Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

qbrozen

stickguy said:

not sure if the price is good/bad/indifferent, but at least the miles are good. But mostly, I love this color combo. If it was a stick I might buy it! http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2009-bmw-3_series-certified_328i_xdrive_awd_xenons_navigation-used-17857370.html

No interior pics, but looks really nice. Love the color and the miles. No sport pack would be a deal killer for me; I can't tolerate the base seats. Price wouldn't be bad for a regular lot but is a bit dear for a no-haggle place. Even if they lost their minds over it and it was perfect, they paid no more than $8k.

stickguy

I need to actually really try out the base seats. Always seemed fine to me on test sits and short drives.

No clue how long that one will last on the lot. Probably not very.

graphicguy

roadburner said:

sda said:

Question for my CCBA test drive experts. I have become more and more hesitant to test drive a car unless I am really in the market. This wasn't always the case. I try to respect that if I am test driving a car and don't intend to buy then I am wasting the sales person's time and their ability to earn a living. When you test drive a car, how do you approach the sales person asking to test drive and afterwards, do you just say you want to think about it? Do you give them your contact info, such as your cell phone# or email address? I am interested in the diplomatic strategy you employ.

Don't bother the dealer on weekends- go during the week when things aren't as hectic. Tell the salesperson up front that you aren't in the market today. When I worked at BMW I didn't mind giving test drives to buyers who weren't intending to buy in the near future. A few changed their mind after the test drive, and most came back and purchased/leased a car. At a minimum give them an email address.
Outside of the luxury/performance marques you may well find that you'll get a high-pressure sales pitch no matter what you tell them; one reason I only deal with certain brands and dealers.

Good. I’ve found the same to be true of my BMW dealer when I request a test drive. Same with my Acura dealer (as I mentioned I did a test drive of a new RDX recently). They know I’m a potential customer, either today, or tomorrow. This is actually true of my Honda guy, too.

That said, all of the sales guys at the dealership have been there for years and know me by name.

Nissan, Toyota, even the Cadillac buy (who was the sales manager), come and go quickly. They employ the “must buy now” sales strategy that most of us abhor.

Seperate note, had a guy call me, who is the son of a friend of mine. He’s just out of the service and wanted to come and do a demo for me, no obligation. Out of respect for his parents, I agreed.

I didn’t even ask what he wanted to demo. Ends up being Cutco knives. Nice kid (I think he’s 19 or 20?). Door to door sales is tough. Knives seemed very nice. But, for the price they are ($1,000 for a set) and given I’m an empty nester, I count I would ever require anything like that. I tried to tell him I wasn’t his target customer....far from it. He needed a stay at home Mom or Dad who perpares and cooks nearly every meal at home. That’s not me...not by a long shot.

Interestingly enough, he asked me for references, which given I didn’t buy anything, I thought was a bit nervy. He said that’s how Cutco fleshes out leads. He gets $15 if he makes an appointment, but didn’t sell anything.

He works 9a to 7p, 6 days a week. He’s either calling people to set up demos, traveling to demos or actually doing demos (which took about ½ hour)

Wished him luck. I don’t know of ANY door to door sales people who do the job very long. But, I guess he’s getting valuable experience.

To add insult to injury, he came back and knocked on my door about 20 minutes after he left asking if I had a jack. Apparently, he got a flat about ½ mile from my house. I don’t have a jack because my TLX didn’t come with a spare.

I did have some “fix a flat” in my garage, though. He took it and started walking. I told him to hold tight, and I’d give him a ride. Got to his car, a well worn Corolla with 200K+ miles and shaky tires (at best). Filled the tire as best we could. Couldn’t see any obvious source of the leak. But, I told him I’d follow him to the nearest service place just to make sure he got there.

I was going to stick around, but I had conference calls I needed to be on and didn’t have time. His mother called me a couple of hours later, thanking me for my help. She said he doesn’t want to live at her home and doesn’t want a traditional job (nothing wrong with that), but doesn’t quite get the whole “sales” career, either. Apparently, he’s barely breaking even given his out of pocket expenses to do door to door sales. Aside from the service (which apparently he got a discharge before his time was done....not sure how or why that happened), he doesn’t have any relevant work experience.

Tough situation all the way around. Job market seems to be good, but somehow he’s falling through the cracks.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

not sure if the price is good/bad/indifferent, but at least the miles are good. But mostly, I love this color combo. If it was a stick I might buy it! http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2009-bmw-3_series-certified_328i_xdrive_awd_xenons_navigation-used-17857370.html

No interior pics, but looks really nice. Love the color and the miles. No sport pack would be a deal killer for me; I can't tolerate the base seats. Price wouldn't be bad for a regular lot but is a bit dear for a no-haggle place. Even if they lost their minds over it and it was perfect, they paid no more than $8k.

That paint in in incredible shape.  Look at the depth in that color!  Very pretty.

28firefighter

It’s a shame he isn’t willing to entertain a traditional job to start. A couple friends-of-friends just got out and were inundated with interviews and offers - one was back in town a week, went on 6 interviews and started work the following week. Seems many of the banks, retail chains, and other big companies have management training/rotation programs specially designed for vets. 

As an aside, my wife sold Cutco knives as a summer job one year in high school. She made an absolute killing. 

kyfdx

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

not sure if the price is good/bad/indifferent, but at least the miles are good.

But mostly, I love this color combo. If it was a stick I might buy it!

http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2009-bmw-3_series-certified_328i_xdrive_awd_xenons_navigation-used-17857370.html

No interior pics, but looks really nice. Love the color and the miles. No sport pack would be a deal killer for me; I can't tolerate the base seats. Price wouldn't be bad for a regular lot but is a bit dear for a no-haggle place. Even if they lost their minds over it and it was perfect, they paid no more than $8k.

That paint in in incredible shape.  Look at the depth in that color!  Very pretty.

That Saddle Brown interior is pretty stunning. Amazing that they didn't include pics of that. My wife has that in her X3. It's way better than the old "Sand" interior. Black carpets and dash really set it off, too.

au1994

Same approach with me. “Just looking” test drives during the week if at all possible. Doing it on my lunch is great if the dealer is convenient. Built in excuse for a quick in and out.

Once I decide, I do as much of the negotiation on line as possible so that its straight to the finance office. On 2 occasions I’ve gone in to close the deal on a weekday and that is MUCH better than doing it on a packed Saturday when they are 5 deep in finance.

I try not to deal with anyone who won’t negotiate via email, text etc. If I have been in, driven the car and been responsive to their outreach I think I’ve showed good faith. I’ve backed away from several who insist that I “come on down and lets talk”.

stickguy

For our upcoming Jetta purchase (lease) we already visited the 2 logical dealers to get it from, and talked to a sales guy that now knows us as pending customers (definitely buying something in August). And got test drives out of the way. The rest, I can do via email and text when the time comes. Hoping to avoid in person grinding!

Easy on lease. X car, $y at inception, what’s the monthly payment? Whichever one meets our target first, gets the sale. Easy Peazy.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

not sure if the price is good/bad/indifferent, but at least the miles are good.

But mostly, I love this color combo. If it was a stick I might buy it!

http://www.eimports4less.com/detail-2009-bmw-3_series-certified_328i_xdrive_awd_xenons_navigation-used-17857370.html

No interior pics, but looks really nice. Love the color and the miles. No sport pack would be a deal killer for me; I can't tolerate the base seats. Price wouldn't be bad for a regular lot but is a bit dear for a no-haggle place. Even if they lost their minds over it and it was perfect, they paid no more than $8k.

I agree on the non-sport seats- they are miserable. No back up camera? Well, it does have three mirrors. No CarPlay? No Android Auto? Yawn. When I worked at BMW I found that even the most rabid disciples of the Church of St. Jobs weren't all that impressed with CarPlay.

28firefighter

I do find CarPlay to be useful for two reasons: (1) Much easier interface for using Spotify and Pandora, and (2) Waze will be coming which beats the socks off any in-car Nav.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

I do find CarPlay to be useful for two reasons: (1) Much easier interface for using Spotify and Pandora, and (2) Waze will be coming which beats the socks off any in-car Nav.

We'll see with Waze, but, as it sits now, I find no useful difference between my carplay-equipped truck and the wife's standard unit. I plug into both cars through the USB and have my phone on a magnetic mount on the nearest vent. I play Amazon music through the stereo and Waze showing on the phone's screen. What is displayed on the car's head unit itself is simply what song is playing. Steering wheel controls can skip songs in both instances, as well. The only thing I like better on carplay is the texting notifications and interface. Not exactly something I can't live without.

corvette

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

Mr_Shiftright

Well they'll learn it one way or the other.

ab348

corvette said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

My buddy's GMC Canyon does that with texts as well. It is pretty trippy when you're driving along and then hear the system go "boop" and follow with something his wife has texted to him, though in my time it has always been mundane stuff and nothing of a personal nature. Unfortunately.

ab348

graphicguy said:

(Sad door to door sales story snipped)

His mother called me a couple of hours later, thanking me for my help. She said he doesn’t want to live at her home and doesn’t want a traditional job (nothing wrong with that), but doesn’t quite get the whole “sales” career, either. Apparently, he’s barely breaking even given his out of pocket expenses to do door to door sales. Aside from the service (which apparently he got a discharge before his time was done....not sure how or why that happened), he doesn’t have any relevant work experience.

Tough situation all the way around. Job market seems to be good, but somehow he’s falling through the cracks.

Sounds very similar to my buddy's son who is the same age. He was always a great kid, very talented in terms of art and drawing from a young age, I thought he had a future in that. Always did great in school too. But when he finished high school things changed. He tried a college program for a while, quit. Tried a vocational school, quit. Really has no idea what he wants. Spent the last couple of years delivering pizzas. Said at one point that he wanted to be an over-the-road truck driver but wasn't sure he could handle being away all the time. My buddy revealed that after high school the kid got into smoking weed with his friends in a big way and he thinks that is the cause of all the starts/stops and really is all he wants to do now. Drug tests in the trucking industry mean he has no future there as long as the weed habit continues. Sad.

nyccarguy

ab348 said:

corvette said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

My buddy's GMC Canyon does that with texts as well. It is pretty trippy when you're driving along and then hear the system go "boop" and follow with something his wife has texted to him, though in my time it has always been mundane stuff and nothing of a personal nature. Unfortunately.

I'm not so much worried about what my wife says via text being broadcast via apple car play as I am with some group texts I have with a few friends while my kids are in the car.

stickguy

you should be able to turn that off. When I have car play running, it shows a text came in, but I have to ask to have it read. does not just happen.

CarPlay will also be getting Google Maps soon. That is what I prefer to use. And really like having the navi integrated into the car head unit and system. I don't like to have my phone on a vent mount or stuck to the windshield.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

ab348 said:

corvette said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

My buddy's GMC Canyon does that with texts as well. It is pretty trippy when you're driving along and then hear the system go "boop" and follow with something his wife has texted to him, though in my time it has always been mundane stuff and nothing of a personal nature. Unfortunately.

I'm not so much worried about what my wife says via text being broadcast via apple car play as I am with some group texts I have with a few friends while my kids are in the car.

Since I have Siri set up with a female Australian accent, all my texts sounds like Nicole Kidman is reading them.

qbrozen

mine definitely does not read them automatically. that would be incredibly annoying.

corvette

nyccarguy said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

My buddy's GMC Canyon does that with texts as well. It is pretty trippy when you're driving along and then hear the system go "boop" and follow with something his wife has texted to him, though in my time it has always been mundane stuff and nothing of a personal nature. Unfortunately.

I'm not so much worried about what my wife says via text being broadcast via apple car play as I am with some group texts I have with a few friends while my kids are in the car.

A group text I’m in with people at work is definitely worse than R-rated. A lot of it is memes in photo format, though. 

Michaell

qbrozen said:

mine definitely does not read them automatically. that would be incredibly annoying.

Me, either. I have to specifically tell the app to read my texts.

roadburner

corvette said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

I was demonstrating to a customer how her new 3 Series could access Siri to read texts. The first new text on her iPhone was a weepy message from her ex-boyfriend begging to get back together.
I didn't do that again...

pensfan83

Laughed out loud at that one.....so akward.

nyccarguy

roadburner said:

corvette said:

Saw my parents’ neighbors at a funeral a few days ago. The wife has a newer Sierra pickup. They are foster parents and she was complaining that she and the husband often exchange “texts of a personal nature” and that the truck converts the text to speech and reads them with the kids inside. 

I was demonstrating to a customer how her new 3 Series could access Siri to read texts. The first new text on her iPhone was a weepy message from her ex-boyfriend begging to get back together.
I didn't do that again...

HA! You should have demonstrated the proper way to respond!

roadburner

Fortunately she thought the whole thing was funny...

tjc78

We have a set of Cutco knives. They are pretty nice, but once dull as bad as any other knife. You can send them back to Cutco and they will recondition them to like new for free.

henryn

tjc78 said:

We have a set of Cutco knives. They are pretty nice, but once dull as bad as any other knife. You can send them back to Cutco and they will recondition them to like new for free.

And well they should, for that price. I think I mentioned before that I sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door-to-door for a while when I was in college. That was one of their selling points, lifetime warranty. The guy I worked for had a storefront, and he was always happy to fix a Kirby for anyone who walked in. He claimed (rightfully, I would think) that was the absolute best form of advertising. Anyone for whom he fixed an old Kirby was going to tell their friends / relatives / co-workers.

Sears used to do that with their Craftsman tools. You could put a cheater pipe on a Craftsman ratchet, break that sucker in two, and Sears would replace it with a brand new one, no questions asked. They quit doing that about 30 or 35 years ago, and I quit buying Craftsman tools.

corvette

Sears replaced a broken flathead screwdriver for me a couple years back. It broke because I was using it as a pry bar. 

Mr_Shiftright

Don't you know that a screwdriver is actually mean to be a thumb-stabber? Please use tools for their ordained purpose!

breld

28firefighter

I think this was a wise move, personally. Congrats, @breld!

stickguy

is that the one that when last seen, was at 7K delta and you wanted to be at 5?

If I decide to flip my 2018 Elantra soon, with only 6-7K on it, I will point to you as the excuse (you never would have lasted this long).

corvette

Contgrats, breld! Is that a 2018? Miles and trim level? I need to update the list...

suydam

That was quick! Congrats!

benjaminh

Congrats!

breld

Thanks all.

It's a 2018 Prestige w/10k miles. CPO. Ink Blue over the gray interior.

The Prestige comes well loaded with things like heads-up display, soft close doors, ventilated seats and all the safety stuff. This one also has the adaptive chassis package, which includes 4 wheel steering. All the car mags tout how great the adaptive suspension is, but it's a $4,000 option, so it tends to be fairly rare, and I don''t think I would have sprung for it when I was thinking of buying new. So something like that is a real bonus to find on a used example.

@stickguy - yes, $7k difference and I wanted to be at $5k. I spent the better part of the afternoon with the salesman at a different Audi dealer that I had worked with a few months ago (when I ended up buying the LR). This salesperson is awesome - very transparent. He didn't have anything used that fit the bill, but he pulled the invoices on a couple of new ones, and was adamant they could offer one at invoice less incentives, of which there was $2,000 plus up to $1,100 of first payment covered. So, $3,000 effectively off invoice would have been enticing and not far off of the used one.

But...they couldn't come close to the trade offer from the other Audi dealer with my CPO one. They were like $7-8k below auction, and the other Audi dealer was right at auction value. My salesperson of course said he'd love to sell me the Q7, but with where they were coming in at on trade, he actually encouraged me to go get the CPO one at the other dealer. He said it was a very solid offer.

I did attempt to get at least a bit more off of the deal on the CPO, but they stood strong as they did last week, and given the validation from my salesperson, I happily agreed.

breld

After driving the Q7 home this evening, all I can say is that I apparently really wanted to try out something new and against the grain with the Discovery, 'cause now it seems like a no-brainer. The Audi is sublime, with a wonderful mix of sport and luxury. The claims that it mimics a sports sedan are accurate.

I didn't realize until recently that the 3.0T in the Q7 is the "old" supercharged V6 like in my old S4 and SQ5, as opposed to the current turbo engine in the current S4/S5/SQ5. I love that engine - virtually no lag (which is world's different from the diesel in the Discovery). And in Dynamic mode, the responsiveness is enhanced, and with the adaptive suspension, the car lowers a bit for presumably better handling.

28firefighter

Cool truck, @breld!

pensfan83

Very cool. Enjoy @breld!

Michaell

Congrats, @breld. Hope I get to see it tomorrow.

(we are heading to cars and coffee in the morning)

tifighter

Nice work @breld enjoy! All moves considered, you do keep coming back to Audi...

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

Congrats, @breld. Hope I get to see it tomorrow.

(we are heading to cars and coffee in the morning)

Cars and coffee? He's going to bring the Prius

tjc78

Congrats!

nyccarguy

@breld

Congrats Bruce All Mighty! I dig the dark blue (ALMOST Black) on your Q7. Enjoy!

nyccarguy

"All the car mags tout how great the adaptive suspension is"
"I don''t think I would have sprung for it"

mjfloyd1

Wow @breld that looks nice. Ink blue sure looks black. 

Out of curiosity, what was auction value on Disco?

tjc78

stickguy said:

is that the one that when last seen, was at 7K delta and you wanted to be at 5?

If I decide to flip my 2018 Elantra soon, with only 6-7K on it, I will point to you as the excuse (you never would have lasted this long).

My wife gave me the green light to replace my Elantra whenever.... I’m just too buried. I’m riding it out. It goes back right when my older son is done with paid childcare. That’s $600 / month extra cash flow.

I’ve really been digging trucks lately. When it’s time going to see about some killer leases on one of the domestic quad cabs... then when the Enclave goes back get the wife either a car or something smaller like RDX size.

Of course all this is subject to change.

benjaminh

@breld : When you get the chance we'd enjoy seeing some interior pix of your new Audi. ++

ab348

Well, @breld , that was predictable but still I am impressed with the speed at which the change occurred. I like the choice. While I am by no means in your class, I am a firm believer that it makes sense to dump a vehicle which makes you unhappy and to do it as soon as possible.

kyfdx

@breld Really nice!