Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

suydam

I just follow the Maintenance Minder on my vehicle. When it gets down around 20% I take it in.

roadburner

Sandman6472 said:

Off today and got my tires rotated. The oil minder says time for an oil change "now" but, it's on a 5K schedule and I prefer doing it at 7500, give or take. VW says I can do a 10K interval but think that's a bit too long even though it calls for synthetic oil. What do most of y'all do who use synthetic? Just curios as to what most others do.

10K/1 year on all my vehicles.
the BMWs and Mini get BMW TPT and the Jeep gets Pennzoil Platinum.

Sandman6472

Midas sent me a very good coupon and it's good till December 31, 2020, so will just do it any time now. Am still working 5 days a week so my free time is very limited. But did want to rotate the tires and was near the Goodyear store, so stopped in and was out within an hour. And now since my driving has gone down by 2/3's, I'll probably be just doing one oil changer each year.
Picked up a bunch of Ford Expeditions yesterday for the Super Bowl. Brought them into one store to get cleaned and gassed up so we can drop them off tomorrow for the big game. Think once the hoopla is over for the game, our hours will go back to normal which means I'll be getting my Thursdays back. Not unhappy one bit as it was nice to make the extra few bucks in January but really would like my day off back.

carnaught

Congrats @breld on the GLC - nice, very nice!

stickguy

I follow the maintenance minder on both Acuras (the Hyundais actually had an old school schedule to follow, but you could set that in the car if you wanted to). I won't go over a year though. So I do sometimes take them in at 12 months even though the counter has not reached 15% life yet (which is when the messages pop up, including what service it thinks is due). Both take semi-synthetic I believe. Whatever the dealer uses!

laurasdada

Was on C/Net car review site, reading review of Porsche Macan. Towards the end, the writer is comparing to other competitor's, the usual suspect. He ends a paragarph with this, fya:

"There's also the Alfa Romeo Stelvio if you like the way the coffee tastes at your dealership's service department."

Michaell

sda said:

Hopefully you’re not having too many emergencies with your new business. I admire you having your own business and wish you every success.

Had to bring some items from out basement for a birthday party yesterday. Will need to implement some inventory control so it doesn't happen again.

Other than that, so far, so good. Just hired a second employee to work part time, so we are doing our part to grow the economy.

explorerx4

@nyccarguy,
I think exit 31 takes you through Bristol(Did you see ESPN HQ?).
You could go up to exit 34 or 39 and get closer to Route 10.

corvette

Congrats on the new Mrs. @breld mobile. That didn’t take long to get sorted!

laurasdada

explorerx4 said:

@nyccarguy,
I think exit 31 takes you through Bristol(Did you see ESPN HQ?).
You could go up to exit 34 or 39 and get closer to Route 10.

To my family, Bristol, CT will always mean Lake Compounce.

corvette

Tahoe has an oil life monitor which (I think) doesn’t count time. I just go by that, with a cap of roughly one year.

G37 says 7,500 miles or 6 months. I plan on going 7,500 miles or roughly one year going forward.

I think they go up to 24-36 months on the time interval in Europe, so I’m not super strict about the one year marker.

xwesx

jmonroe said:

Hey @xwesx, I know you don't hang out in Cars and Conversations anymore but maybe you should. You see, our poster buddy @qbrozen was inquiring about cruises to Alaska for himself, wife and his 4 kids. Our other poster buddy @stickguy suggested that he just fly up to Alaska and have you pick the family up then stay with you for a week. I understand the @qbrozen clan can really pack away the food and would appreciate it if you can provide all meals and especially a midnight buffet spread each night for the weeks stay.

I think you gotta head on over there and defend yourself. If somehow @q thinks that would be a little bit too much to ask for, Mrs. j and I wouldn't be too much of an imposition and besides she eats like a bird. Will be interesting to see how this works out.

jmonroe

Hah! I had to give up on C&C. The posting there is far too prolific for me to have any hope of keeping reasonable tabs on it. This one goes crazy from time to time, but only from time to time....

I'm a terrible ask regarding anything touristy in Alaska.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

is it just too small for her, so she doesn't feel safe in it? And why does night make a difference?

I do know that my wife is really used to driving a car that sits higher, and never really liked driving my sedans since they were much lower. Not that she couldn't, or wouldn't if needed, but really prefers the higher seating position of the RDX (and the vans before it) since she has been driving them for 25 years now.

I don’t think it is a matter of feeling safe.claims it isn’t a comfy car. She does like sitting a little higher most of the time. Night vision is part of it, where she says the higher seating helps not being blinded by every oncoming car. I definitely get that, too, but it doesn’t bother me enough to dictate what I drive.

If she drives the DGC frequently, I imagine the seating position of something like this is rather jarring. I love the upright seating in a van.

Sandman6472

We used to use the Connecticut turnpike, get off at Exit 63, Clinton Connecticut. Spent every summer there from 1961 to 1970, the last when we had already moved to South Florida. Old family friends had opened a summer camp there, so we always went, no matter what we as kids wanted. Was a great place to go and get away for 56 wonderful days each year.
All our other friends & neighbors at home stayed home and seemed to have fun from what I've heard. At least up north, never had the option to stay home as some of my siblings did.

Sandman6472

Was near my old job today doing some errands, so stopped by. Saw a few folks but from what I could see, same old, same old. My old boss asked if I'd like to come back in a joking way, but if I had said "yes", gotta good feeling I'd be able to start very quickly. Have not hired anyone to take my place yet. At this point, staying put for the time being!

nyccarguy

This place has some interesting stuff:

https://www.southshoreautogallery.com/details/used-2007-honda-accord/61876736

https://www.southshoreautogallery.com/details/used-2007-honda-accord/61773252

stickguy

that is a rare bird, so interesting they have 2 of them.

QB had one. From what I recall, he hated it. I really liked my Accord of that generation with a manual, but that was just the 4 banger.

qbrozen

Yes, yes, I did grow to hate it. Never realized just how bad a car could possibly understeer before then.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

found a used car dream on FB marketplace tonight near me. I better rush over before someone else snaps it up.

Only $3,500! For a 2004 BMW 745, 142K big miles on it, and they admit that it "smokes sometimes".

I mean, what could possibly go wrong there, right?

For $3500 add a quart of oil and drive it until it dies.

fintail

I've seen several examples of aging x45 badged BMWs smoking in a way that would make the fintail blush. Seems to be an issue with that specific displacement.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

Got to the dealership pretty much when they opened on Saturday and were pleasantly surprised to find a salesperson whom we had worked with before at a different dealership and really liked.

We talked Q5's a bit but it became clear quickly that the Macan was what drew her attention. So we focused on service loaners on the lot and identified 3-4 examples that could work. These were mostly 2018's with one 2019 thrown in.

Side story...this is obviously a nice dealership, selling Audis and Porsches, but it's also located on a sketchy road here in Denver. As my wife was walking the lot looking at Macans, she inadvertently (obviously) stepped in...well, human excrement.

The salesperson was clearly embarrassed and quickly went to get a rag and cleaner from the service shop to help clean her shoe. Now, this wasn't a strategic move, but I am thinking at this point, "man, we're gonna totally get a deal here today."

But, not the case...I think we've decided Porsche dealers aren't motivated to work too hard on the price. After a few hours of looking, driving and trying to work on price on a couple different models (one 2019 and one 2018), we just couldn't get to a price that we thought was reasonable and worth it on these service loaners.

There’s a Russian superstition that getting pooped on by a bird is good luck but based on your experience I guess it doesn’t apply to stepping in it.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

Off today and got my tires rotated. The oil minder says time for an oil change "now" but, it's on a 5K schedule and I prefer doing it at 7500, give or take. VW says I can do a 10K interval but think that's a bit too long even though it calls for synthetic oil. What do most of y'all do who use synthetic? Just curios as to what most others do.

The two newest cars get full synthetic. I change it at 5k or once a year regardless of mileage. Probably overkill but makes me happy because in my mind I’m keeping them for a million miles.

venture

Sandman6472 said:

Off today and got my tires rotated. The oil minder says time for an oil change "now" but, it's on a 5K schedule and I prefer doing it at 7500, give or take. VW says I can do a 10K interval but think that's a bit too long even though it calls for synthetic oil. What do most of y'all do who use synthetic? Just curios as to what most others do.

I change the Legacy around 7,500 miles, give or take.

The last time I got it changed they put one of those little stickers on the corner of the wildshield. It said next change should be 21,348. Current mileage was 19,348. I'm starting to lose confidence in my dealer.

stickguy

Wife really seems to be getting her head around it being time for a new car. Mentioned yesterday that after work the BU camera stayed black instead of kicking on. She put it back in park then reverse again and it booted up. So not fatal. But I think she now has it in her head that it is going to start having issues, and she has no tolerance for that now!

She seems to be over the paying for it phobia. Was going to in a year and a half anyway, so just getting a head start. Plus finally paying off the dribs of the HELOC in another month or so, freeing up a bunch of cash flow. So the timing just seems right.

Car show in 2 weeks. That will be fun. And planning a morning where we make a loop and try them all back to back. Followed by grabbing lunch and hitting one of the local breweries to hash it out.

Then I get the fun of trying to make a deal happen. Will explore the lease broker world, depending on what we want, but expecting it will be a purchase to keep well past loan term, like we did with the RDX.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Wife really seems to be getting her head around it being time for a new car. Mentioned yesterday that after work the BU camera stayed black instead of kicking on. She put it back in park then reverse again and it booted up. So not fatal. But I think she now has it in her head that it is going to start having issues, and she has no tolerance for that now!

She seems to be over the paying for it phobia. Was going to in a year and a half anyway, so just getting a head start. Plus finally paying off the dribs of the HELOC in another month or so, freeing up a bunch of cash flow. So the timing just seems right.

Car show in 2 weeks. That will be fun. And planning a morning where we make a loop and try them all back to back. Followed by grabbing lunch and hitting one of the local breweries to hash it out.

Then I get the fun of trying to make a deal happen. Will explore the lease broker world, depending on what we want, but expecting it will be a purchase to keep well past loan term, like we did with the RDX.

We'll know you're serious when you ask for trade values on the RDX in RWTIV.

stickguy

I just ask Carvana for those!

tjc78

If you are leasing just use the broker’s #s to know how low is low. If you can find a dealer willing to play ball you can do it on your own.

You can back into the selling price from the broker number. That is how I did the Volvo.

28firefighter

You can sometimes do way better than the brokers but, in my experience, there are diminishing returns for the time invested. Some folks thrive on getting the lowest of the low.

tifighter

All this talk about scheduled maintenance and oil changes reminds me that I should probably address our fleet-

Another year, another set of wipers.

28firefighter

My first issue with the i3 cropped up today - had to say something yesterday. Something with the fuel system related to the range extender. It seems to have cleared itself, so I'll just let it sit until my first scheduled "maintenance" in June.

jmonroe

xwesx said:

jmonroe said:

Hey @xwesx, I know you don't hang out in Cars and Conversations anymore but maybe you should. You see, our poster buddy @qbrozen was inquiring about cruises to Alaska for himself, wife and his 4 kids. Our other poster buddy @stickguy suggested that he just fly up to Alaska and have you pick the family up then stay with you for a week. I understand the @qbrozen clan can really pack away the food and would appreciate it if you can provide all meals and especially a midnight buffet spread each night for the weeks stay.

I think you gotta head on over there and defend yourself. If somehow @q thinks that would be a little bit too much to ask for, Mrs. j and I wouldn't be too much of an imposition and besides she eats like a bird. Will be interesting to see how this works out.

jmonroe

Hah! I had to give up on C&C. The posting there is far too prolific for me to have any hope of keeping reasonable tabs on it. This one goes crazy from time to time, but only from time to time....

I'm a terrible ask regarding anything touristy in Alaska.

C'mon man you gotta help as out over there (C&C). I understand that the posting over there is quite prolific as you mentioned but we have a plan:

Our poster buddy @driver100 attained the 25K post plateau awhile back and has aspirations of getting to 50K in record time. As you know he is a big contributor to the proliferation of posts over there. So, just drop in and say, "hello". He'll post back with at least something like, "welcome back" (probably more) but he'll get credit for a post. Now here's where the plan kicks in. He'll think he's popular but in reality we're hoping that he wears down his keyboard peckers to nubs and won't be able to post for a couple of months, thereby giving all of us some relief. So, are you in?

BTW, everyone in here is welcome to join in with helping us out over there.

jmonroe

pensfan83

28firefighter said:

You can sometimes do way better than the brokers but, in my experience, there are diminishing returns for the time invested. Some folks thrive on getting the lowest of the low.

Agreed, this is especially true in areas where finding a deal, or a leasehackr type deal, is a slog.

stickguy

And not everyone has the particular skill set to do it. Even if they have time and desire.

kyfdx

It just takes basic math skills and the interest in saving money. It's not rocket science (if I can do it).

stickguy

It takes a derision level of negotiating skills though. Not too hard to use available tools and get to pretty good (80%? 90%? Of the way). It’s that last bit that is tough normally. especially if you don’t want to drive 200 miles for a deal!

I figure I usually end up on the very good end of spectrum flirting with excellent sometimes, but I know I usually leave some meat on the bone. Just hopefully not too much.

Buying services help. Edmunds was very good for me a couple times. Used Truecar once quite successfully. Even a couple times the dealers own get a price button.

qbrozen

anybody here try out Turo? Not sure why, but just decided to check it out on a whim. Can rent some pretty interesting options. The first couple of big standouts are a Slingshot for $106/day, Quattroporte for $157, and M4 for $130.

wonder what I could get for a new Ioniq or a Town & Country.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

anybody here try out Turo? Not sure why, but just decided to check it out on a whim. Can rent some pretty interesting options. The first couple of big standouts are a Slingshot for $106/day, Quattroporte for $157, and M4 for $130.

wonder what I could get for a new Ioniq or a Town & Country.

I paid $89 for an oil change at the dealer, and they gave me a BMW M340i with 382 HP for the day. I thought that was a good deal.

rayainsw

kyfdx
',,they gave me a BMW M340i with 382 HP for the day.'
I would be very interested in the specs of that M340i -
and your impressions.
Thanks,
- Ray
Mine is still 'in production'...

kyfdx

rayainsw said:

kyfdx
',,they gave me a BMW M340i with 382 HP for the day.'
I would be very interested in the specs of that M340i -
and your impressions.
Thanks,
- Ray
Mine is still 'in production'...

AWD.. ridiculously fast.

I actually drove it about 75 miles. Usually, I just take them home and park it.

Solidified my own feeling that I don't need any car with over 300 HP.

xwesx

Turo - interesting. I could see maybe offering up my car for something like that during the summer when I'm riding most days.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

anybody here try out Turo? Not sure why, but just decided to check it out on a whim. Can rent some pretty interesting options. The first couple of big standouts are a Slingshot for $106/day, Quattroporte for $157, and M4 for $130.

wonder what I could get for a new Ioniq or a Town & Country.

Turo is banned here in NY. I don’t get the whole premise. Letting some stranger beat the heck out of your car for a few bucks never made sense to me. Big rental companies can spread the mayhem out over thousands of cars but the individual owner is really taking a risk.

Maybe I’ve been watching too many episodes of SuperSpeedRob.

fintail

Turo can have some good deals for "rent a wreck" type material here. You can find something like a 10 year old Camrolla for $25/day, which here in the land of pricey rentals, will handily beat a normal rental car agency, and likely be a reliable car (and the owner might not care much how it is treated). Then you'll have people wanting $300 day for a 10 year old CLS or $500/day for a Model X, and my eyes roll so hard I can hear it.

There's a guy renting an 80s SL for something like $150/day, and has a lot of reviews, makes me think I should pick up a cheapish modern classic like that and see if it could run in the black.

breld

rayainsw said:

kyfdx
',,they gave me a BMW M340i with 382 HP for the day.'
I would be very interested in the specs of that M340i -
and your impressions.
Thanks,
- Ray
Mine is still 'in production'...

I've only ordered a BMW once - my 2007 530xi.

I remember how exciting it was to check periodically on the status and when it got on a boat, etc. Is that still how it works?

laurasdada

GFs son works for Turo, he said if you treat your car like a pet, Turo isn't for you (to rent it out). He said after hearing me speak of my car, he never considered asking if I was interested in renting the Jag. Heck, I don't even let valet's park it!

qbrozen

fintail said:

Turo can have some good deals for "rent a wreck" type material here. You can find something like a 10 year old Camrolla for $25/day, which here in the land of pricey rentals, will handily beat a normal rental car agency, and likely be a reliable car (and the owner might not care much how it is treated). Then you'll have people wanting $300 day for a 10 year old CLS or $500/day for a Model X, and my eyes roll so hard I can hear it.

There's a guy renting an 80s SL for something like $150/day, and has a lot of reviews, makes me think I should pick up a cheapish modern classic like that and see if it could run in the black.

I came across an ‘85 CJ7 for something like $87. Yikes.

Like others said, it could be good if you don’t care about the car. No way in hell I’d put my Charger up there

stickguy

try to make you money back on the Equinox maybe?

corvette

stickguy said:

try to make you money back on the Equinox maybe?

“0 stars. Made a weird noise every time I stopped. Do not rent from this guy!”

kyfdx

corvette said:

stickguy said:

try to make you money back on the Equinox maybe?

“0 stars. Made a weird noise every time I stopped. Do not rent from this guy!”

Winning Post of the Day

fintail

Hoovie recently bought his wife an E wagon (cheapest one he could find, apparently), and although a different trim than mine, he agrees with many of the qualities I see in my car:

https://youtu.be/d3QgGT6WWGI

I still think it is the most traditional MB in the lineup, in a good way.

stickguy

keeping on my Volvo kick, I actually always liked these. I think the styling is sharp, and aged well. Pretty well loaded up, and should be pretty quick with 300HP. AWD too, so good in the winter. Great color too. And of course, some of the best seats ever (the 80 always seemed to have slightly roomier thrones than the smaller cars)
No clue what they really go for, but for the age and miles, does not seem like a crazy price.

https://www.royaleasing.com/details-2012-volvo-s80-t6-used-yv1902ah6c1158696.html