Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

boomchek

bwia said:

Speaking of Entiltlement. Are Tesla Model 3 owners behaving worse than BMW or Mercedes owners? Here is a quick peek at the discussions going on in a Tesla forum:

"So I've heard these stories about crazy service centers. I showed up to get warranty work expecting craziness.

What I did not expect were Model 3 owners seemingly throwing tantrums at the extremely patient Tesla staff. They had about 6 or 7 temp workers directing traffic and moving cars. They were standing outside in the rain in 33F degree weather. Props to them.

1 after another new model 3 owners were coming in and just losing their cool just a little bit too quickly. One guy started screaming at a Tesla service girl because his autopilot wasn't activated after 24 hours. She looked him in the eye after he stopped yelling and said "Sir, I'm here to help you. I'm on your side. Let me look into this for you." Then went way out of her way to make sure it was activated ASAP.

Gee whiz guys - let's all chill out! Nothing is that important. You will get your autopilot. You purchasing a car that's more expensive than you normally would does not give you the right to treat others like garbage-class."

Here is an other "…"The entitlement I've seen from some Model 3 owners is hilarious... You couldn't afford a Tesla before they made a "cheap" one but yet you'd think they just bought a fully loaded Model S/X P100DL...

I had an encounter at a supercharger recently with a Model 3 owner who wanted me to unplug from my A post so he could charge faster on his B post and proceeded to explain to me that I have no idea how superchargers work and that Model 3's should get first priority anyhow, blah, blah, blah... I tuned him out and stayed plugged in until I was ready to go... I really wanted to shout back "if it weren't for early adopters like myself and many, many others, you wouldn't even have a Model 3 to plug in"...
More at https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/just-left-the-dedham-ma-sc-people-were-loosing-their-t.135740/

I think the entitlement issue is not limited just to Tesla. Seems like people act out because they feel the need to get attention. Maybe they have nothing going on in their lives that every little non-issue is a big annoyance to them, a big event that requires them to receive special treatment.

Few examples:

-customer freaked out because she caught a nail in her tire in her new car and thought she bought a bad car, coming into the dealership balling her eyes out requesting a full refund.

-customer refused to take a new economy car we had in stock because the model badge was missing (was never attached to the trunk lid at the factory). Relax guy, you're buying an economy car, not a collectible LaFerrari, we can have a badge affixed by the time you do your paperwork

-customer buying a used out of warranty 6 year old car and then calling a year later complaining that her air conditioning stopped working (it worked a year before when she bought it according to her)

-customer writing a horrible review about me after I told him I can't switch him out of his SUV with accident history, body damage and major negative equity into a cheaper car AND lowering his payment by 50%. He said I embarassed him in front of other customers, in front of my coworkers, and made him feel like dirt because I refused to "help him out". I clearly presented the numbers in front of him and explained why it wasn't possible.

-customer taking the used car dealer I managed to small claims court and suing for $25k over a $5k car he bought 2 years before because it had an initial sensor issue (that was fixed by us promptly after the purchase). Car was as-is, car was $5k, car was repaired. Customer "sold" the car privately to someone else for pennies on the dollar after we fixed it (probably showed a a fake purchase agreement in court to show a loss). Now he wanted money for loss of value of the car, emotional distress, punitive damages etc). I explained to the judge that we fixed the car even though we didn't legally have to because it was sold as is, and it wasn't our fault he chose to sell it at a loss afterwards if that's what happened. Afterwards I held up a bill of sale in court and asked the customer if it was his signatures where it read as is on the bill of sale. He said yes, and judge threw the case out for its ridiculousness.

On the flip side, I have a friend that does well for himself. He has no time for petty BS. He switches cars every 6 months to a year. He bought a late model Mercedes S Class from me at a dealer I worked at, and promptly went to Mercedes to do up to date maintenance himself on his own dime instead of grinding us for it. He also flipped a coin with the sales manager over whether he'll pay $3k difference with his trade in or whether the dealer would eat it. He lost, bought the car any ways and went on his way.

When he went to buy his new GMC Yukon Denali a few years ago, he didn't want to wait for a full detail and obsess over a spec of dirt or miniscule paint flaw in his new car like I see some customers do. He told the dealer to just pull the shipping protective plastic off the car and promptly drove to a car wash to get it fully cleaned and detailed in 30 minutes on his own dime instead of waiting several hours at the dealership.

I guess my point is that people who don't have much going on in their lives will make a huge deal out of every little thing. In contrast those who are busy with bigger and better things that matter to them have no time for petty issues.

venture

I guess my point is that people who don't have much going on in their lives will make a huge deal out of every little thing. In contrast those who are busy with bigger and better things that matter to them have no time for petty issues.

Well said. My thoughts exactly.

It's nice to "hear" some actual stories from those up close in the business.

I guess Isell is lost out there somewhere.

benjaminh

My family enjoys the show the Great British Baking Show, which is on Netflix. Below is a 7-minute video by Watchmojo UK of a few of the interesting contestants over the years. Judge Paul Hollywood is good, and something of a car collector in his spare time. The second video is a 2-minute trailer for his road trip/car show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuaYlcxOn6g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZB88S9UqFM

karhill1

Regarding Judy "Of course you do need a certain amount of intelligence to absorb that underlying layer the show provides." This is likely the first time in history any person has used intelligence and Judge Judy in the same paragraph.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

I cut my cable back, and stream youtube a lot, too. I'd rather watch Russian dashcam videos all day than 99% of the stuff on normal TV.

cdnpinhead said:

There was a writer's strike back in about 2000 for the conventional TV shows, in case anyone has forgotten. The result was Survivor, Big Brother and, later, Dirty Jobs, the various Bourdain shows, and many others. There's a show having to do with the Alaska Railway (what could be less interesting?) and any number of other shows that I much prefer to "conventional" TV. In fact, I spend lots more time on U-Tube than I do with TV these days.

Oh man, those are the best. Especially when there’s rip off American pop music playing loudly in the car with the cam.

graphicguy

@boomcheck....I’d love to be a customer of yours. Too bad you’re not around the OH, KY, IN area. I’ve been known to even travel to Chicago to make a car deal (I’m in Cincinnati).

driver100

karhill1 said:

Regarding Judy "Of course you do need a certain amount of intelligence to absorb that underlying layer the show provides." This is likely the first time in history any person has used intelligence and Judge Judy in the same paragraph.

If she can make $147 million a year from a fake TV Show she is a pretty intelligent lady. Anyone want to try!

driver100

xwesx said:

driver100 said:

OK, ab and ewesx (who gave an lol) go into my little black book.
btw,,,,,,that ewesx looks like a code word for something that should be X-rated around here. Still trying to figure out what those letters unjumbled spell.

!
So, no real code to the handle. I used '-Wes-' as my online handle since 1995, and this website did not allow the dashes, so I just replaced them with 'x' on each end. Really, it's just Wes; the rest is filler.

Thanks for the explanation Wes........now I know I am not missing some secret code.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

Apparently this Mazda 3 is on display. Is this the car for people who don't want to be seen and who don't want to see out?

I just saw one of those today and thought the same thing.

I'd get claustrophobia if I sat in that car. The 4 door may be worse;

How's the backseat legroom in those puppies? Looks cramped. Have to boycott them.

Actually, it has more legroom. The car is a bit shorter but wheelbase is longer so they could increase interior room in the backseat....which was one of the shortfalls in the previous model.

driver100

Boom I guess my point is that people who don't have much going on in their lives will make a huge deal out of every little thing. In contrast those who are busy with bigger and better things that matter to them have no time for petty issues.

Good true to life stories Boomer. What you say is true, busy people get on with life, people who have nothing better to do with their time find things they can complain about.

abacomike

@boomchek:

Your post about the stress and frustration associated with car sales and customers brings back nightmares to me when I sold cars.  It was, perhaps, the most stressful job I ever had, and I ran schools year-round as a school principal with 1000+ students and 70 staff members.  But nothing was harder on me than when I sold cars.  Believe me on this - i’ve Posted hundreds of experiences from that time in my life right here on Edmunds!  16 hour days, 6 and sometimes 7 days a week depending on the time of the year.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

I cut my cable back, and stream youtube a lot, too. I'd rather watch Russian dashcam videos all day than 99% of the stuff on normal TV.

There was a writer's strike back in about 2000 for the conventional TV shows, in case anyone has forgotten. The result was Survivor, Big Brother and, later, Dirty Jobs, the various Bourdain shows, and many others. There's a show having to do with the Alaska Railway (what could be less interesting?) and any number of other shows that I much prefer to "conventional" TV. In fact, I spend lots more time on U-Tube than I do with TV these days.

Oh man, those are the best. Especially when there’s rip off American pop music playing loudly in the car with the cam.

Those are pretty good, I'll admit to watching those at times. Another I will sometimes watch are these bozos who film themselves being pulled over by the police and tell the police they are not driving they are travelling since they are not operating on a commercial capacity. Then they refuse to show the officer 5heir license. It usually doesn't end well for them.

fintail

I can relate to the detail bit - with my latest car, I did the same thing, told them they didn't have to detail it (and it was a leftover that sat outside for 10 months), I would do it myself. But I did that as I want it to my standard, not theirs, no point in wasting time and resources in something that will need to be redone anyway.

I think the only times I might have bugged service staff is when my first W212 had a rear rattle/pop noise I now know was a design flaw rather than a build issue, and juddery windshield wipers which plague the model as a whole (I ended up fixing that myself). I was never jerky, but I had no problem coming back over and over, and I think eyes would roll when I pulled up with my relatively minor problems.

boomchek said:

When he went to buy his new GMC Yukon Denali a few years ago, he didn't want to wait for a full detail and obsess over a spec of dirt or miniscule paint flaw in his new car like I see some customers do. He told the dealer to just pull the shipping protective plastic off the car and promptly drove to a car wash to get it fully cleaned and detailed in 30 minutes on his own dime instead of waiting several hours at the dealership.

I guess my point is that people who don't have much going on in their lives will make a huge deal out of every little thing. In contrast those who are busy with bigger and better things that matter to them have no time for petty issues.

bwia

Caught in Providence is a good natured judge show. Not sure if this is solely a traffic court but judge Frank Caprio usually use children to testify (on behalf or against their parents to help reach a decision. Usually the defendant gets off scott free or a reduced sentence. @GG, if your DUI friend could have such a judge hear his case things might work out for him. Here is an example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClhuRYjci-g

cdnpinhead

venture said:

I guess Isell is lost out there somewhere.

Yeah, it's been a long time since we heard from him. Hope he hasn't given up over the log-in situation.

berri

I just replaced them with 'x' on each end. Really, it's just Wes; the rest is filler.

...add one more X and you'll have to be over 21 to read it

28firefighter

Frank Caprio is a real Judge - this isn't staged, I don't believe. Maybe edited a bit. Traffic Court is low hanging fruit for TV and exceedingly entertaining to watch without any writing necessary. My guess is he also hears other types of disputes but they probably don't get aired.

abacomike

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.  I guess my HP PC is kind of old and/or out of date.  I just don’t see the benefit of buying a new computer since I rarely use it except for word processing and printing.  When this one goes, I will buy an inexpensive HP PC as a replacement.  My HP monitor and laser printer are still fine.

28firefighter

@abacomike - Just make sure you are installing and up to date on Windows security patches. When Microsoft stops supporting your version of windows is when you're in trouble and when you should consider an upgrade.

ab348

abacomike said:

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.

Have you ever needed to get parts for it?

graphicguy

Someone mentioned my friend's DUI. I actually had dinner with him last night. He's not nearly as distraught as he was a few weeks ago when I first gave him a ride home.

I think RB mentioned he was "on the border" as far as his case going either way to actually have the charges reduced or kept as charged. He's right.

I guess there's no evidence of the arresting officer having "Mirandized" my friend, on either the Police Dash Cam nor the recorder on the Policeman's uniform. My friend said he wasn't told his rights, and the police can't come up with any proof that they did.

Prosecutor offered to reduce the charges to operating a vehicle recklessly. But, my friend's attorney believes he can get the charges reduced to failure to stay in his lane (I'm sure my friend told me the correct terminology, but I don't remember it).

I guess it's a cat and mouse game at this point. If my friend wants to stop all the legal charges and get this over quickly, he can plead to the reckless charge. But, that really "dings" him on insurance rates.

He's inclined to "pay the lawyer" and get the charges reduced further as he feels he has a good shot.

At the very least, this has been a real eye opener for him, which is probably a good thing.

28firefighter

If that's the best they can do, then fine, it certainly is better than a DUI but I think it is still a misdemeanor in Ohio, which means he would have a record. I'd shoot for a moving violation of some kind that is just a citation and points.

Mr_Shiftright

It's a wonderful human trait to be generous but it can be harmful to the generous person to let themselves be exploited. It's like "generosity triage"--you want to take care of those who need it most and who have the best chance of appreciating it (or passing it along). Even Jesus and Buddha drew the line somewhere---LOL!

roadburner

I have dozens of stories about crazy cases I heard, like the lady who paid $75 for a neighbor to paint her car and then sued him for $2500 so she could get a "decent" paint job- I told her that if you pay somebody $75 to get your car painted you should be happy if the guy didn't use a brush.

Then there was the guy who was arguing with another guy on the phone. The Defendant said, "I ought whip your *ss." The victim replied, "Well, why don't you come over to my place and whip my *ss if you're man enough!" The Defendant did just that so the victim filed an assault charge. I told the victim I was dismissing the case because of the Toyota Rule- "You asked for it- you got it!"

On the last traffic docket before Christmas I called all of the people charged with minor traffic infractions to the bench, made them pledge to drive carefully, then dismissed all the charges.

henryn

fintail said:

I cut my cable back, and stream youtube a lot, too. I'd rather watch Russian dashcam videos all day than 99% of the stuff on normal TV.

I wasn't even aware that was a "thing". The only time in my life that I have ever seen "Russian dashcam video" I was watching a show on Discovery (or similar channel) about a meteor that hit in Russia.

The voice over explained that traffic was so bad, accidents so common, everyone in Russia has a dash cam.

Hmmm... With the way things are going around here, perhaps I should consider investing in some companies that make dash cams!

berri

I guess my HP PC is kind of old and/or out of date. I just don’t see the benefit of buying a new computer since I rarely use it except for word processing and printing.


If that is truly the case, I'd keep the computer offline since it is likely vulnerable to security issues.

henryn

abacomike said:

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.  I guess my HP PC is kind of old and/or out of date.  I just don’t see the benefit of buying a new computer since I rarely use it except for word processing and printing.  When this one goes, I will buy an inexpensive HP PC as a replacement.  My HP monitor and laser printer are still fine.

I did a quick search. 2010 vintage, and pretty expensive in it's day. $2,100 (minimum), of which about half was for the 6 core Intel I7 cpu. Looking at the minimum specs (yours might be even better), this was a very nice computer, and would still do anything you are likely to need today. Just keep Windows 7 up to date, as Microsoft will provide security patches until 2020.

abacomike

ab348 said:

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.

Have you ever needed to get parts for it?

Nope!

abacomike

28firefighter said:

@abacomike - Just make sure you are installing and up to date on Windows security patches. When Microsoft stops supporting your version of windows is when you're in trouble and when you should consider an upgrade.

I use Windows 10 and am always up to date with security patches, etc.

abacomike

henryn said:

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.  I guess my HP PC is kind of old and/or out of date.  I just don’t see the benefit of buying a new computer since I rarely use it except for word processing and printing.  When this one goes, I will buy an inexpensive HP PC as a replacement.  My HP monitor and laser printer are still fine.

I did a quick search. 2010 vintage, and pretty expensive in it's day. $2,100 (minimum), of which about half was for the 6 core Intel I7 cpu. Looking at the minimum specs (yours might be even better), this was a very nice computer, and would still do anything you are likely to need today. Just keep Windows 7 up to date, as Microsoft will provide security patches until 2020.

I updated to Windows 10.  I have 12 gigs of RAM and an upgraded 1.5 gig video card from NVDIA.

I paid $2500 for the PC.  I could replace it today with all the better upgrades for $1800 or less when on sale.  It’s been trouble free for almost 9 years.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

I have dozens of stories about crazy cases I heard, like the lady who paid $75 for a neighbor to paint her car and then sued him for $2500 so she could get a "decent" paint job- I told her that if you pay somebody $75 to get your car painted you should be happy if the guy didn't use a brush.

Then there was the guy who was arguing with another guy on the phone. The Defendant said, "I ought whip your *ss." The victim replied, "Well, why don't you come over to my place and whip my *ss if you're man enough!" The Defendant did just that so the victim filed an assault charge. I told the victim I was dismissing the case because of the Toyota Rule- "You asked for it- you got it!"

On the last traffic docket before Christmas I called all of the people charged with minor traffic infractions to the bench, made them pledge to drive carefully, then dismissed all the charges.

$75 for the paint job sounds about right. He probably forgot to tell her that to have the car prepped right would cost an additional $2500. For 75 bucks he probably didn’t even wash it first.

I could have used you as my judge when I got my last speeding ticket. How old were you when Ronald Reagan was president?

oldfarmer50

I just heard that there was a 7.0 magnitude earkquake in Alaska. Hope it wasn’t near our buddy xwesx.

venture

henryn said:

abacomike said:

Just received a text from Hewlett-Packard about my 190t PC.  They informed me they will no longer be able to provide parts for the computer effective 12/1/2018.  I guess my HP PC is kind of old and/or out of date.  I just don’t see the benefit of buying a new computer since I rarely use it except for word processing and printing.  When this one goes, I will buy an inexpensive HP PC as a replacement.  My HP monitor and laser printer are still fine.

I did a quick search. 2010 vintage, and pretty expensive in it's day. $2,100 (minimum), of which about half was for the 6 core Intel I7 cpu. Looking at the minimum specs (yours might be even better), this was a very nice computer, and would still do anything you are likely to need today. Just keep Windows 7 up to date, as Microsoft will provide security patches until 2020.

I just got a new desktop from Dell a few weeks ago. It has the same processor; 6 core i7 (8th gen though). It also has a 1TB SSD and a 1 TB regular hard drive. Man how times have changed.

I remember opting for the bigger 80 MB hard drive when I bought my first computer and, I think, 8 MB of RAM.

explorerx4

@abacomike,
Just because they are going to stop making parts for your computer, doesn't mean you can't get them or an equivalent.

ab348

If there is nothing wrong with your computer, Mike, keep using it and don't worry. Save any sensitive/important files on a USB stick or in the cloud to be safe. That thing still sounds like it has plenty of horsepower to do whatever you want it to do.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

I just heard that there was a 7.0 magnitude earkquake in Alaska. Hope it wasn’t near our buddy xwesx.

Yeh, check in Wes.

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

I just heard that there was a 7.0 magnitude earkquake in Alaska. Hope it wasn’t near our buddy xwesx.

Naw; Alaska's a big place!

My employees tell me that they felt it here (about 300 miles north), but I did not (was driving at the time). I was surprised by the amount of damage caused in Anchorage, though, which was right at the epicenter. 7.0 is a reasonably large quake, but typically is not big enough to cause significant infrastructure damage.

This one, though, proved somewhat unique:


(image from Anchorage Daily News)

Probably the most significant issue is damage to the water and gas line infrastructure.

ab348

Some of the pictures and videos I've seen are really something. There is one of a car on a road that literally split into pieces, with the car perched on a chunk separated from the rest. The driver got out and was standing there next to the apparently running car, talking to bystanders. I think I would have hightailed it away from there on foot ASAP!

xwesx

venture said:

I remember opting for the bigger 80 MB hard drive when I bought my first computer and, I think, 8 MB of RAM.

Quite the screaming machine!

My first was an XT-10. I put a MONSTER 10MB hard drive in it, which was a double-din 5.25" piece of hardware (e.g., it took the equivalent space of two desktop DVD-ROM bays). I don't even remember how much RAM it had - maybe 256 kilobytes?

sda

ab348 said:

Some of the pictures and videos I've seen are really something. There is one of a car on a road that literally split into pieces, with the car perched on a chunk separated from the rest. The driver got out and was standing there next to the apparently running car, talking to bystanders. I think I would have hightailed it away from there on foot ASAP!

X2! Wes, glad it didn’t affect you and your family.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

I have dozens of stories about crazy cases I heard, like the lady who paid $75 for a neighbor to paint her car and then sued him for $2500 so she could get a "decent" paint job- I told her that if you pay somebody $75 to get your car painted you should be happy if the guy didn't use a brush.

Then there was the guy who was arguing with another guy on the phone. The Defendant said, "I ought whip your *ss." The victim replied, "Well, why don't you come over to my place and whip my *ss if you're man enough!" The Defendant did just that so the victim filed an assault charge. I told the victim I was dismissing the case because of the Toyota Rule- "You asked for it- you got it!"

On the last traffic docket before Christmas I called all of the people charged with minor traffic infractions to the bench, made them pledge to drive carefully, then dismissed all the charges.

$75 for the paint job sounds about right. He probably forgot to tell her that to have the car prepped right would cost an additional $2500. For 75 bucks he probably didn’t even wash it first.

I could have used you as my judge when I got my last speeding ticket. How old were you when Ronald Reagan was president?

I was 23 in 1980, but I didn't become a judge until 1986.

oldfarmer50

Question:

Is sales tax charged on doc fees and registration fees at the dealer? Got to admit I never gave it much thought and I never noticed it being charged at the DMV when you register a used car.

Michaell

oldfarmer50 said:

Question:

Is sales tax charged on doc fees and registration fees at the dealer? Got to admit I never gave it much thought and I never noticed it being charged at the DMV when you register a used car.

The dealer doc fee, yes.

The registration costs are a government fee and are not subject to sales tax. That's the advice we give folks in the lease threads - pay the registration costs up front, so as not to subject them to sales tax.

driver100

xwesx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I just heard that there was a 7.0 magnitude earkquake in Alaska. Hope it wasn’t near our buddy xwesx.

Naw; Alaska's a big place!

My employees tell me that they felt it here (about 300 miles north), but I did not (was driving at the time). I was surprised by the amount of damage caused in Anchorage, though, which was right at the epicenter. 7.0 is a reasonably large quake, but typically is not big enough to cause significant infrastructure damage.

This one, though, proved somewhat unique:


(image from Anchorage Daily News)

Probably the most significant issue is damage to the water and gas line infrastructure.

What is all that white stuff?
How is that guy going to get his car out of there? He's on the road to no where!

berri

Hey Wes, wasn't that '59 Anchorage a whopper, like a 9 or something? Many don't realize that the slope is geometric so there is quite a bit of difference at each numeric interval. Stay safe.

henryn

I think that varies from state to state. Here in Texas, we do not pay sales tax on the doc fees.

On the other hand, if you lease a car here in Texas, you pay sales tax on the entire purchase amount. Ouch!

Michaell

berri said:

Hey Wes, wasn't that '59 Anchorage a whopper, like a 9 or something? Many don't realize that the slope is geometric so there is quite a bit of difference at each numeric interval. Stay safe.

It wasn't '59, it was 1964:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake

imidazol97

@abacomike
Your computer stats sound like a very competent machine. Is it connected to the internet? I'm not
clear about that.
You've updated it to Windows 10. As long as it keeps doing the regular Tuesday release auto updates, you should be good.

What are you using for antivirus, antimalware? If nothing, is Windows Defender turned on and working properly. It's good.

berri

Oh that's right. I have this picture in my head of it with some 59 cars swaying my old timer memory. Thanks

xwesx

berri said:

Hey Wes, wasn't that '59 Anchorage a whopper, like a 9 or something? Many don't realize that the slope is geometric so there is quite a bit of difference at each numeric interval. Stay safe.

Yes, Michael has it: 1964. And, yes, it was a 9.2: The second-most powerful quake ever recorded. That one was a real whopper; this one is just a baby in comparison.

Heck, we had a 7.9 up here in Fairbanks in November 2002 (Denali Fault Quake, I think it was called), and even that was substantially more powerful than this. For the most part, it caused only minor damage, though it did sever several roads the crossed the fault line (e.g., if you wanted to get into or out of Alaska by land, you were SOL for a while).

I think that much of the damage is just due to proximity to Anchorage and location of the quake. It was deep and near, which means that the direction of the shock wave was mostly upward near Anchorage, so the jostling was more severe than had it been rolling across the landscape instead.