Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

imidazol97

tyguy said:

I'm also a long-time AAA member and usually cover my annual premium with savings at hotels and such. There are some real deals available if you use the resources they provide.

I forgot about the rates on motels. Some have a senior rate, but usually the AAA seems to be popular that most offer it.

Another feature, is I called for the tow. Gave my card number and ID and phone for contact. I only showed the card to the driver after I was warm sitting inside the cab. No signature. Easy.

If I let my insurance pay, I'd would have paid, gotten a paid receipt, and then given that to my insurance company to request payment.

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

Maybe this is the car I really want......

https://www.motortrend.com/news/genesis-g70-2019-car-of-the-year/

I just can’t find any around these parts.

Beautiful. Needs a set of real tires on it though, thicker than the ones they showing.

. I don't think those tires, and wheels, would last on the potholes that develop on I75 around here due to the truck traffic.

stickguy

I live in fear. Our roads are terrible. My sons A3, in 2 years, 24,000 miles, now has had 3 tires replaced from hitting potholes.

pensfan83

We have AAA Plus as well. Like @graphicguy I have a roadside assistance through Acura but with 2 cars that don't have such coverage it doesn't make sense to drop it.

pensfan83

graphicguy said:

Maybe this is the car I really want......

https://www.motortrend.com/news/genesis-g70-2019-car-of-the-year/

I just can’t find any around these parts.

Our tastes are similar. I prefer the looks, inside and out, of the G70 to the Stinger. If one ever presents itself I'd love to take a 4 cylinder 6MT for a spin. More likely though dealer stock, once it arrives, will have mostly AWD examples.

coldinohio

G 70

none at local Hyundai store; they will give me a call but expect it to be heavily optioned

there are several in Atlanta at what looks like a stand alone Genesis dealer next to Hyundai... all have $1000 dealer add ons.... Jim Ellis IIRC

and the local Kia dealer only has a few 2018 Stingers-- all 2.0 Turbos

stickguy

My dealer in NJ had at least 3 when I was here a couple weeks ago. One I drove was base AWD. I don’t expect to ever see a 6 speed.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

I just got my Liberty Mutual Auto Insurance renewal for the new policy year effect 12/30/18. They raised my insurance rates from $2280 a year to $3100 a year. So they raised my rates 30%+ and I have had no accidents, no tickets or violations, and I have not changed any of the limits on the policy. Can you imagine the nerve of Liberty Mutual? How do they expect to retain their clientele - especially the good drivers with no accidents or tickets?

So I contacted Progressive first and they were about $100 every 6 months less for the same coverages. I then called Geico and they were $500 less every 6 months for the same limits, but actually they gave me a 0 deductible PIP instead of a $1000 deductible PIP (Personal Injury Protection required by State Law). So, effective 12/30/18, I will be with Geico. I already signed the paperwork for automatic recurring charges to my AMEX each month beginning 12/26/18. The only thing Geico required is that within 30 days I have the car inspected at a place 4 miles from me to ensure the car has no damage, which it does not. I just give them the policy number and my driver's license and they send in the report directly to Geico. I am going to retain my homeowners insurance and umbrella policy with Liberty Mutual unless they decide to cancel those policies after I cancel my auto policy effective the end of next month. Who knows, but I don't care.

The net premium difference of the new policy with Geico is $1.50 a month more than my current payment before the renewal.

The darn nerve of a company to raise insurance rates that much for a perfect driver who drives less than 9000 miles a year.

You may want to bundle your homeowner’s policy with your car. You might save on both. I bet LM jacks your homeowner’s rate up as soon as the realize you no longer have your car with them.

graphicguy

coldinohio said:

G 70

none at local Hyundai store; they will give me a call but expect it to be heavily optioned

there are several in Atlanta at what looks like a stand alone Genesis dealer next to Hyundai... all have $1000 dealer add ons.... Jim Ellis IIRC

and the local Kia dealer only has a few 2018 Stingers-- all 2.0 Turbos

Plenty of Stinger GTs around these parts. Frankly, if your Hyundai dealer is adding $1K in add ons, on top of the MSRP (which, by the way looks identical to the pricing on the Stinger), he's going to be holding onto them for a while given I can buy a totally loaded Stinger GT2 for less than $40K.

What Hyundai/Genesis is saying....there's a ~$14K difference between the GT2 and the G90 3.0TT?

MAybe....but until I can get seat time in a G90, I doubt that very seriously. That means the GT2 is even a bigger bargain than I originally thought.

stickguy

My genesis dealer now has 10 listed. 8 with pictures, so actually there for sure. Interesting, 5 are RWD. not what I was expecting. No sticks of course, and all of them are 2.0T advance models.

Mr_Shiftright

driver100 said:

Here is a question for you. On Thanksgiving evening I had my tire blow out on the way home from a TG dinner. Who do you call for service....and the bigger question....who would you even trust to come out and put on a donut?
We called the people who had the dinner, they came out, it was about 6 minutes away, and they used their AAA card to call a Service truck, guy came in 15 minutes, put on the donut in 20 minutes. Great!
I belonged to CAA for about 40 years, but didn't bother because my new cars all came with driver assistance. Of course the 2014 C250 is now an orphan, no driver assist.
I am considering buying an AAA membership, about $60 a year, because having a problem can be a real hassle.

The question is.......who belongs to AAA and what are your thoughts?

btw....I have changed a lot of tires in my time and I was going to try to change this one. The tire change kit fits into this neat 12 inch diameter case, comes complete with gloves, and it folds up and comes apart. You would have to be a mechanical engineer to try to use it....and if you get it wrong you could really do damage to the car!

I have AAA Premium (provides free long-distance towing, mandatory for any Mini owner ) and I think AAA is worth it. I can get my DMV work done right in town at their offices, get maps (you remember maps, don't you?) and occasional discounts. And yes, their road service is usuallyl pretty prompt, as they use my local towing company, who park just a short distance from me anyway. One time I had them come out and install a battery, and it was cheaper than OReilly and of course, no labor charge either. This wasn't a later model BMW, so I didn't have to register the battery with Interpol

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Here is a question for you. On Thanksgiving evening I had my tire blow out on the way home from a TG dinner. Who do you call for service....and the bigger question....who would you even trust to come out and put on a donut?
We called the people who had the dinner, they came out, it was about 6 minutes away, and they used their AAA card to call a Service truck, guy came in 15 minutes, put on the donut in 20 minutes. Great!
I belonged to CAA for about 40 years, but didn't bother because my new cars all came with driver assistance. Of course the 2014 C250 is now an orphan, no driver assist.
I am considering buying an AAA membership, about $60 a year, because having a problem can be a real hassle.

The question is.......who belongs to AAA and what are your thoughts?

btw....I have changed a lot of tires in my time and I was going to try to change this one. The tire change kit fits into this neat 12 inch diameter case, comes complete with gloves, and it folds up and comes apart. You would have to be a mechanical engineer to try to use it....and if you get it wrong you could really do damage to the car!

I’ve been an AAA member for 40+ years. Worth every penny for just one call. Just recently had them tow my farm van out of the field after I got stuck. Cheap insurance.

As to changing flats, in many cases it’s almost impossible to remove the nuts without air tools.

Mr_Shiftright

I have my garage hand-tighten the lugs. One time, I couldn't get them off even with a 3-foot pipe for leverage! Mini gives you this silly little tool to use. I should have been better equipped. I am now!

pensfan83

Oh yeah, forgot about the DMV stuff with AAA. That comes in very handy and it's usually less than a messenger service. The one closest to us also partners with PennDOT to do drivers license photos for renewals which is a godsend because the closest state DL center is a cluster you know what at all times.

28firefighter

Interestingly, my AAA Washington Premium doesn't include the battery benefit. Just a discount on a new battery.

Mr_Shiftright

I think my office also does passport photos, and of course, it's the same place where my real, live insurance agent works, so I can go in and talk to her personally about any problems.

kyfdx

Mr_Shiftright said:

I have my garage hand-tighten the lugs. One time, I couldn't get them off even with a 3-foot pipe for leverage! Mini gives you this silly little tool to use. I should have been better equipped. I am now!

Any tire place that doesn't use a torque wrench in this day and age should be closed down.

henryn

kyfdx said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I have my garage hand-tighten the lugs. One time, I couldn't get them off even with a 3-foot pipe for leverage! Mini gives you this silly little tool to use. I should have been better equipped. I am now!

Any tire place that doesn't use a torque wrench in this day and age should be closed down.

Agree, 100%. I started, many years ago, asking that specific question. Whenever I'm buying new tires, having tires rotated, getting a flat fixed, whatever, I make a specific point of asking, "You do hand tighten the lug nuts with a torque wrench, right?"

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

Here is a question for you. On Thanksgiving evening I had my tire blow out on the way home from a TG dinner. Who do you call for service....and the bigger question....who would you even trust to come out and put on a donut?
We called the people who had the dinner, they came out, it was about 6 minutes away, and they used their AAA card to call a Service truck, guy came in 15 minutes, put on the donut in 20 minutes. Great!
I belonged to CAA for about 40 years, but didn't bother because my new cars all came with driver assistance. Of course the 2014 C250 is now an orphan, no driver assist.
I am considering buying an AAA membership, about $60 a year, because having a problem can be a real hassle.

The question is.......who belongs to AAA and what are your thoughts?

btw....I have changed a lot of tires in my time and I was going to try to change this one. The tire change kit fits into this neat 12 inch diameter case, comes complete with gloves, and it folds up and comes apart. You would have to be a mechanical engineer to try to use it....and if you get it wrong you could really do damage to the car!

I’ve been an AAA member for 40+ years. Worth every penny for just one call. Just recently had them tow my farm van out of the field after I got stuck. Cheap insurance.

As to changing flats, in many cases it’s almost impossible to remove the nuts without air tools.

You guys talked me into joining for sure. Good point about the air wrenches - the guy who changed my tire even had pads to protect my wheels while he took the nuts off and on.

imidazol97

You don't need an air wrench to take off the lug nuts. I suggest carrying a battery powered impact wrench. That's what my neighbor had. I really miss that since he moved.

I have an antique 4-spoke spinner wrench that my brother used working on cars back in the 40s.

driver100

That G70 is a nice looking car. They did copy the tail lights from my 2014 C250.


Also stole the line down the side from Mercedes and BMW. Grill looks like it came from an Infinity.
Great looking car though.......Seems to be aimed at more mature drivers than the Stinger.

May have looked better without the boomerang on the side.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

You don't need an air wrench to take off the lug nuts. I suggest carrying a battery powered impact wrench. That's what my neighbor had. I really miss that since he moved.
.

Imid...you are advising us to buy one....you could go out and buy one too or are you hoping your new neighbor will have one you can borrow :@

imidazol97

That was tongue-in-cheek. The impact wrenches suitable for car work are likely around $100. My neighbor had 2--he's the guy with the MB from H&##. He moved about a year ago. I miss borrowing his wrenches for special jobs.

Carrying one in the trunk would be ridiculous, unless you're a car repair oriented person who has one at home.

The problem with on-the-road tire changing is the jacks, as you pointed out. My Cobalt jack required an engineering degree to determine how to un pack it from the stored configuration. I have 2 hydraulic jacks but I got out the Cobalt jack to do a same side front and back tire switch, just to see if it worked. The second hydraulic jack was a gift from , you guessed it, my departed neighbor. I had borrowed it a few times to do tire switches and he got a newer one and gave the elderly one to me! I sure do miss him.

My 3800 leSabre cracked a coolant plastic connector. I had the car towed and dumped into his garage from the AAA truck. Ready for me to work on. He didn't happen to have an clients in the garage when I called from 1 mile away about having it towed there.

henryn

imidazol97 said:

You don't need an air wrench to take off the lug nuts. I suggest carrying a battery powered impact wrench. That's what my neighbor had. I really miss that since he moved.

I have an antique 4-spoke spinner wrench that my brother used working on cars back in the 40s.

They still sell those 4-way lug wrenches. The last time I looked, they had them at WalMart. I own 3 of them, personally.

stickguy

I use Mavis now. behind the register, they have a torque chart by model. and put in bold print on the receipt to bring it back after 25 miles to get redone. I actually stopped by after my last rotation (well, 1-2 weeks after) to have them retorqued, and they sent a tech right out to the parking lot with a big honcking torque wrench to hit all the nuts again.

he is the guy that told me they don't use it on locking nuts because it can break them. So those go on lighter.

henryn

stickguy said:

I use Mavis now. behind the register, they have a torque chart by model. and put in bold print on the receipt to bring it back after 25 miles to get redone. I actually stopped by after my last rotation (well, 1-2 weeks after) to have them retorqued, and they sent a tech right out to the parking lot with a big honcking torque wrench to hit all the nuts again.

he is the guy that told me they don't use it on locking nuts because it can break them. So those go on lighter.

Hmmm... I'm assuming you mean the lug nuts that require a "key" to engage? I always torque those to the same number as the other lug nuts, never had a problem. You just need to be careful to get the "key" lined up properly, and keep your wrench at the proper 90 degree angle. It is a little bit tricky, requiring a certain amount of care. But if the key wasn't strong enough to withstand the proper amount of torque, they really shouldn't be using it.

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

I just got my Liberty Mutual Auto Insurance renewal for the new policy year effect 12/30/18. They raised my insurance rates from $2280 a year to $3100 a year. So they raised my rates 30%+ and I have had no accidents, no tickets or violations, and I have not changed any of the limits on the policy. Can you imagine the nerve of Liberty Mutual? How do they expect to retain their clientele - especially the good drivers with no accidents or tickets? So I contacted Progressive first and they were about $100 every 6 months less for the same coverages. I then called Geico and they were $500 less every 6 months for the same limits, but actually they gave me a 0 deductible PIP instead of a $1000 deductible PIP (Personal Injury Protection required by State Law). So, effective 12/30/18, I will be with Geico. I already signed the paperwork for automatic recurring charges to my AMEX each month beginning 12/26/18. The only thing Geico required is that within 30 days I have the car inspected at a place 4 miles from me to ensure the car has no damage, which it does not. I just give them the policy number and my driver's license and they send in the report directly to Geico. I am going to retain my homeowners insurance and umbrella policy with Liberty Mutual unless they decide to cancel those policies after I cancel my auto policy effective the end of next month. Who knows, but I don't care. The net premium difference of the new policy with Geico is $1.50 a month more than my current payment before the renewal. The darn nerve of a company to raise insurance rates that much for a perfect driver who drives less than 9000 miles a year.

You may want to bundle your homeowner’s policy with your car. You might save on both. I bet LM jacks your homeowner’s rate up as soon as the realize you no longer have your car with them.

They could, but I do have an umbrella policy with LM.  If they want to lose another $1800 in premiums, they will raise my rates!

dino001

graphicguy said:

Noticed the Edmunds forum software acting crazy (as a lot of you point out). You pull up Edmunds.com, and instead of having the “Research” button on top to take you to your “Forums” page, it now looks like they buried the “forums” link at the VERY bottom of the page...almost like they’re trying to hide them.

Not too sure, but it’s almost like Edmunds is moving towards axing the forums as they don’t see a need for the eyeballs or the content of the forums. Just a hunch.

My exact impression. These forums are costing them more then they're bringing. I'd imagine their best way is to get somebody just looking to buy a car in next month or so, so they get them to click a link or two to a favorite dealer. People like us - only causing grief, complaining about the software, but not really bringing any advertising dollars, I guess. I can understand this.

abacomike

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

imidazol97

henryn said:

They still sell those 4-way lug wrenches. The last time I looked, they had them at WalMart. I own 3 of them, personally.

This old one has patina. Smile. Plus it was used by my brother who was killed in 1944 in WWII. I also have a dolly and hammer he used to shape fenders, etc..

kyfdx

You don't need a torque wrench. You need a friend with a torque wrench.

(you can substitute "pickup truck" or "boat" for "torque wrench", as well).

imidazol97

abacomike said:

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

You want sympathy? We're going to 18 F deg tonight. Little snow flurries all day. Perfect weather.

carnaught

73 degrees here and sunny, high 40’s at night (great sleep weather). This weekend getting down to the high 60’s, 30% chance of rain. Sorry, but it makes up for our summer 100’s (don’t have to shovel it though).

explorerx4

We have AAA and use it for things like ticket and parking discounts.

suydam

We had AAA for many years, but now with 2 GM cars we could activate Onstar in an emergency, so I dropped it.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

We have AAA and use it for things like ticket and parking discounts.

Yeh, I can give up my AARP for $15 a year if I have AAA for motels and that. Probably won't get 10% off on Denny's though

driver100

suydam said:

We had AAA for many years, but now with 2 GM cars we could activate Onstar in an emergency, so I dropped it.

A lot of people dropped AAA because car companies are offering these services now. But, if you keep the car past the warranty period you may want to consider it again.

xwesx

I have a towing rider on my insurance through State Farm. It's minimal cost (something like $1.50/mo) to have on there, but they don't have the service part. I am on my own to obtain and pay the service fees, but SF then reimburses me (something like up to $500/incident) after I provide the receipt. I used it once about a week after I bought the Q7. At that point in the game, they had paid me about twice what I paid them (new policy for that vehicle).

Mr_Shiftright

kyfdx said:

You don't need a torque wrench. You need a friend with a torque wrench.

(you can substitute "pickup truck" or "boat" for "torque wrench", as well).

You mean "you need a friend with a pickup truck who knows you need a pickup truck and will answer the phone when you call. "

dino001

abacomike said:

I just got my Liberty Mutual Auto Insurance renewal for the new policy year effect 12/30/18. They raised my insurance rates from $2280 a year to $3100 a year. So they raised my rates 30%+ and I have had no accidents, no tickets or violations, and I have not changed any of the limits on the policy. Can you imagine the nerve of Liberty Mutual? How do they expect to retain their clientele - especially the good drivers with no accidents or tickets?

I really don't know what your deal with car insurance is, Mike. I'm paying around $550/6 months, so equivalent $1100 with essentially top coverages on Progressive (100/300/100 liability and 500 deductibles, I only lowered uninsured motorist to something like 25K). This is my fourth year with them. I used be insured with them for years, then they jacked up their rate three times by 20 percent, so at the third time I started shopping, I went through Ameriprise, Allstate, they all had a loss leader intro rate that went up substantially on a renewal, or couple of subsequent renewals (Allstate), after which I landed back at Progressive. But even with all this nonsense the renewals never exceeded $750/6 months. My switch trigger point was around mid $600s. I'm trying to figure out what's different about you. Tampa is pretty much an worldwide quarters of the insurance fraud, so it can't be the location (at least not to that extent). I wonder if it's your age, your credit score, frequent vehicles switches perhaps. Maybe they have some data saying people who change vehicles so often are "mentally unstable" and more prone to irrational behavior, which translates to elevated risk of losses. I don't know. They really hate you. I came across several companies that had quotes in a different galaxy than others, LM was one of them, so perhaps they simply hate Florida, not just you. Geico has never quoted me anything good, but they were still much closer to my current rates than yours. Oh, well. Who knows what factors are put into the formulas by the actuaries. Moon phase, solar activity, mustache, your neighbor's daughter's father-in-law's associations memberships come in mind as significant factors

dino001

kyfdx said:

The technical problem is from our vendor, and happened on a holiday. I'm sure it will be fixed, soon.

Is your vendor LG? :laughing:

stickguy

I assume part of the problem for Mike is really expensive cars. Your BMW though is not cheap, but still what, only 50-60% of MSRP on the S class?

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

We can’t help it. Driver100 keeps sending us all his lousy weather and we have to put ours somewhere.

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

We can’t help it. Driver100 keeps sending us all his lousy weather and we have to put ours somewhere.

It’s supposed to go down into the low 40’s in Tampa tonight.  Give driver100 a taste of his own medicine.  I will admit that it’s a bit early in the season for south Florida to be this cold. Usually we get blasted in December/January. But it sure is a nice relief from the mid 80’s we’ve been suffering through.  I guess the forecast is for it to remain pretty cool down here for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

kyfdx

Mr_Shiftright said:

kyfdx said:

You don't need a torque wrench. You need a friend with a torque wrench.

(you can substitute "pickup truck" or "boat" for "torque wrench", as well).

You mean "you need a friend with a pickup truck who knows you need a pickup truck and will answer the phone when you call. "

My pickup friend also has a torque wrench and an air compressor.
Lives close by and always answers the phone.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

abacomike said:

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

We can’t help it. Driver100 keeps sending us all his lousy weather and we have to put ours somewhere.

Hey, this last one came across from the mid West and hit Chicago. But, yes, this one came from the North...but, remember, it originates in the Arctic, it just happens to pass through us on the way to you.

driver100

abacomike said:

oldfarmer50 said:

abacomike said:

I thought I asked you guys up north “nicely” to keep your cold weather up there and leave us alone!  Lows in the 40’s tonight down here and highs only in the 50’s tomorrow.  Now cut that out - keep your cold weather to yourselves!

We can’t help it. Driver100 keeps sending us all his lousy weather and we have to put ours somewhere.

It’s supposed to go down into the low 40’s in Tampa tonight.  Give driver100 a taste of his own medicine.  I will admit that it’s a bit early in the season for south Florida to be this cold. Usually we get blasted in December/January. But it sure is a nice relief from the mid 80’s we’ve been suffering through.  I guess the forecast is for it to remain pretty cool down here for the rest of the week and into the weekend

.

Low of 43 tonight in Apollo Beach....it will be 45 when I am playing tennis at 8 a.m. tomorrow. A high of 58 tomorrow. That is cool, even for me to be playing tennis, but, a light tennis jacket will do. The guys who live in Florida will be wearing parkas and long pants and will be complaining about how cold it is, like it is the end of the world. Some guys cancel when it goes below 50. People at the grocery store were in panic mode.....it is only going to be in the 50s tomorrow!

Temp back home is 33F for a low, 36 for tomorrows high, so I have no complaints.

ronsteve

graphicguy said:

To raise fossil fuel prices is a fool’s play. GM said they are focusing on EVs, as is VW, as is just about every other world wide manufacturer. That will put continued downward pressure on gas prices. Raise bbl oil price? Sure, that’s just hastening the oil refinery’s demise as they now know it.

Eventually it's going to happen. Before the 1973-74 embargo, OPEC could make money at $6/bbl. I'm sure there is still SOME oil being extracted that easily, but most of it can no longer be gotten out of the ground that cheaply. The shale and fracking plays cost closer to $40/bbl, and I seem to recall that all those wonderful reserves off the Brazilian coast that people were talking about 10 years ago would cost $70-80/bbl.

We have already pumped and used most, if not all of the "easy" oil. Eventually there will be a legit supply crisis.

dino001

ronsteve said:

Eventually it's going to happen. Before the 1973-74 embargo, OPEC could make money at $6/bbl. I'm sure there is still SOME oil being extracted that easily, but most of it can no longer be gotten out of the ground that cheaply. The shale and fracking plays cost closer to $40/bbl, and I seem to recall that all those wonderful reserves off the Brazilian coast that people were talking about 10 years ago would cost $70-80/bbl.

We have already pumped and used most, if not all of the "easy" oil. Eventually there will be a legit supply crisis.

To make things even funnier, shale oil supply suffers from lack of transportation infrastructure, which forces those companies to sell it at discount to the benchmark prices to compensate buyers transportation expenses.

The thing with the oil prices is when they get too low, marginal production drops, when they get too high, marginal production goes up. Overlay that with unregulated over-leveraged commodity futures market, where players with small amount of own capital can control pricing (commodity prices are always controlled by last barrel/pound/ton) - of course until they can't and you get those wild swings and overreaches. As the old adage says, best cure for high prices are higher prices and best cure for low prices are lower prices.

Commodity investors and company managements are often very smart and very dumb at the same time. The problem is, we consumers get subjected to those swings and our lives get affected. We should get build-in resistance to that, but planning for uncertain future or contingencies is not strongest suit of an American consumer, so when things happen you get a lot of hysterical reactions. I couldn't believe how irrational people got when oil prices went over $100. Immediate trading of their Explorer SUV at depressed trade price, jumping into undersized small cars and paying top dollar for them. Those thousands of dollars amounted into years of gas at elevated price, but you couldn't convince them. They could "handle" new monthly payment, but somehow extra 50 bucks per month on gas was killing their budgets. It really revealed to me people have zero applied math skills. Sometimes those people were engineers or other types of educated people, you'd think they possess ability to arrange a few numbers and calculate their outcome. I just couldn't believe it.

dino001

stickguy said:

I assume part of the problem for Mike is really expensive cars. Your BMW though is not cheap, but still what, only 50-60% of MSRP on the S class?

Yeah, just about. So any kind of repair is still within mainstream costs.