Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

graphicguy

RONIN is an older movie (I'm thinking 1998, maybe?). Lots of great people in it including DeNiro.

That was just one of the great chases. Rent it, put it in your Netflix cue, pick it up in the bargain bin at Best Buy. Well worth watching again and again. Movie takes place when the IRA came to power in Ireland and the terrorism (on both sides) that took place.

stever

The '09 van is running $731 a year with Farm Bureau. Lots cheaper than Michigan was, but Idaho was still cheaper I think. Not sure if having the house with them helps much, or that it's all pleasure driving. Not especially impressed, but I haven't had any claims yet.

iluvmysephia1

Mine comes to $2067.24 a year for a 2011 Kia Soul 5-speed clear white base and decent coverage amounts. Clean driving record.

That's with the Gecko Co. Nothing mind-boggling in coverages. I know I can beat that - that's nuts!

stever

Ouch. We're running 100/300, comp and collision and towing.

Wonder what a Prius would run you up there.

I've switched mid-stream before btw. Your old company will pro-rate the coverage and cut you a check after you dump them.

Michaell

I'm paying $153/mo through State Farm for both our cars - 2013 Elantra GT and 2015 Subaru Outback, 100/300, com, collision, UM and towing.

Rates came down about $3/mo with the move to our new house.

houdini1

The trick is to find a company that wants your particular demographic. I have been with Farmers for about 9 years. Our two cars run $1700. a year total for both. $500,000. limits, etc. 2010 Lexus LS and 2013 Lexus LX. We do have a $5,000. ded. They seem to like older drivers.

robr2

I have an 18 YO and a 16 YO on my policy. I don't bother trying to find a great deal.

houdini1

Been there, done that.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Trivia question regarding the movie Ronin. What's in the case?

roadburner

I'm paying a bit over $400/month, but that's with 5 cars and a 20 year old driver on the policy...

explorerx4

Car insurance.
We just got our renewal. We have 2 policies due to having 6 cars, at one point.
For one of the policies, 3 vehicles, our rate was going from 269 to 291 per month.
We wife emailed our agent, saying we would have to think about switching, and he was able to get us down to 229 for the same coverage.
In addition, he came back with about a 30% drop for our homeowners.

suydam

I found better value going with an agent and a regional carrier rather than the giant insurers. Pretty good service too.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

iluvmysephia1 said:

I realize it's my zip code and my credit score that are the major factors that determine what I am doing to pay for auto insurance, (my credit score is in the 800's so it is more zip code than anything else.), but if the insurance companies were smart, they would have other determiners or variables so they wouldn't end up driving off their best customers. But, alas, I guess I am going to have to go through this every two years until I have to stop driving. Just makes no sense to me at all.


No prob. I am paying about $110 more a month with the reptilian company insuring our 2011 Kia Soul. No accidents or tickets since 2000. That one I was driving our 1999 Kia Sephia and it was the other guy's fault, too. It goes by zip code they tell me. There's a lot of illegals here in Dodge City and Kansas in general, but, $110 more a month?

I'm gonna call a local American Family Insurance agent on Friday and get my "New World Order car insurance quote." It just kind of runs in a circle, don't it?

That is a lot of money for a Kia Soul.  With the new insurance policy, I will be paying $120 a month for a 2015 E 400.  With the old policy, I would have paid $140 a month.  

Wow! I pay less than that for 4 vehicles two of which have collision. About a million of total liability if I remember.

That must be one heck off zip code.

iluvmysephia1

Illegals are all over Dodge City because of Cargill and National Beef slaughterhouse operations going great guns. Other than that, I'm gonna find another car insurance company. W.Buffett is profiting off of me big-time.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

@stickguy, Trivia question regarding the movie Ronin. What's in the case?

It's a MacGuffin. 

stickguy

maybe my $200/mo isn't that bad, considering overall NJ is one of the highest states. And that is 3 newer cars, and a 19YO on the policy!

man, when I can offload the kid and one of the cars I will see a big drop.

snakeweasel

PF_Flyer said:

Heh...sure, bring physics into it

Yeah I had to do that.

One thing that really bothers be about those walking petri dish of STD's Bond movies is that no spy would act like he does. The one thing a spy wants to do is blend into his/hers surroundings and not be noticed, not stand out like Bond does. A spy will much more likely drive a Chevy than an Austin Martin.

Not to mention that it would be less noticeable and less destructive to send in a company of Marines to take care of the situation than it would to send in Bond.

Are you aware of the fan theory that James Bond is not a person but a code name for the particular agent filling the position. That's how he has been active for so many years.

suydam

Like the Dread Pirate Robert?

robr2

snakeweasel said:

Are you aware of the fan theory that James Bond is not a person but a code name for the particular agent filling the position. That's how he has been active for so many years.

Except that theory is blown out of the water by a scene in Skyfall.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

Plus they were driving sticks. The way the good lord intended it to be.

If the good Lord wanted us to drive sticks he wouldn't have created the Sturtevant brothers.

snakeweasel

suydam said:

Like the Dread Pirate Robert?

Gee, I never thought of it but yeah, like the Dread Pirate Robert. Good one.

snakeweasel

robr2 said:

snakeweasel said:

Are you aware of the fan theory that James Bond is not a person but a code name for the particular agent filling the position. That's how he has been active for so many years.

Except that theory is blown out of the water by a scene in Skyfall.

Never saw Skyfall, explain please.

nyccarguy

Just paid my 6 month renewal.  Allstate.  $936.40 for 3 cars.  I like dealing with an agent a lot.  I have questions, I call up, a person picks up the phone, I don't need to go through automated prompts

nyccarguy

I'm excited to see the new bond flic as well as Star Wars - The Force Awakens

suydam

You can go with a regional insurance agent and still have a local agent who picks up the phone. The automated ones aren't the only alternative to Allstate, State Farm, etc.

berri

Porkapolis - that kind of goes with WKRP and the Queen City Weird how given Ohio's size and history of political clout, that the airport ended up in Kentucky. Methinks either someone's Congressional delegation was asleep, traded for something else, or just got outmaneuvered when that happened. Heck, CVG isn't even ideal terrain for an airport with the steep hills on some approaches.

robr2

snakeweasel said:

Are you aware of the fan theory that James Bond is not a person but a code name for the particular agent filling the position. That's how he has been active for so many years.

Except that theory is blown out of the water by a scene in Skyfall.

Never saw Skyfall, explain please.

Spoiler Alert - Bond goes back to his childhood home and they show the family cemetery with the name Bond on the headstones. 

imidazol97

berri said:

Porkapolis - that kind of goes with WKRP and the Queen City Weird how given Ohio's size and history of political clout, that the airport ended up in Kentucky. Methinks either someone's Congressional delegation was asleep, traded for something else, or just got outmaneuvered when that happened. Heck, CVG isn't even ideal terrain for an airport with the steep hills on some approaches.

Cincinnati has an older airfield, Lunken, in the river bottom near downtown. They had fog and flood problems. Cincy insisted they would keep that as the main field. A group of N. KY folks got together and got a govt grant to build another airfield on the higher ground with less fog.

graphicguy

imidazol97 said:

berri said:

Porkapolis - that kind of goes with WKRP and the Queen City Weird how given Ohio's size and history of political clout, that the airport ended up in Kentucky. Methinks either someone's Congressional delegation was asleep, traded for something else, or just got outmaneuvered when that happened. Heck, CVG isn't even ideal terrain for an airport with the steep hills on some approaches.

Cincinnati has an older airfield, Lunken, in the river bottom near downtown. They had fog and flood problems. Cincy insisted they would keep that as the main field. A group of N. KY folks got together and got a govt grant to build another airfield on the higher ground with less fog.

Explorer...it's been so long since I watched Ronin, I forgot what was in the case. I'll have to re-watch it again, soon.

Cincinnati International Airport (CVG) was NOT supposed to be in KY. Imid mentioned Lunken, which did have some flooding issues from the Ohio River. Local neighbors also wanted compensation for noise issues (which never happened). But, it was supposed to be expanded into what the airport in KY is today.

Graft and corruption have plagued CVG. During its heyday in the '90s and early '00s, Delta had a hub there, with plenty of back room greenbacks changing hands giving Delta complete control of the airport and high fares, in return for some "contributions" to the board that oversaw the airport.

Delta pulled out and moved its hub to Detroit when they bought NORTHWEST airlines, Leaving a big hole in a large airport. There are now two whole terminals that are modern, but mostly empty given the malfeasance that has gone along with CVG.

I fly a lot....almost every week. I've flown 2 million miles out of CVG, alone. I take charters out of Lunken (much, much easier way to travel) when going to New York. The rest, I go through CVG or Dayton. It's coming back, but it's nowhere near what it was a dozen years ago.

Lots of investigations happened when Delta pulled out, but no one was indicted. Grease the right palms and you can get out of most criminal activities.

dino001

I flew through it couple of times (plane changes with Delta) and I always liked it. It was clean, nicely laid out, even tram shuttle service was better than in many other airports with similar inter-terminal transportation systems. It's sad that Delta pulled out, but it did make sense after Northwest acquisition. Detroit and Minneapolis are both too close, even though they are not nearly as pleasant as CVG. This is the price we pay for the consolidation. When I came into this country in 1998, there were something like 7 national "majors" and several large regional airlines. Southwest was already more than a startup, but much wasn't a major just quite yet. Now we have four domestic majors left (including Southwest) plus Spirit (from what I heard it's basically a American version of Ryanair) and almost no regional carriers left. Bunch of cities lost their hub status, coincidentally middle of the country was hard hit (CVG, Cleveland, St. Louis, Memphis). It almost begs somebody with big ego, ambition and too much money to burn to start another airline. I'm sure he could go to former hubs and get a decent deal on gate leases. But as Warren Buffet said, surest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire and start and airline...

28firefighter

Similar situation happened in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny County Airport Authority renovated and built massive additions and capacity to PIT on the basis that US Airways would use it for a hub. They did, until the America West merger at which point the hub was moved to Charlotte. Since then, PIT (which is a beautiful airport), has gone very underutilized and is mostly empty.

driver100

VW CEO Matthias Mueller. "We will do everything in our power to win back the trust we have lost."

Mueller said the company needed to place less emphasis on raw sales numbers and become more open and leaner to help prevent any repeat of the scandal.

How come they all say they will find out what went wrong and will make sure it will never happen again? But, what they really mean is, until we get caught again.

I think GGs situation and our Audi situation show what most companies really do, they do what they can get away with. And now the media experts tell them to put your head guy in front of the cameras, make him cry and look ashamed of himself, and tell the audience we have now become completely honest and forthright.

As I say to people who say this to me after they have scr---- (sorry, taken advantage of) me, words are meaningless to me.....I need to see the proof. GG got the words, sure didn't see the proof. And, that is why I probably wouldn't buy a car from these companies until I see some solid proof. I mean excellent reviews and a good track record moving forward, but, words are just words.

berri

Delta is a pretty astute airline, so potential volume and profits probably drove the decision to move from CVG to DTW. I think CVG also has the same issue that drove Delta to bail out of the old NWA MEM hub - too close to ATL (in the old days CVG was kind of a relief valve for a busy ATL operation and facility) while Detroit is a better geographical fit for the big northern cities. I think the main reason Delta has kept MSP is because of some extensive maintenance facilities located there. I'm a bit surprised that Southwest hasn't moved into Cincinnati since it flies into Dayton and Columbus. I don't know, but does CVG have very high landing fees and fuel tax add on to pay for those nice terminals they built perhaps?

Michaell

28firefighter said:

Similar situation happened in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny County Airport Authority renovated and built massive additions and capacity to PIT on the basis that US Airways would use it for a hub. They did, until the America West merger at which point the hub was moved to Charlotte. Since then, PIT (which is a beautiful airport), has gone very underutilized and is mostly empty.

I connected through PIT only once, but do remember being impressed by the facilities.

berri

I think the PIT move was also affected by a US Air decision to focus on Philadelphia instead.

Michaell

So glad I don't fly for business any more. Lately it's been DEN - LAX when I go see my family. Or, BUR if the price is right.

I hated O'Hare with a passion. Never flew into Midway, so can't compare the two.

28firefighter

Michaell said:

So glad I don't fly for business any more. Lately it's been DEN - LAX when I go see my family. Or, BUR if the price is right.

I hated O'Hare with a passion. Never flew into Midway, so can't compare the two.

I fly about 50k miles a year on business and another 40-50k miles for personal travel. O'Hare/Midway are quite possibly the two worst airports I connect through with any regularity. Midway is a bit easier to manage because it is smaller, but delays are still frequent and brutal.

imidazol97

Michaell said:

I hated O'Hare with a passion. Never flew into Midway, so can't compare the two.

My sister-in-law is a flight attendant for United and she avoids OHare when possible.

berri

Down the road. ORD may get better if they can get through the politics and go to a more parallel runway pattern like ATL. A big issue at ORD is intersecting runways, which they are trying to eliminate, but the public is protesting changes in noise patterns and that is holding some of that effort up. The one thing I'll give ORD is food options; there is a fair assortment, including some local Chicago area joints. Contrast that to ATL when on a long layover. Now MDW is New York's LGA or Washington's DCA. Very land constrained which exacerbates weather and heavy air traffic issues when they occur.

stever

Funny, my sister is a retired flight attendant for United. I've had a few freebies over the years, but I always wished she had gone to work for Delta instead. Just a pretty lousy company overall and the last merger didn't seem to help any either.

Puddle-jumping out of the UP was okay (if they didn't cancel the flight due to a low load), but most flights went through O'Hare and weather would often mess you up. When I did the ANC to Chattanooga run decades ago, Memphis was the best route. Great facility thanks to FedEx's heavy use and so much easier than trying to connect through Atlanta. Chattanooga spent a lot on their terminal 20 years ago and it sat mostly empty, but now they have a few flights again, probably thanks to VW. But my nephew-in-law has to fly a lot for work and skips the local airport and drives to Atlanta. Too many cancelled flights (that low-load issue again).

berri

For a smaller airport, I always thought MEM had some decent food alternatives. My take on United is that over the years they've had too many leaders intent on diversifying beyond basic airline operations, and it seldom worked. I think the current issue is heavily old United versus old Continental, or the classic New York v. Chicago rivalry. Except, in the case of Continental there is also the Houston factor. Someone has to integrate it like Delta did successfully with Northwest. Maybe United needs to add some better bonus portion into the compensation packages so employees focus on "one' company and its results. One thing you have to give United though, they have a top notch pilot training center in the Denver area. Hopefully the old Continental people won't screw around with that part.

Michaell

I did 40-50K a year - all domestic - for about 15 years (ended 2003). Got to experience many of the country's airports.

The nice thing about living in Denver is that I didn't have to do a lot of connections - but, when I did, it was invariably O'Hare. Yes, the intersecting runways are a mess. Yes, I've heard they are trying to sort it out - I hope they can.

I lived here during the switchover from Stapleton to DIA - in fact, I was out of town when it occurred. Left town via Stapleton, returned to DIA. All the problems with DEN were solved when DIA opened - much less issues with weather, specifically. And, room to expand - there's been talk of them adding a 7th runway. The light rail is being extended to the terminal, and an on-site hotel is being built as well. The only issue is that it feels halfway to Kansas, compared to Stapleton.

ab348

berri said:

Delta is a pretty astute airline, so potential volume and profits probably drove the decision to move from CVG to DTW.

Plus, Northwest had built a really nice hub terminal at Detroit Metro in the early 2000s that was big and airy and had some decent food choices. I liked it a lot better than their Minneapolis Airport terminal, where I had to kill 8 hours once and had virtually nothing to do.

I haven't flown into O'Hare in ages but I remember what it used to be like and I hated it. It was just too big and busy. I have more experience with Dulles and that is no treat either, but at least they have the cool unmanned subway to move you around now that the mobile lounges are (mostly?) gone.

stever

Ugh, I go to Dulles occasionally to visit my sister and I hated those lounges. Like the airport fine otherwise and it's on the "right" side of the city for me. Minneapolis was always okay, but never got stuck there too long. It's the home of those wide stance bathrooms too.

Always had the best luck with Alaska Air domestically, but for a long time I didn't have any other choice.

28firefighter

stever said:

Ugh, I go to Dulles occasionally to visit my sister and I hated those lounges. Like the airport fine otherwise and it's on the "right" side of the city for me. Minneapolis was always okay, but never got stuck there too long. It the home of those wide stance bathrooms too.

Always had the best luck with Alaska Air domestically, but for a long time I didn't have any other choice.

Alaska is my primary carrier for domestic travel - they've got a great hub out of Seattle and excellent flight crews.

PF_Flyer

When we fly, it's generally through IAD. Our local airport is one of those dots at the end of a single line on the route maps

berri

One thing about the old Denver Stapleton, you couldn't beat the views. But it's runways were too close which like STL could quickly become issues in bad weather.

Alaska is a great airline. United used to own SEA, even operated the terminal that is now Alaska, and I never understood how they allowed themselves to become a tertiary player in that growing market. Guess who is in there picking up the slack behind Alaska; Delta! After their Continental merger, United seems to be losing market share in other key locations like LAX and DEN. I think they need more outside help in their executive suite. United's poor performance stats is fairly easily understood to me, they've consolidated their heaviest operations into some of the worst congestion and weather plagued locations like ORD, SFO, and EWR (Newark).

abacomike

28firefighter said:

stever said:

Ugh, I go to Dulles occasionally to visit my sister and I hated those lounges. Like the airport fine otherwise and it's on the "right" side of the city for me. Minneapolis was always okay, but never got stuck there too long. It the home of those wide stance bathrooms too.

Always had the best luck with Alaska Air domestically, but for a long time I didn't have any other choice.

Alaska is my primary carrier for domestic travel - they've got a great hub out of Seattle and excellent flight crews.

When I lived in Desert of California, of course I used PSP (Palm Springs) Airport. I used to use Alaska Air almost exclusively whenever I was flying to Seattle, San Francisco or Vancouver. Of all the airlines I have flown (and I don't think there are many I haven't flown), Alaska Airlines was far and above the best of them all.

When I flew back east to see my parents and other family members, I was almost forced to fly American (MD81's and MD83's) into DFW. American had 9 flights a day from DFW to FLL (Ft. Lauderdale) which made it the best airline to fly into Florida's Southeast Coast.

When I moved to Chatsworth, CA (Far Northern LA), I always tried to get a flight out of Burbank to DFW and then on to FLL. American had the best connections into Florida.

I have flown many, many times in and out of ORD and a few times in and out of Midway. I still prefer ORD only because I used to fly to CA or NY frequently when I lived in Chicago to see the folds or my Children and Grandchildren. Flying into NY, most halfway decent connections were American into LGA.

I've flown many times out of PHL and PIT and I agree with all the other posts regarding those two airports. DFW is very difficult to connect in and out of due to the distance between many of the terminals and the crowds of people which made it difficult to catch a bite to eat if my connecting flight was an hour or less.

Of all the airports I hated to fly into, it was San Diego (Lindberg). The fog at times was so bad, we often were diverted into Ontario Airport (about 55 miles east of LA of I-10). Additionally, having only one runway made flying in there rough. If you flew in over the city, it was always a steep drop from the hills/mts. into the airport. If you were landing to the east over the Pacific, that was when we had the most problems with fog and cloud inversions. LGA was my second worst and hated airport to fly into - most of the same reasons - fog and cloud inversions - not to mention the short runways.

stickguy

PHL is way better than it used to be. Though like most airports, weather can screw it up. Pretty busy, but no ORD and generally easy to navigate. And good food options.

dino001

I like Atlanta in the winter (avoid it in summer afternoons). IAD is nice in the non-United concourse -United it is very claustrophobic, dark, narrow passages and low ceilings really bother me. But I still rather go through there than say ORD, or EWR, especially when flying from overseas. I hate those airports when you have to leave the terminal and then go to another with main security lines. That's why ATL or IAD works for me better. Never been to MIA, but people say it's arguably the worst major airport in the US. I have also been in SFO and Denver - those didn't bother me and didn't impress me, either. Denver works well, but the transportation out is a bit pain and rental car prices are always horrendous. I even arranged my vacation week-plus rentals in town couple of times, because the rate was half of that from the airport.

However, if I had to nominate worst airport worldwide, in category of "developed world" it is CDG (Paris), hands down. Chaos does not even start to describe it.

Best airports are midsized metropolitan, like my home town, Tampa, or Orlando. Ft. Lauderdale is OK, too. Those are great when you can quickly walk up to a rental car, or parking lot. As I mentioned, I liked CVG for transfers. Seattle or Salt Lake were a bit rundown last time I was there, but they say the former is reviving.