Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

Question for the group:

My friend just picked up his new car from the VW dealer (replacement for his TDI).

He asked me if it is normal for the dealer to detail the car to the point of putting some wax on it? He says the paint just seems a bit dull, and the texture on his hand isn't super smooth.

Is this asking too much these days?

What car is it? Probably will need pictures to replace 1,000 words....

roadburner

corvette said:

The only ones of those I'd even consider would be the Tacoma and the Maserati (if I could afford it). 

Ditto, although I'd also take a LR...

Mr_Shiftright

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Question for the group:

My friend just picked up his new car from the VW dealer (replacement for his TDI).

He asked me if it is normal for the dealer to detail the car to the point of putting some wax on it? He says the paint just seems a bit dull, and the texture on his hand isn't super smooth.

Is this asking too much these days?

What car is it? Probably will need pictures to replace 1,000 words....

It's just a dark gray VW Golf wagon...nothin' special.

28firefighter

Mr_Shiftright said:

Question for the group:

My friend just picked up his new car from the VW dealer (replacement for his TDI).

He asked me if it is normal for the dealer to detail the car to the point of putting some wax on it? He says the paint just seems a bit dull, and the texture on his hand isn't super smooth.

Is this asking too much these days?

Not an unreasonable ask, but most places seem to not put forth much effort unless you ask.

All of my cars have been fully detailed before delivery. In fact, I've heard of dealers not doing anything at all and its something I let them know I expect will be done prior to delivery.

Mr_Shiftright

Well he bought it through a broker, so maybe the dealer is punishing him?

kyfdx

I've never had a new car waxed, before delivery. Detailed cleaning, but not waxed.

pensfan83

I don't understand including the Tacoma. Knock a truck for driving and feeling like....a truck? I guess most people have become conditioned to trucks being tall, luxurious cars with open trunks they actually forget what trucks used to be 20-25 years ago.

carnaught

This car is brand new, or new to him?

corvette

roadburner said:

The only ones of those I'd even consider would be the Tacoma and the Maserati (if I could afford it). 

Ditto, although I'd also take a LR...

Yes, but not the small one. 

au1994

Mr_Shiftright said:

Question for the group: My friend just picked up his new car from the VW dealer (replacement for his TDI). He asked me if it is normal for the dealer to detail the car to the point of putting some wax on it? He says the paint just seems a bit dull, and the texture on his hand isn't super smooth. Is this asking too much these days?

I've never had a wax job prior to delivery. With the X1 I actually told them to go easy on the wash job before delivery. My dealer got a little happy with the armor all on the inside when I got the 335i.

stickguy

The disco sport was what. Rented in Ireland a few months back. Was nice.

graphicguy

Mr_Shiftright said:

Question for the group:

My friend just picked up his new car from the VW dealer (replacement for his TDI).

He asked me if it is normal for the dealer to detail the car to the point of putting some wax on it? He says the paint just seems a bit dull, and the texture on his hand isn't super smooth.

Is this asking too much these days?

I make that part of the deal, a wax job as part of the PPI. I've never been turned down. If the paint is rough, it needs a clay job. Again, the time to bring that up is before or during the pre-delivery inspection.

Tough get after you drive it off the lot.

Mr_Shiftright

carnaught said:

This car is brand new, or new to him?

Brand new, yes.

And yes, I agree, it's always best to complain right at delivery time, not a week later. The VW dealer didn't even peel off all the plastic on the car. I wish he had called me before he took it home.

But you know, the car will live outdoors, so I think I'll suggest to him that he pay a professional detailer to put a really good coat of wax on it (he's a busy contractor, so last thing he wants to do when he comes home).

breld

I got an email last night from the guy who bought my wife's 328 wagon a few years ago. Since he lives in Boston, we spent quite a bit of time on the phone (and facetime) going over the car and working out the details. He was buying our m-sport wagon to replace an older manual BMW wagon, so definitely an enthusiast and fun to talk to.

Anyway, he was just emailing to show that he had just hit 90k miles (included a picture of the odometer as well as a current pic of the wagon itself) and to say how he is NEVER selling it. I replied that he should definitely hold onto that unicorn of a wagon and, in fact, my wife continues to be nostalgic for it.

He remarked on how I had a 535 when we last talked (three years ago), and joked that I've probably traded out "2-3 times by now."

roadburner

pensfan83 said:

I don't understand including the Tacoma. Knock a truck for driving and feeling like....a truck? I guess most people have become conditioned to trucks being tall, luxurious cars with open trunks they actually forget what trucks used to be 20-25 years ago.

On another topic we had an idjit wanting to sell a new Wrangler after only six months of ownership. The reason? It rode rough, had limited storage space, and the convertible top was hard to put up and down.
I suggested that he test drive his next car BEFORE buying it...

xwesx

breld said:

He remarked on how I had a 535 when we last talked (three years ago), and joked that I've probably traded out "2-3 times by now."

His naïveté is cute.

tbirdmarco

@Mr_Shiftright never had any dealer we have delt with in the family put wax on an new car but they clean it all up nice on the outside and have taken all of the plastic off the car shame the dealer did that to your frend! yes have to bring everything you are unhappy with up rite than when picking up the car not an week later on!

tifighter

I took the 86 in for service today. I didn't have much history on the car aside from the Carfax and figured that I should establish a baseline. The Carfax showed that the car had been to the local dealer multiple times, listed as 'electrical system checked' which could mean anything. I wondered what I didn't know about the car.

Upon arrival, turns out the service advisor is someone I know from a sports league I'm in. He prints out the entire Toyota service history from two dealers. Most of the visits were about how the radio didn't pull in stations as well as their RAV4. The others were about one dead battery, which was replaced under warranty, and streaking wiper blades. Whew, that feels better.

Full synthetic oil change, covered by Toyota for two years, and I'm a happy guy. I'm liking this car more all of the time.

andres3

au1994 said:

fintail said:

That 10 cars to avoid list is a little suspect - now knocking the CLA because of ingress egress issues? Sorry, that's a buyer error issue (if it is true) - something one should catch on a test drive. Same for being "cramped".

And a Tacoma rides rough and might not have a Lexus interior? For shame!

That lists smacks of a lot of personal preference from the author as well. Yes, the Fiat and Mitsu's are pretty bad but many of the others, not so much. Even the 200 and Journey. They are no Accord or CRV but I can't say I'd advise anyone to avoid them if price was a significant issue for them. Slamming the CLA is silly. Not my favorite looking MB offering but still a good car. 

Looks like one guy in the world agrees with you about the Dodge Journey, sort of, kind of, not really:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/12/anyone-ever-recommend-dodge-journey/

tbirdmarco

@roadburner a lot of peapol go and pick out the car they want or do all on the internet and don't go and test drive the car sit in it all things that than you will no if that car is for you or not! I like doing it the old school way test out every thing in the car sit in it drive the car the one thing I cant do lollol small things don't mind byeing on the internet but an car no way house no way. I mean finding the car on the net is one thing but than going to testdrive it or one at an dealer near you that is the came car you are interested in is one thing! rant over lollol hope that everyone is having an good week!

andres3

Marcothecarguy1986 said:

@roadburner a lot of peapol go and pick out the car they want or do all on the internet and don't go and test drive the car sit in it all things that than you will no if that car is for you or not! I like doing it the old school way test out every thing in the car sit in it drive the car the one thing I cant do lollol small things don't mind byeing on the internet but an car no way house no way. I mean finding the car on the net is one thing but than going to testdrive it or one at an dealer near you that is the came car you are interested in is one thing! rant over lollol hope that everyone is having an good week!

On that subject do you think some dealers "intimidate" people into hurrying up and rushing their decisions on a new car??

I think their could be some guilt there. Not only the decision to buy is being rushed, but the test drives (or lack thereof) are as well. I'm sure some sales people are happy to skip the test drive. I would insist on a test drive, even if I was the one doing the selling.

roadburner

Last Thursday we took a one owner 2008 M3 in on trade; Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Fox Red leather, manual transmission- and with only 50K miles on it. If I didn't already have the 2 Series I would be sorely tempted. The thing is, my 2er puts up identical acceleration, handling, and braking numbers(although it is about 1.5 seconds slower around VIR)- yet it manages 6.5 mpg better than the M3. And of course my current ride has one year of the new car warranty and covered maintenance remaining not to mention 2 years of CPO coverage after that.
Still, I wish I didn't have to walk by the M3 every day...

corvette

roadburner said:

Last Thursday we took a one owner 2008 M3 in on trade; Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Fox Red leather, manual transmission- and with only 50K miles on it. If I didn't already have the 2 Series I would be sorely tempted. The thing is, my 2er puts up identical acceleration, handling, and braking numbers(although it is about 1.5 seconds slower around VIR)- yet it manages 6.5 mpg better than the M3. And of course my current ride has one year of the new car warranty and covered maintenance remaining not to mention 2 years of CPO coverage after that. Still, I wish I didn't have to walk by the M3 every day...

Darn it, you made me look... Thankfully, it's more coin than I would consider spending on a ten year old car that I'd use as a secondary car. So I'm not entertaining it as a Mustang replacement. 

corvette

Never realized this--the oil life monitor in the Mustang depletes the oil life based on both mileage / driving conditions and time. So it's dropped about 10% in the month that I've owned it, even though I've only driven it a couple hundred miles. I don't think it will let you go longer than a year. 

The one in the Tahoe is based on driving conditions only. If you parked it, you could go indefinitely without it calling for an oil change. 

nyccarguy

@roadburner - a few years ago, my best friend leased a Wrangler Unlimited Sahara.  He took the Hard Top off within 2 weeks of taking delivery & drove with the soft top on or down pretty much every day of the spring, summer, & beginning of the fall.  Within a week of re-installing the hard top, he told me he absolutely hated it.  Traded it in after 6 months.  Got the Residual plus all remaining payments on a trade in and essentially got out of it for nothing.

He said he'd get another one as an extra vehicle that he doesn't have to take on the highway too often.  He said he'd go for a Sport Unlimited with a 6-Speed.

kyfdx

I would see Unlimiteds tooling around, and just assumed they were another SUV, even though they had that Wrangler look. Very cool. I could drive that. Then, a friend of mine bought one. I drove it around the block. Uh, no thanks. My son's Tacoma is a limo, in comparison.

Sandman6472

Got the text from a neighbor at about 1:30, power back on. Just got back to hotel after driving home, turning on air, checking the damage, doing some cleanup. Garage door had some screws come out so will have to had that checked. Have to make a list of what we need to get from insurance now. Since we were already charged for tonight's stay, came back to hotel to enjoy the room. Great hotel in Miami, a Cambria, from the Choice Hotel group. Gave us a great handicap room so a two room suite, the guy on the phone did a fantastic job getting us in here. Seems someone canceled right when he checked availability and scooped it up for us within seconds, totally amazing. He definitely earned his pay that day and helped to ease my hurricane anxiety!
Back to work Friday and normal life!!! Thank you G-d!!

The Sandman

(P.S. Wife insisted on taking the A3 down to hotel so when we left the house earlier, she needed some petrol. About 60% of the stations are back online so after passing a few that were empty, found an open Valero. Turns out all they had was high test but put $10 in and was full again.)

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

pensfan83 said:

I don't understand including the Tacoma. Knock a truck for driving and feeling like....a truck? I guess most people have become conditioned to trucks being tall, luxurious cars with open trunks they actually forget what trucks used to be 20-25 years ago.

On another topic we had an idjit wanting to sell a new Wrangler after only six months of ownership. The reason? It rode rough, had limited storage space, and the convertible top was hard to put up and down.
I suggested that he test drive his next car BEFORE buying it...

I read somewhere that something like 3 out of 10 buyers never test drive the car they buy.

Sandman6472

Agree with the egress/ingress in the CLA. Hit my head getting into one a couple weeks ago so I do get it. Fun to drive but dislike the one piece front seat also, think I'd just go BMW instead to be honest!!

The Sandman

stickguy

tifighter said:

I took the 86 in for service today. I didn't have much history on the car aside from the Carfax and figured that I should establish a baseline. The Carfax showed that the car had been to the local dealer multiple times, listed as 'electrical system checked' which could mean anything. I wondered what I didn't know about the car.

Upon arrival, turns out the service advisor is someone I know from a sports league I'm in. He prints out the entire Toyota service history from two dealers. Most of the visits were about how the radio didn't pull in stations as well as their RAV4. The others were about one dead battery, which was replaced under warranty, and streaking wiper blades. Whew, that feels better.

Full synthetic oil change, covered by Toyota for two years, and I'm a happy guy. I'm liking this car more all of the time.

you got a steal on this one IMO. My hope is with all my poking around, I stumble into something similar, like 2 years back when I had the deal of a century on a Civic Si lease, but had to pass on it!

stickguy

Shifty, I believe I have bought without driving my actual car, but never without driving one like it!

tbirdmarco

@andres3 yes the dealer could have an big part in that along with the sails person that is for shore! peapol have to stick to there guns and not let them sweet talk them in to doing anything they don't want to!

Michaell

I think we've test driven every car we've bought - or, like @stickguy, one very similar.

The one exception was when we got the ION for our daughter to take to college. Wife and I test drove it, daughter did not.

tbirdmarco

@sandman_6472 glad all is returning back to normal! hoping no mor stormes for menny menny years!

tbirdmarco

@tifighter glad the 86 has an clean bill of health!

pensfan83

I can't imagine not test-driving something that I would be driving for 3 years or longer. On that note my rescheduled appointment to test drive a TLX A Spec is tomorrow and it's supposed to shower in the afternoon. If I like the car as much as I am expecting to then I'm expecting things to move relatively quickly. Still need to stop at the Audi dealer though. They sent over the figures I asked for but I still haven't seen the car in person.

roadburner

tifighter said:

I took the 86 in for service today. I didn't have much history on the car aside from the Carfax and figured that I should establish a baseline. The Carfax showed that the car had been to the local dealer multiple times, listed as 'electrical system checked' which could mean anything. I wondered what I didn't know about the car.

Upon arrival, turns out the service advisor is someone I know from a sports league I'm in. He prints out the entire Toyota service history from two dealers. Most of the visits were about how the radio didn't pull in stations as well as their RAV4. The others were about one dead battery, which was replaced under warranty, and streaking wiper blades. Whew, that feels better.

Full synthetic oil change, covered by Toyota for two years, and I'm a happy guy. I'm liking this car more all of the time.

Being able to get the service history from a dealer is a big advantage. I passed on a couple of BMWs because of what the service history revealed.

stickguy

well, I was highly impressed with the one I drove, and that was just the V6 FWD model. So I suspect the Aspec with sharper suspension and SH-AWD will be even better. Though sometimes the real low profile tires work against the ride.

We did look at an A spec in the showroom. Wife especially actually preferred the leather seats in the regular model. And I really don't want the 19" wheels.

breld

Looks like a @roadburner special.

BMW 635

stickguy

nice. but is that price realistic?

graphicguy

stickguy said:

nice. but is that price realistic?

Was thinking the exact same thing, Stick!

Honestly, that generation of 6 series BMW is absolutely gorgeous. I love each and every one of those I've ever run across (which weren't many).

au1994

I leased a 2001 or 2002 Accord Special Editon and never drove it prior to delivery. I did drive one that a supplier of mine had. Kind of a funny story. I had a 99 Explorer that was due to go back in a month so I was actively looking. He took me to lunch, I drove his car back to the office and got on the phone/email with the dealer. The deal was struck and I picked it up on the way home. 

Re: 6 series...that's my favorite BMW body style ever. Shark nose and Hoffmeister kink rule!

corvette

I think it's an acquired taste. I could never get into the styling of those 6-series. Friend of the family used to own two of them, though. I can't remember now, but I think they may have even been the same color! 

andres3

roadburner said:

Last Thursday we took a one owner 2008 M3 in on trade; Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Fox Red leather, manual transmission- and with only 50K miles on it. If I didn't already have the 2 Series I would be sorely tempted. The thing is, my 2er puts up identical acceleration, handling, and braking numbers(although it is about 1.5 seconds slower around VIR)- yet it manages 6.5 mpg better than the M3. And of course my current ride has one year of the new car warranty and covered maintenance remaining not to mention 2 years of CPO coverage after that.
Still, I wish I didn't have to walk by the M3 every day...

How do you explain the 1.5 second slower lap time if all those performance metrics are indeed identical? Perhaps they are "close" to identical, close, but no cigar?

andres3

pensfan83 said:

I can't imagine not test-driving something that I would be driving for 3 years or longer. On that note my rescheduled appointment to test drive a TLX A Spec is tomorrow and it's supposed to shower in the afternoon. If I like the car as much as I am expecting to then I'm expecting things to move relatively quickly. Still need to stop at the Audi dealer though. They sent over the figures I asked for but I still haven't seen the car in person.

a SH-AWD A-Spec TLX from Acura? Haven't found one yet at a dealer lot nor on the road.

andres3

sandman_6472 said:

Got the text from a neighbor at about 1:30, power back on. Just got back to hotel after driving home, turning on air, checking the damage, doing some cleanup. Garage door had some screws come out so will have to had that checked. Have to make a list of what we need to get from insurance now. Since we were already charged for tonight's stay, came back to hotel to enjoy the room. Great hotel in Miami, a Cambria, from the Choice Hotel group. Gave us a great handicap room so a two room suite, the guy on the phone did a fantastic job getting us in here. Seems someone canceled right when he checked availability and scooped it up for us within seconds, totally amazing. He definitely earned his pay that day and helped to ease my hurricane anxiety!
Back to work Friday and normal life!!! Thank you G-d!!

The Sandman

(P.S. Wife insisted on taking the A3 down to hotel so when we left the house earlier, she needed some petrol. About 60% of the stations are back online so after passing a few that were empty, found an open Valero. Turns out all they had was high test but put $10 in and was full again.)

What is high test gas?

suydam

I'm assuming premium.

cdnpinhead

Premium, from the 1950s.

xwesx

Mr_Shiftright said:

I read somewhere that something like 3 out of 10 buyers never test drive the car they buy.

I frequently don't test drive the actual car I buy, but I typically test drive the model. In fact, I think that six of my purchases have been that way, and two (the VAG products) I had never even driven the make before, let alone the model!

Sandman6472

Just walked in, water damage a little worse than we thought. Working to dry it up now. Crazy, but Audi is up & running, have a 2:30 appointment for an oil change! They're up and operating so off anyways today, so why not! Life sure is crazy ain't it!!
Garage door won't reboot itself, neighbor came over and with instructions in hand, no go. Had already called guy who installed it last year and waiting to hear back from him to get it up and running. A Genie belt driven model, so will just keep the vehicles outside till it's back online. No big deal thought our last two Craftmen's chain driven were so easy to get operating again, if I could do it, it's gotta be easy as I'm in no way mechanically inclined!
Texted work, am finally home and cleaning up, will report tomorrow at 8 a m. He was cool, said take care of our affairs, get things in order, then come back. Nice that some bosses do have empathy for others!

The Sandman