffered by other groups.

imidazol97

dino001 said:

And for the most part, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, very rarely, but just like with anything else, things sometimes go wrong. People get complacent, negligent, or arrogant every day. The “system” catches it and stops most of these cases, but nothing is perfect.

So this newly minted engineer's cap might be a more meaningful joke about trust me that the bridge I design won't collapse rather than just a play on words that are almost homophones?

nyccarguy

bwia said:

tbirdmarco said:

 I sell Hondas did hear about this it’s a beautiful car sudden it yesterday at the show like it even the Camrys nice to know that I sent him both 

@tbirdmarco, are you dyslexic or are you doing it on purpose? Pardon my rudeness but I find your posts hard to read and in some instances incomprehensible. Try a little harder next time.

@tbirdmarco is legally blind and posts through a talk to text translator. Sometimes his posts read more clearly than others.

explorerx4

@bwia,
The rest of us are fine with tbirdmarco's posts. Maybe you should get yourself checked.

graphicguy

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

I wonder how many older bridges are being neglected - like that bridge on I-75 in Cincinnati, that one looks ready to go at any time. .

My take is there is a lot of political whining about replacing the Brent Spence. Nobody is sure how to pay for it. The whining is mostly that a bridge designed to run three lanes of traffic with room for a pull off is running 4 lanes on each level with narrowed lanes and no breakdown lane.

The toll would be a camera toll system as I understand most of the proposals.

I thought the big problem...besides financing, was there wasn't really a place to put a new bridge. IIRC the real estate on both sides of the river have buildings on them. Maybe a tunnel, but you need extra room for more lanes. They have to keep the current bridge in place while they do something else, but, no room to do something else.

Imminent domain. There has been planning proposals for the additional bridge lanes. The locals mostly fuss over tolling feeling it should not be toll because so many people from N. Kentucky commute daily to Ohio for their jobs.

In addition others throw in the idea that there was/is some planning for a bypass route that has not been finished from somewhere near I71&I75 split in Kentucky around east side of Cincinnati over a new bridge there to some interestate on east side of Cincinnati.

There are at least two others from Cincy who probably are better able to speak to these things.

But, the bridge is not in danger of collapsing tomorrow. It has been maintained but will need more maintenance in the future.

All true. Brent Spence looks like hell and needs sprucing up. But, I have not heard it was unsafe....at least from the Ohio side.

I have heard the idea to make it a toll bridge, too. But, the thought process has become the other bridges that cross the Ohio which are “free” would be overused as a result and increase traffic in the neighboring areas.

The true problem is the bridge is a bottleneck. It costs productivity. And, when there’s a wreck on or near the bridge, it turns into a major incident as there is no place for traffic to go around.

You want to pay for it? Use DUI money, instead of paying overtime for this running DUI checkpoints every weekend.

roadburner

dino001 said:

I have to finally say - your reaction is a perfect example how IRRATIONAL is human perception of risk. We take no thought into getting into a car and exposing ourselves to drunk, crazy, dumb drivers that our streets are full of. Then we get frightened by some exogenous events that have near zero probability of occurring. Psychologists and Sociologists wrote many PhD thesis to describe why that is.

Exactly; a friend of mine mentioned that a hand-wringing neighbor was whining abou how scared she was to send her daughter to school in the light of the recent shootings- yet she let that same daughter drive to school with no competent driver training whatsoever.

qbrozen

imidazol97 said:

And for the most part, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, very rarely, but just like with anything else, things sometimes go wrong. People get complacent, negligent, or arrogant every day. The “system” catches it and stops most of these cases, but nothing is perfect.

So this newly minted engineer's cap might be a more meaningful joke about trust me that the bridge I design won't collapse rather than just a play on words that are almost homophones?

Not sure how "new" that is since it has "Aaron '14" on the bottom. If it is 4 yrs old, I wonder what it was in reference to.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IPx2G5SHy-o

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FdJWDeBpGZs

tbirdmarco

 We are I think you’re fairly new around here so you don’t know me too well like others mentioned in postings above I’m visually impaired and use the voice to text feature on my phone so sometimes postings come out clear then others if I don’t talk super slow which sometimes I don’t and it’s who’s of the postings so you’ll get to know me don’t worry no offense taken 

tbirdmarco

 Thank you all for the kind words and having my back in here that’s really appreciated 

tbirdmarco

 Driver 100 we shall see what she gets I like a lot of the luxury makes interiors but I think that’s way out of the price range how much he wants to spend that’s for sure the small Infiniti SUV was nice the smallest one they have so now it’s ford jeep or Monday one of those three maybe possibly even Kia 

tbirdmarco

 I’m still gonna have her look at the encore and the one that’s a little bigger then comes from China those two were nice 

tbirdmarco

 I was the most disappointed with monsters interior polity big time but the only big SUVE that they have the CX nine had the nicest interior everything else was very disappointed 

iluvmysephia1

We are I think you’re fairly new around here so you don’t know me too well like others mentioned in postings above I’m visually impaired and use the voice to text feature on my phone so sometimes postings come out clear then others if I don’t talk super slow which sometimes I don’t and it’s who’s of the postings so you’ll get to know me don’t worry no offense taken

Hey, tbirdmarco, those of us who know you on here are fine with you as you are. A person has to get used to your posting style. That takes a little bit of patience and a bit of concentration as a person reads your posts. But I have gotten used to your posting style and I appreciate your AutoWorld video postings and I am here to support you here. You are totally welcome here, marco!

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

dino001 said:

I have to finally say - your reaction is a perfect example how IRRATIONAL is human perception of risk. We take no thought into getting into a car and exposing ourselves to drunk, crazy, dumb drivers that our streets are full of. Then we get frightened by some exogenous events that have near zero probability of occurring. Psychologists and Sociologists wrote many PhD thesis to describe why that is.

Exactly; a friend of mine mentioned that a hand-wringing neighbor was whining abou how scared she was to send her daughter to school in the light of the recent shootings- yet she let that same daughter drive to school with no competent driver training whatsoever.

Well that case might not be what roadburner is talking about---statistically, your chances of dying by a gun in the USA are about the same as dying by an auto accident. (33,000 deaths a year, by either car or gun). Of course, that statistic means ALL gun deaths, including suicides--so perhaps it's not as grim as that mother thinks.

imidazol97

Not sure how "new" that is since it has "Aaron '14" on the bottom. If it is 4 yrs old, I wonder what it was in reference to.

"Newly-minted" means he was graduating then when I took the picture from a distance in low light at The Ohio State University's graduation of thousands of engineers at the mid-year graduation. The year was 2014. I was amused by the pun (I love puns) and now I see the potential foreshadowing of the lack of precision in engineering when the cap says, "It's good enough."

imidazol97

tbirdmarco said:

 Thank you all for the kind words and having my back in here that’s really appreciated 

This unit for speech to text works better than what you had before. And sometimes I just read things twice phonetically and it's clear what was being said.

I also like the videos. Some I watch just to see what topics aren't on the front page. It's like reading Automotive News weekly industry newspaper was when I subscribed 30 or more years ago.

iluvmysephia1

I also like the videos. Some I watch just to see what topics aren't on the front page. It's like reading Automotive News weekly industry newspaper was when I subscribed 30 or more years ago.

Agreed, imidazol97. I like the new car information in video format - I am busier of late than usual with not just the new "old job I used ta have" here in Alamo, but also Mrs. iluvmysephia1 and I closed on our house yesterday in town, too. All kinds of tasks involved with that, as pretty much all of you are aware of. Just finding the right house took several weeks. So I appreciate looking at little snippets of car information now more so than in years past, when I would pore into my favorite car's information on the net in minute detail.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

Well that case might not be what roadburner is talking about---statistically, your chances of dying by a gun in the USA are about the same as dying by an auto accident. (33,000 deaths a year, by either car or gun). Of course, that statistic means ALL gun deaths, including suicides--so perhaps it's not as grim as that mother thinks.

I knew a guy who committed suicide by automobile. Got in his vehicle, got on a 2-lane with a 60mph limit, and drove head-on into a tractor-trailer. Sad as he was well-respected in his field and left a lovely young wife and small child. I found out later he had fought mental illness for years.

Of course that is likely a small percentage compared to those who do the deed using a gun.

driver100

abacomike said:

@driver100:

Have a safe trip home, driver.  We’ll miss your contributions to our economy - at least until October/November.  I expect a drop in the stock market Monday due to your departure. 

Thanks Mike. My tennis friends sid Canadians should be allowed to stay 7 months if we spend $5000 in the 7th month. I said that is fine, but, they would have to contribute to the fund.

I am sorry to leave, leaving 80+ temps for just above freezing. Can I claim cruel and unusual punishment? The guys say it is brutal being here in July, Aug and Sept, so at least I avoid that.

Actually fly back Wednesday.

driver100

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

I don't expect a bridge to withstand an extra strong earthquake, a meteorite, a plane crashing into it, but, I thought, with computers and and with the knowledge available today, every possible everyday problem would be tested and retested and the bridge would not fail.

And for the most part, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, very rarely, but just like with anything else, things sometimes go wrong. People get complacent, negligent, or arrogant every day. The “system” catches it and stops most of these cases, but nothing is perfect.

Human error. Ever hear about the Gimli Glider? To make it brief:

It was 1983, Canada had just converted from Imperial gallons to metric system...using litres (4 1/2 litres = 1 gal)
Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on July 23, 1983 ), midway through the flight. The crew was able to glide the Boeing 767 aircraft safely to an emergency landing at a former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, that had been turned into a motor racing track. This unusual aviation incident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli Glider."[1]

The subsequent investigation revealed that a combination of company failures, human errors and confusion over unit measures had led to the aircraft being refuelled with insufficient fuel for the planned flight

The pilot did the impossible in landing that plane. All caused because they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed...when we started using the Metric system.

Soooo...no fuel gauge??

Good point. Maybe it is like the old VWs......transfer to the extra tank. I think missing that was part of the human error on the part of the pilots. Maybe they didn't have a warning light that tells you when you are low on fuel...no GPS that list stations nearby too.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

Imid, that bridge is so out of date I would gladly pay $5 to go over it each way if they built a new one....if we were still driving that way.

Maybe we can just impose a tax on Canadians of $5 each per annum to pay for the new bridge, whether or not they drive over it. Sort of like they tax my dividend check. LOL

As for "out of date," the Ambassador Bridge was finished in 1927 and the Detroit Windsor tunnel in 1930. The Rainbow Bridge was started in 1940. I didn't check on the age of other bridges along the Niagara River. The Brent Spence bridge was built in 1962 IIRC. Pretty recent compared to the others.

The eastern bypass is a 65 mile proposal by Kentucky to connect I75/71 south of Cincy around Cincy to near Lebanon Ohio. There are other more reasonable, non campaign proposals that are out there that would take a lot of traffic off the bridge downtown. Search for eastern bypass cincinnati. It's not a circle freeway being proffered by other groups.

It isn't just the age of the bridge....it is the way the lanes converge and the feeling you get. Is it my imagination or does it feel like the car is sliding around on the metal surface? The bridge is also a bottleneck, I forget all the reasons why, and you have to be careful to be in the right lane.

explorerx4

@marco,
I'm charging up the battery in the Mustang. Checked the odometer, 40220.

driver100

I love reading your posts Marco, and you contribute a lot of good information including the videos. You help brighten the site considerably. Keep up the good work.

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

roadburner said:

dino001 said:

I have to finally say - your reaction is a perfect example how IRRATIONAL is human perception of risk. We take no thought into getting into a car and exposing ourselves to drunk, crazy, dumb drivers that our streets are full of. Then we get frightened by some exogenous events that have near zero probability of occurring. Psychologists and Sociologists wrote many PhD thesis to describe why that is.

Exactly; a friend of mine mentioned that a hand-wringing neighbor was whining abou how scared she was to send her daughter to school in the light of the recent shootings- yet she let that same daughter drive to school with no competent driver training whatsoever.

Well that case might not be what roadburner is talking about---statistically, your chances of dying by a gun in the USA are about the same as dying by an auto accident. (33,000 deaths a year, by either car or gun). Of course, that statistic means ALL gun deaths, including suicides--so perhaps it's not as grim as that mother thinks.

I don't think saying you are more likely to die from a car accident than a collapsing bridge is a meaningful comparison. With a car accident, there are lots of moving parts....objects going at different speeds going in different or the same direction....all kinds of variables. You can't control chaos. A bridge is designed beforehand, it is checked and rechecked, it is stationary....if it is designed and built right it should work for many years without incident. If a meteor falls on the bridge then you have an unforeseen event....that you can't plan for.

tbirdmarco

 Thank you I love and driver 100 and everyone else for the kind words wrong awesome people that’s why I seen these threads hope to meet you all soon would be cool to meet up I just talk cars and hang out 

tbirdmarco

 Congratulations on the new house I love yes do know all about closing on the house and all the people that has to be signed me involved with that 

qbrozen

imidazol97 said: Not sure how "new" that is since it has "Aaron '14" on the bottom. If it is 4 yrs old, I wonder what it was in reference to. "Newly-minted" means he was graduating then when I took the picture from a distance in low light at The Ohio State University's graduation of thousands of engineers at the mid-year graduation. The year was 2014. I was amused by the pun (I love puns) and now I see the potential foreshadowing of the lack of precision in engineering when the cap says, "It's good enough.

Interesting.
I tried to do a little research and the closest I found was a truss bridge in Washington state that collapsed May 2013. 

tbirdmarco

 Explore that’s nice low mileage most thing you know they’re from B one love it it’s good you’re charging up the battery weathers getting nicer you’ll be able to take it out every now and then free spin off some pictures when you can forget did you say it was a stick shift or an automatic one 

imidazol97

roadburner said:

I am sorry to leave, leaving 80+ temps for just above freezing. Can I claim cruel and unusual punishment? The guys say it is brutal being here in July, Aug and Sept, so at least I avoid that.
.

How many of us here are feeling sympathy for Mr.Driver? Raise your hands.
Cold in Ohio.

bwia

edit

imidazol97

driver100 said:

It isn't just the age of the bridge....it is the way the lanes converge and the feeling you get. Is it my imagination or does it feel like the car is sliding around on the metal surface? The bridge is also a bottleneck, I forget all the reasons why, and you have to be careful to be in the right lane.

More than 750 word warning. Bridge talk warning.

Are you talking about southbound or northbound with the manner of the convergence of the lanes? NB there's one lane merging on from Covington with a wide and fairly long merge.You are under the bridge holding the southbound lanes above you. The surface is concrete but lanes have shrunk in width. With with the height and being covered and the narrow lanes, a little clostrophobic in nature. At the north end, one must be in the correct pair out of 4 lanes--2 go right to I71 and 2 go left to I75. Otherwise, you'll see a crosstown freeway connector a few miles up that lets you cross between I71 and I75 which are about 4 miles apart.

On the other hand southbound two lanes from I75 merge with 2 or 3 lanes from the left which is I71 and go across the open top of the bridge as 4 lanes IIRC. At the south end of the bridge the 4 lanes remain 4 lanes as an exit goes off to Covington's MainStrasse village area.

bwia

tbirdmarco said:

 We are I think you’re fairly new around here so you don’t know me too well like others mentioned in postings above I’m visually impaired and use the voice to text feature on my phone so sometimes postings come out clear then others if I don’t talk super slow which sometimes I don’t and it’s who’s of the postings so you’ll get to know me don’t worry no offense taken 

Dear @tbirdmarco, I am so sorry for my unfortunate and insensitive remarks. There are no words to express how embarrassed I am; and apologize to you and others on this thread that I have offended.A thousand pardons and I hope you will forgive me.

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Well that case might not be what roadburner is talking about---statistically, your chances of dying by a gun in the USA are about the same as dying by an auto accident. (33,000 deaths a year, by either car or gun). Of course, that statistic means ALL gun deaths, including suicides--so perhaps it's not as grim as that mother thinks.

I knew a guy who committed suicide by automobile. Got in his vehicle, got on a 2-lane with a 60mph limit, and drove head-on into a tractor-trailer. Sad as he was well-respected in his field and left a lovely young wife and small child. I found out later he had fought mental illness for years.

Of course that is likely a small percentage compared to those who do the deed using a gun.

Oh, man, that's ugly especially because of the risk to other innocent people.

explorerx4

@marco,
Got behind this today.

Driver100 would like it, visibility out the back is excellent.

Mustang is an automatic. I better check on the battery, now that you brought up the subject of the car.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

I knew a guy who committed suicide by automobile. Got in his vehicle, got on a 2-lane with a 60mph limit, and drove head-on into a tractor-trailer. Sad as he was well-respected in his field and left a lovely young wife and small child. I found out later he had fought mental illness for years.

We've had a handful of those in this area in the last 2 or 3 years. Usually they drive wrong way on the interstate and the pick an on-coming semi for a head on impact.

thebean

imidazol97 said:

I am sorry to leave, leaving 80+ temps for just above freezing. Can I claim cruel and unusual punishment? The guys say it is brutal being here in July, Aug and Sept, so at least I avoid that. .

How many of us here are feeling sympathy for Mr.Driver? Raise your hands. Cold in Ohio.

I would gladly go to the Great White North now.  We are soon to be 80 degrees and up from there.  I'm going to start mowing my lawn next week and that unpleasant task will continue through October.  It's lovely mowing in August with 100 degrees and humidity %.  
  

qbrozen

I may have mentioned this before, but several years ago, a man stopped his car on the highway and proceeded to run towards an oncoming semi being driven by an employee of my father's. The driver attempted to avoid him but the running man adjusted his direction to stay in the path. Needless to say, the man succeeded in killing himself, but the emotional damage he caused that poor driver is irreversible and unforgivable. Doing that with a vehicle is atrocious. Why would you try to take an innocent strager out with you? 

snakeweasel

jmonroe said:

jipster said:

jmonroe said:

Bumper rules seem to exclude sacrificing fascia covers if nothing else.

Was that a redesigned forester? Didn’t know one of them was coming out

Here's some more info. Slightly larger but no more turbo engine.

http://www.autoverdict.com/suburu/2019-subaru-forester-grows-in-size-loses-turbo-engine/

BOO! No Turbo?

I'm with you.

I was actually thinking that if I could talk Mrs. j into letting go of her beloved 2012 Legacy (just turned 31K miles) that maybe just maybe we should get a CUV type, say a Forrester, almost in self defense since there are so many CUV types on the road nowadays. And it would save me from having to get either of my Sons van or SUV to haul even a lawnmower or something that size which will not fit in either my Genny or her Legacy. With a small non-turo 4 cyl. engine as standard on the 2019 Forrester it might have a hard time getting that home.

I have almost resigned myself that getting a grocery getter of any type will put me in a CVT vehicle but that along with a standard 4 cyl. job is too much to take all at once.

jmonroe

(hand-wringing): Yes.....YES!!!!....talk to Mrs.J about selling the Legacy. My strategy is paying off. Good ole Jipster can wait as long as it takes. I'll continue to lurk...here in the forum shadows...waiting....waiting.....wa-...zzzz...zzzzzz...zzzzz

I'll keep trying but I think you're going to be on permanent zzzzz's by the time Mrs. j decides to let go of her 2012 Legacy. It won't do you much good by then.

Like I said, it just cracked 31K miles the other day. PA has state safety and emissions inspection every year. If your car was driven less than 5K miles since the last inspection, you are emissions exempt. Therefore, her Subie has never had the emission probe put in the tail pipe and that saves me the fee for that test. Maybe 25 or 30 bucks but I'm not sure because I haven't had to pay it yet. In any case, I still have to pay about 5 bucks for the emissions exempt windshield sticker. That's good ole PA for you.

In a way I'm surprised PA hasn't enacted a once every 5 years emissions test regardless of the miles driven between the yearly inspection. WHOA, did I just say that? I hope we don't have any Penndot officials lurking in here. Oh well, what's done is done. If they do enact that requirement, maybe they'll give me credit and call it the "jmonroe PA Emissions Regulation".

jmonroe

Here we have to have an emissions test every two years. Newer cars are just plugged into the computer and it checks the onboard sensors as the car runs. The test actually takes about 5 minutes (plus the wait of anyone in front of you) and doesn't cost anything.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

bwia said:

How do car salesmen make money in an age of vehicles selling at or below invoice?

According to an unnamed salesman, the traditional compensation formula was $200 per week salary plus 20% on the gross profit on each car sold. Gross profit is measured as the difference between MSRP and invoice price. He went on to say in the absence of a so-called gross profit, dealers pay $150 to $200 per car sold, plus a 3% commission on back-end gross profit from F&I, for accessories, warranties, etc. In the end that works out to be around $35k to $50k annual compensation. Not much, but it is a living.

So this begs the question, since the sales associate is basically an order taker, why would they waste their time haggling over pricing? It would appear the better strategy is sales volume and by extension performance incentive bonuses and Spiffs. Don't know what percentage of total sales are internet sales but that cannot be good for the salesman.

Don't leave out the car the salesperson gets to drive. I don't know how that is accounted for at tax time.

While it may make sense to the individual salesperson to go low and move cars in volume, that may not sit well with their boss the sales manager and his bosses, ultimately the franchise owner. The accountants and consultants likely set some targets that optimize profit, that may well require a certain amount of margin per unit.

As for the car the salesman drives it's a taxable benefit based on the lease value of the car and what percentage of driving is for personal use and who pays for gas.

As for haggling over price the dealership has to make a profit. No salesman or order taker is going to stay employed if s/he gives away the store.

snakeweasel

Michaell said:

cdnpinhead said:

Romans didn't have to explain why they used too much material and/or manpower.

Yeah, conquer another land, find some more free labor.

I would also like to know how many of those surviving roman bridges have dozens of 14 ton trucks running over them on an hourly basis.