Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

au1994

qbrozen said:

I didn't think she would dig the color, but the wife says she likes this. I checked with Carvana and they offered $9250. So seems like a good deal. About $850 to ship it, though.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/mySavedListings.action?pid=sl_navbar#listing=283228180

Ah heck, why not if she likes it. Shop the shippers. I ended up paying $650 to ship the Land Cruiser from Boston area to Atlanta ‘burbs.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
Carvana lowered their price when you contacted them? I see the 500 listed for $9,999.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
Carvana lowered their price when you contacted them? I see the 500 listed for $9,999.

No, I meant I plugged in the 1957 edition I found and their offer to me, if I were the seller, is $9250. So the dealer's ask of $9999 is a good deal.

xwesx

@qbrozen That's odd about the Fiat, for sure. If still interested at all, just call the guy out and say, "hey, if you are serious about selling the car, please get on the ball and stop wasting our time."

qbrozen

xwesx said:

@qbrozen That's odd about the Fiat, for sure. If still interested at all, just call the guy out and say, "hey, if you are serious about selling the car, please get on the ball and stop wasting our time."

I actually did. Sent him a follow-up last night saying "are you selling the car or not?"
No response.
Screw it, I like this 1957 edition anyway. Dig the steelies.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
Gotcha, Thx.

mjfloyd1

@qbrozen perhaps you should pose as @breld for the car buying clout?? 😁

nyccarguy

20 minutes to go and that Black/Black 22K mile Prelude has a high bid of $13,250

EDIT: Sold for $15,250

xwesx

qbrozen said:

xwesx said:

@qbrozen That's odd about the Fiat, for sure. If still interested at all, just call the guy out and say, "hey, if you are serious about selling the car, please get on the ball and stop wasting our time."

I actually did. Sent him a follow-up last night saying "are you selling the car or not?"
No response.
Screw it, I like this 1957 edition anyway. Dig the steelies.

That's the spirit! Definitely time to move on from that one!

tifighter

nyccarguy said:

20 minutes to go and that Black/Black 22K mile Prelude has a high bid of $13,250

If I hadn't filled my toy slot this year, I would have been tempted. You buy it, weekend drive it over the next two years, sell it for equal to or more than you paid for it with below 30K miles on the odo.

Plus it was only 5 miles away from me.

stickguy

I have no patience for dealing with flakes. If after a couple follow ups they aren’t responding, I move on.

stickguy

A prelude is one car I never thought looked right in black.

tjc78

I bet half of them sold were red

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

A prelude is one car I never thought looked right in black.

Black was actually my 3rd color choice when I was shopping back in 2002. Red, White, then Black. If I couldn't find a Type SH, it would have been that same order in a base model (Which is what I should have bought), 5 Speed.

roadburner

breld said:

@roadburner - any temptation to bid on this?

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3pj7nARB/2019-bmw-m2-competition

I've gotta think the bidding will get up there well into the $50k's though. That seems to be what they're going for on the used market - basically a modest discount over new.

Yes, my budget won't stretch that far- unfortunately.

breld

That $15k for the Prelude doesn’t sound all that bad actually, given the extremely low miles.

I like that previous gen yellow one too - but the facelifted 1990 and 1991 model are much nicer in my opinion. Beggars can’t be choosers though on something like that.

au1994

The 5th and final generation of the Prelude is my favorite. They all have their appeal, even the 1st gen which was little more than a gussied up Civic.

Michaell

au1994 said:

The 5th and final generation of the Prelude is my favorite. They all have their appeal, even the 1st gen which was little more than a gussied up Civic.

A high school classmate was forced to drive a gen 1 Prelude - he called it the "Quaalude"

qbrozen

flake gave me the vin, but still no answer to my questions. So I asked again "How long have you owned it? Do you have the title in hand?"

Salesperson with the 1957 responded to me pretty quick earlier today asking for my cell so he can text me a walkaround video. Crickets since then.

Sigh.

garrison16

Breld, you are correct. I saw the Laser on the lot where I always buy my cars. It was a leftover. It was a very base model. While I thought about it someone else bought it.Oh well. The couple that bought it puts a lot of miles on a car and then trades it in every year and buys a new one. 1 year later I saw it on the lot again. I then bought it. I had it for about 2 years and also put a lot of miles on the car. It was a very reliable car. I sold it to a relative of a friend who also got good use out of it

tifighter

breld said:

That $15k for the Prelude doesn’t sound all that bad actually, given the extremely low miles.

I like that previous gen yellow one too - but the facelifted 1990 and 1991 model are much nicer in my opinion. Beggars can’t be choosers though on something like that.

I feel like you can't go wrong at that price. Sure, I don't like black either but I'd live with it for having one in that condition. It has such a broad audience, it would be easy to sell, likely for at least what you paid.

breld

Alright...I’m gonna get crap for this, but...

breld

My wife loves her MINI, so much so that it quickly became her primary car.

But she REALLY misses having Apple CarPlay.

So, we got her CarPlay today.

stickguy

you really swapped one mini for another, just to get carplay? Probably would have been cheaper to just have it added.

so what's the details? can't be going newer since the old one was a 2020, or get more power because since it was an S.

or is the one one the truck the old one? Which I thought was green. But frankly, who can keep up?

tifighter

I mean, I won't laugh if you promise that you won't laugh the next time I do it...

breld

Believe me - I looked into adding CarPlay. It wasn’t straightforward in any way and involved getting a new head unit, installing it, and then having some programming done at the dealer. And then fingers crossed that it all took.

I mean, would mere mortal car buyers go through this? Of course not. But you can imagine when my wife expressed her regret over not having CarPlay, I was quick to respond that there was an obvious answer.

Oh, and it does have more power. 😀

breld

stickguy said:

you really swapped one mini for another, just to get carplay?

Uh...yeah?

stickguy

JCW? Does that have more power? Or did you already update the signature line so the new one is the S?

mjfloyd1

@breld. When have we ever given you crap about your multiple frequent car trades and purchases?

Oh, never mind...😂

breld

Details...

2020 JCW Hardtop
Automatic
Enigmatic Blue with red top and mirrors
Iconic Package

We reached out to the salesperson who we bought (leased) her Hardtop S initially. We basically wanted the same thing she has (had), but with the “Iconic” package which basically comes with most everything, most notably the nav package with CarPlay. They have an orange one coming in at the end of the month. We worked a deal on it that was pretty comparable to our deal on her 2020. Trade on hers was fair but not great.

As we all would do, I submitted hers on Carvana and it came back with a trade offer about $2k higher than the dealer. The dealership ultimately came up another $500, but then said we should probably take the offer from Carvana.

So, why stop there. We looked at what Carvana themselves had for MINIs and found this one. Only 1,600 miles.

So, she gained...the JCW power upgrade and suspension (w/dynamic damper control), Harmon Kardon, navigation w/CarPlay, heads-up display, nicer seats, and some other fun features.

Same model year with less miles (someone else traded out even sooner than we did!), and the difference paid was just about the difference in sticker between the two cars. Not that bad.

mjfloyd1

Happy wife, happy life.

My wife is a frowner rather than an enabler...

Was the trade an automatic?

28firefighter

mjfloyd1 said:

Happy wife, happy life.

My wife is a frowner rather than an enabler...

Was the trade an automatic?

Mine, too...

breld

Yes, the trade was an auto as well.

She actually test drove a 2017 model that was available locally just to see whether she’d be okay with the suspension. That one happened to be a stick - it didn’t tempt her to switch back to a manual.

mjfloyd1

Your swap is then officially approved. Strong work

I would have had to submit a “hurt feelings” report if the trade in had been a manual (however, you never know when a clutch will go out on a manual so I’d need to consult the other CCBA members). 😂

nyccarguy

Excellent work @breld! Congrats! I love how you and your wife pull the trigger! All in!

breld

So new that I got to pull off the protective plastic off the door sills!

28firefighter

Well. This isn’t the strangest swap you’ve ever made. Congrats!

breld

A few more pics...

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

xwesx said:

@qbrozen That's odd about the Fiat, for sure. If still interested at all, just call the guy out and say, "hey, if you are serious about selling the car, please get on the ball and stop wasting our time."

I actually did. Sent him a follow-up last night saying "are you selling the car or not?"
No response.
Screw it, I like this 1957 edition anyway. Dig the steelies.

That’s really odd. Maybe it’s a lemon and the seller is hoping for a novice car shopper who won’t ask too many questions. Or....his email went out.

28firefighter

breld said:

A few more pics...

Dibs when you’re done? Also, no pictures of CarPlay running?

mjfloyd1

At least we can see that @breld has not replaced the Supra YET

ab348

breld said:

So, why stop there. We looked at what Carvana themselves had for MINIs and found this one. Only 1,600 miles.

So, she gained...the JCW power upgrade and suspension (w/dynamic damper control), Harmon Kardon, navigation w/CarPlay, heads-up display, nicer seats, and some other fun features.

Same model year with less miles (someone else traded out even sooner than we did!), and the difference paid was just about the difference in sticker between the two cars. Not that bad.

When I read that, the alarm bells sounded in my head. Why would someone buy a loaded-up Mini like that and then unload it with just 1600 miles? I suppose there are any number of logical reasons, but it makes me wonder.

28firefighter

ab348 said:

breld said:

So, why stop there. We looked at what Carvana themselves had for MINIs and found this one. Only 1,600 miles.

So, she gained...the JCW power upgrade and suspension (w/dynamic damper control), Harmon Kardon, navigation w/CarPlay, heads-up display, nicer seats, and some other fun features.

Same model year with less miles (someone else traded out even sooner than we did!), and the difference paid was just about the difference in sticker between the two cars. Not that bad.

When I read that, the alarm bells sounded in my head. Why would someone buy a loaded-up Mini like that and then unload it with just 1600 miles? I suppose there are any number of logical reasons, but it makes me wonder.

Imitating How I Met Your Mother....

“Haaaaaave you met breld?”

Surely he’s not the only one.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

My wife loves her MINI, so much so that it quickly became her primary car.

But she REALLY misses having Apple CarPlay.

So, we got her CarPlay today.

Congrats....I think?

I saw a fleet of those Carvana trucks at the Mannheim auction in Newburgh today. I’m not sure if that’s their regional base of operations or they buy cars at the auction. For some reason I thought they just purchased from private parties.

We got into a short discussion about the weather in New Mexico with a female Carvana driver who used to live out there. I should have asked her what possessed her to relocate here.

breld

Well, I hope it’s all good. Carfax is clean. I looked it over thoroughly and it basically looks like brand new car, as it should.

stickguy

nice color combo. first picture looked like it was black.

sounds like you did well on the deal. I figure that any time you can make it a wash, no harm no foul. Like you said, if it works out like you just got the fancier version in the first place, you can't even be accused of taking a loss on the transaction!

I support getting all the goodies if you can. Of course, that is usually in terms of living with it long term so needing to enjoy the experience.

qbrozen

Automatic JCW makes me sad. ;b

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

breld said:

My wife loves her MINI, so much so that it quickly became her primary car.

But she REALLY misses having Apple CarPlay.

So, we got her CarPlay today.

Congrats....I think?

I saw a fleet of those Carvana trucks at the Mannheim auction in Newburgh today. I’m not sure if that’s their regional base of operations or they buy cars at the auction. For some reason I thought they just purchased from private parties.

We got into a short discussion about the weather in New Mexico with a female Carvana driver who used to live out there. I should have asked her what possessed her to relocate here.

from my experience they have partners now to handle the overflow. And I think they are at Manheim (I think someone here, maybe QB, had their car taken there). If you look at the listings, some are noted as inspected (or located) at a partner. Supposed to be all the same inspections, reconditioning, etc. on them. So makes no difference, and I assume the delivery out will be on a Carvana truck too.

qbrozen

So, in the evening, I got an email from a different salesperson at the store with the 1957 Edition. He wrote merely, “when can you come in.”

Now, mind you, my initial request was “can you send me a video detailing x, y, and z because I live in NJ and would be buying this sight unseen.”

I replied, “mr xxx already replied to me earlier today, and he seemed to actually understand my request, so I will continue dealing with him.”

stickguy

breld said:

Well, I hope it’s all good. Carfax is clean. I looked it over thoroughly and it basically looks like brand new car, as it should.

people get out of cars for all kinds of reasons. You just have a short attention span (in our house, we call that "squirrel, squirrel"). Some people realize that the fun purchase they were all excited about was really a bad idea.

and with the recent inflated buy offers both types had a golden opportunity to pull the rip cord early.