Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

laurasdada

So, they take into account your credit rating and income? That explains why my "Pre-Approved!," doesn't mean I've been approved!
Four CCs, no fees (well Costco and BJs membership fees) and all 2-4% cash back. Last AMEX I had was a company card, Kermit-colored.

dino001

You number of those "prequalified" offers that are really not (you are "approved to apply", because you satisfy some generic criteria set in these soft inquiries, basically stuff the credit bureaus sell). I have a freeze on my credit, thanks to that I pretty much don't get many of these these generic offers. I do get these "real" preapproved as upsells on my existing accounts, mostly from Amex, cause it's such a privilege to pay $200 or $700 per year get that cool looking gold or platinum card. They also do some links on my online accounts, or emails. But I just ignore them.

stickguy

I have a Marriott card from chase. $95 annual fee but you get a free night voucher each time you pay the fee. And that is generally worth a lot more than the $95

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

I have a Marriott card from chase. $95 annual fee but you get a free night voucher each time you pay the fee. And that is generally worth a lot more than the $95

I wonder if that would be a better card for me. I am a Bonvoy member.

stickguy

we like it. We always use the free room voucher, and try to do it when the prices are inflated but it is a hotel at the right level. Plus we get the points and perks being Bonvoy. I got to Silver a while back when I spent a month at a Marriott on business so that has carried over.

explorerx4

One of my kids has an airline card tied to Marriott.
Had enough points to pay for 7 of us to stay waterfront for 5 days on the island of Hawaii.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

————————————————
You still a kid. When I was 77 I didn’t have your problems.

jmonroe

Thanks, calling me a kid made my day.
I remember the day for the very first time when some young punk called me "Sir", that really upset me, made me feel so old.

Many years ago I noticed that attractive middle aged women started smiling at me and being friendly entering or leaving via doors like at the post office. Then I realized it was because I reminded them of their father because I had entered another age cycle.

I can call @driver100 a "kid" as well. May good health follow you.

As for @jmonroe, I don't know your age, so I'll put you in "kid" along with driver100.

And on the lighter side, does anyone else remember the first time they were "carded" for age to be able order a beer? I do. I was so happy to pull out my license showing I was 21. Oh, the mileposts of life.




We used to buy beer with terribly made fake IDs for years but when I turned 18 they claimed my legit ID was fake and refused to sell it.

oldfarmer50

dino001 said:

These high fee cards quickly lose their shine in years two, three or four and that's the whole idea - lure you in with some loss leaders and get thousands from you later. I generally stay away from any of those "pay to play" benefits, as you may end up spending more money than you otherwise would because you want to get that discount (otherwise you "lose"). I get 75% boost to my free cash back card from BoA (based on my customer status), which becomes 5.75% cash back on online purchases (like Amazon or online big stores), 3.5% on warehouse clubs (Costco) and 1.75% on "other" stuff. I use my free Costco Citi visa for gas (4%), restaurants (3%) and travel (3%), get the cash once a year from them, which I don't even have to spend at Costco. I have one fee card, Amex Blue Cash Preferred, $95 to get 6% on supermarkets and 3% on my tolls and they have sometimes extra discounts on some other things. Overall that $95 pays off but not by much, actually, if I consider that I could get over 3.5% back from my BoA card on groceries (i.e. 2.5% is net that needs to pay for the $95), bust subject to some quarterly limits that is combined with that high only cash back. Overall, my annual total tally of is probably $500-$750 of net cash to my accounts after backing the Amex fee - sometimes more if I splurge on travel or purchase some high-ticket item, like a big appliance. And I don't carry a balance. Ever. That's good enough for me and I don't want to change my spending habits in chase for some perks at price of these huge fees. I could not care less about lounges, TSA (too little travel), or supposed status you get with these cards, I know I'd qualify with my credit and income, but I pass. Things may change, but I'm good for now.

I was offered an Amex card years ago but I refused to pay for credit cards of any kind and besides I don’t travel in the rarified air that many people do so all the perks would be wasted. I find that I can get discounts comparable to credit card points just by paying cash and not worry that they are selling my personal information.

Speaking of personal information my utility is planning on installing smart electric meters in my area. I’ve heard some negatives about them that range from personal privacy to EM radiation dangers.

Any opinions from the non paranoid?

kyfdx

What options do you have? I'd look for some medication for the paranoia.

Sandman6472

Have been canceling a few cards lately as I don't use them so what the heck. So far, my credit score is still at 830 so guess it didn't really matter. We don't have a heloc, or whatever that is, as we usually just write a check for anything. Always try to put money on a card when I buy a car and pay it off end of the month. And my cash balance is pretty high right now so when I'm ready to pull the trigger on something, won't be an issue. We were both brought up to be fiscally conservative and guess we passed that on to our kids.

stickguy

kyfdx said:

What options do you have? I'd look for some medication for the paranoia.

cancel your electric service and start chopping a lot of wood.

stickguy

I don't buy that cancelling excess cards is all that big a deal. I know that a lot of them (certainly store cards) will cancel for you if you don't use it for a long enough period.

snakeweasel

———————————————— You still a kid. When I was 77 I didn’t have your problems. jmonroe

Thanks, calling me a kid made my day. I remember the day for the very first time when some young punk called me "Sir", that really upset me, made me feel so old.

Many years ago I noticed that attractive middle aged women started smiling at me and being friendly entering or leaving via doors like at the post office. Then I realized it was because I reminded them of their father because I had entered another age cycle. I can call @driver100 a "kid" as well. May good health follow you. As for @jmonroe, I don't know your age, so I'll put you in "kid" along with driver100. And on the lighter side, does anyone else remember the first time they were "carded" for age to be able order a beer? I do. I was so happy to pull out my license showing I was 21. Oh, the mileposts of life.

I turned 21 in Alaska when you could buy beer if you over 19 (back then). I moved up there at the age of 20 from a state where the drinking age was 21.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Speaking of personal information my utility is planning on installing smart electric meters in my area. I’ve heard some negatives about them that range from personal privacy to EM radiation dangers.

Any opinions from the non paranoid?

That was done here a couple of years ago, after both the water and gas utilities did a similar thing. It makes the job of reading meters much easier for them as they simply have to drive past and the reading on the meter is captured. The electric utility here also has a thing you can choose to participate in, where you fill out a profile for your house telling them what kind of heating, appliances, and other electronics you have along with how many people live there and how well the house is insulated along with other things and they create a profile of what the electricity is used for, which is actually a bit useful. Of course it also captures what you eat every day along with your shoe size and tracks your coming and going, but that seems a small price to pay.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Speaking of personal information my utility is planning on installing smart electric meters in my area. I’ve heard some negatives about them that range from personal privacy to EM radiation dangers.

Any opinions from the non paranoid?

That was done here a couple of years ago, after both the water and gas utilities did a similar thing. It makes the job of reading meters much easier for them as they simply have to drive past and the reading on the meter is captured. The electric utility here also has a thing you can choose to participate in, where you fill out a profile for your house telling them what kind of heating, appliances, and other electronics you have along with how many people live there and how well the house is insulated along with other things and they create a profile of what the electricity is used for, which is actually a bit useful. Of course it also captures what you eat every day along with your shoe size and tracks your coming and going, but that seems a small price to pay.

And what is the benefit to you other than getting customized shoe solicitations in the mail?

nyccarguy

kyfdx said:

What options do you have? I'd look for some medication for the paranoia.

I agree. What are you going to do? Fight the electric company legally? Like the people who didn't want EZPass because they didn't want the government tracking them.

tjc78

We had electronic meters well over 10 years ago. We are all fine here in NJ.

mjfloyd1

@oldfarmer50 said:
I was offered an Amex card years ago but I refused to pay for credit cards of any kind and besides I don’t travel in the rarified air that many people do so all the perks would be wasted. I find that I can get discounts comparable to credit card points just by paying cash and not worry that they are selling my personal information.

Speaking of personal information my utility is planning on installing smart electric meters in my area. I’ve heard some negatives about them that range from personal privacy to EM radiation dangers.

Any opinions from the non paranoid?

I’d put a diesel powered generator right outside my house and keep a tank of diesel fuel on hand.

Otherwise, you could do the upgrade and just wear a tinfoil hat and hope for the best.

tjc78

@Sandman6472 said:
Have been canceling a few cards lately as I don't use them so what the heck. So far, my credit score is still at 830 so guess it didn't really matter. We don't have a heloc, or whatever that is, as we usually just write a check for anything. Always try to put money on a card when I buy a car and pay it off end of the month. And my cash balance is pretty high right now so when I'm ready to pull the trigger on something, won't be an issue. We were both brought up to be fiscally conservative and guess we passed that on to our kids.

I wish I was fiscally conservative…..

This weekend alone was a budget buster!

stickguy

tell me about it. at this point I don't even ask any more on stuff related to the new house. We are deep into "might as well just do it" territory. Though to be fair, some things are cheaper to do up front. Yesterday's add-on was carpeting the stairs to the basement. We are not going to finish that right away (maybe not ever!) but will put exercise equipment down there, and storage, so will be using the stairs fairly regularly. and plain plywood stairs are cheesy. So it will be much nicer to have Berber on those stairs, and from talking with the flooring lady, it will save $100s ($400?) in install costs since they are already going to be there doing the rest of the house, so not charging to put it in, just the material. Plus, it will be nice to have it done and not have to move in and start finding people to come in and make a mess.

also having the appliance store (local outfit) supply the WD, so it will all be there when we close. But that doesn't cost any more than using Lowe's so no reason to wait.

nyccarguy

explorerx4 said:

One of my kids has an airline card tied to Marriott.
Had enough points to pay for 7 of us to stay waterfront for 5 days on the island of Hawaii.

That's fantastic!

Hawaii is beautiful. Although I never made it to The Big Island, I feel very fortunate to have been able to go once. Doesn't look like it will happen again.

tjc78

@nyccarguy said:
That's fantastic!

Hawaii is beautiful. Although I never made it to The Big Island, I feel very fortunate to have been able to go once. Doesn't look like it will happen again.

We are going back to Turks and Caicos this year which is a pretty big spend …. but I keep telling the wife I want to go Hawaii I’m just afraid it will be mind numbing expensive to do it how we would want to.

roadburner

My son uses an AMEX card and collects enough points that he rarely pays for airfare.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

dino001 said:

These high fee cards quickly lose their shine in years two, three or four and that's the whole idea - lure you in with some loss leaders and get thousands from you later. I generally stay away from any of those "pay to play" benefits, as you may end up spending more money than you otherwise would because you want to get that discount (otherwise you "lose"). I get 75% boost to my free cash back card from BoA (based on my customer status), which becomes 5.75% cash back on online purchases (like Amazon or online big stores), 3.5% on warehouse clubs (Costco) and 1.75% on "other" stuff. I use my free Costco Citi visa for gas (4%), restaurants (3%) and travel (3%), get the cash once a year from them, which I don't even have to spend at Costco. I have one fee card, Amex Blue Cash Preferred, $95 to get 6% on supermarkets and 3% on my tolls and they have sometimes extra discounts on some other things. Overall that $95 pays off but not by much, actually, if I consider that I could get over 3.5% back from my BoA card on groceries (i.e. 2.5% is net that needs to pay for the $95), bust subject to some quarterly limits that is combined with that high only cash back. Overall, my annual total tally of is probably $500-$750 of net cash to my accounts after backing the Amex fee - sometimes more if I splurge on travel or purchase some high-ticket item, like a big appliance. And I don't carry a balance. Ever. That's good enough for me and I don't want to change my spending habits in chase for some perks at price of these huge fees. I could not care less about lounges, TSA (too little travel), or supposed status you get with these cards, I know I'd qualify with my credit and income, but I pass. Things may change, but I'm good for now.

Speaking of personal information my utility is planning on installing smart electric meters in my area. I’ve heard some negatives about them that range from personal privacy to EM radiation dangers.

Any opinions from the non paranoid?

They offered us a smart meter and I turned it down....usually when they offer you something it is more to their advantage than it is to mine.
As it turns out, people who took the Smart Meter offer are finding out that the electric company can control their electricity, so if there is a brownout say and they need electricity for industrial use they can cut the amount of electricity you will receive.
I don't want the electric company having that control. It is similar to the car insurance companies monitoring my driving......if I stop fast to avoid hitting a kid they will think I am driving too fast.

nyccarguy

tjc78 said:

@nyccarguy said:

That's fantastic!

Hawaii is beautiful. Although I never made it to The Big Island, I feel very fortunate to have been able to go once. Doesn't look like it will happen again.

We are going back to Turks and Caicos this year which is a pretty big spend …. but I keep telling the wife I want to go Hawaii I’m just afraid it will be mind numbing expensive to do it how we would want to.

I’m just afraid

Don't be afraid young Jedi. Fear is the path to the dark side.

In all seriousness, no need to be afraid. It will 100% "be mind numbing expensive." You already know how much Turks & Caicos is going to cost you and you've already "spent" that money. How much more will the Hawaii trip be. Speaking from experience, vacation memories are truly priceless. I'm amazed at the details my kids randomly remember from some of the trips we have taken. If you can afford it, even if it a stretch, I promise you that you won't regret it.

stickguy

we just got back from our trip to Portugal, and already signed up for the next tour with the same group of people. Northern Spain (start in Barcelona) for Easter, 2026!

It's only money.

nyccarguy

explorerx4 said:

One of my kids has an airline card tied to Marriott.
Had enough points to pay for 7 of us to stay waterfront for 5 days on the island of Hawaii.

It is also great when you can use points for either the airfare or hotel stay.

houdini1

abacomike said:

I test drove a 2024 VW Atlas the other day. Why? Because my upright walker does not fit into my trunk - I have friends put it in the back seat of my car. Thus, I have no room in the car for more than 1 passenger in the front seat. Thus, I felt that by getting a large SUV, I could put the walker in the rear and have at least 2 or 3 seats in the rear for passengers.

The one I drove was their top-of-the-line with captains chairs in the front for driver and front passenger. I drove the 4 cylinder version which was quite peppy and had sufficient acceleration for entry onto the Turnpike or I-95. I drove surprisingly smooth for a large SUV. Steering was outstanding as was the stability of the vehicle. I didn't bother too much with the various buttons and knobs as I was more interested or concerned about comfort for my back.

Unfortunately, the drivers seat (drove both versions with and without captains chairs) was too stiff and hurt my back sufficiently that I could not consider buying one. The pricing was where I wanted to be - $56,000+ was the MSRP and with incentives, you could get it for about 49,000 with 1.9% financing for up to 48 months, which was great. But I just couldn't take the pain and discomfort of the seats.

I've driven the Genesis GV80 but there were no incentives for rebates or interest on a purchase - MSRP was close to $70,000 which was much more than I was willing to spend. But the driver's seat was very comfortable.

Just thought you guys would be interested in my report on the Atlas.

Good review Mike. Out of curiosity, how many miles are on your Genesis and what do you expect the trade in value to be?

tjc78

@nyccarguy said:
I’m just afraid

Don't be afraid young Jedi. Fear is the path to the dark side.

In all seriousness, no need to be afraid. It will 100% "be mind numbing expensive." You already know how much Turks & Caicos is going to cost you and you've already "spent" that money. How much more will the Hawaii trip be. Speaking from experience, vacation memories are truly priceless. I'm amazed at the details my kids randomly remember from some of the trips we have taken. If you can afford it, even if it a stretch, I promise you that you won't regret it.

Good points for sure. We will see. Next year may be a cheap vacation year and then go after it in 2026. Wife keeps talking about Italy too but I’d rather both kids be in their teens for that.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

What options do you have? I'd look for some medication for the paranoia.

OK, laugh now but you won’t be laughing when you end up in a detention camp at an abandoned Walmart because you own too many cars.😳😳😳

https://youtu.be/929ceD32uVo?si=BJkjZY_hWWY1kLKR

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

We had electronic meters well over 10 years ago. We are all fine here in NJ.

————————————————-
Really? Nothing like patting yourself on the back.

jmonroe

snakeweasel

What options do you have? I'd look for some medication for the paranoia.

I agree. What are you going to do? Fight the electric company legally? Like the people who didn't want EZPass because they didn't want the government tracking them.

Well you don't have to use the EZPass nor take the tollway.

snakeweasel

@Sandman6472 said:
Have been canceling a few cards lately as I don't use them so what the heck. So far, my credit score is still at 830 so guess it didn't really matter. We don't have a heloc, or whatever that is, as we usually just write a check for anything. Always try to put money on a card when I buy a car and pay it off end of the month. And my cash balance is pretty high right now so when I'm ready to pull the trigger on something, won't be an issue. We were both brought up to be fiscally conservative and guess we passed that on to our kids.

I wish I was fiscally conservative…..

This weekend alone was a budget buster!

Same here. Redoing the master bath.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

we just got back from our trip to Portugal, and already signed up for the next tour with the same group of people. Northern Spain (start in Barcelona) for Easter, 2026!

It's only money.

what group was this?

Michaell

Another request for advice. The weed wacker/edger I've had for 20+ years needs to be replaced - I'm tired of fighting with the "auto feed" spool.

My yard isn't that big, and it would be nice to have something to trim around the trees without damaging the trunks, along with the standard edging.

Am OK with a rechargable battery unit. Looking at Amazon brings up a bunch of Chinese made products, which get 4+ star reviews (dubious!), but I'm intrigued by the ones with the nylon blades, rather than a spool of ... well, whatever that plastic stuff is called, that doesn't feed consistently.

Any and all thoughts welcome, before I pull the trigger.

stickguy

I have an Ego. a little pricier but works very well. Normal spool though. At least it auto loads! I just try to be very gentle around the trees, but the ideal scenario is not having grass growing right up to the tree.

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

We had electronic meters well over 10 years ago. We are all fine here in NJ.

That's what they want you to think

roadburner

Michaell said:

Another request for advice. The weed wacker/edger I've had for 20+ years needs to be replaced - I'm tired of fighting with the "auto feed" spool.

My yard isn't that big, and it would be nice to have something to trim around the trees without damaging the trunks, along with the standard edging.

Am OK with a rechargable battery unit. Looking at Amazon brings up a bunch of Chinese made products, which get 4+ star reviews (dubious!), but I'm intrigued by the ones with the nylon blades, rather than a spool of ... well, whatever that plastic stuff is called, that doesn't feed consistently.

Any and all thoughts welcome, before I pull the trigger.

We have a Kobalt from Lowes. It does a very good job, but if I had it to do over again I'd probably get an EGO, only because I now have an EGO mower and leaf blower and the batteries interchange.

sb55

Michaell said:

Another request for advice. The weed wacker/edger I've had for 20+ years needs to be replaced - I'm tired of fighting with the "auto feed" spool.

My yard isn't that big, and it would be nice to have something to trim around the trees without damaging the trunks, along with the standard edging.

Am OK with a rechargable battery unit. Looking at Amazon brings up a bunch of Chinese made products, which get 4+ star reviews (dubious!), but I'm intrigued by the ones with the nylon blades, rather than a spool of ... well, whatever that plastic stuff is called, that doesn't feed consistently.

Any and all thoughts welcome, before I pull the trigger.

I have an EGO. I have about 4 acres of lawn and a house and 4 cottages to weed whack around. The EGO will do about 1/2 on one battery. But I usually get half done and I am wasted before the battery. It charges quickly, so no problem there. It does use line, but it auto loads and works fine. I ended up buying an EGO hand held blower and now have a 2nd battery and charger. That doesn't last long on high speed, but for the small jobs it's fine.

explorerx4

I have a Worx trimmer/edger(They call it a 3 in 1 but I don't use the mower function).
The edger works well as the string doesn't beat up the hard surface you are edging along.
It's autofeed.
Actually, I have 2 of them. One is 9 or 10 years old and I only use it for edging.
The other one is like the one in the link below and has a longer handle, so I use it only for trimming, since to old one still functional.
https://www.worx.com/20v-gt-revolution-4-ah-cordless-string-trimmer-wg170-3.html

qbrozen

I bought this one about 3 years ago for the metal blades. The batteries lasted a very long time and the blades worked well to take out the heavy weeds I had growing all around the belgian block curbs that surround my property.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BHTXL9Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

mjfloyd1

@kyfdx said:
That's what they want you to think

I just figured out that birds are really recharging when they are standing on power lines😳

ab348

So, around the end of April I had my gas furnace replaced with a ducted heat pump. Hopefully it lives up to its advance billing. The day after it was done, I called the gas company for a disconnect/meter pull and final billing. They were very prompt with both and I paid the bills the next week (there were 2, one for the regular billing period and another one for the 7 or 8 days they had in the next period).

Yesterday I got another very confusing bill from them which stated that one of the two previous invoices they had sent me was cancelled and replaced with this new one. It did not show any of the payments I made and said I owed them a small sum. I called them today. The lady on the phone was both good and nice. After looking into it she said their billing people had badly screwed up and that I actually had a cheque from them en route because they had overcharged me for the last period. Why they couldn’t have indicated that when they wrote on the last bill that the previous one was cancelled is known only to them. Damn bean-counters!

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

So, around the end of April I had my gas furnace replaced with a ducted heat pump. Hopefully it lives up to its advance billing. The day after it was done, I called the gas company for a disconnect/meter pull and final billing. They were very prompt with both and I paid the bills the next week (there were 2, one for the regular billing period and another one for the 7 or 8 days they had in the next period).

Yesterday I got another very confusing bill from them which stated that one of the two previous invoices they had sent me was cancelled and replaced with this new one. It did not show any of the payments I made and said I owed them a small sum. I called them today. The lady on the phone was both good and nice. After looking into it she said their billing people had badly screwed up and that I actually had a cheque from them en route because they had overcharged me for the last period. Why they couldn’t have indicated that when they wrote on the last bill that the previous one was cancelled is known only to them. Damn bean-counters!

They probably hoped you wouldn’t notice and pay the bill twice. Maybe they get a commission for double billing.

All part of the bureaucratic lunacy:

https://youtu.be/ZVVjpLkpvtw?si=vnZbaBLeheY7fjmm

venture

ab348 said:

So, around the end of April I had my gas furnace replaced with a ducted heat pump. Hopefully it lives up to its advance billing. The day after it was done, I called the gas company for a disconnect/meter pull and final billing. They were very prompt with both and I paid the bills the next week (there were 2, one for the regular billing period and another one for the 7 or 8 days they had in the next period).

Yesterday I got another very confusing bill from them which stated that one of the two previous invoices they had sent me was cancelled and replaced with this new one. It did not show any of the payments I made and said I owed them a small sum. I called them today. The lady on the phone was both good and nice. After looking into it she said their billing people had badly screwed up and that I actually had a cheque from them en route because they had overcharged me for the last period. Why they couldn’t have indicated that when they wrote on the last bill that the previous one was cancelled is known only to them. Damn bean-counters!

I doubt they know.

jipster

I had my Hyundai Veracruz in the dealership for some recall work a couple weeks ago. I had a $10 off coupon for an oil change, so I asked if they could fit in an oil change. Absolutely! my service tech says. Says he can do better and give me $20 off. Wonderful, getting better by the minute, I says. I ask what's the total. Service tech says $84 with the discount. I explain I did not want the synthetic oil change. He says that's all they do. I can't believe what I'm hearing. They trying to punk me? So the next day I call and ask to speak to the service manager. The service manager confirms and gives me a long drawn out soliloquy on why. Has anyone here ever heard of such nonsense? This was at @roadburner favorite automotive group... Oxmoor.

Also, did look at a few small to midsize suvs with my wife about a month ago. More to be ready in case something happened to the Veracruz, as it has more than 200,000 miles. Looked at the Honda Pilot, Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Hyundai Santa's Fe(looks horrible) and the Hyundai Tucson. Mrs. Jip likes the Pilot, CRV and Tucson... in that order.

jmonroe1

jipster said:

I had my Hyundai Veracruz in the dealership for some recall work a couple weeks ago. I had a $10 off coupon for an oil change, so I asked if they could fit in an oil change. Absolutely! my service tech says. Says he can do better and give me $20 off. Wonderful, getting better by the minute, I says. I ask what's the total. Service tech says $84 with the discount. I explain I did not want the synthetic oil change. He says that's all they do. I can't believe what I'm hearing. They trying to punk me? So the next day I call and ask to speak to the service manager. The service manager confirms and gives me a long drawn out soliloquy on why. Has anyone here ever heard of such nonsense? This was at @roadburner favorite automotive group... Oxmoor.

Also, did look at a few small to midsize suvs with my wife about a month ago. More to be ready in case something happened to the Veracruz, as it has more than 200,000 miles. Looked at the Honda Pilot, Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Hyundai Santa's Fe(looks horrible) and the Hyundai Tucson. Mrs. Jip likes the Pilot, CRV and Tucson... in that order.

————————————————-
I don’t know why you don’t want to use synthetic oil. It’s better than the dino stuff and will more than likely get you more miles on a 200K mile engine than conventional oil.

Times have changed and so has the advancement in engine lubrication.

Don’t blame the dealer for keeping up with technology.

jmonroe

jipster

jmonroe1 said:

jipster said:

I had my Hyundai Veracruz in the dealership for some recall work a couple weeks ago. I had a $10 off coupon for an oil change, so I asked if they could fit in an oil change. Absolutely! my service tech says. Says he can do better and give me $20 off. Wonderful, getting better by the minute, I says. I ask what's the total. Service tech says $84 with the discount. I explain I did not want the synthetic oil change. He says that's all they do. I can't believe what I'm hearing. They trying to punk me? So the next day I call and ask to speak to the service manager. The service manager confirms and gives me a long drawn out soliloquy on why. Has anyone here ever heard of such nonsense? This was at @roadburner favorite automotive group... Oxmoor.

Also, did look at a few small to midsize suvs with my wife about a month ago. More to be ready in case something happened to the Veracruz, as it has more than 200,000 miles. Looked at the Honda Pilot, Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Hyundai Santa's Fe(looks horrible) and the Hyundai Tucson. Mrs. Jip likes the Pilot, CRV and Tucson... in that order.

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I don’t know why you don’t want to use synthetic oil. It’s better than the dino stuff and will more than likely get you more miles on a 200K mile engine than conventional oil.

Times have changed and so has the advancement in engine lubrication.

Don’t blame the dealer for keeping up with technology.

jmonroe

I'll pass on $100 force feed synthetic. Throw in a $40 off coupon and I'll consider it.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

I had my Hyundai Veracruz in the dealership for some recall work a couple weeks ago. I had a $10 off coupon for an oil change, so I asked if they could fit in an oil change. Absolutely! my service tech says. Says he can do better and give me $20 off. Wonderful, getting better by the minute, I says. I ask what's the total. Service tech says $84 with the discount. I explain I did not want the synthetic oil change. He says that's all they do. I can't believe what I'm hearing. They trying to punk me? So the next day I call and ask to speak to the service manager. The service manager confirms and gives me a long drawn out soliloquy on why. Has anyone here ever heard of such nonsense? This was at @roadburner favorite automotive group... Oxmoor.

Also, did look at a few small to midsize suvs with my wife about a month ago. More to be ready in case something happened to the Veracruz, as it has more than 200,000 miles. Looked at the Honda Pilot, Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Hyundai Santa's Fe(looks horrible) and the Hyundai Tucson. Mrs. Jip likes the Pilot, CRV and Tucson... in that order.

And they call me a dinosaur.🤣

jipster

Can you guys read or am I not clear on this? LOL. To clarify I am not anti-synthetic. I am anti-dealership!
When a dealership pushes a product (synthetic oil), at the exclusion of a less expensive product the major of customers would prefer (semi-synthetic). It's like going to a sports bar and all they offer is a wacky expensive European beer when all I want is a Modello.