Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

I got an email from the sales rep last week with my allocation of "popular" products. It came to 84 pieces. OK, so order the 84 pieces I'm allocated so I have product to sell, right? Nope. Minimum amount for delivery is 150 pieces. So now I have to order 66 additional pieces of items that aren't as popular and will sit on the shelf longer.

That's insane! There must be a law somewhere that prevents such a scam....

Do they sell plungers? Maybe you could just add 66 $4 plungers to the order. That way, you can do a "special" at the store: Buy a toilet, get a complimentary plunger!

breld

Wouldn't be a holiday weekend without some browsing and test drives. Wife and I went out yesterday to look at a couple SUV candidates - the Genesis GV80 and Acura MDX (new 2022).

• Genesis - the GV80 is impressive. It certainly steers more toward the luxury side of things, but hey, it's an SUV. The overall feel and quality of materials is competitive or exceeds other offerings at its price point and above (X5, Q7, GLE, XC90, etc.). The ride and driving experience are quiet and comfortable. We drove both the 2.5T and 3.5T engine options (300 and 375 hp, respectively). I'd say the 4 cylinder exceeds expectations and is an impressive example of its kind, while the 6 cylinder is not as refined or engaging as the offerings from BMW and Audi. I'd still prefer the 6 cylinder for its smoothness over the 4, though I wouldn't rule out the 4 cylinder.
  
• Acura - the sharpened interior and exterior of the new model are welcome updates and are very attractive IMO. But I was disappointed that the overall impression of the MDX is still that of a nicer Pilot. I can appreciate the naturally aspirated V6, but it just doesn't compete well in this segment anymore. I would suspect the RDX engine may have been a more engaging entry level engine. It is very quiet on the highway, and continues to offer an efficient interior.
  

My wife basically said she could see the MDX as a good option if it offered significant savings over the Genesis, but with similar pricing, it's a no-brainer.

While Genesis seems to be struggling with a rollout of its exclusive dealerships, I think you have to give them a hand for differentiating its products with dedicated RWD platforms.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

Lately, I've shared with you my saga about the MINI running costs.

I decided I'd do the same with the Outback, just to see where I'm at with it.

Recap - 2015 Outback Limited, 3.6R engine, just under 43,000 miles, 75 months old. I've spent a total of $1449 on service and maintenance, and half of that was new tires. To be fair, there have been three separate recalls done, and I had the windshield replaced ($0 cost to me, as I have insurance).

I pulled out the book that says what needs to be done, and when, and it turns out I'm a bit tardy on some of my maintenance. So, I'm collecting quotes from my dealer and a local independent shop to get them caught up. Things like brake fluid replacement, spark plug replacement (60K or 60 months), air filter, fuel filter, etc. Probably get these done sometime in June.

The last time we were at a major milestone like this, we traded the car in and got the Subaru. Not likely to happen this time, as the Outback is paid off.

Getting the tires rotated tomorrow afternoon.

I remember one of the services I've had done on my Subaru (@xwesx advice) was to have the front & rear differential fluid drained & filled with 75 W90 fully synthetic gear oil. Have you had your coolant flushed/changed?

The air filter & cabin filter are very simple DIY. If you can make toast, you are fully capable of changing these items.

Speaking of me, I'm going to be making a run south in early July. Because of my grandmother's failing health, I'm going to head straight south to Oregon, then scurry across the country to meet up with my family in Ohio.

I wouldn't mind trying my hand at I70, and I certainly wouldn't mind ticking off some regular maintenance items and fluid changes on the Outback. Seriously; I'm weird that way.

I can't spend a lot of time in the area, but I could certainly pause for an afternoon visit/work session!

Michaell

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

Lately, I've shared with you my saga about the MINI running costs.

I decided I'd do the same with the Outback, just to see where I'm at with it.

Recap - 2015 Outback Limited, 3.6R engine, just under 43,000 miles, 75 months old. I've spent a total of $1449 on service and maintenance, and half of that was new tires. To be fair, there have been three separate recalls done, and I had the windshield replaced ($0 cost to me, as I have insurance).

I pulled out the book that says what needs to be done, and when, and it turns out I'm a bit tardy on some of my maintenance. So, I'm collecting quotes from my dealer and a local independent shop to get them caught up. Things like brake fluid replacement, spark plug replacement (60K or 60 months), air filter, fuel filter, etc. Probably get these done sometime in June.

The last time we were at a major milestone like this, we traded the car in and got the Subaru. Not likely to happen this time, as the Outback is paid off.

Getting the tires rotated tomorrow afternoon.

I remember one of the services I've had done on my Subaru (@xwesx advice) was to have the front & rear differential fluid drained & filled with 75 W90 fully synthetic gear oil. Have you had your coolant flushed/changed?

The air filter & cabin filter are very simple DIY. If you can make toast, you are fully capable of changing these items.

Speaking of me, I'm going to be making a run south in early July. Because of my grandmother's failing health, I'm going to head straight south to Oregon, then scurry across the country to meet up with my family in Ohio.

I wouldn't mind trying my hand at I70, and I certainly wouldn't mind ticking off some regular maintenance items and fluid changes on the Outback. Seriously; I'm weird that way.

I can't spend a lot of time in the area, but I could certainly pause for an afternoon visit/work session!

If you decide to head through town, I'm sure we can find something more fun to do other than maintenance on my Outback. I can round up @jpp75 and @breld, too.

Speaking of which, I got a very detailed quote from the independent place - they want just over $800 to tick off everything on the to-do list, which I felt was pretty reasonable. I was figuring 4 figures, so this isn't too bad. Be interesting what the dealer comes back with (if they get back to me at all).

Sandman6472

Accent won't be ready till tomorrow late morning. The replacement taillight/turn signal/reverse light came in broken/cracked so a new one had to be ordered for delivery tomorrow. Car is already detailed and ready to go so once the part gets there, just have to attach the assembly and make sure all the lights/brakes work and she'll be good to go. She starts work at 3 pm so hoping to pick up her vehicle by 11, run home and put groceries away and then onto the hospital. And if it ain't done till the afternoon, the wife will drive her home and we'll bring it down Thursday evening as she can get a ride from a friend into work. Told her to just take the Golf tonight, I'll drive the Audi to work at 8 am and drop it off at the house by 8:10 and get a ride home from work tomorrow night.
Not sure what she'll do but think she should just take the Golf overnight. Glad we only live an hour away to be honest, shorter would've been even better. We don't intrude on our kids so even when she lived about 20 miles away at school, we just didn't drop by unless asked. We give our kids as much room as we can and just happy the girls like coming home!

stickguy

My educated guess, is more than that!

I know it’s false logic (since you are mAking payments instead) but it’s nice to have a new car, with little to no maintenance costs. Definitely only small ones like cheap annual oil changes.

qbrozen

I may actually have a decent offer from Vroom. I called them to find out what the holdup is. Turns out they have been evaluating all along, but the emails just aren't getting to me. So last one a couple of weeks ago was $38.5k. I told the nice young lady if we can get that to $39k this week, we're a go. So she very patiently walked through everything in her system, marking all the little add-ons, etc, etc. And then submitted it to the correct department. She said it seems my last one wasn't coming through correct anyway. Something about being marked as wholesale but that should not be the case. So, who knows? We'll see what happens. May be shopping for a Wrangler this month. mwuhahahaha.

Even at $38.5k, that's a $1k overall profit, which isn't terrible. I mean, getting paid $250/mo to drive a new Camaro v8 isn't exactly punishment. I did have to walk through fire to register the damned thing, though.

qbrozen

EDIT... nope. No clue why, but it went DOWN to $38k even. Oh well.

explorerx4

Not sure about pre owned, but Camaro SS's are banned from being sold in state of CA due to emissions issues.
That's a big market to be excluded from.

xwesx

Michaell said:

If you decide to head through town, I'm sure we can find something more fun to do other than maintenance on my Outback. I can round up @jpp75 and @breld, too.

Speaking of which, I got a very detailed quote from the independent place - they want just over $800 to tick off everything on the to-do list, which I felt was pretty reasonable. I was figuring 4 figures, so this isn't too bad. Be interesting what the dealer comes back with (if they get back to me at all).

That could work, too. Or, y'all could just hang out talking cars and passing tools while I tinker with the Outback. Saving close to $800 is a lot of fun in it's own right.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

EDIT... nope. No clue why, but it went DOWN to $38k even. Oh well.

Where's the "thumbs down" button?!

roadburner

graphicguy said:

qbrozen said:

I keep pondering driving to carmax and/or the chevy dealer. Just not feeling like making the effort. Would be nice if one of these online stores would just step up and make it easy for me. Lol.

I got injured this past week, so chores are very difficult at the moment, preventing me from buttoning up the Benz. So that’s annoying, too. And sitting around makes me look at cars. Haha.

Q....hope you're better soon!

Ditto!

xwesx

Oddly enough, no brake pad light tonight. Great. Now I have a *real* gremlin to hunt down. /sigh

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

EDIT... nope. No clue why, but it went DOWN to $38k even. Oh well.

Perhaps the end is near for the crazy market.

Carvana sent me an email that said they still were interested in my Mustang and inviting me to get an updated bid. I wonder if they would offer more or less than the $26k they previously said it was worth.

stickguy

I just need supply to catch up to demand by New Year’s Day. I think I can last that long.

stickguy

I think BMW is intentionally trolling us now with these noses. Yowzers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8sJEWeQ-Qw

au1994

My wife actually likes it. I find it hideous.

breld

stickguy said:

I just need supply to catch up to demand by New Year’s Day. I think I can last that long.

I’m hoping for relief by the end of the summer by which time I’d like to make our SUV purchase.

The X3 I traded in was listed for about $5k more than I bought it for in December, and I just noticed the listing is gone. It wasn’t out there for long, so I gotta think they got close to the asking price.

I did receive the title to the X3 in the mail yesterday, so I guess it’s all mine now, free and clear (I’m taking it over to the dealership later today).

breld

If I’m totally honest, that BMW nose is growing on me a little (that sounds funny, like I need to go to the doctor or something). I saw a new M3 in my neighborhood the other day, and as an overall package, it was attractive.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

EDIT... nope. No clue why, but it went DOWN to $38k even. Oh well.

Perhaps the end is near for the crazy market.

Carvana sent me an email that said they still were interested in my Mustang and inviting me to get an updated bid. I wonder if they would offer more or less than the $26k they previously said it was worth.

If it were me, I would invest the 60 seconds to find out, strictly out of curiosity. I am no expert on chip shortages, nor the used car market, but everything I've read says the market will not correct until sometime in 2022. I expect it will be a long slow drawn out process. It took quite a while for the market to ramp up to these crazy prices, and I would expect it to take quite a while to return to normal.

But I could easily be wrong about that.

nyccarguy

I saw a Black/Black M440i X Drive Coupe the other day with Black Wheels and what appeared to be red brake calipers. It didn't look horrible. This AM on the other hand I saw a White 430xi Coupe with a big, orange/Blue New York License Plate on it that was horrendous.

henryn

xwesx said:

Oddly enough, no brake pad light tonight. Great. Now I have a *real* gremlin to hunt down. /sigh

Give it a little while. It may be gone for good. Some of those warning light gremlins resolve after "50 miles of driving".

tifighter

breld said:

If I’m totally honest, that BMW nose is growing on me a little (that sounds funny, like I need to go to the doctor or something). I saw a new M3 in my neighborhood the other day, and as an overall package, it was attractive.

Intervention time...

fintail

The EV BMW makes me wonder what one could do with an Edsel EV conversion - heck, probably lighter than many modern cars, better color choices, less offensive nose.

qbrozen

uhhhhh....
$41k from autonation.
Downside is that it is 90 miles away. I asked if they had a closer location. He wrote back a pretty personable message and said I was his best bet, given traffic, bridges, etc. Told him I can be there Friday.

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

EDIT... nope. No clue why, but it went DOWN to $38k even. Oh well.

I've been keeping track of CARMAX Stinger prices. They bought mine for $39,500 (again, about $2,300 more than I paid for it). Similar ones options and mileage wise they're selling all over the country are selling for between $41K-$43K. So, nifty profit, if they are indeed selling them.

Speaking of which, I don't think mine even hit the market. I checked a couple of times and it's nowhere to be found. My guess is an employee bought it, or it sold before it hit their ads.

Is it the end of this crazy cycle? Who knows? But, the chip shortage on new cars is still around and still very real. As long as new cars are limited, my guess is used car prices stay overheated.

stickguy

I never found our Jetta listed. I think it just sold quick. My son saw his G70 finally show up at Carmax (took a while to get title worked out) in I think Connecticut. Not sure if it ever sold.

stickguy

qbrozen said:

uhhhhh....
$41k from autonation.
Downside is that it is 90 miles away. I asked if they had a closer location. He wrote back a pretty personable message and said I was his best bet, given traffic, bridges, etc. Told him I can be there Friday.

Good luck! Nice little profit on that flip.

corvette

The Murano I bought from CarMax was kind of like that. I can't remember what was going on with the listing--I think it was on their website but not showing in the store's inventory yet because they'd just gotten it. They found it on the lot pretty quickly and I was able to buy it.

qbrozen

just looked for wife's bimmer but I don't see it. Not in Manheim listings, either, but I may be too late. Could have sold either way. I see a similar one with similar miles sold for $28k at auction. They paid us $26.3k, so I imagine they did OK.

stickguy

I forgot you sold that. So once the camaro is gone, she has the van and the Fiat, and you have whichever hooptie you can get running that day?

It’s hard to keep up with some people here!

xwesx

henryn said:

xwesx said:

Oddly enough, no brake pad light tonight. Great. Now I have a *real* gremlin to hunt down. /sigh

Give it a little while. It may be gone for good. Some of those warning light gremlins resolve after "50 miles of driving".

Maybe! Nothing again on the drive in this morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

xwesx

I'm currently trying to get in touch with Carvana. I sent them all the information they asked to get, completing that process on 5/21. I haven't heard a peep since, and my grandmother is getting anxious to get it out of the garage.

Man, this is annoying.

carnaught

@xwesx, please keep us informed on this.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

I forgot you sold that. So once the camaro is gone, she has the van and the Fiat, and you have whichever hooptie you can get running that day?

It’s hard to keep up with some people here!

yup. my beloved Charger will be all I have [running] for the moment.

henryn

The 2016 Town & Country never showed up on the Carvana listings. Wait one ... I just found it, they were slow to get it listed.

$20,990 and I sold it to them for $16,696, so they stand to make $4,294. I find it near impossible to believe that anyone would pay $21k for a 5 year old T&C. I bought it a little over 4 years ago for slightly less than $18k. The listing says "Another customer has reserved this vehicle", so who knows?

xwesx

henryn said:

The 2016 Town & Country never showed up on the Carvana listings. Wait one ... I just found it, they were slow to get it listed.

$20,990 and I sold it to them for $16,696, so they stand to make $4,294. I find it near impossible to believe that anyone would pay $21k for a 5 year old T&C. I bought it a little over 4 years ago for slightly less than $18k. The listing says "Another customer has reserved this vehicle", so who knows?

If it sells for that, then the lid is truly off this crazy stew pot.

corvette

xwesx said:

...the lid is truly off this crazy stew pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVovq9TGBw0

stickguy

found my son's G70. Sent to Ct. for some reason, and still listed as "coming soon" I think he got about $31.5K for it.

https://www.carmax.com/car/20361577

ab348

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I forgot you sold that. So once the camaro is gone, she has the van and the Fiat, and you have whichever hooptie you can get running that day?

It’s hard to keep up with some people here!

yup. my beloved Charger will be all I have [running] for the moment.

Maybe (if you are a Costco member while you still have the Camaro titled to you) you could pick up a Chevy Bolt:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/costco-discount-auto-program-chevy-bolt-ev

Sandman6472

Have been dealing with chronic pain since April of 2005 and it can be life changing. Those first years were especially hard as it too awhile to get the proper meds to work so I could function and not be a zombie all the time. The worst part for me is never knowing how painful my spine will be that day and weather definitely is a factor. Many days it's all I can do to get up & out of bed and shower before noon and on these kind of bad days, I just hang around the house. Work days can be tough so scheduling is key here.
Best advice is to took it one day at a time. Definitely take your meds and try to keep a half full kind of mind set. Don't let the chronic pain rule your life, just incorporate into your life and things ill work out. But don't push yourself and rest when necessary. You're not alone in this journey and we're here to lend a helping hand when needed!

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Wow, that G70 has 2 sets of keys. HA HA.

Sandman6472

Saw the new 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross vehicle and it's looking good. Looks to be a bit shorter than a Rav4 but not sure. I like it though, like it a lot! 2022 is looking to be a great year for new models I might be interested in. With this new Corolla Cross, we have the new VW Taos and the Chevrolet Bolt and I like all three to be honest. So, looks to be an interesting year for me to maybe actually finally pull the trigger on something new. They all excite me for different reasons so really hoping this chip problem gets solved pretty quickly to be honest. But my time line is really sometime in the next 1.5 years truthfully. As we found with the Audi, takes a few months for all the different colors to hit the market place. All we had a choice was the white over black she bought or the black over black we almost bought. Still think the dark gray or blue was a nicer color on the A3 but our timing was a bit off as she bought at the beginning of it's first model year. Waiting at least a good 8 months would've been preferable and think that's what I'll be doing here. But hoping that nothing majorly expensive happens with the Golf.
Hitting 67K tomorrow and going in for a synthetic oil change/filter at the VW dealer. Just hope they don't find any issues as it's been running just fine lately. A bit more brake dust than usual though and hoping there's no issue there.
Haven't been this excited about new vehicle shopping well since back when I got the Golf, so this is a good thing. Can actually see myself in any of those three I mentioned above to be honest. Right now though, the new Corolla has a slight edge as I really do want to go back to "cheap to keep" for a long while.

Sandman6472

No Accent today!!! The tail light assembly came in cracked so another one was ordered but it has to come from Atlanta! Daughter went home to work and will get rides from co-workers until we can get it down to Miami. If all goes according to the latest plan, part should come in tomorrow morning. Once installed and working, I'm going to go pick it up and leave the Golf in their parking lot till later in the evening. Will drive it down and park it at the hospital where she works and give her the keys. By this time, the wife should be arriving after going in to her office for the day. Then we drive home & pick up the Golf on our way home from Miami.
Think it's a viable plan as long as the part does show up in working order and all the functions work as intended. By then, I will have been called by the body shop to come over and sign it out. A good plan that I hope will work. If not, it'll have to be done on Friday but optimistic that tomorrow will be the final day in their hands!

xwesx

carnaught said:

@xwesx, please keep us informed on this.

Well, dang. So, I finally managed to get a phone number for them and called. The robo-guy says that the wait time may be significant, and recommended that I provide them with a call-back number. They would call back when my place in line came to the front. Three hours later....

I get a call from Carvana! I gave the guy my info, explained that I provided documents on 5/21 with no response, and he quickly looked it up. He said his system shows that they contacted me via email on 5/22 asking for some documentation on my grandmother's trust (she puts everything under that). Unfortunately for me, I received nothing of the sort (and not in trash or spam either). He was able to get his system to send it over, though, so I read through, received a little clarification from him, and should be good to go as soon as I can get the documents sorted out after I'm home tonight.

We shall see...

roadburner

xwesx said:

henryn said:

xwesx said:

Oddly enough, no brake pad light tonight. Great. Now I have a *real* gremlin to hunt down. /sigh

Give it a little while. It may be gone for good. Some of those warning light gremlins resolve after "50 miles of driving".

Maybe! Nothing again on the drive in this morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

To reset the pad light on the E39 you turned the ignition on without starting the car and left it on until the light went out- under 60 seconds IIRC.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I forgot you sold that. So once the camaro is gone, she has the van and the Fiat, and you have whichever hooptie you can get running that day?

It’s hard to keep up with some people here!

yup. my beloved Charger will be all I have [running] for the moment.

How are your ribs doing?

henryn

https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/1823808

That one is definitely mine, I checked the Carfax.

sda

henryn said:

https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/1823808

That one is definitely mine, I checked the Carfax.

Incredible prices. Wow.

qbrozen

@ab348 said:
Maybe (if you are a Costco member while you still have the Camaro titled to you) you could pick up a Chevy Bolt:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/costco-discount-auto-program-chevy-bolt-ev

I’ll have to see what the online services would offer for one. Gotta love how the article specifically details $13.5k off but twice, including the heading, insist on sensationalizing that with “nearly 14k!” Shameful.