Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

The XL has one, it's just key only and not power. Not a huge deal since I don't plan on storing valuables in the bed very often, despite the cover, but it might also deter tailgate theft. I might also get the "soft open" strut, as well.

qbrozen

Can't count on anybody. Ugh. Went to pick up the car dolly today so I could make the Baltimore trip tomorrow and found the place locked up, lights off, and no answer to knocking or honking. Someone else came by while I was there and he said he had been there an hour ago with the same result, so evidently they closed shop and didn't bother putting up a sign or notifying anybody who had reservations. This was a Uhaul place, BTW. I called their phone number but it just pushes you to the main Uhaul customer service who could only say "I can send you to a different store." What good is that if you can't guarantee they'll even be open when I get there?

jmonroe1

@breld said:
My wax jobs only seem to last 2 to 3 months too. 😀

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Slow down a little so you don’t shear off the wax.

jmonroe

Sandman6472

Our son came in from Chicago for the weekend, just dropped him off to go home. Those 4 days just flew by. Got him to the plane early today & turns out they were an hour late leaving Ft. Lauderdale. Always something but, he's safe back in Chicago now with his wife who picked him up earlier.

corvette

Called Union Pacific's automated rail car tracing line. The voice recognition seems terrible, but i also think it is possible that there is an incorrect character in the rail car number they gave me. The one time (out of maybe ten) that it worked, it seemed to say that the rail car should be in Missouri on October 28.

stickguy

could be 3 days. could be 3 weeks. Dealers don't even know. Trucks just randomly shop up on the lot and drop stuff off.

breld

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

Michaell

breld said:

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

You just have to wear your baseball cap backwards when you drive it.

qbrozen

I mailed out the paperwork to start a Georgia dealership. Fingers crossed.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

My main concern for a car like that is that the 9100 miles was put on a quarter mile at a time. I know that some of you feel that walloping the tar out of a car is no big deal but $50k is a lot of money to risk.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

breld said:

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

My main concern for a car like that is that the 9100 miles was put on a quarter mile at a time. I know that some of you feel that walloping the tar out of a car is no big deal but $50k is a lot of money to risk.

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I agree but when you buy those cars they’re probably the folks that have a couple 50K CD’s lying around waiting for someplace to spend them.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

I mailed out the paperwork to start a Georgia dealership. Fingers crossed.

Cool. So you can charge extra large doc fees:P

explorerx4

That Charger has had a minor accident and is selling for over sticker.

qbrozen

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

I mailed out the paperwork to start a Georgia dealership. Fingers crossed.

Cool. So you can charge extra large doc fees:P

haha. hadn't thought of that.
But, I plan on being "the home of no doc fee!" lol.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

That Charger has had a minor accident and is selling for over sticker.

I hadn't looked that far into it, but saw the front bumper is clearly not repainted correctly. Often just a lighting issue, but not that one. That is way too obvious.

sda

I wonder what percentage of Challengers and Chargers have had body work of some type?

qbrozen

sda said:

I wonder what percentage of Challengers and Chargers have had body work of some type?

I'm gonna guess slightly less than Camaros and Mustangs only because having a 4-door option probably attracts a more ... responsible?... crowd, and there is the AWD option, as well. Maybe similar to the percentage of BMWs overall.

greg1288

Apparently the business model of buying used cars at a premium and reselling them at a higher premium has proven to be a bad idea. When I bought a car from Carvana in 2019 I was so impressed with the experience that I considered purchasing some of their stock. It was around $60 a share at that time but I chickened out.

The price peaked in August of 2021 at around $360 a share so it would have been a good idea to have bought it and sold at that time. But now a little over a year later it has plummeted to around $13, although it did rise $2 today to a bit over $15.

Vroom and Carmax stock have plunged similarly. Apparently used car prices have fallen around 15% in the last 90 days. The stock they overpaid for must now be sold possibly at a loss. Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.

explorerx4

@greg1288,
Defaults are usually tied to the inability to pay, bit being upside down on the vehicle value.

corvette

qbrozen said:

explorerx4 said:

That Charger has had a minor accident and is selling for over sticker.

I hadn't looked that far into it, but saw the front bumper is clearly not repainted correctly. Often just a lighting issue, but not that one. That is way too obvious.

That's probably a difficult color to match, but that doesn't excuse the pricing. Are those really that rare, or can you find a brand new one at MSRP if you look hard enough?

kyfdx

greg1288 said:

Apparently the business model of buying used cars at a premium and reselling them at a higher premium has proven to be a bad idea. When I bought a car from Carvana in 2019 I was so impressed with the experience that I considered purchasing some of their stock. It was around $60 a share at that time but I chickened out.

The price peaked in August of 2021 at around $360 a share so it would have been a good idea to have bought it and sold at that time. But now a little over a year later it has plummeted to around $13, although it did rise $2 today to a bit over $15.

Vroom and Carmax stock have plunged similarly. Apparently used car prices have fallen around 15% in the last 90 days. The stock they overpaid for must now be sold possibly at a loss. Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.

Vroom and Carvana stocks are down 95% from their 52 week high. Carmax is down about 60%.

Carvana has serious problems, and Vroom might not survive. But, I don't think the same could be said for Carmax.

oldfarmer50

“ Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.”

Now that’s logic I can’t follow. Saying to yourself “I grossly overpaid for my car so I’ll nuke my credit by letting the bank take it away as a way of punishing myself for a bad decision”.

jmonroe1

@qbrozen said:
haha. hadn't thought of that.
But, I plan on being "the home of no doc fee!" lol.

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That sounds like a business plan that will put you out of business by the end of the month.

jmonroe

stickguy

but I bet it sets him apart from all the other Georgia dealer's selling RHD JDM imports out of his garage in NJ!

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

“ Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.”

Now that’s logic I can’t follow. Saying to yourself “I grossly overpaid for my car so I’ll nuke my credit by letting the bank take it away as a way of punishing myself for a bad decision”.

I agree with your logic, but you have to remember a LOT of people walked away from their houses and home loans after the housing market collapsed in 2008. Will / would people do the same with a car loan? Heck if I know!

qbrozen

corvette said:

qbrozen said:

explorerx4 said:

That Charger has had a minor accident and is selling for over sticker.

I hadn't looked that far into it, but saw the front bumper is clearly not repainted correctly. Often just a lighting issue, but not that one. That is way too obvious.

That's probably a difficult color to match, but that doesn't excuse the pricing. Are those really that rare, or can you find a brand new one at MSRP if you look hard enough?

you can order one at 9% off.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

oldfarmer50 said:

“ Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.”

Now that’s logic I can’t follow. Saying to yourself “I grossly overpaid for my car so I’ll nuke my credit by letting the bank take it away as a way of punishing myself for a bad decision”.

I agree with your logic, but you have to remember a LOT of people walked away from their houses and home loans after the housing market collapsed in 2008. Will / would people do the same with a car loan? Heck if I know!

There is a large subset of people who buy and sell strictly on emotion without regard for the consequences. If it weren’t for folks like that I don’t think car dealers could survive.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

breld said:

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

My main concern for a car like that is that the 9100 miles was put on a quarter mile at a time. I know that some of you feel that walloping the tar out of a car is no big deal but $50k is a lot of money to risk.

If a car is stock with a full service history and a clean CarFax I wouldn't hesitate for a second. As for the high performance Dodge vehicles, I read this:

The SRT cars, including the brake pads, tires, suspension and cooling systems, are track-ready from the factory. We verify that every SRT model can handle 20-minute track sessions in 100-degree ambient temps with a pro driver. That means the brakes won’t go away, the driveline won’t overheat, the ESC system won’t have problems, etc. We also run 24 hours of track durability at Nelson Ledges with the car absolutely stock. We test for brake fade at Gingerman, where some of our high-profile and more expensive competitors lose brakes in just three laps.
Erich Heuschele
manager/DR, SRT vehicle dynamics

I have a few people lined up to buy my Club Sport, and they all know it was my HPDE instructor car from 1996 to 2012.

roadburner

I brought the X1 to the dealer today and these two were awaiting pickup:

In other news, I was given a 2022 330i loaner. It’s a wonderful laid-back cruiser- and something I might prefer in another decade or so.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

breld said:

I know very little about these chargers but this has been sitting at the lot where I bought my wagon. Cool looking muscle car.

https://www.greenwoodautomotive.com/vehicle-details/used-2021-dodge-charger-scat-pack-parker-co-id-48937005

My main concern for a car like that is that the 9100 miles was put on a quarter mile at a time. I know that some of you feel that walloping the tar out of a car is no big deal but $50k is a lot of money to risk.

If a car is stock with a full service history and a clean CarFax I wouldn't hesitate for a second. As for the high performance Dodge vehicles, I read this:

The SRT cars, including the brake pads, tires, suspension and cooling systems, are track-ready from the factory. We verify that every SRT model can handle 20-minute track sessions in 100-degree ambient temps with a pro driver. That means the brakes won’t go away, the driveline won’t overheat, the ESC system won’t have problems, etc. We also run 24 hours of track durability at Nelson Ledges with the car absolutely stock. We test for brake fade at Gingerman, where some of our high-profile and more expensive competitors lose brakes in just three laps.
Erich Heuschele
manager/DR, SRT vehicle dynamics

I have a few people lined up to buy my Club Sport, and they all know it was my HPDE instructor car from 1996 to 2012.

I know you think me overly cautious especially since I treat my performance car very gently but I just don’t trust other people to baby a fast car. Whether a Chrysler can live up to the advertised hype can be debated but I wouldn’t bet $50k on it.

I also hate overpaying for cars. Today I discovered a Ford Ranger nearby and stopped to look at it. It was a 2002 with only 35k miles on it. Pretty much my dream. Then I took a good look. It had front end damage, both fenders with dents, rust on the door bottoms and the paint was severely faded. That’s a rough 35k miles!

Then there was the price. $5300! A few years ago I might have paid $2500 for a truck like this just because of the mileage (if I could verify it) but I just can’t see going in that deep for a 20 year old regular cab.

I don’t know, if this is the new normal, I’ll ever buy anything ever again

qbrozen

This thing is so tiny! Hard to compare. Smaller than my ‘07 GTI, it seems. I love it!
BTW, with the trailer, if I had good ramps, I’m fairly certain I could carry one inside the Sprinter and something else on the trailer.

nyccarguy

@qbrozen - is the Sprinter riding any better?

qbrozen

nyccarguy said:

@qbrozen - is the Sprinter riding any better?

uhhh... no, not really. Maybe if we add 1000 pounds of mods, it will help. haha.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

nyccarguy said:

@qbrozen - is the Sprinter riding any better?

uhhh... no, not really. Maybe if we add 1000 pounds of mods, it will help. haha.

As well as a lift and some Mud Terrain tires

stickguy

Should really help the poor MPG too!

corvette

@qbrozen - congrats on cutting through the red tape for a successful pickup!

xwesx

qbrozen said:

This thing is so tiny! Hard to compare. Smaller than my ‘07 GTI, it seems. I love it!

BTW, with the trailer, if I had good ramps, I’m fairly certain I could carry one inside the Sprinter and something else on the trailer.

OMG.... that is so cute! I mean, ugly as sin, but still cute nonetheless!

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

This thing is so tiny! Hard to compare. Smaller than my ‘07 GTI, it seems. I love it!

BTW, with the trailer, if I had good ramps, I’m fairly certain I could carry one inside the Sprinter and something else on the trailer.

I’m impressed with the interiors of those cars you buy. Do they put seat covers on all cars in Japan?

stickguy

I’m struggling to figure out what use that has in the US.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I’m struggling to figure out what use that has in the US.

Mail delivery

corvette

Rail car with my Maverick arrived in Herington, KS early this morning, so not far from its final destination in Kansas City. Interestingly, the Google map of Herington shows a rather large airport nearby, which it turns out used to be an Army airfield during WWII before it was decommissioned a few years after being built. It's now a municipal airport, although it appears they only maintained one of the three original runways.

greg1288

henryn said:

oldfarmer50 said:

“ Buying stock in Repo companies is probably a much better idea considering many people will default on their loans when they realize their cars are worth less than what they owe.”

Now that’s logic I can’t follow. Saying to yourself “I grossly overpaid for my car so I’ll nuke my credit by letting the bank take it away as a way of punishing myself for a bad decision”.

I agree with your logic, but you have to remember a LOT of people walked away from their houses and home loans after the housing market collapsed in 2008. Will / would people do the same with a car loan? Heck if I know!

I know people who lived a few years without paying their mortgage at that time. The banks accepted the loss because they did not want to foreclose on a hard to sell depreciating house leaving it vacant and all of the problems that would entail. That will not work with a car.

qbrozen

When I got it home, I put it next to the Fiat. They are damned near the same size. Suzuki has more interior room, however, thanks to its box shape.

The use? Fantastic town car. Fits lots of stuff in a tiny package.

Off the line, it actually scoots. But then you hit 2nd gear. Haha. And smoothness is not exactly a strong suit of a 660cc engine. But damn it is fun! I think it will serve our intended purpose perfectly.

tjc78

That’s your Myrtle Beach car, right?

Probably much cheaper than my golf cart was

nyccarguy

Couple of rare rovers spotted in the wild over the last couple of days:

qbrozen

@tjc78 said:
That’s your Myrtle Beach car, right?

Probably much cheaper than my golf cart was

Correct on both counts. And good in all weather!

tifighter

Currently driving in eastern Oregon. While a town might be small, it has everything you need.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

I’m impressed with the interiors of those cars you buy. Do they put seat covers on all cars in Japan?

Not all. While I was waiting for my paperwork, I took the liberty of inspecting a dozen or so other cars there. Several Supras and RX7s, a couple of Fairlady Zs, a Stagea, various Toyota sedans, and more. Seems like other buys maybe aren't as careful as I am in choosing or they are more willing to polish a turd. Lots of split seams, wires hanging under dashboards, worn switches, etc.

Some observations:
Stagea is BIG! Larger even than a Legacy wagon. Probably more like V90 size.

A Cosmo Eunos coupe is also quite large. Like an S-class coupe.

Toyota Crown, also a big one. Appears to me to be larger than a Lexus LS. Closer to my Charger, I think. The Celsior is more manageable, and I think equal to the LS.

Either folks take better care of them or the Supra is just better built than its RX7 and Fairlady Z competitors. Just opening and closing the door alone is a vastly different experience.

I'll get a Honda Beat one of these days. That thing is ridiculously tiny. When I was a kid, we had go-carts about that size.

Sandman6472

Am really finding out that I'm starting to get older and that the kids are stepping in more to help out. I think they see it to so we definitely appreciate the extra help they give us. These last four or so years, since my gall bladder surgery, I've slowed down quite a bit and spend more time sitting in my recliner or lying in bed. I know in our society, age & just even talking about it are hard for many folks. I know that I've taken my oldest to the bank and put her on everything so when that time comes, she can jump right in like nothing has happened. I know she'll be fair with her siblings, something mine didn't want to do & I got screwed out of a decent amount of $. I tried talking with my son about it but was difficult for him, so just let him know things are going to be done fairly.
I guess being the last sibling out of the four of us still alive really hit home this weekend. My son & I went to the cemetery to visit the family and it really became real to me. Death & dying are subjects most Americans I'm betting put off talking about & I get it...it's a painful subject to discuss. Just like sitting down & discussing finances with the kids as one day, they will need to take over much of the everyday financial things we just do for ourselves now. Luckily, I hooked up with The Neptune Society & have that all taken care of. Don't want to go underground, well maybe put a small bit of ashes into my wife's pine box, the idea of spending eternity underground like that makes me crazy. Too claustrophobic for me...I want to be spread around in the wind. I know my folks never talked about it with us which was wrong. The wife also doesn't want to broach the subject either so I've backed off a bit. But many folks our age are passing away for whatever reason, I for one, have no problem discussing it so things will be handled efficiently & easily for them when that time does come as we never know when it's our time to exist earth's stage once & for all.

stickguy

the idea of being buried always skeeved me out too, and really seemed quite strange. I'm certainly no doing it!

discussing in advance is always smart. But better is just putting it all in detailed writing and kept with your other papers (will, POA, etc.) Leaving it up to survivors, to make decisions under stressful conditions (with someone pushing them that has a ve$ted interest in he decisions) is really not fair. I'm just not willing to plan it in advance and pay for it. Partly because I have no idea where I will even be at the time. Though if you aren't getting buried, really doesn't matter!