Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

kyfdx

stickguy said:

More info on warranty. Looks like it might be offered by Zurich. Anyone familiar with them? Supposedly can only be sold by dealer at time if purchase.

Looks like they will pass on that and investigate cheap hondacare options instead. Hopefully getting price on that before they go pick it up.

Pass..

Michaell

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Only if you're able to stop in Colorado this time and meet up with the contingent here.

But, I like the idea.

How far is the CO group from Fort Collins or Denver airport?

Hour or so from Ft Collins. Half hour from DIA.

Different directions, though. @breld and I live SE of Denver, while @jpp75 is more towards downtown

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

I updated the EZ Pass info to reflect the change to the Corsair today.
Before that, her MKC was listed as Model 'Other' because they never added MKC to the selection list.

The MKC was also based on the Escape, right?

Sandman6472

Direct deposit is the only way to go. My Enterprise check goes right into my Wells Fargo account which makes all their services charges disappear. We also have my pension check d d to our Amtrust account, again negated their service fees. Makes things so much easier as I know exactly when the funs it the bank & no more driving there & waiting in line to deposit every other week. Just is such a great time saver and negating the bank service fees is an added bonus. Have been d d since my postal service days & have never had an issue at all.

Sandman6472

Isn't the Corsair based on the Escape currently? We picked up a bunch of new Escape's a few weeks ago & they drove nicely. liked the size though it won't work for me. Brought one home back in 2013 and it just fit in but was almost touching the front 1/2 wall and maybe 2 inches from the rear door. I could see it wouldn't work but the Ford guy insisted it wouldn't be an issue. Took it back to the Ford store & thanked him for his time. Turns out, the Tucson was a better fit in the garage...unfortunately, it didn't fit into my life.

Sandman6472

Speaking of the Tucson, remember as I came out after buying it & seeing a brand new Hyundai Elantra GT in gray sitting in the front of the store. What I should've done was marched right back inside & swapped out that for the Tucson. Funny how hindsight is always 100%! Did learn something last week though. Saw that same generation Elantra GT but with a turbo. Never knew it came with that option or that's probably where I would've gone in late 2013. To this day, I still like that smaller Elantra and a shame they discontinued that model. Would've been the perfect vehicle for me at the time & probably still would've had it but with more mileage than I've got now.

Sandman6472

The girls put the dash cam in the Audi and it's having an issue pairing with it. Not sure what we're doing wrong but think it's a bit old in the tech department. the kids have theirs working fine in their Chevy products, but one is a 2019 and the other is a 2021and betting their tech is more up to date. Think the girls are going to call the company later tonight to get some tech assistance. But got a feeling it's not going to work due to it's age.

stickguy

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

might go with direct deposit for my Carvana payoff. wonder if that would get in quicker than getting a check and driving straight to the bank?

Definitely. Also, you'll have access to the funds sooner.

makes sense. I will go that route. I just was not sure how quickly it happened from when they loaded the car. The check at least I have in hand before I turn over the keys. I would rather see the deposit confirmation before it leaves.

stickguy

Sandy, remind me, is the garage issue because your water heater tank sits in front of where you park, taking up room? Simple answer to get what you want is take a little money from the car budget, replace it with a tankless one that mounts on the wall, and get whatever length car you want!

stickguy

Warranty saga update. We both went online to get quotes (2 of the popular dealers). 8/100 Hondacare from the one recommended was $1,190 (zero deductible). no taxes or fees. He will get getting that at some point after getting the car, since no need to do prior to purchase. The Zurich plan would have ended up being $2,900 (I forgot to do the math on a 6 year loan!) And apparently they won't guarantee OEM parts. pretty much a nobrainer decision. 2 less years but that is a lot of savings in reserve just in case.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Warranty saga update. We both went online to get quotes (2 of the popular dealers). 8/100 Hondacare from the one recommended was $1,190 (zero deductible). no taxes or fees. He will get getting that at some point after getting the car, since no need to do prior to purchase. The Zurich plan would have ended up being $2,900 (I forgot to do the math on a 6 year loan!) And apparently they won't guarantee OEM parts. pretty much a nobrainer decision. 2 less years but that is a lot of savings in reserve just in case.

It's a Honda! They never break!

But, congrats to your son and future DIL on their CR-V. I've heard great things about the hybrid version (which, IIRC, is the same powertrain that is going into the new Accord).

Sandman6472

Our air handler for the a/c unit sits in front of my Golf and takes up the whole lip. I loose about 10", give or take. And don't think there's any other place we can move the whole unit to in the house. So, just means I have to have a vehicle less than 176" to fit properly in my space. My wife won't park on that side for fear of hitting her mirror as I've done on every vehicle I've owned. And last time, with her assistance, broke the whole sucker & cost me over $700 to replace it!
Luckily, my Golf is 168" & fits fine. I know the Hyundai Kona will fit also as well as all the other ones on my short list. Saw the new Kona N the other day in the neighborhood & spoke with the young lady driving it. Said she loves everything about it though it was a bit pricey, think she said around $32K. But, it had every option offered which jacked up the price. Hers was that white pearl color & is stunning in the sun light. As much as I'd like the M C CountrymanS, the price is pushing me away from owning one. Like the size of the Hyundai Venue but it would have to be the special one with the blue bottom with the white roof. It's basically the Hyundai Accent raised a few inches. But, not an exciting vehicle to drive. Prefer the Kona if I'm going Korean.

stickguy

i thought it drove nice. Same powertrain as the Accord. MPG ratings are 40 city, 34 highway. Not bad for a family truckster.

while I was on the warranty site I asked for a quote on our Acura (they sell Honda and Acura ones). max was 5 years (so I assume 5 tacked on to the original 3/36, which for us is up in 1 month). 5/80,000, zero deductible, was only $1,100. Might actually be worth it though I would never come close to the miles cap.

corvette

I don't expect to prevail, but I'm filing the appeal on the assessed value of the Maverick with the Department of Revenue today. The statute on that reads very oddly: you file a written protest, then you "may" request a conference, which "shall" be granted, if you request it... The DoR "shall" issue a final ruling, but no timeframe is specified, unless the taxpayer requests a final ruling in writing, in which case they have 30 days. So it's not clear to me whether you are supposed to go ahead and request the final ruling, since it sounds like they can just sit on it if you don't.

Sandman6472

Got to drive a Sliverado lease return with 110K on the clock from Vero Beach to West Palm Beach on Wednesday. For so many miles, it drove remarkably well except the tires were really loud. They weren't regular tires though, more like for off-roaing which probably explains all the noise in the cabin. I had Sirius/XM all the way down to the Palm Beach County line & then, it was gone. Was nice to have as long as I did but they probably called to stop the subscription once we drove them away.
The best part of joining this new crew is that we have usually 6 drivers, sometimes 7, so we get to do the longer drives when there are many vehicles to move. On Monday, they went to Okeechobee City to pick up 6 Chevy Silverado trucks also coming back off lease. Tuesday, we went to Stuart with vehicles to drop off. Then we proceeded onto Ft. Pierce & Vero Beach to pick up 6 trucks and we ended up bringing 6 vehicles down to a couple of dealers near our home base. We ended our day at 6:30 which was fine with me. Figure if we're at work, might as well get some hours. I had worked Saturday & Sunday since I needed Monday off this week so if tomorrow is a longish day, we should be getting a nice check. I missed all of last week due to my bathroom mishap plus I was out the previous Friday due to me not feeling well. So I did miss 4 days of work all told so was nice to pick up some extra hours.
Definitely think I made the right choice here accepting the new schedule. As much as I enjoyed having Mondays off, this new one is better for me. And it also means that for any Monday holiday that we are closed, and there are only like 4 of them, is we'd have to pick up another day that week if we want a full paycheck. Holidays like Labor Day, Presidents Day are regular work days for us, but it's really not a big deal.

breld

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

Only if you're able to stop in Colorado this time and meet up with the contingent here.

But, I like the idea.

How far is the CO group from Fort Collins or Denver airport?

We're all fairly close to the Denver airport...@michaell and I are only a 20-30 minute drive up the tollway from it.

Not terribly close to Fort Collins (perhaps an hour away).

breld

xwesx said:

Random thought:

We should have a CCBA meet up next summer when I'm down that way. I think there are a good half-dozen of us within a few-hundred-mile diameter of one another in the, uh, "greater Ohio" area....

We could do a "cars & coffee" sort of thing somewhere in the general area of Columbus, which is pretty central to Pittsburg, Cincinatti, Louisville, Cleveland, Erie, etc. Maybe find a small town near there with an interesting hook.

I like it! I'd be up for a roadtrip. Just give me enough notice so I can scan the car inventory in the Ohio area!

breld

@stickguy - congrats to your son and future DIL on the CR-V. I was admiring one at the Honda dealership recently as I was checking out Civic inventory for my son. It seems in pictures it looks a lot like the outgoing version, but I thought the sharper lines really came through in person. Really good looking and I'm sure it drives great.

breld

mjfloyd1 said:

andres3 said:

breld said:

I included that second to last picture to show the contrast between the two whites. The Mercedes almost looks yellow compared to the more grayish tint white of the Subaru.

Are you sure the Mercedes is washed? LOL. It looks almost ivory/cream compared to the white Subaru. Our Alltrack was Pure white.

It doesn’t matter as one of them will be gone soon so there won’t be another side by side comparison of the different whites😂

Hey now! I'm going on 6 months with that wagon and really like it. No matter that I've recently considered a JGC 4xe, MDX Type S, GLE, etc. as a replacement.

kyfdx

corvette said:

I don't expect to prevail, but I'm filing the appeal on the assessed value of the Maverick with the Department of Revenue today. The statute on that reads very oddly: you file a written protest, then you "may" request a conference, which "shall" be granted, if you request it... The DoR "shall" issue a final ruling, but no timeframe is specified, unless the taxpayer requests a final ruling in writing, in which case they have 30 days. So it's not clear to me whether you are supposed to go ahead and request the final ruling, since it sounds like they can just sit on it if you don't.

stickguy

what are you appealing? did they give it a tax basis more than MSRP? Or just that but you want a basis of what you actually paid for it/

I thought PP states had charts they used (like blue book values) instead of basing on actual purchase price?

qbrozen

ah, the gub'ment. I just got notices for both the Pajero Minis that they want more money because the values were understated. Not sure how the heck that works. Where in the world did they get their values?

stickguy

I am shocked I tell you, shocked, but going around in confusion circles with Carvana. They want a picture of the title. I have a loan, so the bank/state (in some convoluted arrangement) hangs onto that so I cannot send it to them, not having it.

why they can't call Ford Credit (I gave them my account number) to get the payoff is beyond me. That is how every car dealer would do it if I went in today to trade it in.

Carmax would have been much easier. Too bad they were not high bidder.

stickguy

hopefully the poor chat rep I am on with (a real person finally) is competent enough to clarify the situation and get it worked out.

Sandman6472

Got to drive a newer Honda CR-V at work recently and was amazed at how well it drove. We don't have very many of them in our fleet so was excited to try one finally. Had plenty of power for it's size, and it was a basic CR-V with not that many options, possibly a mid-level vehicle. Was easy to accelerate into the flow of traffic on the turnpike as I recall. The seats were comfortable though they were a bit beat up, ivory color, with multiple stains but what one would expect from a rental vehicle with around 30K on the clock. It was a red exterior and looked sharp in the sunlight. Was a bit big for my tastes but we all know I prefer a small vehicle. Ergonomically, everything was right at hand and for a mid-level vehicle, it's audio system was what I'd expect. Got to drive it basically for about a half hour and walked away very impressed with it & understand why Honda sells so many of them. Personally, liked it as much as the Toyota Rav4 which I believe is a very similar vehicle. I'd be hard pressed to choose one over the other if having to purchase one. Would be a very tough decision!

corvette

stickguy said:

what are you appealing? did they give it a tax basis more than MSRP? Or just that but you want a basis of what you actually paid for it/

I thought PP states had charts they used (like blue book values) instead of basing on actual purchase price?

I'm appealing the assessed value of $31,550 when I only paid $22,605 for the truck (not including sales tax) and have a 11/30/22 buy bid of $20k from Vroom. I believe they use NADA "clean trade" values, and are probably within their rights to do that, which is the reason I don't expect to prevail. The only "clear cut" appeals are for high mileage and unrepaired defects/damage, which I've negotiated successfully on the Prius.

At most, I'd get maybe $150.00 back, but I'd rather make the bureaucrats work to get my tax money.

au1994

corvette said:

stickguy said:

what are you appealing? did they give it a tax basis more than MSRP? Or just that but you want a basis of what you actually paid for it/

I thought PP states had charts they used (like blue book values) instead of basing on actual purchase price?

I'm appealing the assessed value of $31,550 when I only paid $22,605 for the truck (not including sales tax) and have a 11/30/22 buy bid of $20k from Vroom. I believe they use NADA "clean trade" values, and are probably within their rights to do that, which is the reason I don't expect to prevail. The only "clear cut" appeals are for high mileage and unrepaired defects/damage, which I've negotiated successfully on the Prius.

At most, I'd get maybe $150.00 back, but I'd rather make the bureaucrats work to get my tax money.

Make ‘em earn it. Novel concept for the government.

stickguy

forget appealing, ask them where to bring the keys and title so you can pick up your check from them.

that buy bid seems low. did you check Carmax?

stickguy

OK, the chat person has concluded that I do not, in fact, need a copy of the title. so I should be hearing back from the processing team shortly once they review the updates to my file. So in theory I can continue along, next step being telling them how I want to get paid, and picking a date (I guess they have to confirm the payoff amounts with the credit company too, in order to work out final numbers).

still plenty of time for them to mess it up again! I will probably find out when it comes time to schedule they were using my old zip code, and they don't actually operate up here (though I think I have seen a truck in the area).

Nothing is ever easy. Should just spend an afternoon stopping at local dealers to see if they want to buy it.

henryn

stickguy said:

i thought it drove nice. Same powertrain as the Accord. MPG ratings are 40 city, 34 highway. Not bad for a family truckster.

while I was on the warranty site I asked for a quote on our Acura (they sell Honda and Acura ones). max was 5 years (so I assume 5 tacked on to the original 3/36, which for us is up in 1 month). 5/80,000, zero deductible, was only $1,100. Might actually be worth it though I would never come close to the miles cap.

You should definitely verify the "start date" on that extended warranty. It's been a number of years since I looked at extended warranties, but back when I did they all started from the "in service date".

kyfdx

henryn said:

stickguy said:

i thought it drove nice. Same powertrain as the Accord. MPG ratings are 40 city, 34 highway. Not bad for a family truckster.

while I was on the warranty site I asked for a quote on our Acura (they sell Honda and Acura ones). max was 5 years (so I assume 5 tacked on to the original 3/36, which for us is up in 1 month). 5/80,000, zero deductible, was only $1,100. Might actually be worth it though I would never come close to the miles cap.

You should definitely verify the "start date" on that extended warranty. It's been a number of years since I looked at extended warranties, but back when I did they all started from the "in service date".

^^^^^^^^ I agree with this

stickguy

I did question it. it makes little sense since it would mean they only offered the Honda care out to the original end date (months, not miles) of the powertrain warranty. So not really gaining much, since it just adds 20k miles (comes with 60k, this would bump it out to 80k, same time end date).

I probably would not bother anyway, but I got curious.

xwesx

Michaell said:

Only if you're able to stop in Colorado this time and meet up with the contingent here.

But, I like the idea.

I would truly like to do that! CO isn't terribly far out of the way when I'm making the OH-OR jaunt, but the trick is that I only even have the option of it when I'm solo, because my wife poo-poos any mention of working my "car buddies" into the traveling schedule. And, Mother Nature sides with my wife, it seems, because the last time I tried to get to Denver, she nearly brought the mountain down on me!

xwesx

Sandman6472 said:

The girls put the dash cam in the Audi and it's having an issue pairing with it. Not sure what we're doing wrong but think it's a bit old in the tech department. the kids have theirs working fine in their Chevy products, but one is a 2019 and the other is a 2021and betting their tech is more up to date. Think the girls are going to call the company later tonight to get some tech assistance. But got a feeling it's not going to work due to it's age.

I'm not sure what you mean by pairing. Are you trying to pair the camera with the car? I imagine that the units I have can do that, too, but I've never tried it. If I have footage that needs downloading, I just quickly pair with my phone to download it, or I can pull the SD card and bring it up on the home computer.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: The camera should work as a standalone unit as well as it does paired to the car.

xwesx

Sandman6472 said:

Got to drive a Sliverado lease return with 110K on the clock from Vero Beach to West Palm Beach on Wednesday. For so many miles, it drove remarkably well except the tires were really loud. They weren't regular tires though, more like for off-roaing which probably explains all the noise in the cabin. I had Sirius/XM all the way down to the Palm Beach County line & then, it was gone. Was nice to have as long as I did but they probably called to stop the subscription once we drove them away.

All-Terrain tires are really nice for variable road surfaces, and they tend to be no or barely louder than something like a touring all-season initially, but the downside is that they definitely tend to develop droning noises as they age and wear.

xwesx

henryn said:

stickguy said:

i thought it drove nice. Same powertrain as the Accord. MPG ratings are 40 city, 34 highway. Not bad for a family truckster.

while I was on the warranty site I asked for a quote on our Acura (they sell Honda and Acura ones). max was 5 years (so I assume 5 tacked on to the original 3/36, which for us is up in 1 month). 5/80,000, zero deductible, was only $1,100. Might actually be worth it though I would never come close to the miles cap.

You should definitely verify the "start date" on that extended warranty. It's been a number of years since I looked at extended warranties, but back when I did they all started from the "in service date".

That's true. On most of the B2B (ish) warranties from manufacturers, if you have, say, a 8/100 warranty, it only really starts coming into effect after the 3/36 factory B2B expires, which means you have more of a 5/64 type of a warranty. I think the trick, if you want to maximize coverage, is to put the first 36,000 miles on in a hurry, then add the 100,000th mile on the 8th anniversary of purchase.

corvette

stickguy said:

that buy bid seems low. did you check Carmax?

IIRC, Carmax still says it's too new for them to calculate a bid. I do have more recent bids from Vroom ($25,136) and Carvana ($27,315), but we're not going to tell the revenue collectors about those.

stickguy

Carmax made me bring it in, but offered me more than $4,000 over original MSRP. so worth the trip in if you have one nearby.

stickguy

got an Email back from the Honda dealer about the warranty. he confirmed that it would be 5 years from when they sold it (so, today). Which makes sense, it is a 2020 MY so that would be a total of 8 years which is what you can get on a 2023.

stickguy

got an update on the new CRV. Kids went over at lunch and finished the deal. last I heard the DIL (technically her car) was getting a tutorial from the salesguy on how it all works. going to be quite the learning curve!

then she was taking a freshly detailed new car out onto the sloppy mess roads, so 5 minutes later I am sure it was filthy and needed a bath.

rayains

explorerx4 -
Congrats on the new ride!
[ And another 1 or 2 I may have
missed over the past few days ]
- Ray
Many happy [s]miles to y'all!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

breld said:

@stickguy - your experience with the previous WRX is similar to mine. With nice weather and an itch to test some fun cars on Saturday, I decided to try out the new WRX mostly on a whim, and was obviously impressed with the change in feel...the rest is history.

Give one a shot...could be right up your alley. Or...wait about 6 months and come out for some hiking in Denver and then drive home in a lightly used WRX.

do you take trade ins?

————————————————
Hit em up for financing too while you’re at it.

jmonroe

stickguy

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

breld said:

@stickguy - your experience with the previous WRX is similar to mine. With nice weather and an itch to test some fun cars on Saturday, I decided to try out the new WRX mostly on a whim, and was obviously impressed with the change in feel...the rest is history.

Give one a shot...could be right up your alley. Or...wait about 6 months and come out for some hiking in Denver and then drive home in a lightly used WRX.

do you take trade ins?

————————————————
Hit em up for financing too while you’re at it.

jmonroe

that is true. I am retired right now, so can't be expected to break into the piggy bank.

laurasdada

Carmax couldn't give me an online quote, either. Said to bring in my unique vehicle, but a bit of a drive to a Carmax and I'm not yet serious about getting rid of the A7 (0% financing!).
But, for the wife's '19 CX-5, they gave the best buy bid by quite a bit (over Carvana and Vroom).

Stick, you retired?

stickguy

I am calling it that. sounds better that way. Unintentionally though.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I am calling it that. sounds better that way. Unintentionally though.

Did this just happen?

tifighter

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

Only if you're able to stop in Colorado this time and meet up with the contingent here.

But, I like the idea.

I would truly like to do that! CO isn't terribly far out of the way when I'm making the OH-OR jaunt, but the trick is that I only even have the option of it when I'm solo, because my wife poo-poos any mention of working my "car buddies" into the traveling schedule. And, Mother Nature sides with my wife, it seems, because the last time I tried to get to Denver, she nearly brought the mountain down on me!

Ok, if the dates work out, I'm down. CO or OH is fine, since @breld can just pick me up with whatever new thing he just bought from the local dealer.

But seriously, it would be fun to have a rotating CCBA meetup every year or whenever, at a different location every time. While everyone won't be able to attend each event, moving it around would ensure different people would always be meeting up. And pics or it didn't happen.

stickguy

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I am calling it that. sounds better that way. Unintentionally though.

Did this just happen?

12/30. Usually they didn't give us anything for Christmas!

kyfdx

stickguy said:

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I am calling it that. sounds better that way. Unintentionally though.

Did this just happen?

12/30. Usually they didn't give us anything for Christmas!

Bummer.. 🙁

stickguy

yeah, wasn't in my plans but it is what it is.