Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

kyfdx

It's the hours at a car dealership that would keep me from doing it.
Even luxury dealerships like BMW are open until 6 pm on Friday/Saturday and 8 pm the rest of the week.

If I'm working part-time in retirement, I want to do it in my underwear, when I want (in case you were wondering how I was dressed)

28firefighter

kyfdx said:

If I'm working part-time in retirement, I want to do it in my underwear, when I want (in case you were wondering how I was dressed)

And now we know how the Edmunds Mods work.

Michaell

kyfdx said:

It's the hours at a car dealership that would keep me from doing it.
Even luxury dealerships like BMW are open until 6 pm on Friday/Saturday and 8 pm the rest of the week.

If I'm working part-time in retirement, I want to do it in my underwear, when I want (in case you were wondering how I was dressed)

TMI

andres3

fintail said:

Funny thing you can relate to. My brother received a Neon "Expresso" via my mother co-signing for him when he was 18 or 19. It wasn't unreliable, but he ended up hating it (and the payment). One day a Sedan DeVille ran a red light, and no more Neon. He was thrilled.

andres3 said:

Anyone ever have a car they wanted to get rid of, and have them done a favor by a reckless driver that crashed into you, totaling it for you, and providing that service was secretly beneficial in your mind?

Well, I bet he was less thrilled when the insurance company made their offer on the week old donut type depreciation of the Dodge.

Having a zero deductible would help, but that's extremely expensive. I carry $1,000 deductibles and really don't consider that to be very high. It does make small claims near pointless. I do carry a collision deductible waiver that helps if an uninsured motorist hits me. So you'd think you are safe as long as you don't cause any at-fault damage yourself, but as everyone who followed my last big accident knows, it seems, at least in CA, Insurance companies have successfully lobbied to separate under-insured claims from uninsured claims, so no deductible coverage or help until a court settled all disputes.

I got nearly as much for rental car expense, court and process fees, and deductible expense as I did for diminished value. I only rented a "premium" vehicle. The S4 would surely quality as an Exotic by rental standards.

andres3

kyfdx said:

It's the hours at a car dealership that would keep me from doing it.
Even luxury dealerships like BMW are open until 6 pm on Friday/Saturday and 8 pm the rest of the week.

If I'm working part-time in retirement, I want to do it in my underwear, when I want (in case you were wondering how I was dressed)

Well, the Finance person who helped me at VW recently was female and very attractive. Is that considered a perk and benefit when your at retirement age? I work in a male dominated industry, so to me it seems like a nice bonus to be able to work around attractive women. Then again, divorce is expensive I hear.

Sandman6472

"Live below your means" says it all. Reward yourself every so often to make working worthwhile is how we seem to roll here though my better half likes to eat out...a lot! The opposite here but I compromise a bit to keep the peace. Remember when I took my job at the post office, I was told..."you'll never get rich, but you'll make a living"! Totally true and with 31 years in as a civil service employee, I get a pension check the first of every month. My part time gig at Hertz gets me out of the house three days a week and I enjoy the social interaction. And adding to the retirement accounts is another plus. We're not rich by any stretch, owe no one except the monthly overhead but most importantly, own the house. Not wise to retire with a mortgage, and glad we paid it off while the kids were still in elementary school. Was lucky enough to inherit a modest amount from family members which is how I get to play the stock market and other small investments.
All those years of driving econoboxes and keeping them for a longer time was definitely the way to go and even with my Golf, don't feel like I'm driving a luxury vehicle. Sure, it's more costly upfront than many Japanese/Korean vehicles, but it's economical to run so far and even though I mention liking more expensive vehicles, when push comes to shove, not sure I'll even go that route. My thinking about "cheap to keep" is creeping back into my mindset so not sure where I'll end up in a couple of years. The journey will be enjoyable though!

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Just curious, is the 2017 Mini Cooper Countryman going to be an entirely new vehicle based on the new X1? If so, it should be a better overall vehicle than the 2016's and earlier I suspect. Is my assumption here correct? Something about the small size of the Mini that calls to me. The two doors seem small enough that closing them wouldn't require super strength as they should be on the lighter side. The four door is more practical but since I'm the only one in the vehicle 98% of the time, might as well go for a two door. Am also hoping they relax the overall ride a bit with the new model and that it will ride just as smooth as the Golf does. If so, it could just be "the one" in a few years!

The Sandman

stickguy

yes, the 2017 is totally new, and shared platform with the X1. Nice package from sitting in one. Have not driven one though (or the prior one to compare it to)

Mr_Shiftright

A good deal smaller than the X1 however.

ab348

andres3 said:

kyfdx said:

It's the hours at a car dealership that would keep me from doing it.
Even luxury dealerships like BMW are open until 6 pm on Friday/Saturday and 8 pm the rest of the week.

If I'm working part-time in retirement, I want to do it in my underwear, when I want (in case you were wondering how I was dressed)

Well, the Finance person who helped me at VW recently was female and very attractive. Is that considered a perk and benefit when your at retirement age? I work in a male dominated industry, so to me it seems like a nice bonus to be able to work around attractive women. Then again, divorce is expensive I hear.

When I bought my '09 Buick, the dealership (now defunct) had only one good thing going for it aside from offering a good price, as they were awful otherwise: the F&I office was staffed by a pair of gorgeous young ladies who looked and dressed like they belonged in Vegas, baby. Outfits, heels, makeup, hair, the works. Never saw anything like it before or since.

sda

I've bought many cars and have yet to have a female F&I rep. Typically they're men in their 40-50's who are under pressure to sell the extended warranties and get you out of there as fast as they can. I haven't had any bad experiences but none that I would call outstanding either.

suydam

The dealership where we leased our Volt had a woman F&I. She was extremely professional and did not keep us bogged down in minutiae for hours. I don't care what she or any male worker looks like as long as they are competent, don't try to sell me add-ons, and get me out of there in reasonable time.

andres3

Yes, she didn't try to sell me any add-ons which made her look even nicer. She simply asked if we had purchased one (extended warranty) for the TDI (a perfect example of why you DON'T want to buy pre-paid extended warranties), and knew full well since I hadn't then, I wouldn't now, so she didn't bother me at all about it. Also, it was getting to be late at night and we both wanted out of there at that point.

fintail

I am pretty sure he had gap insurance, and any other costs were paid by mom IIRC, he bought an early 90s Accord to replace it, a car he liked a lot more.

It can be very hard to find an "equivalent" vehicle to many highline models in typical American rental fleets. "Premium" is often an Impala/Taurus/Charger, or if you are lucky maybe a Cadenza or Regal.

andres3 said:

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Well, I bet he was less thrilled when the insurance company made their offer on the week old donut type depreciation of the Dodge.

I got nearly as much for rental car expense, court and process fees, and deductible expense as I did for diminished value. I only rented a "premium" vehicle. The S4 would surely quality as an Exotic by rental standards.

corvette

andres3 said:

...the TDI (a perfect example of why you DON'T want to buy pre-paid extended warranties...

They are generally refundable, prorated based upon months since purchase. You probably would have gotten a lot back if you had one on the TDI and canceled it when you took the buyback.

tbirdmarco

@sda YOur dad has the same attotood as me. and as you no I am leaguly blind to as whell. have menny good years ahead of me. I am only 30 but live for the day.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbGh6In9xs

tbirdmarco

We had an nice sweet tall blond girl at one of the Nissan dealers few years back. she was an sails laty. did injoy that. can see that she was tall and blond things like that no fashial feachers or other body parts lol o whell

xwesx

Marcothecarguy1986 said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbGh6In9xs

Small, attractive van? Er..... okay. It is small, yes.

iluvmysephia1

Looks like a utility van.

fordfool

kyfdx said:

It's the hours at a car dealership that would keep me from doing it.

The salary (commission) uncertainty would bother me what with seasonal variations and recessions.
Plus the industry is moving towards greater dependence on holdbacks which (as I understand) sales
personnel do not share in.

stickguy

I would rather sell at a local used lot. There are a couple around that have great reputations, and do a lot of business selling really nice stuff. I suspect the few guys on the sales staff do pretty well for themselves.

Though I would probably rather not do sales!

28firefighter

I'd like to have my own lot. Mostly as an excuse to rotate cars and go to auction...

fintail

I'd be a terrible salesman, as my attitude would be "if you don't want to buy it, fine". I'd also have to sell a brand I like. I've talked to a few MB salesmen, and they claim "the cars sell themselves", but I don't know if that's how it works.

stickguy

on top of a generally crappy week, had a car issue tonight (when of course I was already in a cranky mood!). Had to run out to target, and the sonata was in the driveway so I took that. Got down the block, and the dash lit up. Low tire pressure, left front. Even gave me numbers all around. Not horribly low (27, the rest were 33/34 where I had them set). Last time I drove it was yesterday afternoon, so I assume I picked up a nail that is leading to a slow leak.

I turned back and stuck it in the garage, and pumped it back up. Can't deal with in until tomorrow afternoon, so will check to see if it lost air in that time. if it did, will have to pull that one off (probably just do it myself instead of calling AAA) and take it to the tire store. Though I do have some sort of tire package in the lease, but that would be way too much hassle if it can be plugged!

good thing I have 3 cars here for the 2 of us. I just pulled the Jetta out of the garage and put it into service. Though this does make me realize that trying to be a 1 car household carries a certain amount of risk. No way you can drop the car off and have the spouse take you home for one thing. And if this happened without a back up set of wheels, I would have been in trouble!

roadburner

The GM at my dealership is still trying to get me to go exclusively into sales; he thinks I could really do well because as the New Car Sales Manager puts it, I'm the "anti-salesman"- I'm sincerely enthusiastic about the cars, I don't BS, and my low-key approach defuses the customers who expect a hard sell.
Maybe if I was younger...

Mr_Shiftright

No matter what your sales approach, you still have to have what Lee Iacocca called "fire in the belly". Without the strong desire to sell, and to exceed your own expectations, sooner than later I think a person burns out.

sda

I started my career in sales and enjoyed some aspects of it such as meeting people and developing a rapport and relationship with them. The stress from starting each month with a 0 and the uncertainty of what that month might bring wore on me. Never say never but I don't think a sales position will be in my future.

qbrozen

I think car sales would be the one sales job I could do. Would need to be used, though. I would not enjoy being tied to one product. But I enjoy figuring out what vehicle would suit people best. Although I suppose I'd feel guilty if they ever had reliability problems, so there is that.

ab348

When I was still in university and trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life, I was drawn to car sales because I was a car nut. I thought it would be fun to hang out in the showroom all day with all those new vehicles and I certainly knew more about them than apparently most salespeople did given I read every word in every car magazine back then.

With time, I realized that I was clueless.

fintail

I suspect the value of knowledge of selling outweighs car knowledge by 100:1. I've had salesmen tell me I know much more about a certain car than them, which made their job a little easier. The MB salesman I dealt with for my first two leases (he walked away from the dealership when it was bought out by a budding monopoly) joked that I'd be able to sell, but my inability to beg someone to buy something probably wouldn't help.

uplanderguy

I don't think I could sell a car line I didn't like, myself, but I know that's not how sales works.

28firefighter

I think I'd have the same problem as you @fintail. I'd want to price everything super aggressively, and if they want to buy great and if not - see ya later. I don't think I have it in me to "beg" someone to buy.

Come to think of it, this is probably why I don't do sales in my current role but somehow have developed and closed my own business anyway out of existing client referrals.

fintail

Kind of reminds me of an old idea for a restaurant - firm and somewhat curt service, but excellent reasonably priced food. It might not work, I think a lot of people want to be coddled and flattered, both when eating out and when buying a car.

28firefighter

I agree there. To some extent, I understand - a car purchase is the second largest purchase that most people will ever make and therefore they want to be made to feel special.

The fact that we view the process as no different from going to Target doesn't make it so...

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I agree there. To some extent, I understand - a car purchase is the second largest purchase that most people will ever make and therefore they want to be made to feel special.

The fact that we view the process as no different from going to Target doesn't make it so...

Isn't CarMax meant to be the equivalent of the Target experience?

Here is price ... you pay price.

The no-haggle model is starting to become more prevalent in the automotive world. Offer a fair price, and folks will jump.

The problem, of course, is that everybody has a different opinion of what "fair" means.

28firefighter

I have two problems with CarMax...

(1) Their cars are priced at the high end or above dealer retail

(2) I've seen some real horror stories about the mechanical condition of their cars

I actually like the Tesla model quite a bit; of course I do not want a Tesla nor could I afford one, but I think they have the right approach on experience.

28firefighter

Something else that I think matters - people want to feel like they are getting a deal. No one, I don't think, wants to see one price and pay that price with cars (even if that is how it works in other retail). They want to see the MSRP and then some significant amount off to feel like it is a bargain.

If you look at BMW recently, their MSRPs have gone up dramatically but so have the discounts and improved lease rates; people feel as though they're getting a bargain even if they're still paying what they did years ago.

corvette

fintail said:

Kind of reminds me of an old idea for a restaurant - firm and somewhat curt service, but excellent reasonably priced food. It might not work, I think a lot of people want to be coddled and flattered, both when eating out and when buying a car.

My favorite local spot is kind of like that (I've heard others think they try to rush people out, but I think they're just efficient).  May be why I like it so much. 

Michaell

28firefighter said:

I have two problems with CarMax...

(1) Their cars are priced at the high end or above dealer retail

(2) I've seen some real horror stories about the mechanical condition of their cars

I actually like the Tesla model quite a bit; of course I do not want a Tesla nor could I afford one, but I think they have the right approach on experience.

I'll agree with you on both those points.

My sister is still fighting with CarMax in San Diego about her oldest son's GTI. Needed several thousand in repairs. All she wants to do is trade it in for something more reliable (hey, sort of like @graphicguy!)

28firefighter

I'm not sure if I shared here (last few weeks have been a blur), but I found someone locally that was interested in taking over the last payments of the Escape. She just moved to Seattle and needed a short-term vehicle while she gets settled and figures out what comes next. Told me the total payments and paying registration for the 4 months was less than 2 months of what she paid for a rental.

It's been a fairly smooth process, though not particularly fast. Ford approved the takeover within 24 hours of her submitting her credit app and immediately sent out the new paperwork, but sent it snail mail so it took almost 7 days to arrive. Luckily I can fax it back and from there once processed, they'll send the title and POA second day air to the state.

She paid to have the car inspected by Allianz who said it was in great shape and I'm paying the $75 Ford transfer fee.

All told it'll have been about 3 weeks start to finish, which I suppose isn't bad. Saving me about $1100.

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

I don't think I could sell a car line I didn't like, myself, but I know that's not how sales works.

Ironically that's exactly how it doesn't work. A good salesperson can sell virtually anything. I suppose it helps to "believe in the product", but with some cars, I mean how far can you realistically take that?

My Dad worked for Packard most of his life and there was this one guy who sold Packards like crazy, even when the company was shriveling on the vine. My Dad said of that salesman: "He could pitch a lambchop past a wolf".

rayainsw

--- PUNCH ---
New [ 2016 'leftover ' ] BMW 340i.
Medium [ Mediterranean ] blue over saddle leather.
Details soon.
- Ray
Anyone here want to buy a 2015 Charger R/T ?
[ just kidding ]

Michaell

rayainsw said:

--- PUNCH ---
New [ 2016 'leftover ' ] BMW 340i.
Medium [ Mediterranean ] blue over saddle leather.
Details soon.
- Ray
Anyone here want to buy a 2015 Charger R/T ?
[ just kidding ]

Which part are you kidding about?

The punch, or that you're selling the Charger?

I could make a case for keeping both.

28firefighter

rayainsw said:

--- PUNCH ---
New [ 2016 'leftover ' ] BMW 340i.
Medium [ Mediterranean ] blue over saddle leather.
Details soon.
- Ray
Anyone here want to buy a 2015 Charger R/T ?
[ just kidding ]

Same color combo as our X1 - sounds beautiful! And a 340!!

rayainsw

Quick cell phone pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/rayainsw/2016 BMW 340i/2016 340i_zpscgcblhif.jpg

tifighter

Nice! Really like that blue...

stickguy

Love the colors. very nice.

ab348

fintail said:

Kind of reminds me of an old idea for a restaurant - firm and somewhat curt service, but excellent reasonably priced food. It might not work, I think a lot of people want to be coddled and flattered, both when eating out and when buying a car.

Sort of like an old-school NYC steak house, except for the "reasonably-priced" part.

tifighter

You have to think this car was a special order, right?