Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

qbrozen

@breld said:
Took my E450 in yesterday to get a few nagging things addressed. Scheduled the appointment several weeks ago so I could have a loaner, but they still say they are so backed up that it will be a few days before they even get to looking at my vehicle.

Anyway, got a brand new CLA as a loaner. It’s stylish looking, but I’m not crazy about driving it. Last I took the X5 in, it was nice that they had a 5-series as a loaner. No such luck at the MB dealer.

Geesh. For the life of me, I can’t recall you getting an e-class.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

@breld said:

Took my E450 in yesterday to get a few nagging things addressed. Scheduled the appointment several weeks ago so I could have a loaner, but they still say they are so backed up that it will be a few days before they even get to looking at my vehicle.

Anyway, got a brand new CLA as a loaner. It’s stylish looking, but I’m not crazy about driving it. Last I took the X5 in, it was nice that they had a 5-series as a loaner. No such luck at the MB dealer.

Geesh. For the life of me, I can’t recall you getting an e-class.

It's a wagon, right?

au1994

Shame about the CLA. Its a looker but the driving experience is just “meh…”

qbrozen

kyfdx said:

It's a wagon, right?

oh, yeah, maybe you are right. Now I think I recall something about it being similar to Fin's? Maybe?

Not that it matters. It probably won't even make it home from the shop.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

I’m not sure I would value anything a guy who uses an expensive car like that to do Uber has to say. Maybe it was his mom’s.

Eh, don’t judge so quickly. Single young guy who has a 9-5 consulting job and decided to uber the weekends for extra money. He financed the tesla.

I’m not necessarily judging but just wondering based on experience how he would make any money. I’ve looked at several people who have done ride share with new vehicles and when they considered the depreciation costs they found they were losing money.

One coworker tried it for a year with her new Honda CRV. She put an extra 30k miles on it in addition to the 12k miles of personal driving. When she looked at the value of her car with 42k miles vs 12k miles she decided that she was making less than minimum wage. I’m assuming the depreciation hit on a Tesla would be even worse. That dynamic would be true for miles accrued on the way home from other business or on the weekends or whatever. Perhaps someone who already used their car for business could plow some of their Uber costs into a separate business deduction but I’m not that good of an accountant.

My conclusion was that to maximize profit with Uber you have to have the cheapest suitable vehicle that will qualify. That’s why my son got a low mile 10 year old Fusion. It cost 25% of a new one but still had 5 years of eligibility left. The cost of depreciation is insignificant compared to a Tesla. If he puts 100k on his car over five years it might have cost him $6,000. How much would the value drop on any new car after driving similar miles?

qbrozen

I certainly couldn't say, but I was thinking more along the lines of someone who has a regular job but puts in uber hours to, let's say, pay for their car. Like, if this dude's car payment is $600 and he works weekends giving people rides to make an extra $600 to make the payment. The driving pays for the car, so, theoretically, the depreciation doesn't matter, in a way. And you get to use the car for "free" for personal use.

corvette

au1994 said:

Shame about the CLA. Its a looker but the driving experience is just “meh…”

Yeah, the current generation of the Mercedes Jetta is better looking than the first.

qbrozen

this is insanity.
I can't comprehend how anyone manages to get commercial insurance. For weeks, I have been unsuccessfully trying to obtain quotes. All of these companies refer me to each other. So you reach out to 1234 Insurance, and they respond "we've passed you onto our partner 5678 insurance," who then reaches out and says "we passed you onto our partner 9XY Insurance," who then reaches out and says "we passed you to 1234 Insurance," and the cycle starts again. I've simplified it in my example, but that is what it comes down to. Even when I've reached out to big companies, like Progressive and Geico, they refer me to one of these online brokers who is supposed to get me multiple quotes from other companies, but they wind up sending me a link to another broker who then tells me to go to Progressive or Geico. Say what now?!

stickguy

can't you just go to an actual local agent's office and do it in person (with them doing all the work?) I do that with car/home insurance since I hate dealing with the internet stuff. I have a very nice Allstate agent now in my new town!

qbrozen

stickguy said:

can't you just go to an actual local agent's office and do it in person (with them doing all the work?) I do that with car/home insurance since I hate dealing with the internet stuff. I have a very nice Allstate agent now in my new town!

Insurance would be in GA, so no.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

I certainly couldn't say, but I was thinking more along the lines of someone who has a regular job but puts in uber hours to, let's say, pay for their car. Like, if this dude's car payment is $600 and he works weekends giving people rides to make an extra $600 to make the payment. The driving pays for the car, so, theoretically, the depreciation doesn't matter, in a way. And you get to use the car for "free" for personal use.

In the farming business we call that “living off the tractor” because it doesn’t consider the cost of replacement. Maybe I’m too dumb to figure out all the angles but I could never figure out how to escape the cost of wearing out your equipment.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

this is insanity.
I can't comprehend how anyone manages to get commercial insurance. For weeks, I have been unsuccessfully trying to obtain quotes. All of these companies refer me to each other. So you reach out to 1234 Insurance, and they respond "we've passed you onto our partner 5678 insurance," who then reaches out and says "we passed you onto our partner 9XY Insurance," who then reaches out and says "we passed you to 1234 Insurance," and the cycle starts again. I've simplified it in my example, but that is what it comes down to. Even when I've reached out to big companies, like Progressive and Geico, they refer me to one of these online brokers who is supposed to get me multiple quotes from other companies, but they wind up sending me a link to another broker who then tells me to go to Progressive or Geico. Say what now?!

That’s odd. I was able to get all my farm insurance needs met by joining the Farm Bureau (a trade group). They had all the business policies I needed and bundled it with home and auto as well. Is there an auto dealer’s trade group you can join? How about your local chamber of commerce?

qbrozen

It is like leasing. You use the car up and start over again. Perpetual payments. Sure, you could have it last twice or even three times as long if you didn't use it for ride sharing, but then the payment is coming out of your 9-5 job rather than your side gig.

qbrozen

Other than the fuel door, this is a fairly nice looking Ford.

qbrozen

@stickguy , did you see this droptop?

carnaught

qbrozen said:

Other than the fuel door, this is a fairly nice looking Ford.

I had that genre sedan. The interior in this one has held up amazingly well with the amount of miles on it.

roadburner

au1994 said:

Shame about the CLA. Its a looker but the driving experience is just “meh…”

I thought about an AMG CLA 45, but the indie garage I now use(run primarily by some friends who used to work at my BMW center) advised that if I want an AMG I'd best stick with a C43/63.

breld

Yes, just to clarify, I bought the 2020 E450 wagon in September.

breld

roadburner said:

au1994 said:

Shame about the CLA. Its a looker but the driving experience is just “meh…”

I thought about an AMG CLA 45, but the indie garage I now use(run primarily by some friends who used to work at my BMW center) advised that if I want an AMG I'd best stick with a C43/63.

Even with the AMG drivetrain, I can't imagine you being happy with the CLA. The C-class is nice though.

rayains

breld -
That '2020 E450 wagon' looks quite handsome, to me!
- Ray
Best of luck with it!

tifighter

breld said:

Yes, just to clarify, I bought the 2020 E450 wagon in September.

Is the luxury grill still available on these? @fintail must know...

andres3

qbrozen said:

I rode in my first model 3 (first tesla, really) on Sat thanks to the uber driver who took me to the airport. It felt more like a regular car than I expected, but also noisier and rougher-riding than I expected, too. It was rather disappointing considering the cost, to be honest. I’m sure my opinion would be different if I was the pilot. But, as a passenger, meh.

Just don't post this review on Twitter or you might get banned from being able to buy a Tesla and from Twitter at the same time.

andres3

breld said:

Took my E450 in yesterday to get a few nagging things addressed. Scheduled the appointment several weeks ago so I could have a loaner, but they still say they are so backed up that it will be a few days before they even get to looking at my vehicle.

Anyway, got a brand new CLA as a loaner. It’s stylish looking, but I’m not crazy about driving it. Last I took the X5 in, it was nice that they had a 5-series as a loaner. No such luck at the MB dealer.

250 is such a low number it equals = slow to me. I liked the 350's. I'm sure I'd like the 450's too.

stickguy

qbrozen said:

@stickguy , did you see this droptop?

I missed it, but love that. Seems like a good deal too. Color is fantastic, but I would prefer not having the black wheels and trim but that is minor stuff.

if it was local and I could have it inspected I would buy it for that.

fintail

tifighter said:

breld said:

Yes, just to clarify, I bought the 2020 E450 wagon in September.

Is the luxury grill still available on these? @fintail must know...

Nope. The All Terrain is all we get for MY 2021+ for non-AMG cars, and no lux grille on it.

Other markets get it, however.

On the wagon and lux grille note, since the other week I am back to snow wheels for the season:

qbrozen

@stickguy said:
I missed it, but love that. Seems like a good deal too. Color is fantastic, but I would prefer not having the black wheels and trim but that is minor stuff.

if it was local and I could have it inspected I would buy it for that.

Eh, you people and your “inspections.” ;D

xwesx

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

can't you just go to an actual local agent's office and do it in person (with them doing all the work?) I do that with car/home insurance since I hate dealing with the internet stuff. I have a very nice Allstate agent now in my new town!

Insurance would be in GA, so no.

Time for another road trip!

Sandman6472

Happy Thanksgiving from South Florida! Enjoy all the turkey and for those on the roads today, please be extra careful, leave a bit earlier if necessary and party with due moderation!
God bless this great country of ours!!

ab348

Ruh-roh. Big recall by Ford due to fire risks.

https://www.autonews.com/regulation-safety/ford-recalls-2020-2023-bronco-sports-escapes-fire-risk

Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling 634,000 crossovers worldwide over fire risks from possible cracked fuel injectors and will urge owners to have their cars inspected.

Ford on Thursday said the recall covers 2020-23 model year Bronco Sport and Escape crossovers with 3 cylinder, 1.5 liter engines, including many also recalled in April because an oil separator housing could crack and develop a leak that could cause an engine fire.

The recall covers about 520,000 vehicles in the U.S. and about 114,000 in other countries.

jmonroe1

@ab348 said:
Ruh-roh. Big recall by Ford due to fire risks.

https://www.autonews.com/regulation-safety/ford-recalls-2020-2023-bronco-sports-escapes-fire-risk

Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling 634,000 crossovers worldwide over fire risks from possible cracked fuel injectors and will urge owners to have their cars inspected.

Ford on Thursday said the recall covers 2020-23 model year Bronco Sport and Escape crossovers with 3 cylinder, 1.5 liter engines, including many also recalled in April because an oil separator housing could crack and develop a leak that could cause an engine fire.

The recall covers about 520,000 vehicles in the U.S. and about 114,000 in other countries.

————————————————
This isn’t the first time you’ve been the bearer of joy.

jmonroe

kyfdx

Drove by KY Speedway, today.. Parking lots there are still full of F-150 SuperDuty trucks. Easily 1000, or more.

henryn

kyfdx said:

Drove by KY Speedway, today.. Parking lots there are still full of F-150 SuperDuty trucks. Easily 1000, or more.

I assume that was a typo and you meant F250 not F150?

Is that the same location where there were thousands and thousands of Ford trucks stacked up last year? And what happened to the story people keep telling about the chip shortage being over?

corvette

The area near the old munitions plant in Charlestown, IN still has a lot of Super Duties.

roadburner

We drove our son to the airport this morning so he could fly to Lancaster PA to visit his girlfriend for the Thanksgiving weekend. Afterword my bride suggested we go car shopping- bless her heart. Our first stop was at my BMW dealer; they had received a vaguely interesting M340i that I wanted to drive to make sure that a G20 was not for me- no matter how much hp it had. Problem was, my friend in sales couldn't find the car. We went across the street to Chick-fil-A for an early lunch and 30 minutes later the 3er was still MIA. At this point we decided to head to northern KY to check out another Mercedes AMG dealer. We arrived at the store and the one car I was interested in was parked in front of the showroom. We hadn't been looking at for more than a minute or so when a couple that looked like the grown up version of this twosome show up:
They are followed by a salesperson-of course!-and they get into the car and drive away.
I've missed a car by a day or so, but this is the first time that I missed one by 15 minutes and to Todd and Lisa no less.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

Drove by KY Speedway, today.. Parking lots there are still full of F-150 SuperDuty trucks. Easily 1000, or more.

Those aren’t the same ones they parked there in 2020 during the chip shortage, are they?

kyfdx

@henryn Correct. F-250

@oldfarmer50 No, 2022 models, I think. Still having parts issues, evidently

imidazol97

kyfdx said:

@henryn Correct. F-250

@oldfarmer50 No, 2022 models, I think. Still having parts issues, evidently

They've not been there all year. I tried looking at the satellite map on maps.google and they show a 2022 overhead (I didn't see a month) but I couldn't see any trucks parked.

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

kyfdx said:

@henryn Correct. F-250

@oldfarmer50 No, 2022 models, I think. Still having parts issues, evidently

They've not been there all year. I tried looking at the satellite map on maps.google and they show a 2022 overhead (I didn't see a month) but I couldn't see any trucks parked.

Yeah, that's my first trip down I-71, this year. So, I don't know when they got there. They are more to the North side of the parking, when last time, they were on the West side, directly behind the Speedway (Assuming I-71 is heading directly North, right there, which it isn't).

Sandman6472

Going to take the wife for an MRI later today. Seems all the walking they did at Epcot/Disney last week hurt her meniscus or so the doc thinks. Have never heard of this issue & from what she looked up, it is fixable if that really is the problem. The MRI should give us all the info we need to move forward. Sometimes my knees hurt, especially after spending the day at work when we have to use the Ford Transit van. Just climbing in/out is a real effort for my spine & many of the older guys have complained about it. Some even bring a stepping stool to use as most have no running boards on them. I think OF will agree with me that their not made for older gents with bad knees/spines. Still having pain in mine 6 weeks after falling in the parking lot at work.
A real [non-permissible content removed] getting older when one isn't healthy, makes many day to day things really hard to do. Am still seriously considering going down to a two day a week work schedule as am having more bad then good days. Luckily that vertigo is being dealt with and hoping it'll never come back. Besides making one super miserable, lying in bed or in the recliner is not a fun way to spend one's "golden years"!

Sandman6472

Called yesterday about our federal lawsuit against the postal service and them firing me back in 2010 due to my on the job injury. Didn't get much of an answer as no human was answering the phones, only recordings about the progress of the suit. Will have to call back on Monday to speak to a human & see where were at. At least I learned that the suit is still active in the courts which is good to hear. I was lied to and illegally fired before I had planned to leave. I even spoke with a couple folks effected like I was who were offered their jobs back. I was never given that courtesy & not even sure I would've gone back but still, I was passed over completely. I had always said that I wanted to retire when I reached 60 years of age but I was four years from that goal in 2010.
Hopefully, we'll reach some kind of solution before another bunch of years go by. Just looking for justice here after all these years. Their actions changed our lives at the time & led to a period of severe depression for me. They even stripped us of my health insurance before my union and Congress representative had it completely restored a couple of weeks later. I hit bottom but finally was able to make lemonade out of lemons once I got into the rental car business in January of 2013...and I've never looked back! Took my civil service pension as I had the age & enough years of service to qualify. Working part time almost 10 years now has been a great thing for me & am very blessed I feel. Once this lawsuit is settled and I finally get some closure for their wrong done to me, I'll be a very happy camper. Just want this albatross done away with already!!

qbrozen

12 years?! How does it get dragged out that long? They are obviously hoping you’ll kick off before they pay, but how is that allowed? What do they do to keep putting it off? Would be good to know in case I ever get sued.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

12 years?! How does it get dragged out that long? They are obviously hoping you’ll kick off before they pay, but how is that allowed? What do they do to keep putting it off? Would be good to know in case I ever get sued.

It's very dependent on the jurisdiction as well as the judge. The judge in my circuit keeps track of his cases with a vengeance; if they are over 12-18 months he wants them resolved ASAP. Conversely, I know some judges who just go with the flow- and have some cases hanging around that are 5-10 years old.

qbrozen

@roadburner said:
It's very dependent on the jurisdiction as well as the judge. The judge in my circuit keeps track of his cases with a vengeance; if they are over 12-18 months he wants them resolved ASAP. Conversely, I know some judges who just go with the flow- and have some cases hanging around that are 5-10 years old.

But how does it work? If I’m the plaintiff, I’m pushing for things to move. What does the defendant do to bring it to a halt?

roadburner

Well, if the judge doesn't want a trial and the defendant keeps asking for continuances, there you are...

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

@roadburner said:

It's very dependent on the jurisdiction as well as the judge. The judge in my circuit keeps track of his cases with a vengeance; if they are over 12-18 months he wants them resolved ASAP. Conversely, I know some judges who just go with the flow- and have some cases hanging around that are 5-10 years old.

But how does it work? If I’m the plaintiff, I’m pushing for things to move. What does the defendant do to bring it to a halt?

That sounds like the lawyers are milking the case for all it’s worth and racking up the billable hours.

qbrozen

@roadburner said:
Well, if the judge doesn't want a trial and the defendant keeps asking for continuances, there you are...

Why would the judge not want a trial? Isn’t that their job? And I thought there was a limit to continuances? Not to mention needing a reason??

stickguy

it's the federal government on the other side. they only move fast when you owe them money.

breld

Well, I’ll just say I’ve told my wife she can’t buy any more GLCs.

Wednesday she decided she’d like an EV of her own, so she drove a Model Y and Mach E and loved the Ford.

Black Friday shopping ended with this…

Michaell

Congrats! Time to update the ol' signature line.

stickguy

you people are a well oiled car flipping machine. I am truly impessed.