Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

driver100

bwia said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Anyone ever hear of North Jersery Auto Mall in Patterson NJ? They have a bunch of ads on my local Craigslist and some of the cars are really low milage for not much money. Is the company legit or is this some internet scam?

I had one like this in a lower trim and liked it.

http://albany.craigslist.org/ctd/5674723014.html

This vehicle looks extremely clean, inside and out including the driver's leather seat that looks terrific. The previous owner had to be meticulous about his/her car or the dealer did a phenomenal detailing job.

Bwia.....better read the Yelp reviews for this dealer.......you won't believe how bad a car dealer can be:

https://www.yelp.ca/biz/luxury-car-vision-paterson

To be fair, other sites had very positive reviews, but, I wonder if the dealer didn't submit them, they sound too perfect - like that Concorde, and after reading the negative reviews I wouldn't put it past them. Some positive reviews too;

MORE POSITIVE REVIEWS

henryn

Eventful day yesterday, out and about in the heat visiting dealerships.

I drove a different Pacifica, and it performed as expected, no problems. The acceleration / performance was exactly in line with every other minivan I have driven. T&C, Odyssey, Sienna, they are all in the same general category at least when it comes to performance. I have no idea what happened to or with the first Pacifica that I test drove, but the problem is obviously not across the board.

I came fairly close to pulling the trigger on that 2nd Pacifica, but backed off at the last minute. We were still a little over $900 apart on pricing, and this particular one was black. They only had one Pacifica in LX trim, it was black and I really don’t want a black vehicle. There are a lot more Touring models out there, but according to TrueCar, you can expect to pay about $2,200 more for the Touring model. And the best I can tell, you get power sliding side doors and satellite radio for your $2,200. For that kind of money, I can most definitely slide the doors by hand.

I know some people like black cars, and I will admit that a black car can look very beautiful when it is freshly shined up. The problem is that I don’t want to wash and wax each and every day, and there is still the problem of just how hot a black car gets when sitting in the direct sunshine.

Earlier in the day, I visited two Toyota dealers, looking at late model Siennas. I had identified the minivans that I wanted to look at from online ads (cars.com), and printed off the page for each one. The first dealership could not find the keys. I waited around while they looked, wasting about 45 minutes of my time. I finally told them to call me when they found the key – and they still haven’t called.

The second Toyota dealer had no problem finding the keys, and I went for a test drive. 2015 model Sienna, very nice. I think the Sienna is probably the nicest minivan out there, but it is also the most expensive, which is why I was trying to look at recent model used ones. We get back from the test drive, I tell the salesman, “Give me your best price. If I like it, I’ll write you a check. You can get a porter or someone to drive this home for me, right?” The salesman assures me that he personally will drive the minivan home for me, and heads off to get their “best price”. 45 minutes later, no price. It seems this particular vehicle is not in their database. They have the minivan, they have the keys, they ran an ad on cars.com, there is a stock number on the windshield, but that stock number is not in their database.

Once again, I leave, after telling the salesman to call me when they can name a price. And I’ll bet you can guess that they still haven’t called!

stever

Black would be a deal killer on a minivan. I'm bored with silver but the van never looks all that filthy.

You have to watch the power sliders - they'll spoil you fast. Wish mine had a power hatch too.

berri

Those goldish colors also hide dirt if you want an alternative to silver

ab348

I have owned one black car in my lifetime, my '90 GTI. It was always parked in an apartment garage and when it was clean and waxed it looked fabulous. But when it was out in the weather it always looked dirty. And it was brutally hot in the sun, made worse by the absence of A/C. No more black cars for me.

berri

Black interiors can also be a pain. Not only hold heat, but show every hair and speck of dust.

stever

berri said:

Those goldish colors also hide dirt if you want an alternative to silver

Yeah, but if I parked a goldish one in my yard, I wouldn't be able to find it.

suydam

I never liked black cars, especially, black interiors. However our Encore is some kind of metallic black -- it always looks pretty nice -- except for right now after its cross country drive and 2 weeks of hauling loads of stuff around. We will be off to the car wash tomorrow. The interior seats are grey so it does not heat up too much. A good combo.

tjc78

Probably the same color combo as our 12 Lacrosse. The metallic blacks aren't nearly as bad as regular jet black. It was hard to keep but not impossible. Our Enclave is a dark blue that IMO is actually worse than the metallic black.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

Eventful day yesterday, out and about in the heat visiting dealerships.

You and me both. I blew a tire on my bicycle, I was 45 miles from home but only about a half mile from a bike shop. So an hour later I got back on the road, less the cost of a new inner tube and tire. Now this is my yearly excursion into insanity by doing a century ride (100 mile ride) that seems to get harder very year, and I keep on asking myself why I put myself through this.

henryn said:

I drove a different Pacifica, and it performed as expected, no problems. The acceleration / performance was exactly in line with every other minivan I have driven. T&C, Odyssey, Sienna, they are all in the same general category at least when it comes to performance. I have no idea what happened to or with the first Pacifica that I test drove, but the problem is obviously not across the board.

I'm pretty sure that acceleration is pretty low on the list for the vast majority of minivan shoppers.

henryn said:

The second Toyota dealer had no problem finding the keys, and I went for a test drive. 2015 model Sienna, very nice. I think the Sienna is probably the nicest minivan out there, but it is also the most expensive, which is why I was trying to look at recent model used ones. We get back from the test drive, I tell the salesman, “Give me your best price. If I like it, I’ll write you a check. You can get a porter or someone to drive this home for me, right?” The salesman assures me that he personally will drive the minivan home for me, and heads off to get their “best price”. 45 minutes later, no price. It seems this particular vehicle is not in their database. They have the minivan, they have the keys, they ran an ad on cars.com, there is a stock number on the windshield, but that stock number is not in their database.

Does that mean if you just drove the car home could you keep it?

snakeweasel

stever said:

berri said:

Those goldish colors also hide dirt if you want an alternative to silver

Yeah, but if I parked a goldish one in my yard, I wouldn't be able to find it.

Does this mean that your yard is filled with gold?

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

Eventful day yesterday, out and about in the heat visiting dealerships.

I drove a different Pacifica, and it performed as expected, no problems. The acceleration / performance was exactly in line with every other minivan I have driven. T&C, Odyssey, Sienna, they are all in the same general category at least when it comes to performance. I have no idea what happened to or with the first Pacifica that I test drove, but the problem is obviously not across the board.

I came fairly close to pulling the trigger on that 2nd Pacifica, but backed off at the last minute. We were still a little over $900 apart on pricing, and this particular one was black. They only had one Pacifica in LX trim, it was black and I really don’t want a black vehicle. There are a lot more Touring models out there, but according to TrueCar, you can expect to pay about $2,200 more for the Touring model. And the best I can tell, you get power sliding side doors and satellite radio for your $2,200. For that kind of money, I can most definitely slide the doors by hand.

I know some people like black cars, and I will admit that a black car can look very beautiful when it is freshly shined up. The problem is that I don’t want to wash and wax each and every day, and there is still the problem of just how hot a black car gets when sitting in the direct sunshine.

Earlier in the day, I visited two Toyota dealers, looking at late model Siennas. I had identified the minivans that I wanted to look at from online ads (cars.com), and printed off the page for each one. The first dealership could not find the keys. I waited around while they looked, wasting about 45 minutes of my time. I finally told them to call me when they found the key – and they still haven’t called.

The second Toyota dealer had no problem finding the keys, and I went for a test drive. 2015 model Sienna, very nice. I think the Sienna is probably the nicest minivan out there, but it is also the most expensive, which is why I was trying to look at recent model used ones. We get back from the test drive, I tell the salesman, “Give me your best price. If I like it, I’ll write you a check. You can get a porter or someone to drive this home for me, right?” The salesman assures me that he personally will drive the minivan home for me, and heads off to get their “best price”. 45 minutes later, no price. It seems this particular vehicle is not in their database. They have the minivan, they have the keys, they ran an ad on cars.com, there is a stock number on the windshield, but that stock number is not in their database.

Once again, I leave, after telling the salesman to call me when they can name a price. And I’ll bet you can guess that they still haven’t called!

Black on a minivan? Yuck! In TX I bet the clearcoat would be blasted in a few years and scratches from blowing dust would make it look like hell.

You seem to have the worst luck with dealers. Do you come in swinging chairs or something that make it seem you're not serious? These dealers look totally incompetent. If I owned a car store and discovered we lost a sale over lost keys or non returned phone calls heads would roll.

Having said that I'm still waiting for a call back from the Ford store 3 miles away on the 2015 Mustang. Even the dealer 20 miles away knew exactly what I was looking for and never called to tell me he had a 100% match sitting on his lot.




Maybe this is a new sales technique that weeds out the strokes by making you beg for the car.

henryn

“You seem to have the worst luck with dealers. Do you come in swinging chairs or something that make it seem you're not serious? “

No, I try to maintain a positive attitude. I discovered many decades ago that you have a much easier, more pleasant journey through life if you have a positive attitude.

“These dealers look totally incompetent. If I owned a car store and discovered we lost a sale over lost keys or non returned phone calls heads would roll. “

I work in a large corporate environment. I have found that some of the departments that I interact with are pleasant, professional, and competent. Others not so much. And over the years, I have seen good departments go bad, and bad departments turned around. The key seems to be leadership.

“Maybe this is a new sales technique that weeds out the strokes by making you beg for the car.”

@Jmonroe hinted at that earlier. He may be right.

nyccarguy

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

ab348

My friend with the Regal GS has that metallic black paint on his car. In truth I do not like it - the metal flake always makes it look like it is covered with a thin coating of dust or pollen. I don't understand why other shades do not seem to suffer from that effect. I never understood why manufacturers never offered a black metallic in years past but now I think I get it.

suydam

Well that's why they offer more than one color! I was dead set against black but I'm quite pleased with this type.

stever

snakeweasel said:

stever said:

berri said:

Those goldish colors also hide dirt if you want an alternative to silver

Yeah, but if I parked a goldish one in my yard, I wouldn't be able to find it.

Does this mean that your yard is filled with gold?

Looks more the tailings left after digging up the rocks.

stickguy

farmer, not sure what you are looking for, but want another caddy? this one looks real clean, and 1 owner.

http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2004-cadillac-cts-4dr_sedan-used-14939594.html

driver100

Nice looking car...I like those older Cadillacs


Not so keen about the interior:


Also, looks to good to be true. All used cars can look pretty nice when they are painted and the tires are shiny black....not sure what lurks under that innocent looking skin (kind of reminds me of an old girlfriend).

stickguy

I trust that dealer Driver, but of course, always best to be careful.

ab348

I test-drove one of that generation, an '05, when I was looking for a car in 2009. It was mint, low mileage, with the 3.6 engine, and drove great. But it was black/black, the price was out of line and the dealer that had it was slippery, so I walked. That dash design was allegedly designed that way to remind you of a tower PC. It was not a good choice. I seem to recall those early CTS models as being troublesome too.

bwia

ab348 said:

I test-drove one of that generation, an '05, when I was looking for a car in 2009. It was mint, low mileage, with the 3.6 engine, and drove great. But it was black/black, the price was out of line and the dealer that had it was slippery, so I walked. That dash design was allegedly designed that way to remind you of a tower PC. It was not a good choice. I seem to recall those early CTS models as being troublesome too.

That dash design was before full integration of navigation systems. At that time OnStar (with turn by turn direction) was king and was a status symbol. My, how time has changed.

sda

ab348 said:

I test-drove one of that generation, an '05, when I was looking for a car in 2009. It was mint, low mileage, with the 3.6 engine, and drove great. But it was black/black, the price was out of line and the dealer that had it was slippery, so I walked. That dash design was allegedly designed that way to remind you of a tower PC. It was not a good choice. I seem to recall those early CTS models as being troublesome too.

From what I've read, the early CTS was not that reliable long term. The standard 3.2 was an enlarged 3.0 that they used in the Catera, and that was a troublesome car. I had a '98 Catera that I sold at 41k because it was always at the dealer for engine and cooling issues. The 3.6 really gives the CTS some punch, but it, too, has earned a reputation for oil burning, time chain issues and complete failure. As attractive as that CTS is, I would avoid it.

henryn

Now here's an interesting data point:

cringely.com/2016/07/11/thinking-big-data-part-3-final-part/

Today if you look at the parts cost of a modern automobile the wiring harness that links together all the electrical bits and controls the whole mechanism costs more than the engine and transmission!

ab348

henryn said:

Now here's an interesting data point:

cringely.com/2016/07/11/thinking-big-data-part-3-final-part/

Today if you look at the parts cost of a modern automobile the wiring harness that links together all the electrical bits and controls the whole mechanism costs more than the engine and transmission!

A couple of years ago I seem to remember @Mr_Shiftright here trying to revive a dead BMW 7-series that ultimately had main harness issues, and the cost of which made it a write-off.

graphicguy

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

Anyway, catching up...

Michaell...big congrats. Have dealt with some of the IBM folks. Probably a blessing in disguise that you're gone from there. Not much happiness from what I hear.

RB...did you ever find out about "rroyce"? He was here a lot "back in the day". Be interesting if you were working for him. I've had occassion to interface with Swope in the past when trying to buy a vehicle. Never was able to, so that probably gives an indication of how I've viewed them, although my sample size is small.

Interesting...slightly put my toes into the "maybe/might be" looking for a car right before I left. Came home to a ton of voice mails and emails from BMW dealership, Acura dealership, Mercedes dealership and Lexus dealership, all stating that July 4th weekend was THE RIGHT TIME to come in and make a deal. Of course, I was gone. So, no deal made.

stickguy

Don't worry. Labor Day is next month, and that will probably be even bigger.

Mr_Shiftright

I like the way Mr Cringely thinks:

"Maybe we’ll defeat both diseases and aging, which means we’ll all die from homicide, suicide, or horrible accidents."

Yes, that was me trying to re-wire a flooded BMW 7 Series, circa year 2000. What a mess. I suppose someone more clever-er-er than I could have done it, damn the costs, full speed ahead, but I did the math and thought the project was starting to get ridiculously complex. Some BMW tech bought it, but last I checked, it's still sittin' there in back of the shop. Maybe he'll pull the engine and put it in something else--if he can figure out how to run it with a junkyard computer. Good luck there buddy.

jmonroe

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

Anyway, catching up...

Michaell...big congrats. Have dealt with some of the IBM folks. Probably a blessing in disguise that you're gone from there. Not much happiness from what I hear.

RB...did you ever find out about "rroyce"? He was here a lot "back in the day". Be interesting if you were working for him. I've had occassion to interface with Swope in the past when trying to buy a vehicle. Never was able to, so that probably gives an indication of how I've viewed them, although my sample size is small.

Interesting...slightly put my toes into the "maybe/might be" looking for a car right before I left. Came home to a ton of voice mails and emails from BMW dealership, Acura dealership, Mercedes dealership and Lexus dealership, all stating that July 4th weekend was THE RIGHT TIME to come in and make a deal. Of course, I was gone. So, no deal made.

I didn't hear any "man overboard" reports on the nightly news, so I figured you'd be back.

Now that you're all rested up, cap it off with a sales tale. I can't even remember the last time we had one of those. @henryn is doing his best but can't seem to get it done.

jmonroe

graphicguy

jmonroe said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

Anyway, catching up...

Michaell...big congrats. Have dealt with some of the IBM folks. Probably a blessing in disguise that you're gone from there. Not much happiness from what I hear.

RB...did you ever find out about "rroyce"? He was here a lot "back in the day". Be interesting if you were working for him. I've had occassion to interface with Swope in the past when trying to buy a vehicle. Never was able to, so that probably gives an indication of how I've viewed them, although my sample size is small.

Interesting...slightly put my toes into the "maybe/might be" looking for a car right before I left. Came home to a ton of voice mails and emails from BMW dealership, Acura dealership, Mercedes dealership and Lexus dealership, all stating that July 4th weekend was THE RIGHT TIME to come in and make a deal. Of course, I was gone. So, no deal made.

I didn't hear any "man overboard" reports on the nightly news, so I figured you'd be back.

Now that you're all rested up, cap it off with a sales tale. I can't even remember the last time we had one of those. @henryn is doing his best but can't seem to get it done.

jmonroe

J.....not really motivated right now. There are weeks I think...."I need to shop to see what I might consider". Then, there are other weeks that nothing's out there that makes me want to pull the trigger.

Closest I came was on a one owner '98 Cobra Covertible. Even there, I was tepid given the price he was asking. I liked the car, though....a lot!

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

farmer, not sure what you are looking for, but want another caddy? this one looks real clean, and 1 owner.

http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2004-cadillac-cts-4dr_sedan-used-14939594.html

That's not bad for the price and it's got the 3.6L not the dreaded Northstar.

http://albany.craigslist.org/ctd/5661710733.html

This is kind of what I'm looking for milage wise. I was ready to go look at an upscale 2003 version of that with the more powerful Duratec and only 60k miles but I had other stuff going on and it got sold. Probably could have gotten it for $3k. Kicking myself.

oldfarmer50

Mr_Shiftright said:

I like the way Mr Cringely thinks:

"Maybe we’ll defeat both diseases and aging, which means we’ll all die from homicide, suicide, or horrible accidents."

Yes, that was me trying to re-wire a flooded BMW 7 Series, circa year 2000. What a mess. I suppose someone more clever-er-er than I could have done it, damn the costs, full speed ahead, but I did the math and thought the project was starting to get ridiculously complex. Some BMW tech bought it, but last I checked, it's still sittin' there in back of the shop. Maybe he'll pull the engine and put it in something else--if he can figure out how to run it with a junkyard computer. Good luck there buddy.

The guys at Fast & Loud put a new Hellcat engine in an old Dodge Dart and tried to run it without all the wires and computers. Had a heck of a time trying to get it to start. They brought in a computer expert who had to write special code to fool the engine into thinking all parameters were nominal. Wonder how much that cost.

stickguy

Farmer, always happy to go check it out for you!

JMonroe, Breld bought a car Saturday. So you need to wait until at least Friday before he get another

stickguy

why not just put a hellcat engine computer in there too?

good luck when something goes amiss, and the car never bothers to report it.

Mr_Shiftright

As I understand it, even with the Hellcat computer, this black box is waiting for and expecting inputs from all the original Hellcat's components, including the security system and of course all the sensors. Trying to surgically remove some of those circuits through either programming or by "fooling" the computer with phony sensors must be a devil of a job.

stickguy

Well that is their dumb then. Should have just bought a plain Jane crate hemi that would have been plug and play. Can always slap a S/C on it. Though that car would be a death trap at more than 10% throttle with any big motor!

driver100

stickguy said:

I trust that dealer Driver, but of course, always best to be careful.

I checked and the dealers reviews are all excellent.....even on Angies List.

stickguy

Nice people. He has had a few in the last couple of years I would have been all over if I was in the market.

graphicguy

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I like the way Mr Cringely thinks:

"Maybe we’ll defeat both diseases and aging, which means we’ll all die from homicide, suicide, or horrible accidents."

Yes, that was me trying to re-wire a flooded BMW 7 Series, circa year 2000. What a mess. I suppose someone more clever-er-er than I could have done it, damn the costs, full speed ahead, but I did the math and thought the project was starting to get ridiculously complex. Some BMW tech bought it, but last I checked, it's still sittin' there in back of the shop. Maybe he'll pull the engine and put it in something else--if he can figure out how to run it with a junkyard computer. Good luck there buddy.

The guys at Fast & Loud put a new Hellcat engine in an old Dodge Dart and tried to run it without all the wires and computers. Had a heck of a time trying to get it to start. They brought in a computer expert who had to write special code to fool the engine into thinking all parameters were nominal. Wonder how much that cost.

They did that previously, dropping a Hellcat motor from a new Challenger, into a vintage '70 Challenger. It was a bear and something Chrysler makes difficult to do (but they figured it out).

henryn

jmonroe said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

Anyway, catching up...

Michaell...big congrats. Have dealt with some of the IBM folks. Probably a blessing in disguise that you're gone from there. Not much happiness from what I hear.

RB...did you ever find out about "rroyce"? He was here a lot "back in the day". Be interesting if you were working for him. I've had occassion to interface with Swope in the past when trying to buy a vehicle. Never was able to, so that probably gives an indication of how I've viewed them, although my sample size is small.

Interesting...slightly put my toes into the "maybe/might be" looking for a car right before I left. Came home to a ton of voice mails and emails from BMW dealership, Acura dealership, Mercedes dealership and Lexus dealership, all stating that July 4th weekend was THE RIGHT TIME to come in and make a deal. Of course, I was gone. So, no deal made.

I didn't hear any "man overboard" reports on the nightly news, so I figured you'd be back.

Now that you're all rested up, cap it off with a sales tale. I can't even remember the last time we had one of those. @henryn is doing his best but can't seem to get it done.

jmonroe

Hey, I'm trying, the dealers are not cooperating! And I definitely decided against the black Pacifica. No black cars, thank you.

henryn

Mr_Shiftright said:

I like the way Mr Cringely thinks:

"Maybe we’ll defeat both diseases and aging, which means we’ll all die from homicide, suicide, or horrible accidents."

Yes, that was me trying to re-wire a flooded BMW 7 Series, circa year 2000. What a mess. I suppose someone more clever-er-er than I could have done it, damn the costs, full speed ahead, but I did the math and thought the project was starting to get ridiculously complex. Some BMW tech bought it, but last I checked, it's still sittin' there in back of the shop. Maybe he'll pull the engine and put it in something else--if he can figure out how to run it with a junkyard computer. Good luck there buddy.

I have been following Robert X Cringely for about 30 years now.

And yes, wiring harnesses are definitely expensive, and not easy to replace. Some cat (I think) pulled loose a wiring harness connector under the hood of my then brand new 2013 F150. The harness came apart and fell down to the highway while I was driving and was torn to smithereens. The dealership wanted $1,800 to fix (customer pay), and my insurance wound up paying $1,200.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Farmer, always happy to go check it out for you!

JMonroe, Breld bought a car Saturday. So you need to wait until at least Friday before he get another

Sure, check it out for both of us. Maybe you'll like it so much you'll buy it for yourself.

isellhondas

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

No smart store will take a deposit to hold a used car and for good reason.

The shopper may want to just leave a deposit to tie up a car while they continue to keep shopping.

Or the shopper may get cold feet and back out of the deal.

Meanwhile, someone else who looked at the car earlier may return ready to buy only to be told they can't since there is a deposit on it. It's a no win situation.

I can't tell you how many times people lost cars that were perfect for them because they wanted to "sleep on it" "think about it" or keep shopping looking for something they liked better.

With new cars we could usually find another one but not with used of course.

Sometimes, it was almost like they felt there was no chance the car wouldn't have sold and on high demand, nice
used cars it wasn't uncommon to have three or four people looking at the same day.

I once had a woman get mad! REAL mad! She said " You should have pushed me harder!" I had warned her that there was a strong possibility that she would lose it! Her response was rolling her eyes and saying.. Well, if it's meant to be it's meant to be"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was I who sold the car! MAN, was she TICKED!

oldfarmer50

"...I can't tell you how many times people lost cars..."

Been there done that.

On another topic, just heard that the SEC is investigating Tesla.

isellhondas

The trouble is I never wanted to be perceived as being "pushy". With all of the (usually well deserved) negative press is on our business. people tend not to always believe us.

I can tell you, she believed it then!

snakeweasel

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

So what did you see? What did you do? and most importantly.....How was the food?

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

As I understand it, even with the Hellcat computer, this black box is waiting for and expecting inputs from all the original Hellcat's components, including the security system and of course all the sensors. Trying to surgically remove some of those circuits through either programming or by "fooling" the computer with phony sensors must be a devil of a job.

Maybe Volkswagen could help them.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

IMHO never let a trade ruin a deal. Just trade it in elsewhere or at Carmax if you like the new car you want; get it! Of course, in CA there is no tax benefit to trading in; so your mileage may vary in other States.

andres3

isellhondas said:

The trouble is I never wanted to be perceived as being "pushy". With all of the (usually well deserved) negative press is on our business. people tend not to always believe us.

I can tell you, she believed it then!

I think playing the E-bay game back in the good ol' days taught me that is something is good; it'll go FAST FAST FAST; so don't delay.