Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

a convertible stick shift sports car, for an AT like mini-wagon. I just can't get my head around that swap.

One of the risks of adulthood.

kyfdx

xwesx said:

kyfdx said:

corvette said:

@kyfdx I think the reason we see so few solar installations here is that the numbers don’t work, as we have some of the cheapest electric rates in the country. There’s less allure to making it “free” if your electric bill is only $60 a month to begin with. 

Yeah, $124 last month for gas and electric, combined.

Wow. Just.... wow. My electric was something like $230 last month, and that's a lot lower than it gets during the heart of winter (when other things, like vehicle block heaters and additional lighting, are in the mix). Heating fuel is another $1,800 or so annually.

Temperate weather in March/April. No A/C, yet, and the heat is natural gas, so it's efficient.

Natural gas hot water heater, so with no A/C, just appliances and lighting for the electric. (plus a toothbrush.. lol)

henryn

Mr_Shiftright said:

stickguy said:

a convertible stick shift sports car, for an AT like mini-wagon. I just can't get my head around that swap.

One of the risks of adulthood.

Breld -- adulthood -- surely you jest?

nyccarguy

xwesx said:

What is the light blue versus dark blue in the stacked bars?

I have dual inverters.

Also, if you compare your electric usage and can demonstrate the net gain (which I would be shocked if there wasn't a net gain), I would think that to be a very strong argument to the government drones that they should rethink their policies regarding net usage.

Not totally sure what you mean, but my meter is a 2-way meter, so the net is reflected in my bill. Believe it or not, it doesn't quite cover my usage. Last month, my bill was $2.83. Even with the pool and AC units in the middle of summer, I believe my biggest bill was under $120. But, in a month like that, I produce nearly 1800 kWH, which then equates to about $380 in SREC value when I sell them on the open market. SOOO... I get $380, pay the electric company $120, and pay about $350 on the solar loan. So that's a net of $90 out of my pocket for August. Not bad at all. And, after the loan is paid, the system can be EARNING me money.

Oh, I thought that Bradd mentioned that he cannot sell back any surplus (e.g., the lowest his electric bill can be is zero), so I thought that applied to you as well. Still, yes, pretty sweet deal that you can pay a net of $90 in a single month. Shocking how much usage you have, but I think that just goes with the territory (e.g., high demand electric devices and overall space).

The laws vary from state to state.  I leased my solar panels for 20 years.  I think @qbrozen bought his.

nyccarguy

tifighter said:

We will probably produce about 7400 kWh this year, which would have covered about 86% of our usage last year. Clearly, this year the usage number will rise.

My wife likes the idea of owning/leasing an electric car one day.  For either one of us, range isn’t a problem because I’d probably be neurotic and charge up every night.

28firefighter

Well. Another wrench in the 28FF house. Wife’s company closed unexpectedly today. If April could just go ahead and end, I’d be very grateful. 

sda

That’s awful and very upsetting. I wish your family all the best.

fintail

Yikes. At least you're in a good job market, I am sure something will come up in no time. Fingers crossed.

nyccarguy

28firefighter said:

Well. Another wrench in the 28FF house. Wife’s company closed unexpectedly today. If April could just go ahead and end, I’d be very grateful. 

Ouch!  So sorry to hear!

pensfan83

Hang in there @28firefighter, things will turn around.

qbrozen

28firefighter said:

Well. Another wrench in the 28FF house. Wife’s company closed unexpectedly today. If April could just go ahead and end, I’d be very grateful. 

Good grief. Yes, April has been wretched. My wife is likely out of a job before end of month, as well. 

stickguy

damn. that sucks for both of you. I don't trust my company much right now, but hopefully does not get that bad.

and also hope they both find something even better quickly.

at this point, I just want to stagger over the retirement finish line in one piece.

Michaell

@28firefighter - you've got lots of friends here, and we have lots of contacts. Let us know how we can help.

You will survive this.

28firefighter

Thanks all. She is super talented and no doubt will land on her feet in short order. Just has to figure out what she wants to do next. 

What I talked to her about tonight was if she could do anything, anywhere, what would it be?  My job is portable so I can go wherever she lands a gig. 

Luckily we have savings and my decent income stream, so I’m not overly stressed...yet. Ask me again in 2-3 months when tuition is due...

xwesx

28firefighter said:

Well. Another wrench in the 28FF house. Wife’s company closed unexpectedly today. If April could just go ahead and end, I’d be very grateful. 

Never good news. You'll pull through stronger on the other end, though. Hang in there!

tifighter

@28firefighter hang in there and you guys will get past this. And start charging for your lease advice; it’s worth it

xwesx

28firefighter said:

Thanks all. She is super talented and no doubt will land on her feet in short order. Just has to figure out what she wants to do next..

These things often have a way of working out to be "for the best" in the end. She'll likely not only land on her feet, but hit the ground running in a better direction, too! This sort of jolt is stressful and unwelcome today, yet it is still just another 24 hours of a story still in the making.

28firefighter

tifighter said:

@28firefighter hang in there and you guys will get past this. And start charging for your lease advice; it’s worth it

Silly Washington laws would require me to become a dealer. Which means finding commercial space, business hours, storage lot, etc. 

au1994

28firefighter said:

Well. Another wrench in the 28FF house. Wife’s company closed unexpectedly today. If April could just go ahead and end, I’d be very grateful. 

Well that sucks. That must be a terrible feeling when it comes out of the blue like that.

rayainsw

28firefighter -
Bummer - sorry to hear that !
- Ray
Been there. Survived. Not pleasant ...

roadburner

28firefighter said:

Thanks all. She is super talented and no doubt will land on her feet in short order. Just has to figure out what she wants to do next. 

What I talked to her about tonight was if she could do anything, anywhere, what would it be?  My job is portable so I can go wherever she lands a gig. 

Luckily we have savings and my decent income stream, so I’m not overly stressed...yet. Ask me again in 2-3 months when tuition is due...

Here’s hoping you get things resolved quickly. 

tjc78

@28firefighter
Echoing the others.. hope this works out quickly for you and your wife

graphicguy

pensfan83 said:

Since we have some Ohioans here.

https://jalopnik.com/you-will-soon-no-longer-need-a-front-license-plate-in-o-1834254595

About time. That said, I’ve not used a front plate in probably over a decade.

graphicguy

rayainsw said:

The Tesla story reminds my of my IBM mainframe days.
To 'upgrade' a 3090 involved a technician & about 10 minutes -
presto!
- Ray
That was in the 1980s . . .

Memories......cut my coding chops on VAX 11/780s. Moved to 64-bit work on the DEC Alpha chipset architecture. My iPhone has more compute power.

graphicguy

@28firefighter ...sorry to hear about your wife’s company. Sure she (and you) will be OK...as mentioned, job market is strong.

I’m pretty firmly entrenched, but I still get 3-4 feelers per month about making a change.

au1994

Took the Crosstrek in this morning for its first service. Had an 8:30 appointment and they got me in and out in an hour including a complimentary wash.

While I was there I did a test drive of a 2.5 Limited Outback in order to qualify for a 65 gift card. Impressed of course as we test drove a 3.6 Touring late last year. I can now say that we would be fine with the 2.5. Plenty of power and not worth the 2200 premium and 6 mpg penalty. Even though he knew I was just in it for the card, my sales guy offered 5k off right off the bat. Hmm...

pensfan83

With the help of a friend I got our new hot water tank installed; went with a regular gas fired unit. The new one was a bit wider than the old one so it's more snug against the wall and furnace but with the help of some flex hoses for water and gas it all works and no leaks. I will say though the plumbing hardware was quite pricey (to me anyway).

28firefighter

Subie dealers are dying to move 2019 Outbacks. Similar discounts up this way - I was offered a 41k 3.6 Touring for $35k. Inventory is super high right now.

breld

@28firefighter - as others have said, best wishes for your wife's job situation. One way or another, I imagine within a short time you all will look back and think how things all worked out for the best.

If your job is that portable, you know Denver is a great place to live!

28firefighter

I actually like Denver quite a bit. I think realistically, if we moved, it would be back east - Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus etc.

stickguy

I imagine the housing cost differential going from Seattle to any of those locals will be mind blowing.

pensfan83

Any of those places east have the potential to be more lease hackr friendly too!

coldinohio

28ff: good luck; if you get back to CLE, and need any crazy advice, PM me.. we left ~3 yrs ago.

kyfdx

Come on back!

au1994

28firefighter said:

Subie dealers are dying to move 2019 Outbacks. Similar discounts up this way - I was offered a 41k 3.6 Touring for $35k. Inventory is super high right now.

Yes, inventory is very high. 89 Outbacks at this dealer alone. 45 are 2.5 Limiteds which is a nice trim level. Pretty much loaded out. You could just pick your color combo and make a deal.

jpp75

@28firefighter I'll echo everyone else's sentiments here, good luck with everything!

Michaell

28firefighter said:

Subie dealers are dying to move 2019 Outbacks. Similar discounts up this way - I was offered a 41k 3.6 Touring for $35k. Inventory is super high right now.

Yep. I'm getting roughly an email every week or two from our dealer, encouraging us to trade in the 2015 Outback 3.6R Limited for a new 2019. The current payment offer is $450/mo for 72 months (0% financing).

And, the VW dealer is emailing and calling me, as well. VW has a lease pull ahead program that ends next week - 3 payments are covered if I want to get into a new lease. I've told them I haven't made a decision yet as to what I'm going to do when this lease is up.

Michaell

Any lease experts familiar with the Volvo A-Plan program? Question about it...

https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/55608/volvo/x/a-plan-by-volvo-questions#latest

stickguy

If I could get one for $450/mo, nothing down, I’d take one probably. Though I’m sure that doesn’t include TTL, or probably a DP?

Michaell

stickguy said:

If I could get one for $450/mo, nothing down, I’d take one probably. Though I’m sure that doesn’t include TTL, or probably a DP?

I'm sure my trade equity is factored into that payment, but not TTL.

28firefighter

There really is not enough meaningful difference between your Outback and the 2019 to justify resetting your payment terms.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

There really is not enough meaningful difference between your Outback and the 2019 to justify resetting your payment terms.

Yep, and the wife is still making noise about just paying it off completely. Balance on the loan is around $15K. Once we get the business open, we can think about it.

And, it's very likely the Jetta won't get replaced when the lease is up.

stickguy

Someday I’ll get back to having no payments. Did that for a while before college and other stuff came along, and it as nice!

cdnpinhead

stickguy said:

Someday I’ll get back to having no payments.

I haven't had a monthly car payment since 2005. Monitoring this board is much like watching a TV show to do with an alternate species. Anyway, it's interesting. Party on!

tjc78

28firefighter said:

I actually like Denver quite a bit. I think realistically, if we moved, it would be back east - Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus etc.

South Jersey is always open. What's not to like... except for lot's of traffic, bombed out roads, high property taxes, and high car insurance. I guess we do have Pork Roll and Tastycakes!

@stickguy I can't imagine for the foreseeable future not having two payments.

cdnpinhead

Plus which the Pine Barrens come with lots of stories.

tjc78

Ha ha... there was a Sopranos episode based entirely in the Pine Barrens (It's even the episode name)

breld

I long for the days of no car payments.

But am a long way from it.

pensfan83

Have had only one car payment for almost a year now and every time we throw around the idea of replacing the Nissan we look at the progress we've made on knocking our HELOC down from last year's spending frenzy on the deck and new windows, we then backtrack and stay the course (for now).

28firefighter

Am I the only one who doesn't care about car payments? I like leasing because I know I don't keep cars long, it fixes the depreciation, and guarantees that I am in warranty for the duration of the lease.