Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

28firefighter

I have zero interest in it. But since Q is getting into this line of work, I was curious how he’s dealing with it.

qbrozen

@mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen - did you get the pulley modified to work on your crown?

I did. Cut up some 1/2” aluminum U channel, made a square spacer, drilled out the holes, and voila. Thought I had a pic of it but seems I don’t.

corvette

I think this ad was meant for @roadburner … I should probably ask to see the 2WD Corolla Cross with the strut braces and the longitudinally mounted engine.

mjfloyd1

Three 4xe’s and a Rivian at Sam’s. I’m sure the Rivian was there for cheap gas🤣👍

Michaell

Member needs help with the purchase of a modded (Roush) Mustang

mjfloyd1

corvette said:

I think this ad was meant for @roadburner … I should probably ask to see the 2WD Corolla Cross with the strut braces and the longitudinally mounted engine.

Is that a BMota?

corvette

mjfloyd1 said:

Is that a BMota?

Yes, in the photos. The text says they want to sell me a Corolla Cross, which doesn't appear to be pictured. So confusing!

roadburner

corvette said:

I think this ad was meant for @roadburner … I should probably ask to see the 2WD Corolla Cross with the strut braces and the longitudinally mounted engine.

They aren't called Oxmorons for nothing!

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

28firefighter said:

Serious question, best answered by Q, probably. Someone buys this car: https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/d/bellevue-1994-toyota-crown-royal-wagon/7512256946.html

How difficult is it to source parts for repairs (mechanically)? That’s ignoring body work…

Imported “legally”? How many other ways are there?

I know that more than a few cars were bought over in the '80s and early 90's via MAC.
My BMW child car seat was brought over by an individual who worked for one of the major international shipping companies- his packages didn't have to go through customs...

xwesx

henryn said:

xwesx said:

Wow; that is one homely car (the 1JZ), done up in true Toyota "wagon" style! They were always really good at taking a sedan, slapping a cap on it to make it a wagon, giving it a big of the ol' ugly treatment, and sending it on out the door....

I thought that was the very definition of a station wagon. Not necessarily the "ugly treatment", but "take a 4 door sedan and slap a cap on the rear end".

No, no.... Toyota always did it quite literally. Many other brands at least made an effort to give the wagons some unique aspects such that they were a derivative of the sedan moreso than just a simple modification.

jmonroe1

@roadburner said:
I know that more than a few cars were bought over in the '80s and early 90's via MAC.
My BMW child car seat was brought over by an individual who worked for one of the major international shipping companies- his packages didn't have to go through customs...

————————————————
You’re a good one to ask about this:

If you’re not caught, is it illegal?

jmonroe

roadburner

@jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:
I know that more than a few cars were bought over in the '80s and early 90's via MAC.
My BMW child car seat was brought over by an individual who worked for one of the major international shipping companies- his packages didn't have to go through customs...

————————————————
You’re a good one to ask about this:

If you’re not caught, is it illegal?

jmonroe

Technically, yes- but obviously you are much more likely to get nabbed for sneaking in a car vs. a child seat.
I know at least one guy who took European delivery of his BMW and then delivered it to a German tuner(AC Schnitzer, IIRC) with instructions to upgrade the motor without any external evidence of modifications. When the car made it to the US the guy’s salesman offered to have it checked out because of a lumpy idle. Needless to say, the new owner declined.

jmonroe1

Y we> @roadburner said:

@jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:
I know that more than a few cars were bought over in the '80s and early 90's via MAC.
My BMW child car seat was brought over by an individual who worked for one of the major international shipping companies- his packages didn't have to go through customs...

————————————————
You’re a good one to ask about this:

If you’re not caught, is it illegal?

jmonroe

Technically, yes- but obviously you are much more likely to get nabbed for sneaking in a car vs. a child seat.
I know at least one guy who took European delivery of his BMW and then delivered it to a German tuner(AC Schnitzer, IIRC) with instructions to upgrade the motor without any external evidence of modifications. When the car made it to the US the guy’s salesman offered to have it checked out because of a lumpy idle. Needless to say, the new owner declined.

————————————————
Yeah, uh huh. You’re one of those guys who always seems to know a guy, right?

jmonroe

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

Y we> @roadburner said:

@jmonroe1 said:

@roadburner said:

I know that more than a few cars were bought over in the '80s and early 90's via MAC.

My BMW child car seat was brought over by an individual who worked for one of the major international shipping companies- his packages didn't have to go through customs...

————————————————

You’re a good one to ask about this:

If you’re not caught, is it illegal?

jmonroe

Technically, yes- but obviously you are much more likely to get nabbed for sneaking in a car vs. a child seat.

I know at least one guy who took European delivery of his BMW and then delivered it to a German tuner(AC Schnitzer, IIRC) with instructions to upgrade the motor without any external evidence of modifications. When the car made it to the US the guy’s salesman offered to have it checked out because of a lumpy idle. Needless to say, the new owner declined.

————————————————

Yeah, uh huh. You’re one of those guys who always seems to know a guy, right?

jmonroe

It helps when you are trying to buy things that the manufacturer doesn't sell over here. I also knew another guy who sold me a Baby Racer for my son.

We used to bring it to club events and people always asked where I got it. Finally the club liaison from BMW NA saw how much interest the car generated and in less than 2 years BMW NA started selling them here...

kyfdx

Made a trip to pickup my uncle's 2018 RAV4, which I need to sell for him. I've had the title for a couple of months, but needed to get the car.

No issues. Look at the title. There is a lien on the vehicle with Toyota Motor Credit. A vehicle that he paid cash for. He was 90 when he bought it. He's never had a car loan in his life.

Call the county clerk for his home location. They pull up the paperwork. Yes, the form has lien information, and his signature.

Call TMC: No, he's never had an account with us. And yet, I still need a lien release from them, before I can get a clear title.

What a cluster.

tjc78

Punch Pending

henryn

This talk about illegally importing cars triggered a memory, and I went and looked it up.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/bill-gates-illegal-porsche-sat-customs-10-years/

When the Porsche 959 debuted in the late ’80s, everyone wanted to get their hands on it, including Bill Gates. According to Drive Tribe, however, that was easier said than done as the Porsche 959 wasn’t even available in the U.S.

While “the majority of Porsches can be easily imported from Europe to America, the 959 was different.” Several complications arose with the 959 and its importation to the U.S., with the foremost issue being Porsche’s refusal to “provide the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) with four models for crash testing.”

While it is unsurprising that Porsche refused to throw away four of its super-expensive, super-elite vehicles to crash-testing, this meant that the Porsche 959 “was not certified as street legal.”

Of course, this didn’t stop Gates, who ordered one anyway and had it immediately impounded at U.S. Customs upon arrival. And there it sat, for more than a decade.

breld

I’ll try to be quick on this, since I mostly just need to vent. Car dealerships can be so aggravating these days.

We went to look at the used Macan S saturday evening. Wife decides she loves it…right color, right equipment, low miles. Yes it’s a bit expensive, but it’s pretty much how she’d configure one and it’s right here right now.

Only variable is the trade value on the Bronco, but we’ve received a couple quotes already…one from Rivian and one from the dealership with the E450 wagon. So we wait while they’re supposedly looking at the Bronco. Salesman comes back and explains how they’re calling around to Ford dealerships to get buy bids. Okay…normal process. But then I realize he means they won’t be getting us a trade value until Tuesday when they re-open after the weekend (this is still a couple hours before closing on Saturday). Then he goes on about how values are so volatile, and we may be better off going to a Carmax since they’re nationwide…blah, blah, blah.

So…we’re in Colorado, everyone says car inventory is at extreme lows, and you’re hesitant to take in this 3k mile Ford Bronco? And you could sell your Macan that’s been sitting for a few weeks because of the overly aggressive pricing? Okay.

As an aside, the dealership with the E450 had initially come back with a trade value on the Bronco…”Hey great news…we can see you paid $XX for the Bronco earlier this year. We can give you that same price on trade.” Love it when they base a trade on things that are irrelevant to the actual value….like original purchase price and/or loan balance. We shared with them the other bids we’ve received, being thousands higher than our original purchase price. They did call back about an hour later and said yes, they looked at the market closer and could meet that.

28firefighter

My conspiracy theory remains. These are the waning days of the car dealership as we know it and they’re fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their business model.

jmonroe1

@28firefighter said:
My conspiracy theory remains. These are the waning days of the car dealership as we know it and they’re fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their business model.

————————————————
Yep, I’ve been saying the same thing. They’re car dealerships and when push comes to shove it’s in their DNA. Or put another way…”a Leopard doesn’t change its stripes”.

jmonroe

tjc78

@28firefighter said:
My conspiracy theory remains. These are the waning days of the car dealership as we know it and they’re fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their business model.

I am still on the opposite side of the fence. As soon as manufacturers can start cranking these units out they will. Inventory will slowly build, interest rates will continue to rise and big discounts will happen again.

If I’m wrong and you are right, the next thing that will happen is the dealers will all look to reduce their footprint, sell their holding lots etc. since that is operating overhead that is no longer required.

qbrozen

@breld said:
But then I realize he means they won’t be getting us a trade value until Tuesday when they re-open after the weekend (this is still a couple hours before closing on Saturday).

Is that really a problem, though? It has been sitting, as you say, and you were there close to closing, so odds are it ain’t going nowhere. Besides, it isn’t like she NEEDS it. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. No harm done.

explorerx4

A dealer near me is building a new Ram facility. Also, I think moving their VW location to where Ram is moving out of.

stickguy

Probably good on the Porsche. Once they come back with trade value you can turn around and haggle the selling price on the Meccan!

Also a lot of chatter on the Maverick forum about used car prices softening. Though that might largely be from Carvana being overstocked on mavericks, and out of money to buy more.

explorerx4

Cheapest Maverick I see on the Carvana site is listed for $35,590(XL with a few K miles on it).

roadburner

My salesperson texted me this morning and reported that my dealer has a G42 in 111 status. If only it was RWD and had sunroof delete.

breld

qbrozen said:

@breld said:

But then I realize he means they won’t be getting us a trade value until Tuesday when they re-open after the weekend (this is still a couple hours before closing on Saturday).

Is that really a problem, though? It has been sitting, as you say, and you were there close to closing, so odds are it ain’t going nowhere. Besides, it isn’t like she NEEDS it. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. No harm done.

Other than our tendency to want immediate gratification? No, not a problem. And did give us the rest of the weekend to really thing about it. So that's good.

She's giving some thought to the Genesis GV70 too, as well as a 4 cylinder Macan (gasp! not the right group to say that too!).

corvette

breld said:

”Hey great news…we can see you paid $XX for the Bronco earlier this year. We can give you that same price on trade.”

How could they "see" what you paid for the Bronco without being creepy in a privacy-violating sort of way? I had a hotel proprietor send me a message which indicated they had stalked my social media, and I immediately cancelled the booking.

28firefighter

tjc78 said:

@28firefighter said:

My conspiracy theory remains. These are the waning days of the car dealership as we know it and they’re fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their business model.

I am still on the opposite side of the fence. As soon as manufacturers can start cranking these units out they will. Inventory will slowly build, interest rates will continue to rise and big discounts will happen again.

If I’m wrong and you are right, the next thing that will happen is the dealers will all look to reduce their footprint, sell their holding lots etc. since that is operating overhead that is no longer required.

We shall see! Dealerships have always been, in part, property investment. I do expect to start seeing that happen - or perhaps those dealers begin subdividing and developing it differently.

explorerx4

The sales info was probably in the papers in the glove compartment.

tjc78

Hey gang.. sorry for the drive by post earlier.

So as I’ve mentioned a few times, I was leaning toward a pickup to replace the S60. Ended up seriously looking at Frontiers (decent programs on the 18 month lease if you can find it) and also Tacos which are actually quite plentiful and decent leases for the times. However, as nice as they both are neither were really doing it for me.

GM and Ford trucks aren’t worth leasing right now, however a broker on LH had some really aggressive deals on RAMs.

Ended up reserving an incoming 22 Ram 1500 Built to Serve edition with the E-torque 5.7. Black over black CC short box 4x4 Pretty well equipped but missing some safety nannys.

MSRP - 58 and change.
2000 OOP - $496 monthly 36/10. $500 broker fee.
13% discount, 1750 conquest. MF near zero.

Effective $565 including broker fee. I’ll take a sub 1% deal in this environment.

More truck than I’ll ever need, but I’ve wanted a full size truck for some time and said what the heck. Delivery is probably sometime next week. It’s coming out of Florida and picking up in north Jersey. Only hiccup is if it arrives too late for July program and August is very different. It just got to the dealer in FL.

Here is pictures of what I’m getting. The wheels aren’t my favorite, but not jet black so I can deal with it.

tjc78

@28firefighter said:
We shall see! Dealerships have always been, in part, property investment. I do expect to start seeing that happen - or perhaps those dealers begin subdividing and developing it differently.

Agree. No reason to pay for acres of ground you don’t need. Could also see a lot more combined brands together too.

sda

I read where used car prices are starting to soften. Based on my local online search and walk around Car Max yesterday, I don't see it. Two examples, 2016 Q5 Premium Plus with 51k, $27600. 2019 Accord EXL with 45k, visible scratches, cheap tire replacements, $29.9k. We paid less for our 2016 Q5 Premium Plus w/tech with 26k mi on 7/21/19, 3 yrs ago!

carnaught

@tjc78, many safe miles, nice interior!

Michaell

@tjc78 - congrats on the new truck, very sharp!

tjc78

@carnaught said:
@tjc78, many safe miles, nice interior!

Thanks! I’ll post pictures when I get it.

28firefighter

I love those, @tjc78 ! Congrats!

breld

corvette said:

breld said:

”Hey great news…we can see you paid $XX for the Bronco earlier this year. We can give you that same price on trade.”

How could they "see" what you paid for the Bronco without being creepy in a privacy-violating sort of way? I had a hotel proprietor send me a message which indicated they had stalked my social media, and I immediately cancelled the booking.

Good question. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but no idea how they knew the price.

breld

Congrats @tjc78! Seems like a great truck!

[Deleted User]

Looks sharp @tjc78! I like those wheels, better than black I agree, enjoy!

rayainsw

@tjc78
Nice looking truck.
- Ray
Best of luck with it!

imidazol97

breld said:

corvette said:

breld said:

”Hey great news…we can see you paid $XX for the Bronco earlier this year. We can give you that same price on trade.”

How could they "see" what you paid for the Bronco without being creepy in a privacy-violating sort of way? I had a hotel proprietor send me a message which indicated they had stalked my social media, and I immediately cancelled the booking.

Good question. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but no idea how they knew the price.

Dealer may have looked at public information.

In Ohio, the BMV has a page which lets the public look up info on a VIN and comes back with data on purchase price and country of registration (no personal owner information beyond how many owners are on the title). https://bmvonline.dps.ohio.gov/Search/Title

sda

MSN News 7/25/22
Used car prices are now 43% — or $10,046 — above their expected “normal” price, according to CoPilot’s Return to Normal Index. Projected prices are calculated using depreciation rates and estimate a car’s value depending on its age.

The average price for a used car was $33,341 as of June 30, according to CoPilot’s data. While prices are still lower than March’s peak, they climbed 0.5% in June.

At the same time, new car prices are at record-breaking highs, too.

In June, the average price of a new car reached $48,043, an all-time high, according to Kelley Blue Book. Prices for new cars are up 12.7% compared to this time last year.

sda

tjc78 said:

@28firefighter said:

We shall see! Dealerships have always been, in part, property investment. I do expect to start seeing that happen - or perhaps those dealers begin subdividing and developing it differently.

Agree. No reason to pay for acres of ground you don’t need. Could also see a lot more combined brands together too.

That's sharp, enjoy!

tjc78

Thanks everyone, very anxious to get it. Hard to believe but this will be my first Chrysler product. Had tons of experience with them growing up, but never owned one myself.

The color on the wheels is called Technical Gray, I think they are exclusive to this package.

stickguy

nice truck. not my favorite color combo, but you are buying the deal and the function! If I had one of those I could get the big Uhaul trailer and skip the rental truck.

Used prices? Reports I have seen are that auction prices were dipping. That will happen well before any dealer asking prices will drop. But kinda like oil prices coming down, at some point it should show up in lower retail prices! Carvana and Carmax bids will be the easiest way for normal people to see if this is really happening (the lower wholesale figures).

corvette

Congrats! Can't go wrong with black, although the white letter outlines on the tires aren't my thing. I really love the two toned seats with the red/charcoal fabric inserts and red stitching, and the leather wrapped wheel. Which safety nannies is it missing?

xwesx

jmonroe1 said:

Yep, I’ve been saying the same thing. They’re car dealerships and when push comes to shove it’s in their DNA. Or put another way…”a Leopard doesn’t change its stripes”.

jmonroe

"You mean spots."

henryn

breld said:

I’ll try to be quick on this, since I mostly just need to vent. Car dealerships can be so aggravating these days.

...

As an aside, the dealership with the E450 had initially come back with a trade value on the Bronco…”Hey great news…we can see you paid $XX for the Bronco earlier this year. We can give you that same price on trade.” Love it when they base a trade on things that are irrelevant to the actual value….like original purchase price and/or loan balance. We shared with them the other bids we’ve received, being thousands higher than our original purchase price. They did call back about an hour later and said yes, they looked at the market closer and could meet that.

I had a similar experience back in 2018, well before the present madness. I had a 2017 F150, a little less than a year old, which I had picked up at a really tremendous price. I mean way the heck under invoice. So, at around 10 months old, and about 3k miles, it was worth more in trade than I had paid for it. That pricing was substantiated by Carmax. But it was a regular cab, and I wanted to go back to a crew cab, so it was time to "make a deal".

I'm at a Ford dealer, not the same one where I had purchased the 2017, negotiating on a new 2018. The salesman I'm dealing with is fairly nice, but the "closer" is being a real a__. That seemed to be the way that particular dealership worked, and he had already ticked me off. I showed him the buy offer from Carmax, and he came back with, "Why should we give you more than you paid for it?"

I thought about that for maybe 5 seconds, and asked him, "How do you know what I paid for it?" He got a blank look, and eventually came back with "I looked up the sales tax amount." Which was totally bogus, there was a trade involved, and I only paid sales tax on the difference. I told him that, in no uncertain terms, and I threw in a few expletives and some comments about his heritage and the horse he rode in on. I abhor liars.

Needless to say, I didn't buy a new truck there. I drove across town and bought a new truck the very same day from a different dealer. There are a lot of dealers out there, no excuse for putting up with a______.

xwesx

I'm not sure he rode in on the horse. I suspect he simply followed the horse in, as is fitting of a body part of his ranking....