Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

tjc78

I could care less that a leased car technically isn’t mine... if I was to buy for the first couple years the bank would own more of the car than me anyway.

Sandman6472

If we do finance, it's always paid off after the grace period is over so we can get the rebate. But basically, yep, we usually just pay in cash and put as much as we can on the credit card. We just hate owing anyone or thing money to be honest. Paid off the house within 8 years and that was back in 1995 and don't get a new vehicle if the $ ain't there. Guess we were raised that way and raised our kids that way. Always have lived under our means and can't see that changing anytime soon either. Credit card companies hate us because we never carry a balance. Drive nice but average vehicles, live in a nice but average home.
As much as I'd love a very cool vehicle, like the BMW 5 Series I drove at work yesterday, spending anything over $25K is as high as I think I'd ever go. Prefer new but will look at a CPO unit and a dealer demo/loaner sounds like something I'd be open to. And of course, we've never leased yet though I'm a perfect candidate for that now.
Guess we're kind of boring folks in many respects. We love the company of our kids whenever they want to stop in and we both like our current jobs. I do love cars though and am always looking though takes a lot for me to pull the trigger. Just waiting really to see the new 2021 VW GTI, or will it be the 2022, not sure. That's my benchmark going forward and if it drives, performs, puts that sh-t eating grin on my face...I'll know I've found my next vehicle. I envy you in a way as y'all have so many vehicles to choose from, my dream is to win the lottery and have a house with seven garages with seven vehicles for each day of the week! Crazy yes...but possible if all the stars align!

stickguy

leasing is just a different way to finance. You "own" it as much as if you had a car loan.

In reality, buying outright is just another way to finance. Just instead of the bank fronting the money, you are doing it (self financing). You own the financed car.

look at it this way, using your $25,000 budget. You can have a new car with a $25k car loan and $25K in the bank, or a new car and no car loan and $25K less in the bank. Either way you have a car and the same net worth!

so all you are doing by paying cash is choosing to invest in that instead of wherever else you would have your money, so compare that ROR to the interest rate on the loan. That is why I borrowed the full net due on the RDX (after the trade) since the interest rate was .09% for 5 years. At normal rates I would have put $ down and paid it off early.

ab348

stickguy said:

look at it this way, using your $25,000 budget. You can have a new car with a $25k car loan and $25K in the bank, or a new car and no car loan and $25K less in the bank. Either way you have a car and the same net worth!

You left off the option many seem to prefer: get a $50K car with $25K down and $25K financing.

nyccarguy

I know Alfas are the forbidden fruit, but these Giulias seem to have some nice 27/39 month programs. Lots of 2020 inventory too.

mjfloyd1

@qbrozen - the car warranty company called and I asked them what car they were calling about. They were unable to tell me to “protect my security “. I asked about coverage for my 63 corvette but she didn’t seem too interested

breld

nyccarguy said:

I know Alfas are the forbidden fruit, but these Giulias seem to have some nice 27/39 month programs. Lots of 2020 inventory too.

Leasing does seem like a great way (maybe the only way) to go for an Alfa.

qbrozen

Sandman6472 said:

If we do finance, it's always paid off after the grace period is over so we can get the rebate. But basically, yep, we usually just pay in cash and put as much as we can on the credit card. We just hate owing anyone or thing money to be honest. Paid off the house within 8 years and that was back in 1995 and don't get a new vehicle if the $ ain't there. Guess we were raised that way and raised our kids that way. Always have lived under our means and can't see that changing anytime soon either. Credit card companies hate us because we never carry a balance. Drive nice but average vehicles, live in a nice but average home.
As much as I'd love a very cool vehicle, like the BMW 5 Series I drove at work yesterday, spending anything over $25K is as high as I think I'd ever go. Prefer new but will look at a CPO unit and a dealer demo/loaner sounds like something I'd be open to. And of course, we've never leased yet though I'm a perfect candidate for that now.
Guess we're kind of boring folks in many respects. We love the company of our kids whenever they want to stop in and we both like our current jobs. I do love cars though and am always looking though takes a lot for me to pull the trigger. Just waiting really to see the new 2021 VW GTI, or will it be the 2022, not sure. That's my benchmark going forward and if it drives, performs, puts that sh-t eating grin on my face...I'll know I've found my next vehicle. I envy you in a way as y'all have so many vehicles to choose from, my dream is to win the lottery and have a house with seven garages with seven vehicles for each day of the week! Crazy yes...but possible if all the stars align!

That's great. You shouldn't change your habits. AS LONG as you keep them a long time and don't drive a ton of miles. Personally, I think the benefits of leasing decrease significantly for driving fewer than, let's say, 8k/yr. There are exceptions, of course, such as stupid cheap lease deals. A person's odds of beating a $150/mo (or less) lease by buying and selling are very slim, unless you barely drive at all. Beating $99 or less is damned near next to impossible. Even sitting still, depreciation will exceed that on such cars.

explorerx4

My old truck is finally 'Sale Pending' on Vroom @48,980.

nyccarguy

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen - the car warranty company called and I asked them what car they were calling about. They were unable to tell me to “protect my security “. I asked about coverage for my 63 corvette but she didn’t seem too interested

I usually tell them I own a Bentley. They hang up very quickly

kyfdx

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

I know Alfas are the forbidden fruit, but these Giulias seem to have some nice 27/39 month programs. Lots of 2020 inventory too.

Leasing does seem like a great way (maybe the only way) to go for an Alfa.

With a guaranteed loaner for service calls.

sda

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

kyfdx

sda said:

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

Has that ever happened with any other make?

nyccarguy

sda said:

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

People are paying through the nose for those Tellurides too.

28firefighter

Any last minute punches today?

mjfloyd1

28firefighter said:

Any last minute punches today?

I’ve done my part. I’m no @breld though

roadburner

I had a gift card from a BMW NA service promotion that expired today, so I stopped by my dealer to pick up an accessory to zero it out. There was an M2 Comp in the showroom Slick top and Executive Package, but black with a DCT. I still sat in it for a couple of minutes. The seats and the electronic gauges make the car feel significantly different from my 2er- even before pushing the start button...

tjc78

nyccarguy said:

sda said:

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

People are paying through the nose for those Tellurides too.

They sure are ... for $600+ a month there are better options IMO (well I guess so as I own one of them).

sda

kyfdx said:

sda said:

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

Has that ever happened with any other make?

I believe Mazda has. Locally they have significantly improved the showrooms and customer service wait area.

28firefighter

Mazda showrooms around here resemble the new Audi and BMW dealers. Very fancy.

qbrozen

To (kind of) close the loop on this, BMWNA responded that I should talk to the SM at the dealership. So I tracked him down and emailed the thread with the SA and mentioned BMWNA suggested I escalate to him. He wrote back the same day (today) and expressed a different take on the matter. He said he looked at everything and determined our alignment must be out of whack, and no telling what could have caused that. He said the inside tread is 6/32, which is close to the rear tires, and the outside is under 4/32. I thanked him for his time and his explanation, and that I never would have bothered him had anyone said anything about uneven wear, but that was left off the report given to my wife and never verbally mentioned by the SA. So, I guess that is that. I don't know where the uneven wear was recorded, but it must be now and therefore negates any leg to stand on.

I went back out and checked her tires myself. They are uneven. Not the extent he is saying, but enough. They are actually still pretty deep in the middle, so I'm going to start keeping them inflated beyond the factory specs.

nyccarguy

tjc78 said:

nyccarguy said:

sda said:

I wonder it the popularity of the Kia Telluride is increasing the affluence level of their customer base. From that it may force Kia to up their service level and customer experience otherwise the newly found client base maybe one and done.

People are paying through the nose for those Tellurides too.

They sure are ... for $600+ a month there are better options IMO (well I guess so as I own one of them).

The problem is most likely the fact that most aren’t cross shopping the XC90 with the Telluride. They most likely get sticker shock from the Volvo and wouldn’t think that a vehicle with a much higher MSRP can be leased for the same price or less.

oldfarmer50

venture said:

mjfloyd1 said:

graphicguy said:

@roadburner ....thanks for the heads up (I think). No disagreement that the Kia dealerships all seem to be deficient in customer service and perhaps mechanical service on the vehicles they sell.

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s Kia Corporate’s issue, or dealership issues. One thing’s for certain, they don’t consider any repercussions they may suffer by not offering good service.

I guess they figure their customer base just doesn’t care. Or, Kia does not compensate their service dept enough for them to offer decent customer service. Not sure which.

That said, aside from the recall (I’m having it done today), the reliability of my Stinger has been exemplary.

Maybe Kia (finance and corporate) isn’t making enough money by confiscating key fobs to improve their service??😂

Were you able to get your vaccination?

A doctor friend here, who sees patients all day long - every day, said she is having trouble getting scheduled to get hers because all the times are being used by hospital administration people. She isn't happy.

I heard from a coworker today that his wife who works in an administrative position at a hospital just got the shot. So I guess some people are stretching the category of essential worker a bit. My brother got it but he’s a respiratory therapist sticking tubes into people’s lungs.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

That's why leasing is so appealing to so many, always have a vehicle under warranty. A co-worker has been leasing Hyundai Sonata's for years now. Two weeks ago, drives up in a new dark charcoal 2021 Sonata with fancy alloys. Seems that his saleslady called him on Sunday and said she could put him in a brand new unit for the same monthly payment and all he had to do was pay the tag fee. The few remaining payments would just "go away", a pull forward kind of situation I think he said. Tuesday morning, he comes in driving his new leased Sonata. And it really is a cool vehicle, inside & out! A bit too big for us but wow, what a beautiful vehicle and the color combo plus the alloys make for a fancy looking ride. He says it drives like a dream, not a single issue.
But, he likes to always have a warranty and has no problem not really owning his vehicle. Think they wanted his last one to put on their lot as it had real low miles and was in excellent condition. Just not sure I could drive something that's not mine though, the always under warranty part is something I do like. At this stage, don't want anymore drama to be honest. And not to happy with the current A3 leak issue. I know it won't be serious, just some time and money to get it back to where it should be.

You should definitely buy new or lease because you won’t tolerate unreliability.

Me, I like to roll the dice sometimes with a long out of warranty vehicle. I think it’s a holdover from my poverty days when cars of dubious running ability were all I could afford. Kind of hard to explain but I get a good feeling when one of my old beaters starts and makes it all the way home.

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

Any last minute punches today?

Too late now but if you ever want to throw a low ball deal at someone, today is the day to do it.

28firefighter

Not too late on the west coast!

explorerx4

Some manufacturers aren't closing out the year until January 4.

28firefighter

Yes. But often the volume bonuses and such for dealers, etc are tied to EOM/EOQ/EOY numbers which still end today.

breld

It’s a sunny day here so I wanted to take the Supra out and do some browsing.

Took another look at the 2018 Long Beach Blue M2 that I drove a few weeks ago. Figured I could take a look at the color in the daytime this time. I’d prefer white, but I like the blue too. It’d be nice to get into a manual again, but it’s way overpriced (as are pretty much all manual M2s it seems).

Stopped by an Audi dealership that has had an X4 M40i for months now. Price keeps getting lowered and it’s probably a pretty decent buy at this point. But I didn’t see it on their lot and didn’t want to bother anyone to ask.

Finally, figured I’d check this out...

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/833660111/overview/

That was striking in person. And actually seems to be priced pretty well, though more than I’m comfortable spending. But did seem like a decent deal compared to the pricing of used M2 Comps.

And all that driving around made me appreciate the Supra and the price I paid for it. Which was part of the point of getting out.

pensfan83

I'm pretty content with the current fleet so it's unlikely there's going to be any changes until August. Even those cheap Camaro lease deals didn't really motivate me to finally scratch the V8/RWD itch, albeit there were also extraneous factors involved

qbrozen

I just went through the trouble of designing my own Charger merchandise, so I HAVE to keep it. Lol.

breld

I’m getting the snow tires put on the X3 as I write this, and I’ve ordered the trim pieces to mimic the “shadow line” option...so I’m really committed!

corvette

Hoovie's latest video--he's just like a kid in a candy store. I think he brought Weezard along to be the voice of reason, but he ended up being an enabler like we all are with each other here.

qbrozen

breld said:

I’m getting the snow tires put on the X3 as I write this, and I’ve ordered the trim pieces to mimic the “shadow line” option...so I’m really committed!

I hope they arrive in time!

corvette

Legitstreetcars' latest vehicle choice is interesting. He hasn't given the full details on what he plans to do, but I've thought it would be neat for someone to do something similar to what he outlined, it just sounds like it would be tedious to rack up all the miles required to do it.

stickguy

the Camry? Yeah, after seeing the rest of his fleet, that was an outlier!

stickguy

pensfan83 said:

I'm pretty content with the current fleet so it's unlikely there's going to be any changes until August. Even those cheap Camaro lease deals didn't really motivate me to finally scratch the V8/RWD itch, albeit there were also extraneous factors involved

I am holding out with my fleet of 1. I mentioned while out walking with the wife and daughter yesterday about hoping things open up a bit so can more easily stop and browse. Wife's feedback was, "why do we need another car anytime soon?" I had mentioned the 4/1 target date. Guess she missed that! I will take me at least that long to decide what I want anyway. Though I do plan to start monitoring used cars soon, just in case something I can't resist falls into my lap!

28firefighter

I shot my shot but the dealer didn’t bite. We ended $2k apart.

stickguy

just watched another review on the MachE (TFL cars, who also have a Tesla Y to compare it to). I actually like this a lot. Much more than the Tesla overall (though Tesla has the supercharger bonus). I would be curious to drive one of those eventually.

corvette

stickguy said:

the Camry? Yeah, after seeing the rest of his fleet, that was an outlier!

Yeah, I got the idea he was going to attempt real-world testing of extreme mechanical neglect. Something like "let's go 25,000+ miles on an oil change" is fine in theory, but then you have to put the miles on it to get to that point.

stickguy

I have seen tests like that. Drain the oil and turn it on, see how long it lasts. Stuff like that. But really no clue what he intends to do.

some of these guys, when you watch these fleet updates, have a ridiculous number of cars. Not sure how they even keep track of them all!

mjfloyd1

When you ordered snow tires and spacers for the Audi A5, it was gone within months...

fintail

Hoovie should sell the Murcielago and keep the two new additions. Sounds like he stole them, and 80s-90s supercars are going to be a hot commodity for the next several decades. Probably because I am a grouchy broken down old man, the supercars of that era appeal to me more than modern versions.

corvette said:

Hoovie's latest video--he's just like a kid in a candy store. I think he brought Weezard along to be the voice of reason, but he ended up being an enabler like we all are with each other here.

corvette

fintail said:

Hoovie should sell the Murcielago and keep the two new additions. Sounds like he stole them, and 80s-90s supercars are going to be a hot commodity for the next several decades. Probably because I am a grouchy broken down old man, the supercars of that era appeal to me more than modern versions.

corvette said:

Hoovie's latest video--he's just like a kid in a candy store. I think he brought Weezard along to be the voice of reason, but he ended up being an enabler like we all are with each other here.

Also, the unspoken message to the seller (who appeared to have quite a collection) is "if you want to get rid of something in your fleet, just call Hoovie."

fintail

From what Hoovie said about the prices, effectively a buy one get one free deal, that might not be a bad thing. I wonder what else he has. I recall there appeared to be a Bandit Firebird under one cover, and another, maybe a later run Pantera. Both desirable cars.

That house was something too, I think maybe it was mentioned the owner is a doctor? Looked like a rich unmarried guy's place, flooring resembled my shower wall tiles.

corvette said:

Also, the unspoken message to the seller (who appeared to have quite a collection) is "if you want to get rid of something in your fleet, just call Hoovie."

corvette

Yes, random reptile aquariums and other stuff appeared to be strewn throughout the mansion. Big fan of the Gladiator cabinets in the garage... I have one, and I think the seller had at least four on one wall.

28firefighter

Happy east coast new year, friends!

What was our final tally?

Michaell

28firefighter said:

Happy east coast new year, friends!

What was our final tally?

@corvette manages that - I'm sure we'll hear about it in the morning....

Gotta start getting our guesses in for 2021...

breld

mjfloyd1 said:

When you ordered snow tires and spacers for the Audi A5, it was gone within months...

Very true. Maybe it’s more of a kiss of death.

Sandman6472

Happy New Year everyone. Please, stay safe this year and hopefully this pandemic will come to an end sooner than later.
OF, heard from my lead today as he was asked to work with two other guys. Wasn't that busy at all, they left at 2:15! We were busy on Wednesday but Tuesday, not so much. Took 8 hours of PTO for today since I've never used any so far except when they gave us what we had in March when we were furloughed. Decided I wanted a somewhat regular check for these two weeks and my boss had no issues with it. I did volunteer to work today bu the one group that didn't work last Thursday was worked today which was fair. I still do not want to be a lead driver as of yet, just want to be given a set of keys and told where to go! Unlike Hertz, they get no extra pay for it, as far as I know, so would just rather be a regular crew member. That might change one day as the boss did want me to do it though I respectfully declined since I wanted to wait a bit longer. Still having a bit of trouble learning all the location numbers as there's about 30 of them, give or take. I'd rather be told an address as I find that easier, probably due to my letter carrier brain. Have found that after a couple of times going to a new location, give or take, I can get my way back there with no problem. A few times I've been told just the location number, naturally, and have gone to the wrong one! They just laugh about it but having a slight mental block learning them all. I've got a list I carry with me and also put the pic of them all in my phone so it's easy just to look either place. But after remembering a few that we frequent, I draw a blank on the rest. Just best I don't lead at this point!
One thing I did notice, people are traveling right now! All the rental lots at PBI have a minimal amount of extra vehicles in their lots and most locations are about the same. And I've seen at our lot at PBI, a line of folks getting off the shuttle buses and getting in line to pick up their reservations. But it is season down here in South Florida so its expected for the next few months. And folks will start a mass exodus back home later on today and all weekend. Schools open up on Monday and life gets back to our new normal.