Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

ab348

I'm watching this Brit moron John Oliver on the idiot Colbert's show now, you guys down south are screwed if this is what's popular down there right now.

tjc78

nyccarguy said:

I'm going to suggest he hire a repo man if she doesn't turn the car in.  Probably the most economical way to go.

Most likely yes, what a mess.   He could also fly there and get a dealer or roadside assistance to get him new keys and drive it home. It's his car, she has no leg to stand on.  

Either way he is either gonna be out money or credit.  The bank will eventually repo it, but I'm sure he doesn't want it to come to that. 

ken117

Sat on a couple of juries. On a jury you really see how dumb some people are. On both juries, I figured it was a slam dunk verdict based on the evidence. In each trail, people went to the jury room and allowed their opinion and not the facts to guide their initial decision. In both trials, the initial vote to acquit was essentially reversed during deliberations as some of us forced the others to face the facts presented during the trial. Both jury rooms were very much like Twelve Angry Men.

I was a bit surprised I was allowed on either jury as my career has been as a financial and cost auditor. As an auditor, I always look beyond the surface to get to the facts. I figured the one side which did not have the facts on their side would reject me.

One was a sexual assault case. The police had the victim call the accused, an uncle. The conversation was taped and played in court. The victim said, "you tried to rape me." The uncle said "I did not." The victim then said, "well you attacked me." The accused said, "I know, I am sorry." To me that was very, very close to an admission of guilt.

The accused was not facing rape, he was charged with assault. Enter the jury room, first vote 10 for not guilty. I mentioned the tape. The response was essentially "what tape." Amazing people could miss the single most critical piece of evidence. We had the taped played in the jury room. Most, except a pastor, changed their vote to guilty.

Even more disturbing was the opinion of one female jurist, a 60 or so year old. Her initial comment was "obviously the girl deserved it, look at how she was dressed in court." Scary! The girl was a 18 year old, Hispanic mom, who first language was not English. I thought she did a wonderful job testifying. She was dressed like any 18 year old girl dresses.

I recall telling the lady, even if the girl were stark naked the man had no right to assault her.

Even with the tape, we did not convict the accused. The final vote was 11 guilty, 1 not guilty. Hung jury. The one not guilty was from a pastor who told us he could not sit in judgment as that was God's duty. The rest of us really let the guy have it. Because of him we had all spent the better part of a week for nothing.

Funny thing was I recalled the guy stating he was a pastor in jury selection. During jury selection the judge asked if anyone could not sit on the jury. A lady sitting next to me told the judge she could not as judgment was God's duty. She was dismissed. The pastor said nothing.

After the trial, I mentioned this to the district attorney who told me he did not know the guy was a pastor. I found that difficult to comprehend given what was said in jury selection. The DA even had an assistant taking notes during jury selection.

A social worker talked to me after the trial to thank me for not letting the guy walk. She mentioned the guy's violent history which was not allowed during the trial. She told me they had to get the guy off the street before he killed someone. She said the next jury would not have any pastors.

I wonder if the guy was ever convicted.

abacomike

Well, I did my duty and voted in the primary election this morning.  There was one item on the ballot to vote for, but 14 names, all but four of which have dropped out of the race.  My polling place is right across the street from me, but was empty. 5400 residents all vote in the same place.

At least the weather is perfect.  All of the TV ads are pathetically negative - especially the front runner's ads.  I am just plain disgusted with this process - it can get you down if you know what I mean. 

graphicguy

Interesting answers on a car's status after a couple splits. Kind of going though that now. Wife in China, with no intention of coming back in the foreseeable future that I can see. She has her Accord parked in my garage. It's her name on the title. She wants me to store it for her in my garage until/if she returns.

I'm a nice guy, but could use the extra garage space. Plus, was asking my lawyer what my liability would be if something happened to it. And, if I'm required to keep it in good shape. Last one really isn't an issue, given I would never allow a good car that's in my possession to fall in any sort of disrepair or dishevelment.

Lawyer said technically, it's her car given it's in her name. But, since we're married, it is considered community property. Once the division of property is established, what's in my possession but is established as hers, can be moved out, but a reasonable attempt must be made to not damage anything.

Bradd...that last paragraph might pertain to the situation you outlined if they established a common living place and arrangement. If it's established the GF has possession of the car, and it is assigned to her in the division of property agreement, she's responsible. If not, at the very least, he needs to contact the leasing agency and tell the what's going on. Maybe "Swapalease"? Agree with Mike and the others, a lawyer is imperative.

dino001

Thanks for sharing the story, Ken. I understand peoples' mistrust to any kind of judges or authority, but I think big majority of them are honorable and smart people, who can discern the facts of fiction. "Jury of peers", however, is more likely to be composed of majority of less than average intelligence (smart people will either be excluded or will try to get off) and somewhat average honesty. As I mentioned before, I appreciate the sentiment when this country was forming (King's judges were then delivering King's will rather than justice) and the concept of asking citizens to look at the matter and decide on facts may have made sense, considering that then the pool of "citizens" considered for such trials was also much smaller. Today, both prosecution and defense actively try to exclude (until they run out of strikes) anyone of large personal achievement, analytical mind - especially the side with a weaker case.

There is no perfect justice system. However, as reality is becoming more and more complex, adjudicating facts on cybercrimes, identity theft, or complex Ponzi schemes should be left to people who have intellectual capacity of understanding basics of math, economics, or other aspects of complex society. Not to sound too snobbish, but a housewife with high school education, welder, or a retired salesman don't strike me as such people.

I also like old British concept (don't know it that's still the case) of adjudicating cases away from the residence. When a community is harmed with a particularly terrible crime, an emotion of seeking revenge and desire to assign blame can be overwhelming. Combine that with "average citizen", you have basically a recipe for juries convicting wrong people, so things are closed, or acquitting obvious perpetrators, because they are neighbors and "good people".

We can find example of injustice, major one under all judicial systems. King's judges were not particularly just before the Revolution, but neither were those juries in Mississippi or Alabama convicting black men for crimes they didn't commit, or acquitting Klan members from murder charges in defense of their "way of life". I err on side of trusting professionals, even if they are far from perfect. But if called, I will of course serve and try my best. Eeeehh, nobody will let me anyway...

driver100

. Enter the jury room, first vote 10 for not guilty. I mentioned the tape. The response was essentially "what tape."

Ken, that is a scary look at what can go on in the jury room. Since the attention span for most people is about 10 minutes maximum, it isn't surprising most people forgot about "the tape", good thing you remembered that part of the critical evidence.

With my method (professional B.S. detector) I would have had the guy figured out in 10 minutes...could have saved the jury a week of deciding. Jury selection is a real science...lawyers and the people who specialize in that vocation can be very good at stacking a jury.

dino001

abacomike said:

Well, I did my duty and voted in the primary election this morning.  There was one item on the ballot to vote for, but 14 names, all but four of which have dropped out of the race.  My polling place is right across the street from me, but was empty. 5400 residents all vote in the same place.

At least the weather is perfect.  All of the TV ads are pathetically negative - especially the front runner's ads.  I am just plain disgusted with this process - it can get you down if you know what I mean. 

I did mine on Sunday. It wasn't too busy then, either.

iluvmysephia1

How far will benefits earned in America (pension and Social Security) go in a country like Belize? Say you can buy 50% more wickets and trinkets (including cars and a mortgage) - OK fine. What about medical insurance coverage? Would that be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Just curious. I've thought about Belize before but as retirement time gets closer it's time ta do some due diligence, eh?

stever

Go visit and ask around. Shouldn't be hard to find the ex-pats sitting around the town squares. Just checked out some used car ads - pretty boring stuff.

stickguy

That was big at one point, to retire to Mexico. Small pension and SS would support a nice house with a couple servants.

Belize is not actually all that cheap to live in I don't think. At least the tourist areas. If you want to go live in the rain forest, might be cheaper.

iluvmysephia1

Go visit and ask around. Shouldn't be hard to find the ex-pats sitting around the town squares.
Yes, this and also ask my former co-worker at the hospital in Alamogordo who was born there. That's startin' ta sound edumacational. He's a doctor there but only a respiratory therapist here in America. Too hard to pass the test here evidently.

roadburner

As a litigant you are rolling the dice- regardless of whether you are dealing with a bench trial(judge) or a jury trial. The one advantage with a bench trial is that you can usually find out the temperament and judicial philosophy of the judge, but with a jury all bets are off.

For example, I had a DUI jury trial that I thought was pretty much an open and shut case. The first jury was out for over two hours and ended up being deadlocked 4-2 for a conviction. Two months later the case was retried and both the prosecution and the defense presented exactly the same evidence. The new jury returned a guilty verdict in under 45 minutes.

As for judges, they are all over the map. I had one judge in the other division who thought your head would explode if you drove over 56 mph. Drove a wretched Cavalier or a decrepit Malibu wagon. Loved to sit in court and listen to cr*p for hours on end. His replacement drove a Mustang GT convertible and had NO tolerance for BS. She would handle the exact same caseload as her predecessor in less than one-half the time. Me, I aimed for logic and consistency; I learned early on that if counsel knew what to expect then the likelihood of a plea bargain or settlement was exponentially greater.

oldfarmer50

ken117 said:

Sat on a couple of juries. On a jury you really see how dumb some people are. On both juries, I figured it was a slam dunk verdict based on the evidence. In each trail, people went to the jury room and allowed their opinion and not the facts to guide their initial decision. In both trials, the initial vote to acquit was essentially reversed during deliberations as some of us forced the others to face the facts presented during the trial. Both jury rooms were very much like Twelve Angry Men.

I was a bit surprised I was allowed on either jury as my career has been as a financial and cost auditor. As an auditor, I always look beyond the surface to get to the facts. I figured the one side which did not have the facts on their side would reject me.

One was a sexual assault case. The police had the victim call the accused, an uncle. The conversation was taped and played in court. The victim said, "you tried to rape me." The uncle said "I did not." The victim then said, "well you attacked me." The accused said, "I know, I am sorry." To me that was very, very close to an admission of guilt.

The accused was not facing rape, he was charged with assault. Enter the jury room, first vote 10 for not guilty. I mentioned the tape. The response was essentially "what tape." Amazing people could miss the single most critical piece of evidence. We had the taped played in the jury room. Most, except a pastor, changed their vote to guilty.

Even more disturbing was the opinion of one female jurist, a 60 or so year old. Her initial comment was "obviously the girl deserved it, look at how she was dressed in court." Scary! The girl was a 18 year old, Hispanic mom, who first language was not English. I thought she did a wonderful job testifying. She was dressed like any 18 year old girl dresses.

I recall telling the lady, even if the girl were stark naked the man had no right to assault her.

Even with the tape, we did not convict the accused. The final vote was 11 guilty, 1 not guilty. Hung jury. The one not guilty was from a pastor who told us he could not sit in judgment as that was God's duty. The rest of us really let the guy have it. Because of him we had all spent the better part of a week for nothing.

Funny thing was I recalled the guy stating he was a pastor in jury selection. During jury selection the judge asked if anyone could not sit on the jury. A lady sitting next to me told the judge she could not as judgment was God's duty. She was dismissed. The pastor said nothing.

After the trial, I mentioned this to the district attorney who told me he did not know the guy was a pastor. I found that difficult to comprehend given what was said in jury selection. The DA even had an assistant taking notes during jury selection.

A social worker talked to me after the trial to thank me for not letting the guy walk. She mentioned the guy's violent history which was not allowed during the trial. She told me they had to get the guy off the street before he killed someone. She said the next jury would not have any pastors.

I wonder if the guy was ever convicted.

My BIL sat on a jury for the trial of an accused serial rapist. Even though I am skeptical of false rape claims this guy was as guilty as sin. He stabbed his victim in the chest and she valiantly pulled the knife out and stabbed him back. Tons of DNA evidence all over everybody. Incredible bravery on her part.

They found him guilty in 30 minutes.

houdini1

isellhondas said:

Just a total idiot to pull what he did after getting away with murder!

I wonder if the guy has brain damage. That CTE thing.

houdini1

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

@Driver100,
Good thing Oldfarner50 said something about you left eye.
Here is a picture of the rest of the MKC.

How come I get blamed for all the snarky comments? All I said was how are you going to keep it clean since CT uses almost as much salt as NY. In winter here a black car has about a 10 minute span before the road crud makes it filthy.

It does look nice in that picture though.

I think it was Mike who said it...but, he's not coming forward.

Probably doesn't want to be sued for defamation of character........ :@

Well, we know you are probably guilty of something! See, I would make a great judge. Next case please.

houdini1

ken117 said:

Sat on a couple of juries. On a jury you really see how dumb some people are. On both juries, I figured it was a slam dunk verdict based on the evidence. In each trail, people went to the jury room and allowed their opinion and not the facts to guide their initial decision. In both trials, the initial vote to acquit was essentially reversed during deliberations as some of us forced the others to face the facts presented during the trial. Both jury rooms were very much like Twelve Angry Men.

I was a bit surprised I was allowed on either jury as my career has been as a financial and cost auditor. As an auditor, I always look beyond the surface to get to the facts. I figured the one side which did not have the facts on their side would reject me.

One was a sexual assault case. The police had the victim call the accused, an uncle. The conversation was taped and played in court. The victim said, "you tried to rape me." The uncle said "I did not." The victim then said, "well you attacked me." The accused said, "I know, I am sorry." To me that was very, very close to an admission of guilt.

The accused was not facing rape, he was charged with assault. Enter the jury room, first vote 10 for not guilty. I mentioned the tape. The response was essentially "what tape." Amazing people could miss the single most critical piece of evidence. We had the taped played in the jury room. Most, except a pastor, changed their vote to guilty.

Even more disturbing was the opinion of one female jurist, a 60 or so year old. Her initial comment was "obviously the girl deserved it, look at how she was dressed in court." Scary! The girl was a 18 year old, Hispanic mom, who first language was not English. I thought she did a wonderful job testifying. She was dressed like any 18 year old girl dresses.

I recall telling the lady, even if the girl were stark naked the man had no right to assault her.

Even with the tape, we did not convict the accused. The final vote was 11 guilty, 1 not guilty. Hung jury. The one not guilty was from a pastor who told us he could not sit in judgment as that was God's duty. The rest of us really let the guy have it. Because of him we had all spent the better part of a week for nothing.

Funny thing was I recalled the guy stating he was a pastor in jury selection. During jury selection the judge asked if anyone could not sit on the jury. A lady sitting next to me told the judge she could not as judgment was God's duty. She was dismissed. The pastor said nothing.

After the trial, I mentioned this to the district attorney who told me he did not know the guy was a pastor. I found that difficult to comprehend given what was said in jury selection. The DA even had an assistant taking notes during jury selection.

A social worker talked to me after the trial to thank me for not letting the guy walk. She mentioned the guy's violent history which was not allowed during the trial. She told me they had to get the guy off the street before he killed someone. She said the next jury would not have any pastors.

I wonder if the guy was ever convicted.

I wonder if the pastor ever considered the fact that he "judged" the defendant not guilty and "judged" the girl guilty.

jmonroe

I look at this all very simplistically - I'm turning 72 this October .... 

Mike: You're just a young pup. When I was 72 I was still working as a consultant for my old employer. As of March 2015 I am now fully retired and enjoying every minute of it.

Not to pass up the opportunity to spend some money, Mrs. j decided that we needed to celebrate. So, we went on a cruise last March during this very week IIRC. Then I figured it was my turn to celebrate so I traded in the '09 Genny for a 2015 Genny last May just to get my fair share of this deal. There is a sales tale here but it's pretty boring, really, since I always get my way when I buy a car. Both with Mrs. j and the dealer.

Shifty: If you can guarantee me my old dues rate when I disappeared a while back from this form, I can guarantee you'll get that hour back in October that you lost last weekend when we went to daylight savings time. I'll probably not be here as much as before but youz guys need someone like me around here, at least part time, to do the non-car talk stuff, right?

jmonroe

houdini1

Welcome back jmonroe. Now that is out of the way, so tell us more about the car and the deal....or else we'll just assume that you were taken to the cleaners so bad you are ashamed to tell the full story !

nyccarguy

Hey @jmonroe - welcome back!

abacomike

@jmonroe

A true pleasure to make your acquaintance, jmonroe!  My name is abacomike and as you post here, you'll meet many nice guys.  Could you please tell me what a "Genny" is?  From your comments, it sounds like a windmill of some sort for generating electricity.

So you went on a cruise - the rules are we post about cars here, not windmills and cruises.  You wouldn't want to upset the Edmunds folks.

Welcome to our forum - it's a pleasure meeting you!!! 

carnaught

A Genny is a Hyundai Genesis, I assume. You know, like a Lucy is a (Buick) Lucerne.

abacomike

houdini1 said:

Welcome back jmonroe. Now that is out of the way, so tell us more about the car and the deal....or else we'll just assume that you were taken to the cleaners so bad you are ashamed to tell the full story !

This guy is an old poster?  Hmmm - I seem to recall a handle like that what seems like years and years ago - the jmonroe I knew would never admit to anyone he was an old geezer!  Can't be the jmonroe I knew - he was a great car man and he was my mentor here. 

abacomike

@jmonroe

You are a sight for sore eyes jmonroe.  I sure missed you and your helpful and often amusing posts.  Welcome back, my friend! 

abacomike

carnaught said:

A Genny is a Hyundai Genesis, I assume. You know, like a Lucy is a (Buick) Lucerne.

Carnaught, I was just pulling your leg and everyone else's.  Jmonroe is the only guy I knew who had an engine blow up in his Hyundai Genesis.  It's great having him back, even if part-time.  

Mr_Shiftright

jmonroe said:

I look at this all very simplistically - I'm turning 72 this October .... 

Mike: You're just a young pup. When I was 72 I was still working as a consultant for my old employer. As of March 2015 I am now fully retired and enjoying every minute of it.

Not to pass up the opportunity to spend some money, Mrs. j decided that we needed to celebrate. So, we went on a cruise last March during this very week IIRC. Then I figured it was my turn to celebrate so I traded in the '09 Genny for a 2015 Genny last May just to get my fair share of this deal. There is a sales tale here but it's pretty boring, really, since I always get my way when I buy a car. Both with Mrs. j and the dealer.

Shifty: If you can guarantee me my old dues rate when I disappeared a while back from this form, I can guarantee you'll get that hour back in October that you lost last weekend when we went to daylight savings time. I'll probably not be here as much as before but youz guys need someone like me around here, at least part time, to do the non-car talk stuff, right?

jmonroe



Sure, we'll grandfather you in at the old dues rate, as per your contract when you signed the Edmunds Loyalty Oath (ELO). And welcome back!

houdini1

abacomike said:

carnaught said:

A Genny is a Hyundai Genesis, I assume. You know, like a Lucy is a (Buick) Lucerne.

Carnaught, I was just pulling your leg and everyone else's.  Jmonroe is the only guy I knew who had an engine blow up in his Hyundai Genesis.  It's great having him back, even if part-time.  


No, that was his wife's XG 350 or something like that. She is the hot rodder in the family. I think she was drag racing some guy in a Corvette and hadn't changed the oil in 5 or 6 years.

oldfarmer50

iluvmysephia1 said:

How far will benefits earned in America (pension and Social Security) go in a country like Belize? Say you can buy 50% more wickets and trinkets (including cars and a mortgage) - OK fine. What about medical insurance coverage? Would that be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Just curious. I've thought about Belize before but as retirement time gets closer it's time ta do some due diligence, eh?

Are you one of those who plans on fleeing the country if your favorite candidate doesn't win?

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

How far will benefits earned in America (pension and Social Security) go in a country like Belize? Say you can buy 50% more wickets and trinkets (including cars and a mortgage) - OK fine. What about medical insurance coverage? Would that be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Just curious. I've thought about Belize before but as retirement time gets closer it's time ta do some due diligence, eh?

Are you one of those who plans on fleeing the country if your favorite candidate doesn't win?

In this particular election, I really don't have a favorite candidate - just a "lesser of two evils" candidate(s).  If I could afford it, I might seriously consider taking up residence in Australia or New Zealand or Tahiti or even Costa Rica.  Unfortunately I don't have enough money to do that! 

driver100

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

@Driver100,
Good thing Oldfarner50 said something about you left eye.
Here is a picture of the rest of the MKC.

How come I get blamed for all the snarky comments? All I said was how are you going to keep it clean since CT uses almost as much salt as NY. In winter here a black car has about a 10 minute span before the road crud makes it filthy.

It does look nice in that picture though.

I think it was Mike who said it...but, he's not coming forward.

Probably doesn't want to be sued for defamation of character........ :@

Well, we know you are probably guilty of something! See, I would make a great judge. Next case please.

No, those rumors are not true, they couldn't prove a thing and all the charges were dropped.

iluvmysephia1

Are you one of those who plans on fleeing the country if your favorite candidate doesn't win?

No, it's not an election decision. Doubt I will ever leave the U.S., actually. Just wondering if medical care is hard ta come by in Belize, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I have a feeling it's doable if you play your cards right.

explorerx4

Sorry oldfarmer50 for mixing you up abacomike, Are you guys twins?

ab348

abacomike said:

In this particular election, I really don't have a favorite candidate - just a "lesser of two evils" candidate(s).  If I could afford it, I might seriously consider taking up residence in Australia or New Zealand or Tahiti or even Costa Rica.  Unfortunately I don't have enough money to do that! 

I talked about needing to move to Arizona, but I am starting to think the world I once knew is nowhere to be found. As an example, was just reading rave reviews about the play "Hamilton", a musical about some of the founding fathers of the USA, where the songs are all hip-hop and some of the actors playing historical figures who were white are people of color - not a huge problem with that but it is obviously trying to send a message. Critics are raving about it, but I can't imagine paying a couple of hundred bucks to go see anything featuring hip-hop. When you take a historical piece and inject that into it I just wonder where I missed all those memos...

jmonroe

houdini1 said:

abacomike said:

carnaught said:

A Genny is a Hyundai Genesis, I assume. You know, like a Lucy is a (Buick) Lucerne.

Carnaught, I was just pulling your leg and everyone else's.  Jmonroe is the only guy I knew who had an engine blow up in his Hyundai Genesis.  It's great having him back, even if part-time.  

No, that was his wife's XG 350 or something like that. She is the hot rodder in the family. I think she was drag racing some guy in a Corvette and hadn't changed the oil in 5 or 6 years.

houdini you are correct, the engine that blew up was in Mrs. j's '05 XG 350 6 cylinder that had less than 45K miles on it. And I think you are correct about Mrs. j's lead foot but she was decelerating coming to a light when the engine blew. She still says she has bad thoughts about coming to that light to this day. I told her if it bothered her so much she should run the light and if she was pulled over, she should just tell the guy her story and she'd be given a pass forever.

OK here is the tale about buying the 2015 Genny, in a way it was not my fault:

I accompanied Son #1 to Cleveland to buy a 2013 G37 in late April 2015. While I was in the waiting room of the independent garage that he found to do an inspection of his to be new wheels, I decided to play with my phone about the 2015 Genesis. Up pops a dealer in Akron that had the color that I was considering, Parisian Gray. I mentioned this to my son and he said, "we'll be passing right by that place on the way home, let's stop in and see it and maybe take a test drive". To make a long story short I preferred the Empire State Gray and I wanted the Ultimate package but they didn't have that but they were willing to look for one. I should have let them test drive my '09 Genny but I didn't want to waste his time because I was not positive that I even wanted the car, so we head home.

The next day the salesman calls and says he found a 2015 with the Ultimate package in Empire State Gray. His price was pretty good but when I told him what I wanted for my '09 he said he'd have to let his guy go over it but he did say, from what he saw when the car was in his lot, if it was as good as what it looked like he could probably give me that but it had to have almost new tires. It didn't have new tires they were about 50% worn. When I said the rest of the car would more than make up for the tires he said he had to see the car anyway and if I was right we could negotiate that. I didn't blame him for that but it would have been a run up to Akron even before he would make the dealer trade. He steadfastly refused to get the car before I agreed to make the deal and I could understand that and was considering making another run over to Akron, a 4 hour round trip drive, because I was confident that we could make the deal when he saw my '09 but like I said it would mean another drive to Akron. That is why I said, "I should have left him test drive my car when I was there".

Fast forward a few days and Son #1 calls and says, "I found what you want in Fairfax Virginia and the price is better than the guy in Akron. We can go down there and see it and Mom can visit her sister in Reston Virginia (not too many miles away) so the trip can be two fold, you don't have anything to lose, right" ?

I call the internet guy in Fairfax and while talking to him I find out the car has been driven by the owner and has about 2200 miles on it. Now the deal ain't so great. I say no thanks that's a used car to me so I'm not interested. Being a typical salesman he wants to know what I'm willing to pay. I told him I'd call him back in a little while after I gave it some thought. I call Son #1, we come up with a price, and before I can call the salesman back he calls me with a pretty good price. I told him I'd think it over and I'd get back to him. I called Son #1 back and we both agreed that he was more interested in making a sale than I was in buying. After a couple of more calls we agreed to a price for his car but only if he gave me what I wanted for my car with 50% worn tires.

When we get to the dealership they test drive my car while I test drove theirs. Next thing I know I'm turned over to a salesman and he starts writing up the sale. I asked what price he was giving me for my car and he said, "just what you wanted".
Again I left money on the table but how can I complain when he gives me what I wanted.

More fast forward. We are now transferring items from my trunk to the new Genny. Son #1 asked the salesman what he thought about my car and the salesman said, "you can't find a better '09 than your father's car that's why we didn't want to haggle and take the risk of losing a sale over a couple hundred bucks. That paint looks as good as new. It's a really a nice car, we won't any have trouble selling this car".

One more thing. While my son was talking to the salesman while we were in the finance office he tells him about the '05 XG 350 and the salesman is shocked at the reluctance of the local dealer to help me. He then tells my son that the 6 cylinder in that XG was built by Mitsubishi and they never a had problem with that engine.

Gee, this turned out to be a marathon post but you asked for it.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

@explorerx4 - the MKC looks sharp.  Not too many around, ether which is nice.  Black Lincolns are sharp.  Classy.  Enjoy it!

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

Sorry oldfarmer50 for mixing you up abacomike, Are you guys twins?

If OF is my twin, then we are actually "triplets" since I already have a twin brother.  Hey, OF, you're my long lost "bro"! 

abacomike

@jmonroe

Your post "was" a marathon, but no one can post a full page like you did and keep the attention of your readers.  That's the old jmonroe!

houdini1

Congrats on the new car. Yes, I remember the details and was just joshing about the drag racing and oil changes, etc. I also remember that at the time I urged you to sue those bas, er guys.

How are you liking the new Genesis? Much better than the '09? Any surprises, etc.?

driver100

"jmonroe

OK here is the tale about buying the 2015 Genny, in a way it was not my fault:

Gee, this turned out to be a marathon post but you asked for it.

jmonroe




Welcome back jmonroe and actually a good story with a good result. You don't owe any additional dues, one new car story covers you for another year.

imidazol97

@jmonroe Wasn't there something about the oil in the Sonata destructing because you wrote the mileage numbers wrong in your records and that caused the oil to deteriorate and further caused Hyundai to reject a claim for assistance on the repair? Something like that?

driver100

Neighbor says Costa Rica is a good place for medical and dental. Dentist took out all teeth, put in new ones with posts that were anchored....would have cost $30k in U.S. Cost $5k in Costa Rica, dentists office is in a new modern building with a big window looking into mountains. Dentists are trained in US,

Teeth are good but he can't make "th" of "f" sounds. (just joking about that part)

nyccarguy

Is medicine expensive here in the US?  Yes.  Would I have a medical procedure done in a 3rd world country?  Not a chance.  People die during medical tourism.

stever

The "local" Mexican dentist is ~2 hours away, if you want to avoid Ciudad Juárez. The clinic owner hires women grads from a dental school in Guadalajara and markets (as far as I can tell) only to Americans. Our Taos friends have had good luck there. I have dental insurance, but I'm tempted.

I don't recommend the barber around the corner though.

Another friend had lap-band surgery in Tijuana years ago. Scariest part for him was walking across the border carrying all the cash to pay for it.

The other fun thing is getting to see cars you don't see in the rest of North America, like this Chevy Comfort.

snakeweasel

iluvmysephia1 said:

How far will benefits earned in America (pension and Social Security) go in a country like Belize? Say you can buy 50% more wickets and trinkets (including cars and a mortgage) - OK fine. What about medical insurance coverage? Would that be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Just curious. I've thought about Belize before but as retirement time gets closer it's time ta do some due diligence, eh?

They can go far or not far enough. I have looked into Belize and would like to get the wife to consider it. We were there for a short time a few years ago and we rather liked it, would like to go back for a longer stay to get a feel for it.

If you try to live like a lot of Americans do here with a big car and A/C keeping the house cool and the like it can get pricy. However if you try to go local you will find it rather inexpensive, you can live well on $1500 a month or even less. Food grown in Belize is relatively inexpensive but imported food can get expensive some go to Mexico or Guatemala to get food. Belize has a high import tax which makes imported items expensive and a 12% goods and services tax. With the high import tax and government requirements for locally grown food in restaurants you won't see any well known U.S. chain restaurants there.

Crime can be high in Belize, especially in some areas, but is mostly petty crime. violent crime is low. Overall it is pretty safe.

English is the official language but natives speak a Belize Creole and will eventually expect new residents to start to use it. So expect to learn a new language. People seemed friendly when we were there. The government is corrupt and high tech medical care is lacking (some expats go back to the US for major health care, or to Mexico) and getting items imported can take a while.

However the Belize government does have a good program for those wishing to retire to Belize. You can import your car and $15K worth of household items without incurring the import tax.

Other than that take a vacation there and check it out and talk to some expats down there to get the lowdown.

snakeweasel

houdini1 said:

ken117 said:

Sat on a couple of juries. On a jury you really see how dumb some people are. On both juries, I figured it was a slam dunk verdict based on the evidence. In each trail, people went to the jury room and allowed their opinion and not the facts to guide their initial decision. In both trials, the initial vote to acquit was essentially reversed during deliberations as some of us forced the others to face the facts presented during the trial. Both jury rooms were very much like Twelve Angry Men.

I was a bit surprised I was allowed on either jury as my career has been as a financial and cost auditor. As an auditor, I always look beyond the surface to get to the facts. I figured the one side which did not have the facts on their side would reject me.

One was a sexual assault case. The police had the victim call the accused, an uncle. The conversation was taped and played in court. The victim said, "you tried to rape me." The uncle said "I did not." The victim then said, "well you attacked me." The accused said, "I know, I am sorry." To me that was very, very close to an admission of guilt.

The accused was not facing rape, he was charged with assault. Enter the jury room, first vote 10 for not guilty. I mentioned the tape. The response was essentially "what tape." Amazing people could miss the single most critical piece of evidence. We had the taped played in the jury room. Most, except a pastor, changed their vote to guilty.

Even more disturbing was the opinion of one female jurist, a 60 or so year old. Her initial comment was "obviously the girl deserved it, look at how she was dressed in court." Scary! The girl was a 18 year old, Hispanic mom, who first language was not English. I thought she did a wonderful job testifying. She was dressed like any 18 year old girl dresses.

I recall telling the lady, even if the girl were stark naked the man had no right to assault her.

Even with the tape, we did not convict the accused. The final vote was 11 guilty, 1 not guilty. Hung jury. The one not guilty was from a pastor who told us he could not sit in judgment as that was God's duty. The rest of us really let the guy have it. Because of him we had all spent the better part of a week for nothing.

Funny thing was I recalled the guy stating he was a pastor in jury selection. During jury selection the judge asked if anyone could not sit on the jury. A lady sitting next to me told the judge she could not as judgment was God's duty. She was dismissed. The pastor said nothing.

After the trial, I mentioned this to the district attorney who told me he did not know the guy was a pastor. I found that difficult to comprehend given what was said in jury selection. The DA even had an assistant taking notes during jury selection.

A social worker talked to me after the trial to thank me for not letting the guy walk. She mentioned the guy's violent history which was not allowed during the trial. She told me they had to get the guy off the street before he killed someone. She said the next jury would not have any pastors.

I wonder if the guy was ever convicted.

I wonder if the pastor ever considered the fact that he "judged" the defendant not guilty and "judged" the girl guilty.

I was thinking the same thing. Also that not allowed to judge thing in the Bible is wrong. The Bible is talking about judging hypocritically and to be just if you do judge someone.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

@Driver100,
Good thing Oldfarner50 said something about you left eye.
Here is a picture of the rest of the MKC.

How come I get blamed for all the snarky comments? All I said was how are you going to keep it clean since CT uses almost as much salt as NY. In winter here a black car has about a 10 minute span before the road crud makes it filthy.

It does look nice in that picture though.

I think it was Mike who said it...but, he's not coming forward.

Probably doesn't want to be sued for defamation of character........ :@

Well, we know you are probably guilty of something! See, I would make a great judge. Next case please.

No, those rumors are not true, they couldn't prove a thing and all the charges were dropped.

Was that when you were caught stealing 11 bottles of scotch and the DA had to drop the charges because he couldn't make a case with only 11 bottles?

snakeweasel

iluvmysephia1 said:

Are you one of those who plans on fleeing the country if your favorite candidate doesn't win?

No, it's not an election decision. Doubt I will ever leave the U.S., actually. Just wondering if medical care is hard ta come by in Belize, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I have a feeling it's doable if you play your cards right.

Health care in Belize is relatively inexpensive but for serious issues it's not the best. Break an arm go see the local doctor, need open heart surgery fly to Miami.

jmonroe

imidazol97 said:

@jmonroe Wasn't there something about the oil in the Sonata destructing because you wrote the mileage numbers wrong in your records and that caused the oil to deteriorate and further caused Hyundai to reject a claim for assistance on the repair? Something like that?

imid, first off it was an '05 XG 350 6 cyl. not a Sonata. The oil didn't destruct. It was changed by the dealer about a month before the engine blew but the windshield sticker said 5W30 while the manual called for 10W30. I don't think this was the problem but they pounced on what they said was a discrepancy with my oil log sheet about the dates and mileage on that sheet. When I said what about the windshield sticker saying you put the wrong oil in, the service manager said, "oh, the tech would know that the car takes 10W30 and would have put that in". I said, "so, when you guys have a typo that's OK but my typo is unforgivable", which buy the way I don't think was a typo. I think they entered the wrong mileage when they did some warranty work but how do you prove something like that since I didn't catch the mileage error on the work order at the time of the warranty work. So, I lost that battle.

Even though the sales manager at the time said he'd give me a $3000 allowance on my next new car if I called off the dogs and when fellow employees refused to buy from them after talking to me about how they handled the engine blow up. Furthermore if I tried to collect on that offer he ain't their anymore nor is the service manager. Just as well, I didn't want to buy from the local guy anyway. Glad to give them my service work though.

The only problem with the '15 Genny so far was that it had a shimmy when driving at around 40 MPH which didn't show up on the Interstate test drive and when I drove through some neighborhoods at around 30 MPH. I took the car to the local Firestone guy I've dealt with and paid to have all 4 tires balanced. That didn't fix the problem so I went to the local dealer. It turned out I wasn't the only one to complain about the OEM Hankook tires. They replaced all 4 with Continental's as a result of a recall that hit while the dealer was in the process of ordering me new tires. Everything is OK now but why shouldn't it be? The car only has around 4900 miles on it. Everything should be good with that kind of mileage other than the OEM tires. It has more HP than the '09 and when Son #1 drove it home from Virginia he had a blast. Lots more toys too. Someday I'll probably figure out all of them.

I'll keep you guys posted when there are some real miles on that beauty.

jmonroe

tjc78

Welcome back @jmonroe !!  So the biggest question is did Hyundai soften up the Genesis's ride?  I had an 09 too and was never happy with it (along with lots of other 09 owners). 

abacomike

I took the CLS400 in for a car wash this morning at the Pompano dealership which is much closer to Costco for gas.  I found out that the dealer in Delray Beach where I used to by my cars has all new management.  The sales manager and general manager are no longer there.  Looks like I bought the car at the Coconut Creek dealership just in time.  They treat me great, even better than the Delray dealership and the dealership is only 2 miles away instead of 22 miles away.

Most of the Mercedes-Benz dealerships down here in south Florida are owned by AutoNation - any of their dealerships will wash any car from any of their other dealerships which makes things easier for car washing.