Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

The new Kia logo is seen as a stylized "KN" by many people. I don't think it really works very well, but people will eventually get used to it.

Kia people love the new logo. I was talking to a guy that had a Telluride in the driveway. Commented on how nice it was, and he almost apologized that it was an older model with the old logo.

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If that guy wasn’t so cheap he could by the new logo badge. But that’s a Kia owner for ya.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

I really like the new KIA logo.....it looks a lot more modern than the old boring oval....like Ford. Since people are confused and think it is a KN car this idea of adding a single post in the A really helps;

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That’s what happens when you’re a penny pinching wannabe car company.

jmonroe

driver100

Real meaning:
What does Kia stand for? It stands for KI or “To Rise From” and A or Asia. In other words, it stands for to rise from Asia.
Well, it's easier to spell than Hyundai.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

The new Kia logo is seen as a stylized "KN" by many people. I don't think it really works very well, but people will eventually get used to it.

Kia people love the new logo. I was talking to a guy that had a Telluride in the driveway. Commented on how nice it was, and he almost apologized that it was an older model with the old logo.

I think the new logo is stupid. Guess I’m not Kia people.

stickguy

easier to pronounce too.

andres3

For me the only reason a company changes their logo is because they don't want to associate the old GM with the new GM for example (using GM as an example).

I believe there was an advertisement from Chrysler in 1994 about Chrysler being the "New" Chrysler.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

For me the only reason a company changes their logo is because they don't want to associate the old GM with the new GM for example (using GM as an example).

I believe there was an advertisement from Chrysler in 1994 about Chrysler being the "New" Chrysler.

Oh I don't know about that. Styles change over time and companies change their logos to keep them more modern looking. I mean would you like to have this on your grill?

driver100

Sometimes old logos just don't work any more;

roadburner

I was really interested in a KIA Stinger GTS but the shopping experience at the local dealers coupled with the service horror stories took the GTS out of contention. It was difficult to find any KIA dealer that wasn't installing those moronic brake light flashers. Just what I want; a brand new car with a factory wiring harness hacked up by a so-called "technician." Then there was the sales guy at a Louisville store who asked me what else I was considering. When I told him a CPO M2 Competition he said,"That's a Mercedes, right?"
In all fairness, the Jake Sweeney dealer in Northern Kentucky would have probably treated me fine but I didn't want to drive over an hour one-way for service like I did with the Mazdaspeed.

ab348

driver100 said:

Sometimes old logos just don't work any more;

That’s a handsome piece.

cdnpinhead

It was a different tine.

venture

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

For me the only reason a company changes their logo is because they don't want to associate the old GM with the new GM for example (using GM as an example).

I believe there was an advertisement from Chrysler in 1994 about Chrysler being the "New" Chrysler.

Oh I don't know about that. Styles change over time and companies change their logos to keep them more modern looking. I mean would you like to have this on your grill?

Or this slapped on your door.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

Sometimes old logos just don't work any more;

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Oh sure, you’ll be able to get away with that today in this country. Right. Uh huh.

jmonroe

driver100

venture said:

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

For me the only reason a company changes their logo is because they don't want to associate the old GM with the new GM for example (using GM as an example).

I believe there was an advertisement from Chrysler in 1994 about Chrysler being the "New" Chrysler.

Oh I don't know about that. Styles change over time and companies change their logos to keep them more modern looking. I mean would you like to have this on your grill?

Or this slapped on your door.

................or a car that looks like that, and btw, what's with that door in the middle of the car.

Sandman6472

Snake, my wife's super busy also with folks dropping off & picking up their returns. She also works for TurboTax 5days a week from 3 PM to 10 PM. Lastly, she works for a private CPA in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesdays & Thursdays so, she's quite busy through mid-April. She loves it though & just goes with the flow. I petty much take care of the rest of things during tax season which is fine actually. Empty nesters now so just the two of us to worry about.
Have mentioned retiring but she's not ready as of yet. I'll be 69 this year, she's a year behind, and am anticipating us both working at least till I reach 75 if my health allows it. The work at Enterprise ain't that hard...the hardest part is getting up in the morning. As long as I can still move, I'll stay put I guess.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

Snake, my wife's super busy also with folks dropping off & picking up their returns. She also works for TurboTax 5days a week from 3 PM to 10 PM. Lastly, she works for a private CPA in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesdays & Thursdays so, she's quite busy through mid-April. She loves it though & just goes with the flow. I petty much take care of the rest of things during tax season which is fine actually. Empty nesters now so just the two of us to worry about.
Have mentioned retiring but she's not ready as of yet. I'll be 69 this year, she's a year behind, and am anticipating us both working at least till I reach 75 if my health allows it. The work at Enterprise ain't that hard...the hardest part is getting up in the morning. As long as I can still move, I'll stay put I guess.

It the end of an era for me. This year I finally just dropped off all my tax documents at a CPA recommended by a coworker. I did my own, including the business taxes, for the last 54 years and I was just tired of it. The reluctance of the government to provide paper forms to people who prefer them was also part of it.

I just hope the professional doesn’t find I was missing big refunds all this time.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Sometimes old logos just don't work any more;

Are you kidding? I’d love to put that on the hood of the Mustang. I bet it would add 50hp.

Did you Jeep guys get your latest recall notice? Tell me how a manual transmission catches fire?

https://www.powernationtv.com/post/jeep-recalls-69000-wranglers-gladiators-over-potential-manual-transmission-fires-for-the-second-time?utm_campaign=3/10/23 Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Mailjet

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Snake, my wife's super busy also with folks dropping off & picking up their returns. She also works for TurboTax 5days a week from 3 PM to 10 PM. Lastly, she works for a private CPA in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesdays & Thursdays so, she's quite busy through mid-April. She loves it though & just goes with the flow. I petty much take care of the rest of things during tax season which is fine actually. Empty nesters now so just the two of us to worry about.
Have mentioned retiring but she's not ready as of yet. I'll be 69 this year, she's a year behind, and am anticipating us both working at least till I reach 75 if my health allows it. The work at Enterprise ain't that hard...the hardest part is getting up in the morning. As long as I can still move, I'll stay put I guess.

It the end of an era for me. This year I finally just dropped off all my tax documents at a CPA recommended by a coworker. I did my own, including the business taxes, for the last 54 years and I was just tired of it. The reluctance of the government to provide paper forms to people who prefer them was also part of it.

I just hope the professional doesn’t find I was missing big refunds all this time.

There's something wrong with a tax system when you have to hire professionals to figure out how much tax the government wants to take away from you. It's like you have to pay protection money to hang on to some of your own money

tjc78

@driver100 said:
There's something wrong with a tax system when you have to hire professionals to figure out how much tax the government wants to take away from you. It's like you have to pay protection money to hang on to some of your own money

How is it in Canada? Same basic process??

tjc78

I wanna be a dog… not a care in the world

driver100

tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

There's something wrong with a tax system when you have to hire professionals to figure out how much tax the government wants to take away from you. It's like you have to pay protection money to hang on to some of your own money

How is it in Canada? Same basic process??

Very similar. There have been attempts to have a simpler system...but it never gets done and I don't know if it is possible, there has to be exemptions and write offs etc.
I thought the government should just collect your total income....and then give you an allowance based on the amount they confiscated, less deductions.

driver100

Don't forget......set your clocks ahead tonight.
I'll have to figure out how to do the car one once again.
Easy way to set your clock ahead 1 hour;

roadburner

I still have to change the clocks on the Club Sport and Wrangler. Takes about 10 seconds per car. The C43 updates the time on its own.

roadburner

My dog had a ball climbing on the trees that were blown down last week.

imidazol97

We've had the granddog for 9 days while the son and DIL are off on a trip to a delightful place with blue waters and whale watching.

At our house the dog does not get to be on the furniture or on the bed like she does at their house. She adapts quickly.

This wheaten would never be walking the tree trunks like that unless she saw a squirrel run onto one, then she'd try to follow it to the death. Wheatens are bred to control vermin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-coated_Wheaten_Terrier#:~:text=The Wheaten was bred in,were not owned by gentry.

Great pic

ab348

tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

There's something wrong with a tax system when you have to hire professionals to figure out how much tax the government wants to take away from you. It's like you have to pay protection money to hang on to some of your own money

How is it in Canada? Same basic process??

As Driver noted, it is a ridiculously complex headache to deal with. A big part of that is because of all the exceptions and qualifications it has, mostly as a result of trying to give breaks to some people/groups but not others. Last year, for example, I was surprised to discover that I could deduct the cost of my online newspaper subscription for some bizarre reason. But I could not deduct my approx. $2200 in medical and drug expenses (so much for our "free" healthcare system) because my income was slightly too high. D'oh. You jump though one hoop after another but they still take you to the cleaners if you are middle-class.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Snake, my wife's super busy also with folks dropping off & picking up their returns. She also works for TurboTax 5days a week from 3 PM to 10 PM. Lastly, she works for a private CPA in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesdays & Thursdays so, she's quite busy through mid-April. She loves it though & just goes with the flow. I petty much take care of the rest of things during tax season which is fine actually. Empty nesters now so just the two of us to worry about.
Have mentioned retiring but she's not ready as of yet. I'll be 69 this year, she's a year behind, and am anticipating us both working at least till I reach 75 if my health allows it. The work at Enterprise ain't that hard...the hardest part is getting up in the morning. As long as I can still move, I'll stay put I guess.

It the end of an era for me. This year I finally just dropped off all my tax documents at a CPA recommended by a coworker. I did my own, including the business taxes, for the last 54 years and I was just tired of it. The reluctance of the government to provide paper forms to people who prefer them was also part of it.

I just hope the professional doesn’t find I was missing big refunds all this time.

There's something wrong with a tax system when you have to hire professionals to figure out how much tax the government wants to take away from you. It's like you have to pay protection money to hang on to some of your own money

That was my position up until now. It just irked me to have to pay one person to tell me how much I had to pay to another.

kyfdx

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

driver100

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

Not necessarily

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

who are you using, that JMonroe guy?

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

well what do you want the CPA to say? "Turbotax is better than me"?

I've been through the dance twice before and, both times, the accountant(s) couldn't get me a better return than using the online software did. Stands to reason since I've never had an accountant ask me all the questions that the online software does. I guess they just expect me to volunteer all the info, but if I knew everything that COULD be deducted, I wouldn't need an accountant in the first place.

oldfarmer50

To be honest I don’t think Turbo Tax or a CPA could do much better than I did. My finances are pretty simple (even the farm). Usually when you dabble in government grants and rebates your taxes tend to get complicated.

My biggest problem was just adding it all up correctly with my dime store calculator.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

What would you expect a CPA to say? He has to justify why he is charging 10x as much as the DIY method.

stickguy

I think that tax pros could do better when deductions were more of a thing. And that mostly applied to only certain people that could deduct weird things (or maybe had businesses). These days, a lot more people get the standard deduction I think so it really doesn't matter.

And like QB said, the software asks you lots of questions, and depending what you say yes to, will start digging deep.

henryn

TurboTax does a good job for me. I was paying someone when I was working contract, as I was basically self-employed and that gets a bit complicated. But these days, TurboTax for the win. My return for the last 2 years was simple enough that I could use the free version of TurboTax.

As to why taxes are so complicated, the answer is pretty straight forward. The most important power that our Representatives and Senators have are in the realm of taxation. That is where the lobbyists really really do their work, wining and dining and entertaining and courting our elected representatives to get a tax break for whomever is paying them (paying the lobbyists, I mean).

If taxes were ever simplified, that would mean hundreds or thousands of special interest groups would lose their tax breaks. And those lobbyists are paid a LOT of money to see to it that doesn't happen. This should be taught in high school civics class. Yes, knowing the 3 branches of government is important, but knowing where the real power lies is also important.

explorerx4

Our taxes usually have some wrinkle. The CPA I was using in CT saved me a solid 5 figures the first time I went to him.
On the tax statement I receives from a brokerage firm for my Mom's estate, all the investments were priced as of the purchase date(25 plus years earlier) not date of passing.
He noticed it in about 1 minute.

tjc78

I’m over the tax thing. We weren’t very happy with our old accountant. We had asked for some guidance on withholding, etc and he never really helped, as a result we took a beating in 2021 and owed… a lot.

Wife found new CPA. Very nice woman and son team. She worked with us and even did a pre-return estimate to make sure we were covered which luckily we were. Somehow she managed to get us back a sizable sum due to a credit on the LSV (golf cart) we bought. Of course she charged $300 more than the other guy.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

who are you using, that JMonroe guy?

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Nobody is better than that guy. You don’t have to ask me why.

jmonroe

Sandman6472

My wife bases her fees on TurboTax's and always comes in a bit lower. Many of her clients have died off lately, as I got her a bunch when I worked for the post office. Had all seniors & they'd be asking me who did my taxes. Some would use her & then she got referrals from them. She'd go pick up & return their taxes so since many didn't drive, they felt she added something with this free service of hers. But now, most have passed & she has the same folks continuing to come back year after year. She must be doing something right as they'd rather not do it themselves. I always tell folks that, "she's honest" & everyone knows what that means. She's a black & white person while I prefer to lurk in the gray area. But, do let folks know up front she's super honest & let them make their own decision from there. But this part of her business is only about 1/3 as she works for TurboTax as her main gig & two days a week for a local firm. These few months, taxes are her life & the rest of us handle everything else at home.

stickguy

maybe I should take the classes (I assume they have some training program) and get certified to do taxes for HR Block or one of those discount places, and just do that for 3 months of the year and take the rest of the year off. I assume those people in the Walmart aisle are pretty much just using the same tax software I use to do my own.

Sandman6472

Took the H&R Block tax class back in 2012 and it wasn't easy by any means. Without my wife's help, I wouldn't have passed. Things I couldn't figure out, she had no problems with & really helped me pass. She's smart & hate to say, usually right on most things. But Stick, might be just the thing for you to do if interested. At least I can understand the tax forms now when she hands me ours to sign. I'm one who doesn't mind paying taxes if we're making money. And now that we're at that retirement age, need to make sure we have enough income for when we do stop working.

driver100

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather drive around rental or dealers cars than do people's taxes.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

maybe I should take the classes (I assume they have some training program) and get certified to do taxes for HR Block or one of those discount places, and just do that for 3 months of the year and take the rest of the year off. I assume those people in the Walmart aisle are pretty much just using the same tax software I use to do my own.

I'm sure I could do it, but giving people information they don't want to hear is not my idea of fun.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

Don't forget......set your clocks ahead tonight.
I'll have to figure out how to do the car one once again.
Easy way to set your clock ahead 1 hour;

Now you tell me after I set all my clocks back 11 hours.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

Yeah I have seen that. The issue with Turbo Tax and other software is that it really can't ask follow up questions like a human can. Sure they ask questions based on how you answer the previous questions but there is no intuition there. So unless you have a basic tax return or know the tax law you can easily leave money on the table.

snakeweasel

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

well what do you want the CPA to say? "Turbotax is better than me"?

I've been through the dance twice before and, both times, the accountant(s) couldn't get me a better return than using the online software did. Stands to reason since I've never had an accountant ask me all the questions that the online software does. I guess they just expect me to volunteer all the info, but if I knew everything that COULD be deducted, I wouldn't need an accountant in the first place.

A good tax preparer will sit there and have an in depth conversation with the client. The two main reasons for this is to try to detect fraud and to get as much information to do their return to get them the best results. By doing that I have found a lot of things that people didn't think they could do.

henryn

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

Yeah I have seen that. The issue with Turbo Tax and other software is that it really can't ask follow up questions like a human can. Sure they ask questions based on how you answer the previous questions but there is no intuition there. So unless you have a basic tax return or know the tax law you can easily leave money on the table.

This leaves me ... "doubtful" is a good word. I made my living programming computers for several decades, and I am quite familiar with what computer software can and can't do. Taxes are not my strong suit, but computer programming definitely is. Any "closed system" can be modeled, and modeled accurately in a computer simulation. The tax laws may be ungodly complicated, but they are definitely a closed system, and every facet of that system can be modeled and represented in software.

Computer software, done thoroughly and correctly, should be able to do every bit as good a job on your taxes as any human. The only variable left in this equation is the "thoroughly and correctly" part. Did TurboTax hire good programmers and give them enough time and resources to do the job? Or did they offshore this to the lowest bidder in India or Venezuela or ???

And I do not have any insight on that last question.

Now as to the "intuition", that should play no part in any closed system. None. Taxes are laid out in legal terms, rigidly defined in writing. Lawyers may make a living trying to "weasel" out the meanings of those words, but that has no bearing on most of us. The opposite of a closed system would be medicine, just for an example. No computer program can begin to do what a human doctor does.

henryn

snakeweasel said:

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

If you can figure out how to post on Edmunds, you can use TurboTax.

According to the CPA turbo tax will leave all sorts of money on the table.

well what do you want the CPA to say? "Turbotax is better than me"?

I've been through the dance twice before and, both times, the accountant(s) couldn't get me a better return than using the online software did. Stands to reason since I've never had an accountant ask me all the questions that the online software does. I guess they just expect me to volunteer all the info, but if I knew everything that COULD be deducted, I wouldn't need an accountant in the first place.

A good tax preparer will sit there and have an in depth conversation with the client. The two main reasons for this is to try to detect fraud and to get as much information to do their return to get them the best results. By doing that I have found a lot of things that people didn't think they could do.

I will agree with you on that one. People who don't even have a basic understanding of income taxes cannot make good use of TurboTax.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

maybe I should take the classes (I assume they have some training program) and get certified to do taxes for HR Block or one of those discount places, and just do that for 3 months of the year and take the rest of the year off. I assume those people in the Walmart aisle are pretty much just using the same tax software I use to do my own.

The classes are pretty good depending on the individual teaching it. However nothing beats experience. It's interesting to watch someone who has gone through that training gain knowledge as they get the experience.

And no those people in the Walmart aisle are not using the same software you use, it's much more detailed and complicated.