Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

tjc78

Story time! I’ll try and keep this short…

Our neighbor at the shore (a small condo building) decided to put in new lighting. It basically looked like Clark Griswold installed it. I could read in our bedroom at night without the lights on. I spoke to them about it and they didn’t seem like they cared. So being the a-hole I am I called the city zoning office. The rep had them install shields on it within the week.

It was absolutely insane how bright it was. See pictures below. Why on earth would they think this was OK?

qbrozen

that is at night? I would swear those were taken during the day.

tjc78

@qbrozen said:
that is at night? I would swear those were taken during the day.

Yep around 10 PM with no flash. Pictures almost don’t do it justice.

driver100

The outside looks brighter at night than it does in the day time.
I wonder what is electricity bill is like? Maybe if you got solar panels you could harness some of that energy.

henryn

The neighbor immediately behind me has "one of those lights". If I open the blinds, I do not need any form of lighting at night in the back half of my house. Fortunately, my bedroom does not look out on the back yard, so it doesn't bother when I'm trying to sleep. The only time it bothers me is when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom. The master bath does face the back yard, and I don't want to put blackout curtains in there, so ...

stickguy

when I was a kid there was a streetlight right in front of our house. Did not bother us (we sat up a bit on a hill) but the house across the street was downslope a bit, and it really lit up the front of the house. where some bedrooms were, including the master.

But, the guy that owned the house was a big wig with one utility (I think the phone company, back when wires were big!) and one day a Telco cherry picker showed up, and someone went up in the bucket and painted the front half of the glass black. did not shed much light on the sidewalk (on their side not ours) after that, but must have taken care of the brightness problem in their bedroom!

stickguy

actually got to experience a "nanny" in action today in the Maverick. the pre-collision assist kicked on. complete with flashing red message in the cluster and beeping.

I was in the right lane on a (nasty as sin) 4 lane with stores, etc. lots of turns. Some dude in a big box truck in the left lane decided he would rather make a right turn, so he cut over in front of the guy in front of me and slowed way down. Guy in front hit the brakes pretty hard. I saw all this and was already moving for the brake but the truck actually got there first, and I could feel the brakes preloading by the time I got my foot on the pedal. Really reacted quick.

did not really need it this time, but could be a life (or at least accident) saver in the right situation.

must not be overly sensative because that was the first time I have ever seen it happen.

driver100

@stickguy
I have had 2 similar incidences in the last 5 years. In both cases, the guy ahead decided to make a left turn at the last minute, jams on the brakes and then turns the signal on. I could have stopped but the bells and whistles started going off even before I actually stopped...I don't know who actually reacted first.

driver100

I hope this isn't political but I did see a sign that said something to the effect;
Do we have high gas prices because of the slow sales of electric cars?
I don't think so but it did make me think....I never considered that before.

stickguy

not in the least.

kyfdx

Just throwing out a wild comment: Have you seen the price of oil?

henryn

driver100 said:

I hope this isn't political but I did see a sign that said something to the effect;
Do we have high gas prices because of the slow sales of electric cars?
I don't think so but it did make me think....I never considered that before.

Gasoline prices are tied directly to crude oil prices, and crude oil prices are quite high at this point in time. And that is mainly attributable to the war in Ukraine. I don't think the sales numbers for electric cars have anything to do with it.

Oil companies do a lot of forward thinking and planning, they have to. It takes many years to develop new oil reserves, so they have to make long range plans and they gamble heavily on those plans. Different companies have different predictions, and are making different plans based on those predictions. One of the key variants is about the adoption rate for electric cars. But that won't have much effect on the price of gasoline today. Next year, and the year after, and the year after, but not so much today.

jmonroe1

henryn said:

The neighbor immediately behind me has "one of those lights". If I open the blinds, I do not need any form of lighting at night in the back half of my house. Fortunately, my bedroom does not look out on the back yard, so it doesn't bother when I'm trying to sleep. The only time it bothers me is when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom. The master bath does face the back yard, and I don't want to put blackout curtains in there, so ...

————————————————
Maybe you otta thank your neighbor for installing that bright light. It probably prevents you from washing your toes when using the master bath in the middle of the night when you have to quickly scamper in there. I’d say you owe him a brew not criticism. Same probably applies to @tjc78.

jmonroe

Michaell

henryn said:

driver100 said:

I hope this isn't political but I did see a sign that said something to the effect;
Do we have high gas prices because of the slow sales of electric cars?
I don't think so but it did make me think....I never considered that before.

Gasoline prices are tied directly to crude oil prices, and crude oil prices are quite high at this point in time. And that is mainly attributable to the war in Ukraine. I don't think the sales numbers for electric cars have anything to do with it.

Oil companies do a lot of forward thinking and planning, they have to. It takes many years to develop new oil reserves, so they have to make long range plans and they gamble heavily on those plans. Different companies have different predictions, and are making different plans based on those predictions. One of the key variants is about the adoption rate for electric cars. But that won't have much effect on the price of gasoline today. Next year, and the year after, and the year after, but not so much today.

This article seems to do an okay job of explaining why gasoline prices are so much higher now, relative to crude oil prices

driver100

Yes, the price of oil is extremely high.
But, does it have to be?
I thought the U.S. could be self-sufficient for oil.
I am going out for dinner so I don't have time to research it.
And the U.S. exports a lot of oil, which maybe they could hold on to!

kyfdx

driver100 said:

Yes, the price of oil is extremely high.
But, does it have to be?
I thought the U.S. could be self-sufficient for oil.
I am going out for dinner so I don't have time to research it.
And the U.S. exports a lot of oil, which maybe they could hold on to!

Even if the U.S. is self-sufficient, the government doesn't set the price for oil. It's set by the free market. Oil is a global commodity. It doesn't really matter where our oil comes from, unless the government is subsidizing it.

carnaught

Even if the U.S. is self-sufficient, the government doesn't set the price for oil. It's set by the free market. Oil is a global commodity. It doesn't really matter where our oil comes from, unless the government is subsidizing it.

But, if a country is an independent oil producer and doesn’t have to to import oil at market value the said country could sell it within the country for its set price. If it’s exported, market value is more pertinent . No?

kyfdx

carnaught said:

Even if the U.S. is self-sufficient, the government doesn't set the price for oil. It's set by the free market. Oil is a global commodity. It doesn't really matter where our oil comes from, unless the government is subsidizing it.

But, if a country is an independent oil producer and doesn’t have to to import oil at market value the said country could sell it within the country for its set price. If it’s exported, market value is more pertinent . No?

What set price is that? Is Exxon Mobil going to sell it's oil for less in the US, if they can get a higher price, elsewhere?

venture

driver100 said:

@stickguy
I have had 2 similar incidences in the last 5 years. In both cases, the guy ahead decided to make a left turn at the last minute, jams on the brakes and then turns the signal on. I could have stopped but the bells and whistles started going off even before I actually stopped...I don't know who actually reacted first.

I told this before. but I like the story.

We were heading to my son's house on I-695 when traffic came to a standstill. I had the adaptive cruise on so I just let the car slow down by itself and stop. I did have to press on the gas to get moving again.

Michaell

venture said:

driver100 said:

@stickguy
I have had 2 similar incidences in the last 5 years. In both cases, the guy ahead decided to make a left turn at the last minute, jams on the brakes and then turns the signal on. I could have stopped but the bells and whistles started going off even before I actually stopped...I don't know who actually reacted first.

I told this before. but I like the story.

We were heading to my son's house on I-695 when traffic came to a standstill. I had the adaptive cruise on so I just let the car slow down by itself and stop. I did have to press on the gas to get moving again.

One of the things I really like about our Outback, as well.

If you simply tap the gas pedal, it works like the "resume" button, and the car will not exceed the speed you've already set.

henryn

kyfdx said:

carnaught said:

Even if the U.S. is self-sufficient, the government doesn't set the price for oil. It's set by the free market. Oil is a global commodity. It doesn't really matter where our oil comes from, unless the government is subsidizing it.

But, if a country is an independent oil producer and doesn’t have to to import oil at market value the said country could sell it within the country for its set price. If it’s exported, market value is more pertinent . No?

What set price is that? Is Exxon Mobil going to sell it's oil for less in the US, if they can get a higher price, elsewhere?

It's called a free market economy, and people tend to support that idea when it benefits them, and complain loudly when it doesn't benefit them.

I was working for Gulf Oil in 1973 during the first Arab Oil embargo. There were news stories that Gulf Oil had turned around tankers headed to US ports from the middle east when the embargo was first announced. This did not make Gulf Oil any friends here in the US, and I didn't take a lot of pride in who I was working for at the time.

Michaell

The point of the article I linked to showed a disparity in the price of crude vs. RUG.

I'm seeing a lot of comments on FB about how the price of oil was the same 2-3 years ago, but the price of RUG was less than half what it is today.

Some of that may be corporate greed (so sayeth the left), or that we now have a Democrat in the WH (sayeth the right), but I think the diminished refining capacity (a free market choice by the refining operators) might be the biggest driver of these higher gas prices.

I remember having to pay $30 (equivalent to about $62 today) to fill the tank of our '88 Trooper when Desert Storm was ramping up in 1991. We sold it and bought a Mazda Protege as our primary family vehicle (our son was only 2 at the time)

kyfdx

It’s been 7 years since crude was over $100, and it hasn’t been as high as the current price since the ‘08 financial crisis.

Sometimes, the obvious answer is the correct answer.

Why is gasoline relatively more expensive now? Inflation. While the oil price might be similar to 2015, every other item that goes into the price of gasoline is higher than 2015 (transportation, distribution, real estate, equipment).

carnaught

Point made, duly noted. Gasoline prices started upward before the war in Ukraine but more precipitously since. Policies also have influence on prices.

stickguy

Policies haven’t done anything in the short term though.

Producers cut way back when demand cratered during the pandemic. When the world opened up at warp speed, supply was short. And for various reasons, they couldn’t or wouldn’t ramp back up. Then the Ukraine situation hammered the world markets. And I believe companies taking advantage to reap windfall profits too.

US drillers and frackers are sitting on a ton of capacity they just haven’t opened up or back up too. As is OPEC. It’s a myth that the government is restricting ability to pump more.

benjaminh

Seems likely that as the Fed raises interests rates, and the pandemic relief money runs its course, the economy will cool. Also the "demand destruction" from $5 a gallon gas will also take a toll at some point. My guess is that before the end of the year gas prices will start falling. We might get back to something close to "normal" gas prices ($3 a gallon?) by the start of 2024.

carnaught

What you are calling a myth is an opinion.

explorerx4

Well, that didn't take long.
Scheduled tours started on Saturday 9 am. Realtor left at 7:30 pm.
We had our first offer by 2 pm.
On Sunday, we stopped the tours as soon as they could be cancelled.
End up with 3 offers.
25 over, 71 over and 86 over.
We went with the 71 over because good cash down, pre-approved mortgage, waived inspection, no contingencies.
Also, buyer was very flexible on closing date and said they could cover with cash if house didn't appraise to selling price. Buyers also already live in town.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

Well, that didn't take long.
Scheduled tours started on Saturday 9 am. Realtor left at 7:30 pm.
We had our first offer by 2 pm.
On Sunday, we stopped the tours as soon as they could be cancelled.
End up with 3 offers.
25 over, 71 over and 86 over.
We went with the 71 over because good cash down, pre-approved mortgage, waived inspection, no contingencies.
Also, buyer was very flexible on closing date and said they could cover with cash if house didn't appraise to selling price. Buyers also already live in town.

Out of curiosity, did you price it low to encourage these kinds of bids?

explorerx4

@michaell,
As far as I was concerned, we did not price it low to encourage bidding.
The realtor wanted to price it 25k below what we listed for.

oldfarmer50

tjc78 said:

Story time! I’ll try and keep this short…

Our neighbor at the shore (a small condo building) decided to put in new lighting. It basically looked like Clark Griswold installed it. I could read in our bedroom at night without the lights on. I spoke to them about it and they didn’t seem like they cared. So being the a-hole I am I called the city zoning office. The rep had them install shields on it within the week.

It was absolutely insane how bright it was. See pictures below. Why on earth would they think this was OK?

Because many people these days care nothing for others. In fact I suspect they may get Joy out of making others miserable.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Well, that didn't take long.
Scheduled tours started on Saturday 9 am. Realtor left at 7:30 pm.
We had our first offer by 2 pm.
On Sunday, we stopped the tours as soon as they could be cancelled.
End up with 3 offers.
25 over, 71 over and 86 over.
We went with the 71 over because good cash down, pre-approved mortgage, waived inspection, no contingencies.
Also, buyer was very flexible on closing date and said they could cover with cash if house didn't appraise to selling price. Buyers also already live in town.

Wow! Simply Wow!

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
Our realtor couldn't believe the offer. All 3 offers were no inspection required.
Here's the link to the listing. The photographer used some color filters.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/24-Centerbrook-Dr_Farmington_CT_06032_M32697-82440?ex=2943691106

ab348

Lovely home, @explorerx4, and congratulations on the sale.

tjc78

Congrats @explorerx4 ! Well done.

stickguy

well, it is fact that there are a lot of leases not being used, and fracking cut way back during the pandemic.

explorerx4

@ab348,
I'm hoping the realtor can tell us what the buyers really liked about it.
It's semi custom, but has several features I asked for, 3rd garage, walk in attic area from master closet, dedicated office, shed with double doors built into the basement area.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

Well, that didn't take long.
Scheduled tours started on Saturday 9 am. Realtor left at 7:30 pm.
We had our first offer by 2 pm.
On Sunday, we stopped the tours as soon as they could be cancelled.
End up with 3 offers.
25 over, 71 over and 86 over.
We went with the 71 over because good cash down, pre-approved mortgage, waived inspection, no contingencies.
Also, buyer was very flexible on closing date and said they could cover with cash if house didn't appraise to selling price. Buyers also already live in town.

congrats. We had showings Saturday and Sunday with offers cut off Monday dinner time (2 last showings snuck in Monday). Probably because we showed long got more offers (8) with 3 between 35-45 over. Similar to you, we priced what we though was fair and expected maybe 10K over. The lowest offer I think was 10 over!

It really was getting to the point that our agent was worried about getting appraised high enough (and sadly none were all cash!) so we went with 2nd highest because they included a big appraisal gap coverage amount and more money down.

only got down to "informational only" inspections. would have been nice to have them waived entirely but no such luck. Appraiser came Friday so crossing fingers that is good. And inspections are next Friday so really crossing fingers nothing bad turns up!

explorerx4

Basically this was the realtor to us on the offer we ended up accepting.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/49e1ffa5-795b-40ad-8974-66cf3cc00a72

jmonroe1

Congrats @explorerx4. I’m sure your glad that’s over and you can now concentrate more on the new one you’re building.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
Well, that didn't take long.
Scheduled tours started on Saturday 9 am. Realtor left at 7:30 pm.
We had our first offer by 2 pm.
On Sunday, we stopped the tours as soon as they could be cancelled.
End up with 3 offers.
25 over, 71 over and 86 over.
We went with the 71 over because good cash down, pre-approved mortgage, waived inspection, no contingencies.
Also, buyer was very flexible on closing date and said they could cover with cash if house didn't appraise to selling price. Buyers also already live in town.

$71? Nice! Almost a tank of petrol

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
Our realtor couldn't believe the offer. All 3 offers were no inspection required.
Here's the link to the listing. The photographer used some color filters.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/24-Centerbrook-Dr_Farmington_CT_06032_M32697-82440?ex=2943691106

Nice house, especially the extra garage bay. Wish I had something like that, although a $3700+ monthly payment would put me in the poor house pretty quick.

Speaking of new homes, I’m watching that ‘Holmes Inspection’ show and I can’t believe what dirty tricks some builders pull. I think the inspectors are in on it too because the defects he finds are so obvious.

driver100

Glad you guys are getting your homes sold...and probably at a great time.
They said on the news here that if mortgage rates go up.....1 in 4 home owners may not be able to afford their home.
If the U.S. can be self sufficient in oil, then why don't the oil companies produce enough gasoline to keep the economy moving...and why aren't they loyal to the country and try to limit the price. Or maybe the government should invoke price gouging rules. Or maybe the government wants high prices to continue...to help the sale of EVs? And, I will never understand, they raise the price because there isn't enough...yet people seem to buy about the same amount. And didn't I hear that Exxon had huge profits last quarter.
Just wondering........?????????

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

I would have just gone to the nearest Best Buy and found what I needed and gone home and start using the new keyboard. It would have cost me 50 cents in gas, or I could have walked there and gotten a bit of exercise.

Maybe other folks have had better experiences with Best Buy than I have, but I absolutely hate going near them. Clueless staff who seem to only know how to sell extended warranties and the like, constant out-of-stock situations, and of course the pain of going there and back. I'm like @driver100 in that if I can avoid going into a physical store these days, I take that route. My experience with Amazon has always been pretty good.

I just like to go to the store and actually seeing what I am buying before I buy it. Rarely do I have to return something that way. Do a lot more returns ordering online.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Speaking of new homes, I’m watching that ‘Holmes Inspection’ show and I can’t believe what dirty tricks some builders pull. I think the inspectors are in on it too because the defects he finds are so obvious.

A lot of the content in Holmes shows is scripted and staged. Not much reality in that thing. Plus the guy is an egotistical jerk. A contractor locally told me he went to a trade show in Toronto a while back and the general opinion among his colleagues there was that Holmes was in love with his own image.

sda

I hit a milestone of sorts on my drive to work. After 19.5 months, I have put 10k on the Passat which equates to a little over 500mi/mo. Yee haw!

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

@ab348,
I'm hoping the realtor can tell us what the buyers really liked about it.
It's semi custom, but has several features I asked for, 3rd garage, walk in attic area from master closet, dedicated office, shed with double doors built into the basement area.

Congrats!

Of course, I don't know your local market, but your asking price seems awfully reasonable for the Northeast. I'm not surprised it went for over.

abacomike

@kyfdx said:
What set price is that? Is Exxon Mobil going to sell it's oil for less in the US, if they can get a higher price, elsewhere?

I think you’ve hit the nail with the hammer dead on! We are exporting oil because global demand is so acute the crude is sold at a higher price. If demand shrinks, prices will shrink unless OPEC reduces production and causes supplies to weaken again.

We all know why US oil/gasoline production has reduced significantly - government policies coupled with corporate profits and oil refineries that are limited in capacity as well as significant aging of those refineries. A new refinery has not been constructed in the US in over 40 years.

jipster

@Driver> @ab348 said:

A lot of the content in Holmes shows is scripted and staged. Not much reality in that thing. Plus the guy is an egotistical jerk. A contractor locally told me he went to a trade show in Toronto a while back and the general opinion among his colleagues there was that Holmes was in love with his own image.

How could a bad roof and plumbing be scripted?

I use to watch Holmes on Homes, or whatever it's called. The guy does come off as extremely egotistical, which is why I don't watch much anymore, but he does know his stuff. His son, and more so his daughter, seem more level headed.

graphicguy

Just read an article in an energy publication (behind pay wall, unfortunately, because it explains the deep decline in gasoline demand in the very near future).

Highlights

-ICE vehicles have a very short future. While, they will be around for a while, as they become older, and more problem prone, people will move to EVs for their next vehicles instead of other ICE replacements.

-Trucks….both over the road and for personal usage, being so popular in the U.S. will lead the charge with the most popular trucks (F-150 and Silverado) moving swiftly towards electric drivetrains

-Manufacturers will not want to bear the cost of developing two very different drivetrain technologies. They are all moving swiftly towards an all electric vehicle future in lieu of developing ICE drivetrains

-Electric drivetrains allows greater possibility and flexibility to develop advanced vehicle technologies (like autonomous driving)

Previously, gasoline usage had a predicted drop of 2%/year until 2025, when it would start to drop exponentially. With the recent price run ups, they predict that number will more than double to a demand drop of 5%+/year as soon as this year.