Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

nyccarguy

My family and I spent the past weekend + (Friday - Monday) in Naples, FL celebrating the Bnai Mitzvah of my god-son and his twin brother. Florida sure is beautiful. I went through Costco to rent through Alamo. Costco gives you choices of car type and a few different rental companies to choose from. Then they give you the total price for the rental including taxes and fees which is nice. Renting an Expedition (Chevy Tahoe or similar) was either the same price or cheaper than a Mid Sized SUV (Murano, Edge or similar). It was even cheaper than certain economy cars. The Expedition was a nice rig.

Michaell

Attention, K-Mart Leasers!

Report of a NJ lease of a Frontier S Crew 4x4. 24/15, only first payment due at signing, for $290/mo.

Deals are out there, if you know how to get them!

stickguy

So probably $260 for 10k miles. Low option spec, but good price!

Seems too cheap. Must have been something else involved.

qbrozen

I now how two 2022 Wranglers on order. It is a race to see which arrives first.

A broker offered up a group buy at 9.75% off sticker. That's 1.75% better than my first 2022 order, but, with broker fee and higher doc fee, it winds up only about $600 better.

qbrozen

Michaell said:

Attention, K-Mart Leasers!

Report of a NJ lease of a Frontier S Crew 4x4. 24/15, only first payment due at signing, for $290/mo.

Deals are out there, if you know how to get them!

Are we sure? Poster wrote "MSRP $35,535, zero down, 24 months, 15k, drive off only - $290 per month." That sounds to me like he paid taxes and fees and first month.

sda

qbrozen said:

I now how two 2022 Wranglers on order. It is a race to see which arrives first.

A broker offered up a group buy at 9.75% off sticker. That's 1.75% better than my first 2022 order, but, with broker fee and higher doc fee, it winds up only about $600 better.

You along with @breld need dealer plates!

stickguy

Hey, I got 2 Mavericks on order, and debating an Si!

Maybe I should have joined the Wrangler group. Still not going to be overly cheap though I assume.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

Hey, I got 2 Mavericks on order, and debating an Si!

Maybe I should have joined the Wrangler group. Still not going to be overly cheap though I assume.

You guys should create a buyers group and negotiate quantity discounts.

The rest of us could buy stock in that venture.

jmonroe

sda

Savagegeese is testing an Si in the near future. Seems there is some disappointment stirring already in regard to dumbing down of features such as no heated seats, auto climate control, etc, plus $3K+ higher price.

stickguy

I don’t think it’s $3k though.

Auto CC, NBD. and I didn’t even know it had heated seats (plus cloth, so not really needed).

More interested in all the improvements to how it drives to see if it’s worth it.

qbrozen

requested info uploaded to carvana for the minivan. Told wife we could hold off on the jeep if we wanted, but I think we need to take this offer on the van. she agreed.

qbrozen

So... new Mach-E with $47k msrp. Vroom will pay $48k for it. I'd get the $7500 tax credit. No sales tax on EVs in NJ. What am I missing, if anything?

sda

Do you have to own an EV for a minimum period of time to qualify for the tax credit?

qbrozen

sda said:

Do you have to own an EV for a minimum period of time to qualify for the tax credit?

I can't find anything that states you should. I would keep it through the winter, at least. Figure 4 mos.

28firefighter

@qbrozen said:
So... new Mach-E with $47k msrp. Vroom will pay $48k for it. I'd get the $7500 tax credit. No sales tax on EVs in NJ. What am I missing, if anything?

Can you even find one?

mlevine

Was at dealership today for a repair. Hardly a vehicles in the showroom. I saw a new MB GLE 350 that had a regional adjustment of $5,000 above MSRP. They then took the vehicle to another part of the showroom and looked like they were preparing for customer pickup. Crazy stuff out there.

tjc78

@qbrozen said:
So... new Mach-E with $47k msrp. Vroom will pay $48k for it. I'd get the $7500 tax credit. No sales tax on EVs in NJ. What am I missing, if anything?

Will anyone sell for MSRP?

If so, then a no brainer.

tjc78

@tjc78 said:

@qbrozen said:
So... new Mach-E with $47k msrp. Vroom will pay $48k for it. I'd get the $7500 tax credit. No sales tax on EVs in NJ. What am I missing, if anything?

Will anyone sell for MSRP?

If so, then a no brainer.

Couple dealers I looked at had ADM of 2K and 3K

qbrozen

cargurus shows 159 within 50 miles of me. They can't all be fake, can they? Only one way to find out.

mlevine

I had a discussion with my friend about these regional adjustments. Looking at other point of view, if dealers do not have the inventory to make sales they must raise the price on existing inventory to cover their expenses to run the dealership.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

cargurus shows 159 within 50 miles of me. They can't all be fake, can they? Only one way to find out.

Carvana will advertise on sites, and the same car comes up listed for the nearest six big cities. As six different cars.

roadburner

Ran across another G20 330e M Sport; Dynamic Handling Package, H-K, Exec. Package, etc. if it only had about 100 more hp- I’d be all over it.

qbrozen

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

cargurus shows 159 within 50 miles of me. They can't all be fake, can they? Only one way to find out.

Carvana will advertise on sites, and the same car comes up listed for the nearest six big cities. As six different cars.

that's 159 only NEW. I reached out to the 2 closest dealers showing stock. We'll see.

tifighter

qbrozen said:

So... new Mach-E with $47k msrp. Vroom will pay $48k for it. I'd get the $7500 tax credit. No sales tax on EVs in NJ. What am I missing, if anything?

Already said by others, but yeah, the thing missing is the ADM.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

cargurus shows 159 within 50 miles of me. They can't all be fake, can they? Only one way to find out.

Carvana will advertise on sites, and the same car comes up listed for the nearest six big cities. As six different cars.

that's 159 only NEW. I reached out to the 2 closest dealers showing stock. We'll see.

On Ford's website: 14 2021 units within 100 miles of Cincinnati.
19 within 300 miles

No idea how accurate that might be

kyfdx

Just one of those is a local dealer.
2021 Premium in Red
$51,800 MSRP

qbrozen

wonder if I did find one at msrp, how freaked the wife would be if I paid cash for it.

qbrozen

oh boy. So one got back to me. The car will be available on the 15th for straight up MSRP.

[Deleted User]

qbrozen said:

wonder if I did find one at msrp, how freaked the wife would be if I paid cash for it.

depends on how long you had it, she may never know...

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

My family and I spent the past weekend + (Friday - Monday) in Naples, FL celebrating the Bnai Mitzvah of my god-son and his twin brother. Florida sure is beautiful. I went through Costco to rent through Alamo. Costco gives you choices of car type and a few different rental companies to choose from. Then they give you the total price for the rental including taxes and fees which is nice. Renting an Expedition (Chevy Tahoe or similar) was either the same price or cheaper than a Mid Sized SUV (Murano, Edge or similar). It was even cheaper than certain economy cars. The Expedition was a nice rig.

Nice!

Last winter, when I was setting up a rental for my wife down in OH/PA, I told her that full-size SUV pricing was only $10/day more than the economy cars. She promptly told me no - she didn't want to drive anything that big. However, she was pushing to get something with AWD, which was quite expensive *except* for the full-size, so she ended up just going with economy in the end.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

wonder if I did find one at msrp, how freaked the wife would be if I paid cash for it.

Well, sounds like good timing. The rest of those orders are just vaporware at this point. It will be time to pass off the MachE just about when the first of the others materializes!

qbrozen

Deposit placed. Metallic white over black AWD (of course). No dealer fee! WHAT?! Yeah, that's what they wrote. So $47,295 plus DMV, which is usually about $395, and no tax.

The reason it is not for sale is the open recall. He says Ford isn't telling them the solution until 11/15. Hopefully it is something manageable. Otherwise, the deposit is refundable.

tjc78

You know Q, you really need to be faster in making decisions like this. 🤪🤪

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

My family and I spent the past weekend + (Friday - Monday) in Naples, FL celebrating the Bnai Mitzvah of my god-son and his twin brother. Florida sure is beautiful. I went through Costco to rent through Alamo. Costco gives you choices of car type and a few different rental companies to choose from. Then they give you the total price for the rental including taxes and fees which is nice. Renting an Expedition (Chevy Tahoe or similar) was either the same price or cheaper than a Mid Sized SUV (Murano, Edge or similar). It was even cheaper than certain economy cars. The Expedition was a nice rig.

Thank you for contributing to my profit sharing.

greg128

sda said:

In general, car repair has become so expensive. The TL has a minor leak at the main seal. So far it doesn't leak enough to require adding oil between changes but I am keeping (now my wife is as I can't) an eye on it. Ideally I would have the main seal replaced (just under $2k for the repair), but on a 16 year old car with 166k that doesn't seem like money well spent.

Try Blue Devil rear main sealer. It got 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

Deposit placed. Metallic white over black AWD (of course). No dealer fee! WHAT?! Yeah, that's what they wrote. So $47,295 plus DMV, which is usually about $395, and no tax.

The reason it is not for sale is the open recall. He says Ford isn't telling them the solution until 11/15. Hopefully it is something manageable. Otherwise, the deposit is refundable.

Dang. Maybe I should get one. I don't have any quick sale outlet up here, though.

stickguy

dad23 said:

qbrozen said:

wonder if I did find one at msrp, how freaked the wife would be if I paid cash for it.

depends on how long you had it, she may never know...

Key is, just get them all in the same color. Might never catch on.

stickguy

Maybe I should just hire Q to slide me one of his also rans. I’ll have a car by this weekend.

28firefighter

This play really only makes sense in states with no sales tax on EVs.

explorerx4

How about renting one from him like Turo?

stickguy

I actually did not know we didn’t have to pay sales tax on EVs.

sda

greg128 said:

sda said:

In general, car repair has become so expensive. The TL has a minor leak at the main seal. So far it doesn't leak enough to require adding oil between changes but I am keeping (now my wife is as I can't) an eye on it. Ideally I would have the main seal replaced (just under $2k for the repair), but on a 16 year old car with 166k that doesn't seem like money well spent.

Try Blue Devil rear main sealer. It got 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

Thanks for the suggestion. The leak is more annoying than anything as it stains the driveway.
The leak has not gotten any worse in the last 6 months or so. I'll continue to monitor it. The car runs and drives great and does not reek of oil burning off the exhaust, etc.

tifighter

I see there is a recall on the Mach E for the windshield and pano roofs not being bonded correctly. No software fix for that, I guess. Hopefully not a long delay.

Michaell

stickguy said:

I actually did not know we didn’t have to pay sales tax on EVs.

@stickguy immediately starts to search local dealer inventory...

We should be hearing back from him shortly.

qbrozen

FYI, that Frontier leasor messaged me that he paid all taxes and fees and first month (just over $2k) at signing.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

How about renting one from him like Turo?

actually, if he has 2 Jeeps coming in, maybe I can just take the spare if I still don't have anything!

stickguy

qbrozen said:

FYI, that Frontier leasor messaged me that he paid all taxes and fees and first month (just over $2k) at signing.

so more like $370 with just 1st DAS. making the first offer I saw of a 45k Pro 4X and $445 really good (last one on Rodo is now about $650/month instead).

stickguy

seem to have one in stock. I should go drive it! not selling at MSRP however.

https://www.echelonfordinc.com/new/Ford/2021-Ford-Mustang+Mach-E-2d905dbc0a0e09b0478894ff314be8d6.htm

A standard range model is in transit. That only has a $2kADM on it. Same colors, MSRP $46,895. Must be what QB ordered.

a big problem to me is I have no charging unit at my house, so would have to buy a fast charger and have it installed, adding to the (already significant) cost. And don't want to put that money into the current house. I also would be looking at it to keep, not flip before it needed the first charge!

Also would lease only in this price range, so no EV credit for that.

xwesx

Sales tax. That's that evil thing that leached thousands from me in Ohio this summer.

corvette

If memory serves, the 240v chargers cost somewhere around $600-1,000 in parts. Not sure what it would cost to install a circuit and wire, but you could always move the charger to a new house and cover the wiring at the old place up with a blank plate.