Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

fintail

But Vancouver (and Toronnah) needs more leaky condos and avenues to launder sketchy offshore-based money.

Sandman6472

We handle the rentals for the Tesla dealer in Hollywood Florida. We usually bring over MB products. So far, the arrangement seems to be working very nicely. We also used to be at the BMW dealership where Mike bought, can tell by his description of jumping onto I-75. After many years, Sixt took over their rental needs last year but it really was a win/win for us as they needed more vehicles than we could really provide. And we had to have two folks at the rental desk plus a u t guy to clean the vehicles going out. As a driver, spent a good deal of our time supplying them with vehicles which meant our other locations suffered. Now it seems we have a better and more manageable balance but scheduling drivers is getting to be an issue since two of us were asked to work an additional day last week and today. I've been asking for an additional day for over two years now and it just might happen soon I'm thinking. My wife thinks I'm nuts to want more hours as she sees how beat I am with working three but once I do get up and the meds kick in, all is well. Also, the extra $'s are nice and told her that I think I'll give it through 2018 and then call it quits forever! 64 is a good age to stop I'm thinking.

The Sandman

qbrozen

Yes, electric car range is GREATLY affected by the cold.

However, I have seen no shortage of Model Ss during the winter here in NJ. I can't imagine it matters much for most drivers of that car. I mean, even if it dropped as low as 150 miles, that is plenty for most commuting. 

driver100

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

Not being able to sell cars in the city reminded me of what I just heard on the news today. The average price of a home in Toronto is now about $1.5 million. The thinking is that the few gas stations that are left are going to go, because the land is more valuable if it is sold for a condo building. In Vancouver there are no more gas stations in the downtown....land is even more valuable there.



One Toronto Shell station, located at 38 Spadina Ave. was assessed at $8.4 million last year. Across the street, the Petro-Canada was assessed at $18.2 million. Hard to make that on selling gas at the pumps.



Some people believe gas pumps won't fade away completely, they will sell gas from pumps that are next to the street, and take up minimal space.

One of the major problems when redeveloping land  that for years housed a gasoline/diesel fuel station for residential use is that the below ground tanks always leak fuel which, when removed, need to be environmentally cleaned up.  That is a costly operation which can negatively affect residential development in those areas where gasoline stations occupied that same property.

They can dig out contaminated soil these days and cap it or whatever has to be done. It is costly, but property values have reached ridiculous levels, so it is worth it. House prices went up 33% in Toronto...in the last year.

Vancouver added a 15% speculators tax....if you are an outside of the country buyer you pay 15% per purchase. Now they buy in Toronto where there isn't a tax.....but, a good chance a tax is coming.

driver100

thebean said:

Down here in the Dallas area, they have small tanker trucks that will come to you and sell you gas.  They have the prices posted on the sides and it's very competitive with the stations.  Wave of the future or answer to a non-existent problem?  It would be a good thing in downtowns like @driver100 described above.

I like that idea if you can fill up while on the fly....like jets do.

driver100

fintail said:

But Vancouver (and Toronnah) needs more leaky condos and avenues to launder sketchy offshore-based money.

Vancouver condos are known for leaking....lots of rain and poor construction. Toronto doesn't have the leaking problem as much, poor construction does happen.

I think if it comes down to buying a condo I wouldn't chance buying a new condo. People put down big downpayments for an apartment being built in Toronto....they did this a few years ago. The builder went bankrupt and though people got their downpayments back....there was very little interest but property values rose over 50% during that time. I'd like to see a record of performance and try to get a slightly older soundly made condo, than risk a new one, that hasn't actually been built yet.

driver100

fordfool said:

driver100 said:

One Toronto Shell station, located at 38 Spadina Ave. was assessed at $8.4 million last year. Across the street, the Petro-Canada was assessed at $18.2 million. Hard to make that on selling gas at the pumps.

Property should be assessed according to its current use just as farm land is assessed as farm land, not what some land developer would pay. If that were not so, many farmers would be forced off of their land by obscene tax levels.

But someone will pay that amount for the land the station sits on. Reclaim the land and build a condo on it....more profitable than a gas station.

driver100

Happy Good Friday all!

murphydog

Always shocked at the low gas prices here in Arizona...back to Seattle tomorrow

jmonroe

driver100 said:

Mike - good review of the 540. You didn't mention how many colors the LED lights have...or if you can change the speedo into 3 different types.

Andre - They should make a rule, whatever time your car is in for service should get added to warranty. And no car should be off the road for over a month....waiting for parts. Another reason I wouldn't buy a Chevy SS.

GG Looks like the big change on the Acura is the grill, and it is definitely an improvement.

JMonroe Does your country offer an award for turning in tax cheats? I have a plan.

NO. Squealers from foreign countries go directly to the slammer and they lose all property owned in the US. :@

Although I do have to wonder about IRS agents who might be lurkers in here. Maybe I should ask the MODS to run a security check for me.

jmonroe

roadburner

@abacomike- Did the 540i you drove have the Luxury Seating Package? It includes multi-contour seats that are very similar to the 7 Series seats.
The 540i is still a bit big for my tastes, but I do have to say that a RWD 540i with the M Sport package is an exceptional sports sedan. I like it quite a bit.

roadburner

andres3 said:

Was there a 2017 550i? I think I saw one on the roadway the other day.

The M550i xDrive is just now going into production. It's following the current BMW custom of making the car with the most powerful engine in the range an M Performance model(See: M240i, M760i xDrive, X4 M40i, and the upcoming G01 X3 M40i). The M550i is pretty impressive; Munich is claiming a 0-60 time in the high three second range.

roadburner

Finally, I drove a new X1 to Bowling Green today(about a two hour drive) and drove another one back. Boy, they are nice- and both returned close to 35 mpg at an average speed north of 70 mph. Comfortable too, although I'd have to go with an M Sport to get the mandatory(for me) sport seats.
A couple of days ago I used an X5 40e PHEV to run a couple of errands. I used the electric motor in town and the gas engine on the interstate. The big sled returned 31 mpg. Crazy.

ab348

There are many former gas station properties sitting here abandoned because of the remediation requirements. It seems a bit nuts. Gasoline is highly volatile and will evaporate easily once exposed. It's not like people in big cities are drawing well water from underground anyway.

fintail

Funny thing, the Vancouver tax hasn't slowed things. It's still a place where the average detached house is something like 15x income. This isn't NYC or Paris, just a regional city. IMO, that tax should be twice as much or more - if our cities are going to be ground zero for sketchy washed money, we might as well get something for it and fund infrastructure.

Same condo speculation in and around Seattle. When they do get built, half of the towers appear to be vacant. That's worthy of a tax, too. The older affordable condos are often 40 year old apartment conversions, not sure if they are any better built.

driver100 said:

Vancouver condos are known for leaking....lots of rain and poor construction. Toronto doesn't have the leaking problem as much, poor construction does happen.

I think if it comes down to buying a condo I wouldn't chance buying a new condo. People put down big downpayments for an apartment being built in Toronto....they did this a few years ago. The builder went bankrupt and though people got their downpayments back....there was very little interest but property values rose over 50% during that time. I'd like to see a record of performance and try to get a slightly older soundly made condo, than risk a new one, that hasn't actually been built yet.

oldfarmer50

thebean said:

Down here in the Dallas area, they have small tanker trucks that will come to you and sell you gas.  They have the prices posted on the sides and it's very competitive with the stations.  Wave of the future or answer to a non-existent problem?  It would be a good thing in downtowns like @driver100 described above.

Similar to the old vegetable wagons that use to go up and down the neighborhood streets. Everything old is new again.

oldfarmer50

murphydog said:

Always shocked at the low gas prices here in Arizona...back to Seattle tomorrow

Arizona must not "care" about throwing money around to every special interest group in town. How heartless.

driver100

There's a great new business idea for you oldfarmer. Deliver gasoline for cars and fruit and vegetables directly to the home....one stop shopping delivered to your house, maybe you can even get a deal on an old school bus you could use.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

There's a great new business idea for you oldfarmer. Deliver gasoline for cars and fruit and vegetables directly to the home....one stop shopping delivered to your house, maybe you can even get a deal on an old school bus you could use.

Don't laugh, I've passed a few farms that have an old school bus parked in their yard. One was converted to a vegetable stand.

On another topic, does anyone know if the gasoline preservative Stabil causes a lack of performance once you take your car back out on the road?

Now that I've burned up the tank of gas that sat in the tank through winter I've noticed a difference in performance. Wondering if it was the Stabil or just the old gas.

houdini1

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

Mike - good review of the 540. You didn't mention how many colors the LED lights have...or if you can change the speedo into 3 different types.

Andre - They should make a rule, whatever time your car is in for service should get added to warranty. And no car should be off the road for over a month....waiting for parts. Another reason I wouldn't buy a Chevy SS.

GG Looks like the big change on the Acura is the grill, and it is definitely an improvement.

JMonroe Does your country offer an award for turning in tax cheats? I have a plan.

NO. Squealers from foreign countries go directly to the slammer and they lose all property owned in the US. :@

Although I do have to wonder about IRS agents who might be lurkers in here. Maybe I should ask the MODS to run a security check for me.

jmonroe

JM, my guess is you would actually go to jail before you would cheat on your taxes !

Michaell

One for @abacomike.

The last couple of days I've hosted all our Americas instructors here in Denver for some meetings. Due to travel schedules, I've had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of them, one on one.

Last night my dinner companion ordered a manhattan, with the dirty rocks on the side.

With Woodford Reserve!

abacomike

Michaell said:

One for @abacomike.





The last couple of days I've hosted all our Americas instructors here in Denver for some meetings. Due to travel schedules, I've had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of them, one on one.





Last night my dinner companion ordered a manhattan, with the dirty rocks on the side.





With Woodford Reserve!

Ahhhhhhh!!! 

Not a lover of manhattans or Rob Roys, but the bourbon seems apprpriate.

houdini1

fintail said:

Funny thing, the Vancouver tax hasn't slowed things. It's still a place where the average detached house is something like 15x income. This isn't NYC or Paris, just a regional city. IMO, that tax should be twice as much or more - if our cities are going to be ground zero for sketchy washed money, we might as well get something for it and fund infrastructure.

Same condo speculation in and around Seattle. When they do get built, half of the towers appear to be vacant. That's worthy of a tax, too. The older affordable condos are often 40 year old apartment conversions, not sure if they are any better built.

driver100 said:

Vancouver condos are known for leaking....lots of rain and poor construction. Toronto doesn't have the leaking problem as much, poor construction does happen.

I think if it comes down to buying a condo I wouldn't chance buying a new condo. People put down big downpayments for an apartment being built in Toronto....they did this a few years ago. The builder went bankrupt and though people got their downpayments back....there was very little interest but property values rose over 50% during that time. I'd like to see a record of performance and try to get a slightly older soundly made condo, than risk a new one, that hasn't actually been built yet.

Finn, since you like taxes so much, how would you feel about an additional tax on renters? This would be in addition to the tax you already pay for the owners, but hey, you're taking up space and breathing air, and the gov. needs money.

imidazol97

A car rewind. Neighbor has an E500 from a few years back that has had many problems. One was the occasional draining of the battery. A dealer in West Chester ended up with the car for a couple of weeks after other dealers failed. (I got to drive the C300 loaner my neighbor had.) Didn't fix it.

Neighbor took it to another MB store. They finally, finally found their problem. SM said it had 20 hours of their top techs on it to find that the SAM module wasn't able to communicate with all the various sensors and kept trying to find them after the car was off to turn off each sensor or module... A symptom of that was what I had walked over to tell neighbor about when I saw _one_ of his taillights was on. It was on when I went to Kroger. It was still on when I came home, so I told him.

Think cars are too complicated--this is from 2005 or 8 or so. Or are mechanics not smart enough because of lack of training. I'd think the MB stores would have had the best training.

I asked how much it cost this time. Neighbor wouldn't say. He just said his wife wanted it fixed since she drives it as her car... Hmmm. Must have been more than the $2400 it cost a year ago for one visit to a dealer. They did fix a brake problem for that price however.

Sorry it's over 150 words. LOL

ab348

Years ago the city here did indeed have a special renters tax. They called it "Poll Tax" and apparently it was rationalized as a charge for the privilege of being a citizen who was allowed to vote. It finally disappeared after a number of years of being criticized for being an unnecessary burden on folks who were already contributing to the tax roll via their rent. The city here has an unquenchable thirst for revenue though. They are now starting their annual self-flagellation over the founder of the city back in the 1700s being a terrible person because he fought with the natives and hence, by today's standards, was an evil person not worthy of having his name or image recognized. They want to change the name of any municipal property or asset bearing his name and remove his statue. Just absurd.

driver100

Michaell said:

One for @abacomike.

The last couple of days I've hosted all our Americas instructors here in Denver for some meetings. Due to travel schedules, I've had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of them, one on one.

Last night my dinner companion ordered a manhattan, with the dirty rocks on the side.

With Woodford Reserve!

That is a bad sign when an employee orders something like Woodford Reserve. Very extravagant.......you can tell a lot about a person by what they order...on the expense account. Now I would have ordered a Bud Lite! That is executive material!

driver100

Imid, that sounds like a hard thing to diagnose, but should have been on the list. Wouldn't you think that could be detected from the computer chip. I wonder if it isn't one of two things 1) lazy technicians not really thinking creatively, or 2) a shop wanting to maximize their bill.

For every one of those there is another story about every brand. Too make a long story short friends have a 2005 Ford F150 diesel. Broke down on the way to Florida. Garage said it was several things until they hit upon the right fix. 3 days in a small nothing to do town, and $5000 later, the truck is running. The friends were held for ransom....nothing they could do. If diagnosed the first time bill probably would have been under $200.

graphicguy

roadburner said:

andres3 said:

Was there a 2017 550i? I think I saw one on the roadway the other day.

The M550i xDrive is just now going into production. It's following the current BMW custom of making the car with the most powerful engine in the range an M Performance model(See: M240i, M760i xDrive, X4 M40i, and the upcoming G01 X3 M40i). The M550i is pretty impressive; Munich is claiming a 0-60 time in the high three second range.

Yowza!!!!!

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

There's a great new business idea for you oldfarmer. Deliver gasoline for cars and fruit and vegetables directly to the home....one stop shopping delivered to your house, maybe you can even get a deal on an old school bus you could use.

Don't laugh, I've passed a few farms that have an old school bus parked in their yard. One was converted to a vegetable stand.

On another topic, does anyone know if the gasoline preservative Stabil causes a lack of performance once you take your car back out on the road?

Now that I've burned up the tank of gas that sat in the tank through winter I've noticed a difference in performance. Wondering if it was the Stabil or just the old gas.

We have used Stabil in the Florida cars for 4 years now. I don't notice any difference, if anything it runs better because it takes out moisture and maybe fires better.

You have to add Stabil properly...........top up gas tank with gas, add Stabil, drive for a few minutes so it goes through the system....I like to drive for about 20 to 30 minutes though they say 5. I doubt it is Stabil that is the problem.

driver100

It has gotten to the point where I dread flying.....the whole experience makes me shudder, I am the customer and I get treated like craplolla, so here we go:

New United Airlines Mottos:

"We put the hospital in hospitality"
"Board as a doctor, leave as a patient"
"Our prices can't be beaten, but our passengers can"
"We have First Class, Business Class and No Class"
"Not enough seating, prepare for a beating"
"We treat you like we treat your luggage"
"We beat the customer. Not the competition"
"And you thought leg room was an issue"
"If our staff needs a seat, we'll drag you out by your feet"

houdini1

ab348 said:

Years ago the city here did indeed have a special renters tax. They called it "Poll Tax" and apparently it was rationalized as a charge for the privilege of being a citizen who was allowed to vote. It finally disappeared after a number of years of being criticized for being an unnecessary burden on folks who were already contributing to the tax roll via their rent. The city here has an unquenchable thirst for revenue though. They are now starting their annual self-flagellation over the founder of the city back in the 1700s being a terrible person because he fought with the natives and hence, by today's standards, was an evil person not worthy of having his name or image recognized. They want to change the name of any municipal property or asset bearing his name and remove his statue. Just absurd.

Same thing happening here in our southern states. Makes you wonder who they will be trying to delete from history a hundred years from now.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

It has gotten to the point where I dread flying.....the whole experience makes me shudder, I am the customer and I get treated like craplolla, so here we go:

New United Airlines Mottos:

"We put the hospital in hospitality" ...

The local police seem to have overreacted. I suspect the real problem isn't mentioned in the MSM, of course, because it doesn't fit their narrative. But the mistake was made at the gate by allowing folks to board. It's much easier to find volunteers to take a later flight with compensation for the trouble when folks aren't already in the seat.

It may be that the air crew who needed to get to Louisville was not presented at the gate by the company until AFTER all the passengers were on board. There may have been a problem with a crew and a plane that was in or going to arrive in Louisville where the crew couldn't continue because of _government rules_. So a fresh crew had to be mustered and delivered. Or else other folks were going to inconvenienced in Louisville.

My SIL was very quick to point out this occurred on a United Express plane. I also recall that SIL says there are jump seats that crew sometimes occupy on a plane in order to get to their destination, be it work or pleasure travel. She made it sound like fold down seats and I believe she even mentioned that she had flown in the cockpit. She used tolive in Orlando and worked out of Las Vegas airport, so she commuted a lot years ago. In this case it may be those were not available or already occupied by crew.

Sorry it's over 150 words.

graphicguy

driver100 said:

Michaell said:

One for @abacomike.

The last couple of days I've hosted all our Americas instructors here in Denver for some meetings. Due to travel schedules, I've had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of them, one on one.

Last night my dinner companion ordered a manhattan, with the dirty rocks on the side.

With Woodford Reserve!

That is a bad sign when an employee orders something like Woodford Reserve. Very extravagant.......you can tell a lot about a person by what they order...on the expense account. Now I would have ordered a Bud Lite! That is executive material!

Driver....interesting, just had this conversation with our company's business planners. Of course, expenses always come up in those meetings. I have 3 sales, 1 marketing and 2 field engineers reporting directly to me. I don't encourage, nor discourage those mega buck customer dinners with wine and $75 steaks. I'll OK their expense reports once they submit them, but I usually know the people who are present at those dinners and consider it a good use of resources. Not much in the way of Bud Light being consumed at these functions that I can tell. Plenty of scotch and good wine, though.

I can't think of one time anyone questioned an expense report that I approved for any reason. Yet, during this business planning meeting, one of the new analysts (maybe 2-3 years out of college) giving me a hard time about one expense in particular. It was for a $40 entrance fee that one of my guys paid on his corporate credit card to have his customer accompany him to an airline lounge during a long layover (I think it was AA). Customer spent $1,000 for a flight and a hotel room to come visit us at our HQ. And, $40 is a small price to pay to have that customer comfortable (and still with my sales person the entire time) during a long layover.

It was one of those, "not worth the fight" moments. I told the business planner to give me a call and I'd give him my credit card number and he could charge the $40 back to me. Haven't heard from him to get my credit card number.

imidazol97

houdini1 said:

Same thing happening here in our southern states. Makes you wonder who they will be trying to delete from history a hundred years from now.

Sounds like political correctness gone amuck.

imidazol97

Finished my taxes yesterday. I like to finish before my birthday on the 12th (Wednesday), but this year the stuff ain't due until the 18th. Gotta pack the envelopes. That's gotten to be more of problem as I had to insert more sheets this time for the IRS and more 1099's due to RMDs. I can't use a regular envelope for IRS so I do a half-sheet size manila envelope. And a return receipt for anything going to the IRS.

fintail

Just as soon as we tax the money laundering "investors" (with fortunes acquired in ways that would land you in prison if you did it here) - we don't vet the sources of the fortunes, why not at least get something out of it?

Here's one, if mortgage interest gets a deduction (another tacit gift to the FIRE industry pretending to be a gift to the working man), why not a similar percentage of rent? I don't buy this "encourages stability" nonsense.

houdini1 said:

Finn, since you like taxes so much, how would you feel about an additional tax on renters? This would be in addition to the tax you already pay for the owners, but hey, you're taking up space and breathing air, and the gov. needs money.

fintail

Nah, in 100 years they will still be waving Dixie, waiting to rise again. If there's any place that will cling to the past (outside of Britain), it is there.

houdini1 said:

Same thing happening here in our southern states. Makes you wonder who they will be trying to delete from history a hundred years from now.

driver100

GG said I don't encourage, nor discourage those mega buck customer dinners with wine and $75 steaks. I'll OK their expense reports once they submit them, but I usually know the people who are present at those dinners and consider it a good use of resources.

GG, I agree business expenses are a necessity and by the time they are written off they aren't a big deal....that $40 becomes about $20 and if it gains $10000s of thousands of dollars a year in business who cares.

When I was in sales I had a buyer of a major chain and she loved to go out to dinners....usually the most expensive restaurants in town. The orders I got were good, and the expense was worth it. One day a salesman selling expensive towels had an appointment with her.....she told him she would place an order if he got her a set of these towels. She lost her job when the company found out....they weren't allowed to bribe suppliers.

Expense accounts make the business world function.......

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Years ago the city here did indeed have a special renters tax. They called it "Poll Tax" and apparently it was rationalized as a charge for the privilege of being a citizen who was allowed to vote. It finally disappeared after a number of years of being criticized for being an unnecessary burden on folks who were already contributing to the tax roll via their rent. The city here has an unquenchable thirst for revenue though. They are now starting their annual self-flagellation over the founder of the city back in the 1700s being a terrible person because he fought with the natives and hence, by today's standards, was an evil person not worthy of having his name or image recognized. They want to change the name of any municipal property or asset bearing his name and remove his statue. Just absurd.

Always was puzzled by retroactive hate. Seems a waste of time and energy. But I suspect it is more about current demonstrations of power than in righting past wrongs.

jwm40517

If you like Bourbon, or even if you do not, a visit to the Woodford Reserve distillery is a great tour. About 20 miles from Lexington the drive out there is nice especially if you take Old Frankfort Pike for some great views of some famous farms. Really nice in the spring when the new little horses are running beside their mothers in the fields.

Several Bourbon makers near Lexington, but we have taken many visitors from out of town to Woodford over several years and never tire of seeing it again.

abacomike

These are just few of the Tesla vehicles at the Boca Town Center that they use as demos for interested customers.  The S Models are parked on the front apron.  

abacomike

I'm finally getting good at taking and posting images using my iPhone.  Aren't smart phones great! 

graphicguy

driver100 said:

GG said I don't encourage, nor discourage those mega buck customer dinners with wine and $75 steaks. I'll OK their expense reports once they submit them, but I usually know the people who are present at those dinners and consider it a good use of resources.

GG, I agree business expenses are a necessity and by the time they are written off they aren't a big deal....that $40 becomes about $20 and if it gains $10000s of thousands of dollars a year in business who cares.

When I was in sales I had a buyer of a major chain and she loved to go out to dinners....usually the most expensive restaurants in town. The orders I got were good, and the expense was worth it. One day a salesman selling expensive towels had an appointment with her.....she told him she would place an order if he got her a set of these towels. She lost her job when the company found out....they weren't allowed to bribe suppliers.

Expense accounts make the business world function.......

Agreed. Whenever I've had to justify my expense budget (or have it questioned by "non-field" personnel) I explain that expenses are a zero sum game. You're lucky if you break even. Either someone forgot to include a particular line item on their expense reports (my particular downfall is forgetting to include parking fees and tips). Or, they are coming out of pocket to cover a non-reimbursable expense (i.e. fee for entrance to an airline club for a customer).

Said it time and again internally, if anyone was going to cheat on their expense report, it isn't worth getting caught for a $50-$100 here or there. They better go big, which would raise an eyebrow to begin with if something shows up that I would consider a large expenditure.

If somebody is willing to lose their job by cheating for a few bucks on an expense report, you probably don't want that person working for you, anyway.

driver100

We had a guy at the major publishing company I worked for get caught cheating on expenses. He had a few scams going....of course he would fill up his car, his wife's car and his boat with gas and submit the receipts.

In olden days he would book a hotel for the week...put it on his credit card. After one night he would tell the hotel people he had an emergency at home, and would get a refund for the other 6 nights. Of course submit the whole bill.

Another one we found out about was making a duplicate copy of his monthly phone bill. He would submit the same bill in 2 weeks time and get paid twice.

Those are the guys who would do better if they put their ingenuity into something to advance the business.

abacomike

When I was headmaster in private schools, I had an AMEX Gold Card issued to me by the school.  I did not have a preset limit on expenses - but was expected to use the card when dining with prospective families and/or donors to the various funds we maintained for growth, development and scholarships.

I rarely used the card, but when I did, it was strictly business.  Each month, I would itemize the reason for usage of the card and who I was with and the result of the meeting, if determinable.  I never abused the privilege and I was never questioned by the Board of Directors or the accounting firm or finance manager.  Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy - especially in business.

abacomike

This is their showroom in the mall.

28firefighter

My company is pretty stingy regarding expense reimbursement, even when it is billable to a specific client. For instance, even when I'm traveling all week to multiple cities, my company will not reimburse anything that is outside of a meal - no coffee, water, soda etc. if I'm running between flights unless I want it to be considered my "meal." If I attempt to expense them, there is a good chance it'll be charged back.

My predetermined meal limits do not change by city and are pretty low - I believe last I looked my dinner limit including tax and tip is $35 -- not very much when you're in LA, SF, or NY.

One of the biggest frustrations I have in my current role and requires me to be really creative about spending when I am on the road, and even then, I'll just pay out of pocket if its too much hassle.

fintail

I think my employer has a $50 dinner max, which is very generous IMO. Then again, I am a cheap eater and don't care for the fancy stuff.

Michaell

graphicguy said:

driver100 said:

Michaell said:

One for @abacomike.

The last couple of days I've hosted all our Americas instructors here in Denver for some meetings. Due to travel schedules, I've had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of them, one on one.

Last night my dinner companion ordered a manhattan, with the dirty rocks on the side.

With Woodford Reserve!

That is a bad sign when an employee orders something like Woodford Reserve. Very extravagant.......you can tell a lot about a person by what they order...on the expense account. Now I would have ordered a Bud Lite! That is executive material!

Driver....interesting, just had this conversation with our company's business planners. Of course, expenses always come up in those meetings. I have 3 sales, 1 marketing and 2 field engineers reporting directly to me. I don't encourage, nor discourage those mega buck customer dinners with wine and $75 steaks. I'll OK their expense reports once they submit them, but I usually know the people who are present at those dinners and consider it a good use of resources. Not much in the way of Bud Light being consumed at these functions that I can tell. Plenty of scotch and good wine, though.

I can't think of one time anyone questioned an expense report that I approved for any reason. Yet, during this business planning meeting, one of the new analysts (maybe 2-3 years out of college) giving me a hard time about one expense in particular. It was for a $40 entrance fee that one of my guys paid on his corporate credit card to have his customer accompany him to an airline lounge during a long layover (I think it was AA). Customer spent $1,000 for a flight and a hotel room to come visit us at our HQ. And, $40 is a small price to pay to have that customer comfortable (and still with my sales person the entire time) during a long layover.

It was one of those, "not worth the fight" moments. I told the business planner to give me a call and I'd give him my credit card number and he could charge the $40 back to me. Haven't heard from him to get my credit card number.

I bought the team (and a few others who attended the meeting) dinner on Wednesday night. Went to a restaurant I'd never been to before. For 10 of us, the bill was right around $500 - drinks and food. I didn't think it was extravagant, and will likely be the only time we get together this year.

roadburner

When I was travelling all over the state I think I had a $40 or $50 per diem meal allowance. If I spent more than that I had to submit receipts.