Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

28firefighter

nyccarguy said:

Has anybody heard from @graphicguy ?

Was just wondering that. Hope all is OK. 

kyfdx

It's pollen season in Cincinnati.. probably can't type for all of the sneezing.

thebean

Same with @sandman_6472.  Haven't heard from him either.

qbrozen

As my wife listened to our motorcycle shopping experience, she said "huh. Maybe you should get a motorcycle if you'll continue teaching."
whoa!

stickguy

sure she did not mean instead of a new car when the F150 goes back?

qbrozen

stickguy said:

sure she did not mean instead of a new car when the F150 goes back?

Oh, that's totally what she meant. Ha.
But to keep the Dodge, too. And we know I'll swap that for something else pretty soon.

tjc78

kyfdx said:

It's pollen season in Cincinnati.. probably can't type for all of the sneezing.

He cruises a lot, maybe he is on vacation. 

pensfan83

With one day left the blue Integra is at $2,600 and based on some of the others which sold through BaT I would guess it lands between $7,000 and $8,000 and that still won't hit the reserve. I would take a flyer on it at $5,000....maybe $5,500 but I know that won't get it done. One family ownership w/service records is appealing and it's also on the east coast so no shipping is involved.

What's funny is my wife didn't seem terribly opposed to the idea...mostly just questions about where it gets parked, whether car seats would fit in the back, confirmation this wouldn't nix our plan to replace her car near the end of this year or in early 2019, and of course "why".

nyccarguy

pensfan83 said:

With one day left the blue Integra is at $2,600 and based on some of the others which sold through BaT I would guess it lands between $7,000 and $8,000 and that still won't hit the reserve. I would take a flyer on it at $5,000....maybe $5,500 but I know that won't get it done. One family ownership w/service records is appealing and it's also on the east coast so no shipping is involved.

What's funny is my wife didn't seem terribly opposed to the idea...mostly just questions about where it gets parked, whether car seats would fit in the back, confirmation this wouldn't nix our plan to replace her car near the end of this year or in early 2019, and of course "why".

It gets parked in the garage, forward facing car seats will fit in the back, why not?

28firefighter

DO IT

andres3

28firefighter said:

So the person selling the 350z reached out to me - he had a delay getting it on the market, but it's still available. The option there I had been thinking about was leasing a Forester XT Premium for DD duty and getting a fun third car.

It seems like a great idea, in theory, but I have no idea when I'd drive a third car...

Weekend warriors. And weekend mornings are best. You have to wake up early and sneak out of the house

I still drive my fun car once a week to work. Sometimes I can take the fun detour route home.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

Really? Are you thinking of the Type R? I'm seeing these all over the place in CA for $5K

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/d/2000-acura-integra-gsr-2-door/6578395036.html

Something about "oxidation" "easily removed by clay bar" bothers me. If it was easy to do, why hasn't it already been done prior to sale?

Never shifted after 3K RPM is hilarious too. That's actually a bad thing for a Honda.

andres3

I love emails like this; made my day!

Hi Andres:

More good news, in addition to granting a change of venue, the Judge vacated the Civil Assessment fees and the clerk issued the abstract.

The Court set a new arraignment date for June 11, 2018 at 8:15a.m. in Dept. B of the Kearny Mesa Courthouse.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service. If we have served you well, please leave positive remarks on AVVO or Yelp. Thanks.

___________________

Kearny Mesa is the County Seat for Traffic Court in San Diego County.

fintail

A GSR isn't a type R, that's like comparing an old E430 to an E55.

A claybar also won't impact oxidation - that needs a strong cut and polish, and crossed fingers that the patina isn't permanent.

Mr_Shiftright

That's a clear coated car--it doesn't "oxidize"--it just deteriorates.

28firefighter

I’ve either made the most amazing decision ever, or the worst. Stay tuned. 

Drive home was uneventful. It has a lot of power. It just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling. 

tifighter

FWIW, one of my closest friends has had a black Viggen coupe for something like 13 years. I think it now has well north of 150k miles and he’s had no real issues with it. So there’s that.

tbirdmarco

 20 firefighter can’t keep me in suspense like this hopefully when I check back here tonight please tell your story and what you ended up buying replace the Benz ha ha 

tbirdmarco

Lol lol lol

au1994

28firefighter said:

I’ve either made the most amazing decision ever, or the worst. Stay tuned. 

Drive home was uneventful. It has a lot of power. It just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling. 

Pics of the Swedish bundle of joy would be a great distraction from my work day.

ronsteve

au1994 said:

28firefighter said:

I’ve either made the most amazing decision ever, or the worst. Stay tuned. 

Drive home was uneventful. It has a lot of power. It just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling. 

Pics of the Swedish bundle of joy would be a great distraction from my work day.

So was it the Viggen? The European way of turbocharging has spoiled me since 2007, after I got a taste of it in a Saab test-drive in '05 and a Volvo rental in '06.

qbrozen

no moonroof, so stickguy won't want it, but here goes anyway:
https://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/d/2001-bmw-325xi-wagon-original/6586014648.html

2.0T 6-speed shouldn't be too bad for reliability... maybe. Do worry about the "quarto" system, though. I think that means you keep adding quarts of oil.
https://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/d/2006-audi-a4-quarto-130k/6570585384.html

And here is a sharp looking toy. Price is pretty darned dear for those miles, though.
https://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/d/bmw-330ci-5-speed-runs-great/6563261239.html

ab348

qbrozen said:

no moonroof, so stickguy won't want it, but here goes anyway:
https://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/d/2001-bmw-325xi-wagon-original/6586014648.html

Wanna bet?

kyfdx

Wow.. look at that red leather!

Sport package is nice, but no HIDs is a bummer in a 3-Series with that option level.

stickguy

I love the color on that wagon. One of my favorites. Steel blue I think? Black interior let’s it down. For the right car I could overlook the roof issue.

I would actually prefer RWD though on that vintage. And of course sport package, or at least premium.

Nice interior on the coupe. Audi looks nice, but not with those miles!

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I love the color on that wagon. One of my favorites. Steel blue I think? Black interior let’s it down. For the right car I could overlook the roof issue.

I would actually prefer RWD though on that vintage. And of course sport package, or at least premium.

Nice interior on the coupe. Audi looks nice, but not with those miles!

RWD E46 wagons are like hen's teeth.

qbrozen

would be interested to know which is rarer: any RWD wagon or the AWD with manual trans.

nyccarguy

I like that Silver/Red 330ci! Same year as my Prelude with similar miles. Did it donate the right kidney to another E46 Coupe? That's some serious miles & age for a $4,995 car. The seats look BRAND NEW ( I wonder if they are from another car)

28firefighter

Pictures to come later today - I got in last night after it was dark and I'm tied up in meetings today.

I did put a pad down in the garage last night to see how bad it's leaking. It isn't awful, but it is going to bother me, so my plan is to get it in to the Saab shop next week to get the valve cover gasket and bunch of other stuff handled while they're in there (timing chain, tensioner, etc.).

I also need to order a few small odds and ends for trim and get the car really detailed.

nyccarguy

I need to be talked off the ledge here people. I've got a myriad of upcoming and (long) overdue home improvement projects. New Deck. Furniture for the New Deck. Driveway needs to be ripped up and redone.

There are a few ways I can go about this.
1. Save up the money and pay for it when I can afford it (What a concept, but I'm not very good at this)
2. Take out a HELOC, deduct the interest from my taxes, & pay it back (I'm VERY good at paying loans back)
3. I got a nice tax refund this year. I put down $10,500 on our 2017 Pilot Touring AWD (7,500 Miles) and $3,500 down on my 2015 Infinit Q40 last year (30,000 miles) last year. I'm wondering if I can trade in these 2 cars and lease 3 cars for (15,000 miles per year, 15,000 miles per year, & 10,000 miles per year) for less than the $1,134 per month I'm paying now and walk away with a $14,000 check. I know, lots of moving parts and most likely not worth it. Maybe a Q50, Grand Cherokee, & Pacifica. You get the idea.

I'll most likely go with the HELOC & start paying more towards it once the Q40 is paid off in less than 2 years.

28firefighter

A Q50 will be in the 300s (unless you catch the timing right), Grand Cherokee will be low 400s, and Pacifica will be low-mid 400s depending on your option choice (I'm assuming not stripped). It's technically doable, but that sounds like a lot of work and there is no room for error.

Is your HELOC actually going to fall under the limit to deduct?

suydam

Few people are going to be able to make the HELOC deduction work going forward. And the interest rates are higher than in the past. Ours from a credit Union is 3.7. And it’s hard to earn more interest on that short term to justify it. I did decide to take out a HELOC for my bathroom remodel, but I’m planning to pay it off within 3 years and am using the HELOC as a short term convenience.
Keeping the cars you have is probably the most economical option. Is it the fun one?
Well . . .

qbrozen

I heard a radio commercial just this morn for a Pacifica Touring L lease for $199/mo with $3300 or so down. That should work out to roughly $350/mo all in? I believe they said 24 mo "low mileage" lease.

28firefighter

qbrozen said:

I heard a radio commercial just this morn for a Pacifica Touring L lease for $199/mo with $3300 or so down. That should work out to roughly $350/mo all in? I believe they said 24 mo "low mileage" lease.

Is that the top tier trim? If so, that's pretty good - probably before taxes and fees etc. I'm just going by what I've seen on leasehackr and I'd be surprised if after all the song and dance it was under 400 month with zero down.

qbrozen

no, not top tier. That's like $39k MSRP. And probably 10k/yr.

pensfan83

When we refinanced in 2013 we took out a HELOC that we've used strictly for household improvements, including our now underway deck project. That's financing the bulk of the project but we also are applying this year's tax refund since we try to be diligent about keeping the utilization under 60%.

The idea of juggling cars and trying to get ones that have low lease payments relative to MSRP is tricky. You have to be willing to compromise on features, brand, etc. As @28firefighter said it's feasible but sometimes finding one unicorn lease is exhausting enough let alone 3.

stickguy

Would work better to keep it to 2 cars. But almost positive that $ wise, over the next 3 years, you will be way ahead keeping what you got and doing the HELOC to cover any ST gaps.

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

Would work better to keep it to 2 cars. But almost positive that $ wise, over the next 3 years, you will be way ahead keeping what you got and doing the HELOC to cover any ST gaps.

Plus the fact that I am very happy with the fleet right now. Drove the Pilot to work today. Nice and smooth. Adaptive cruise works so well!

carnaught

@nyccarguy, not to mention the big disadvantage of end of lease disposal fees.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

would be interested to know which is rarer: any RWD wagon or the AWD with manual trans.

That might be close.. But, I'll guess it's the RWD part that is rarer.

kyfdx

nyccarguy said:

stickguy said:

Would work better to keep it to 2 cars. But almost positive that $ wise, over the next 3 years, you will be way ahead keeping what you got and doing the HELOC to cover any ST gaps.

Plus the fact that I am very happy with the fleet right now. Drove the Pilot to work today. Nice and smooth. Adaptive cruise works so well!

I wouldn't factor the HELOC interest being deductible into the equation. You might already hit the $10K max for SALT, anyway.

But, selling and buying new cars is never going to be a net financial positive. If you want it now, just borrow the money for it.

pensfan83

~3.5 hours left on the Integra auction and it's currently sitting at $3,500. I have the wife's blessing and found a decently priced one way flight to Charlottesville via PHL. I wouldn't be surprised to see a flurry of activity closer to end time but there's a fair amount of corrosion on the rims and some of the body mishaps aren't surface scratches either so maybe it comes in lower than what I expect.

Should I do this?

28firefighter

I just bought a 16 year old orphaned european car. I'm a terrible person to go by right now. That said...DO IT. DO IT NOW.

tifighter

Has it cleared reserve? I didn't read through the whole thing...

Mr_Shiftright

kyfdx said:

Wow.. look at that red leather!

Sport package is nice, but no HIDs is a bummer in a 3-Series with that option level.

But would you really kick a good deal just because of HIDs?

Mr_Shiftright

28firefighter said:

I just bought a 16 year old orphaned european car. I'm a terrible person to go by right now. That said...DO IT. DO IT NOW.

I buy problem cars all the time--often, they are the most interesting. I compensate for the inevitable problems by buying them right.


The value of a car is not in the Sell, but in the Buy.

pensfan83

tifighter said:

Has it cleared reserve? I didn't read through the whole thing...

No idea. BaT doesn't share that information but I'm fairly certain the answer is no.

jpp75

pensfan83 said:

~3.5 hours left on the Integra auction and it's currently sitting at $3,500. I have the wife's blessing and found a decently priced one way flight to Charlottesville via PHL. I wouldn't be surprised to see a flurry of activity closer to end time but there's a fair amount of corrosion on the rims and some of the body mishaps aren't surface scratches either so maybe it comes in lower than what I expect.

Should I do this?

YES!

xwesx

pensfan83 said:

tifighter said:

Has it cleared reserve? I didn't read through the whole thing...

No idea. BaT doesn't share that information but I'm fairly certain the answer is no.

And, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if it ever hits reserve. If you set a realistic price cap for yourself, worst case scenario is that you own a car that fell within that cap.

Mr_Shiftright

BAT does try, I have been told, to regulate the reserve that is set to one that is realistic.