Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

stickguy said:

And those airlines stink about as much as driving on I95

Google says it's only 15 miles further to head west and take I-78, I-81, and I-77. You'd avoid driving through three very large cities by taking that route.

laurasdada

Finally, for the last four years, a commute I can handle: bedroom to upstairs office!

Sandman6472

I now luckily live 3.3 miles from our meeting place instead of the 29 I used to do. Am saving a lot as I don't have to pay the tolls & petrol for all that driving. I looked at my records & it shows I was doing 13K/year for those 6 years I worked for Hertz. In the 4.3 years I've been at Enterprise, that yearly figure drops to just over 3K/year. No tolls required and minimal petrol as I usually fill up the tank every 3 to 4 weeks. And the best thing, I really like where I work. Ws down in Pembroke Pines on Monday dropping a sold vehicle to the Subaru place, so stopped by my old shop. My one co-worker was still there plus one other management guy who remembered me. Truly, the best decision I ever made in my life was to move over to Enterprise!

Work Monday, Tuesday & Friday now and must admit, I'm beat come Wednesday. Fell asleep last night around 8 and missed dinner as I was so tired. Two days in a row are tough on my body and do miss the Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule I had at Hertz. That one day in between really makes a difference. But having two off back to back is also nice. Like today, got up around 7:45 and have nothing really planned. Ditto for tomorrow. Have plenty of things to do in the house and will start around 11 or so.

Sandman6472

Saw a new 2024 Hyundai Sonata at work & it looks nice. Has the new Kona front end with that long light strip and the rear looks like the current Honda Accord, not exactly but damn close. My car guy co-worker noticed it & called out to me to take a look as I walked right passed it! Have to give it to both Hyundai & Kia, every new vehicle they come out with seems to be a winner except possibly for those rear lights on the new Santa Fe. Am sure they'll sell a good number of Sonata's.

Sandman6472

Had a senior moment at work on Tuesday which I'm sure OF will be able to get. We had to take 6 UCS's, higher mileage vehicles that are going to be sold, to one of the holding areas we have in South Florida. This was our first run of the day so it was about 8:15 or so. I didn't hear which lot we were supposed to go to and ended up at going to the one by the Palm Beach airport. As I'm about to exit the turnpike, my lead calls me & asks where I am? I knew I had screwed up, big time! He tells me the crew is waiting for me at the Ft. Lauderdale location & reads me the riot act. I apologize and get back on the turnpike heading south. Few minutes later, get a call to just bring the vehicle to the Palm Beach location & to wait there.

Maybe an hour later, they come to Palm Beach with an additional 5 vehicles so luckily, that was our next run. My lead comes over to me & apologized to me saying he realized after the fact I was not with the group when he told us our destination. I again apologized for assuming & not calling him but again, he insisted, this time, he was to blame. I've always had a lot of respect for the guy but this just showed me how good a person he really is. But, learned a valuable lesson here, and will always ask before I take any vehicle, where are we going with these! I just felt really stupid though!!!

jmonroe1

How many times have you heard the worn out line from retirees…”I do what I want, when I want”. I add to that, “and I only do that when I feel like it”.

I feel sorry for you working stiffs.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

Had a senior moment at work on Tuesday which I'm sure OF will be able to get. We had to take 6 UCS's, higher mileage vehicles that are going to be sold, to one of the holding areas we have in South Florida. This was our first run of the day so it was about 8:15 or so. I didn't hear which lot we were supposed to go to and ended up at going to the one by the Palm Beach airport. As I'm about to exit the turnpike, my lead calls me & asks where I am? I knew I had screwed up, big time! He tells me the crew is waiting for me at the Ft. Lauderdale location & reads me the riot act. I apologize and get back on the turnpike heading south. Few minutes later, get a call to just bring the vehicle to the Palm Beach location & to wait there.

Maybe an hour later, they come to Palm Beach with an additional 5 vehicles so luckily, that was our next run. My lead comes over to me & apologized to me saying he realized after the fact I was not with the group when he told us our destination. I again apologized for assuming & not calling him but again, he insisted, this time, he was to blame. I've always had a lot of respect for the guy but this just showed me how good a person he really is. But, learned a valuable lesson here, and will always ask before I take any vehicle, where are we going with these! I just felt really stupid though!!!

Senior moments are almost a requirement for this job. Once we had two guys assigned to deliver a car to the auction about 100 miles away. For some reason they forgot the car and both rode there in the chase vehicle. Once there they called the assistant boss and told her they screwed up and to please not tell the big boss. Too bad for them she had them on speaker and the big boss was standing right there listening.

Another time we were bringing cars to Harrisburg PA and one of the guys ended up in Rochester NY.

The other day we were talking about writing a book about all the senior moments and calling it ‘The Legends of Enterprise’.😄

28firefighter

In case anyone is curious, I have not heard back on the X3 since my test drive. Though I did lurk and it looks like it was serviced at a nearby BMW and the odometer was nearly 50 miles higher than when I drove it.

I’m guessing it wasn’t anything good!

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Had a senior moment at work on Tuesday which I'm sure OF will be able to get. We had to take 6 UCS's, higher mileage vehicles that are going to be sold, to one of the holding areas we have in South Florida. This was our first run of the day so it was about 8:15 or so. I didn't hear which lot we were supposed to go to and ended up at going to the one by the Palm Beach airport. As I'm about to exit the turnpike, my lead calls me & asks where I am? I knew I had screwed up, big time! He tells me the crew is waiting for me at the Ft. Lauderdale location & reads me the riot act. I apologize and get back on the turnpike heading south. Few minutes later, get a call to just bring the vehicle to the Palm Beach location & to wait there.

Maybe an hour later, they come to Palm Beach with an additional 5 vehicles so luckily, that was our next run. My lead comes over to me & apologized to me saying he realized after the fact I was not with the group when he told us our destination. I again apologized for assuming & not calling him but again, he insisted, this time, he was to blame. I've always had a lot of respect for the guy but this just showed me how good a person he really is. But, learned a valuable lesson here, and will always ask before I take any vehicle, where are we going with these! I just felt really stupid though!!!

Senior moments are almost a requirement for this job. Once we had two guys assigned to deliver a car to the auction about 100 miles away. For some reason they forgot the car and both rode there in the chase vehicle. Once there they called the assistant boss and told her they screwed up and to please not tell the big boss. Too bad for them she had them on speaker and the big boss was standing right there listening.

Another time we were bringing cars to Harrisburg PA and one of the guys ended up in Rochester NY.

The other day we were talking about writing a book about all the senior moments and calling it ‘The Legends of Enterprise’.😄

————————————————
Not a bad idea.

You have a poster buddy over in Cars and Conversations who can probably hook you up with a publisher.

jmonroe

pensfan83

Color combo aside, this looks like fun.

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/37bnB1kD/2016-volvo-s60-polestar

stickguy

Miles a. Bit steep too.

Sandman6472

Yes, am sure most drivers have had similar screw-ups in their careers but it was the start of a bad day overall. I woke up with severe spinal pain about 4 am and had to take my meds a bit early, the extended relief plus the immediate one, and took a bit for things to stabilize. So I was in pain & tired to start with but still, unlike me to screw-up that way. But such is life...it wasn't that serious in the scheme of things.

I know I love being a retiree and being able to work at a part time gig that we don't really need to survive. I do remember those early years just starting out at the post office, getting married, buying our first place & then having our kids. Very stressful especially when I was the sole breadwinner for the house. I had no choice but to work and to work as much overtime as we were allowed. But, I just did it because their were others who depended on me to do just that. In time, things did get better but, I never did forget those struggling early days and don't take anything for granted now. And I'm very grateful to the powers that be to be so blessed in life. No, we're not Rockefeller's by any stretch, but the wife & kids are all happy & healthy and I look forward to getting up every day to see what life brings our way. And, who could ask for more!

laurasdada

Paging Dr. Rozen. Dr. QBRozen:

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/36MMXG4l/1992-subaru-alcyone-svx-l

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Senior moments are almost a requirement for this job. Once we had two guys assigned to deliver a car to the auction about 100 miles away. For some reason they forgot the car and both rode there in the chase vehicle.

With just 2 guys sitting next to each other, that sounds hard to do.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Senior moments are almost a requirement for this job. Once we had two guys assigned to deliver a car to the auction about 100 miles away. For some reason they forgot the car and both rode there in the chase vehicle.

With just 2 guys sitting next to each other, that sounds hard to do.

These were two known knuckleheads. When the book comes out there will be whole chapters about them.

qbrozen

laurasdada said:

Paging Dr. Rozen. Dr. QBRozen:

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/36MMXG4l/1992-subaru-alcyone-svx-l

Buyer did well.

One of those vehicles that exists here in LHD, though, so that holds it back significantly.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Senior moments are almost a requirement for this job. Once we had two guys assigned to deliver a car to the auction about 100 miles away. For some reason they forgot the car and both rode there in the chase vehicle.

With just 2 guys sitting next to each other, that sounds hard to do.

These were two known knuckleheads. When the book comes out there will be whole chapters about them.

————————————————-
Can’t wait.

jmonroe

Michaell

Member needs help with an extended warranty on a Volvo

qbrozen

The auction is so inconsistent. Most days, I find nothing of interest. Other days, I find too many.

For your consideration:

1. gorgeous color '97 XK8 with ~37k miles. Problem is it is RHD on a car sold here. But try to find another in this condition with these miles.


2. '98 Alfa spider. Manual trans, 50k miles, LHD. The bad = it is the 2.0 TS instead of the v6.


3. '83 Honda City Turbo. 45k miles. Nothing bad here, except it will probably go for WAY more than I think it should.


4. '86 Toyota Celica GT-four. 45k miles. Again, probably going to fetch a fortune.

nyccarguy

I agree with you on the Jag. Beautiful car. Low miles. Excellent condition. But you'd have to steal it for not a lot of money and it is offered here in LHD.

Color and trans are nice on the Alfa. What are '98 Miatas selling for? Is than an NB? I feel like you would have to find a die hard Alfa enthusiast. That 2.0 isn't going to win you any stop light races for sure.

'83 Honda is cool-ish. I feel like most hard core Honda guys (and girls) want early '90s - 2000ish.

I love that Celica. You never see that body style anymore. I'm sure it will fetch a hefty toyota Tax. for the condition & low miles!

jmonroe1

@qbrozen, they all look nice so buy all of them. What you lose on one you’ll make on the others.

jmonroe

qbrozen

jmonroe1 said:

@qbrozen, they all look nice so buy all of them. What you lose on one you’ll make on the others.

jmonroe

Wanna bankroll me?

qbrozen

nyccarguy said:

I agree with you on the Jag. Beautiful car. Low miles. Excellent condition. But you'd have to steal it for not a lot of money and it is offered here in LHD.

Color and trans are nice on the Alfa. What are '98 Miatas selling for? Is than an NB? I feel like you would have to find a die hard Alfa enthusiast. That 2.0 isn't going to win you any stop light races for sure.

'83 Honda is cool-ish. I feel like most hard core Honda guys (and girls) want early '90s - 2000ish.

I love that Celica. You never see that body style anymore. I'm sure it will fetch a hefty toyota Tax. for the condition & low miles!

What is "NB"?

corvette

qbrozen said:

nyccarguy said:

I agree with you on the Jag. Beautiful car. Low miles. Excellent condition. But you'd have to steal it for not a lot of money and it is offered here in LHD.

Color and trans are nice on the Alfa. What are '98 Miatas selling for? Is than an NB? I feel like you would have to find a die hard Alfa enthusiast. That 2.0 isn't going to win you any stop light races for sure.

'83 Honda is cool-ish. I feel like most hard core Honda guys (and girls) want early '90s - 2000ish.

I love that Celica. You never see that body style anymore. I'm sure it will fetch a hefty toyota Tax. for the condition & low miles!

What is "NB"?

NB Miata, I presume.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

jmonroe1 said:

@qbrozen, they all look nice so buy all of them. What you lose on one you’ll make on the others.

jmonroe

Wanna bankroll me?

————————————————
I’m a poster buddy not a poster dope.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

nyccarguy said:

I agree with you on the Jag. Beautiful car. Low miles. Excellent condition. But you'd have to steal it for not a lot of money and it is offered here in LHD.

Color and trans are nice on the Alfa. What are '98 Miatas selling for? Is than an NB? I feel like you would have to find a die hard Alfa enthusiast. That 2.0 isn't going to win you any stop light races for sure.

'83 Honda is cool-ish. I feel like most hard core Honda guys (and girls) want early '90s - 2000ish.

I love that Celica. You never see that body style anymore. I'm sure it will fetch a hefty toyota Tax. for the condition & low miles!

What is "NB"?

2nd generation Miata.

roadburner

I'm liking the Alfa.

fintail

Does the Honda City have a Motocompo?

tifighter

I recall in the day that the Brit mags preferred the Twin Spark to the V6, as the V6 weight made the nose feel really heavy. But Alfa never sold that engine here so it’s an unknown.

kyfdx

tifighter said:

I recall in the day that the Brit mags preferred the Twin Spark to the V6, as the V6 weight made the nose feel really heavy. But Alfa never sold that engine here so it’s an unknown.

Is the Alfa roadster FWD or RWD?

qbrozen

Alfa is FWD, sadly.

They didn't mention the bike on the City, so I'm thinking no.

Still confused about the NB. You asked if the Alfa is an NB? I don't get it.

I can't afford more than one, so after getting the translations, I've decided to focus on the Alfa. I think the Honda and Toyo will be too much, and I'm concerned about the viability of a RHD Jag, given the anticipated audience of old farts like me. We'll know how the bidding goes by morning.

explorerx4

Hoovie's buddy Euroasian Bob had a coupe/V6 version of that Alfa for sale recently.
https://www.euroasianauto.com/details/used-1998-alfa-romeo-gtv6/102385114

stickguy

I love the Alfa. Would work for me.

qbrozen

The GTV would definitely be my personal preference, but they very very rarely show up.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

The auction is so inconsistent. Most days, I find nothing of interest. Other days, I find too many.

For your consideration:

1. gorgeous color '97 XK8 with ~37k miles. Problem is it is RHD on a car sold here. But try to find another in this condition with these miles.


2. '98 Alfa spider. Manual trans, 50k miles, LHD. The bad = it is the 2.0 TS instead of the v6.


3. '83 Honda City Turbo. 45k miles. Nothing bad here, except it will probably go for WAY more than I think it should.


4. '86 Toyota Celica GT-four. 45k miles. Again, probably going to fetch a fortune.

I’d go with the Celica but that Jag is beautiful.

ronsteve

@au1994 said:
You are right of course. Ironically, my soccer (or lacrosse) dad days are winding down as mine is off to college in the fall as well.

I will have to say, I was always the dad with the cool car…from a couple of convertibles to the Jeep, Even when it was an SUV it was a Land Cruiser. Well, there was a hot minute with a Crosstrek

So what would a “lacrosse dad” drive? Maybe a Buick LaCrosse?

qbrozen

No car for me.
I put in a bid for approx $2100-$2200 on the Alfa, which would put me close to $5k to my door. Sold for about $3400 or so.

They list the Jag and Toyo as sold but did not post a sale price. Honda has no details posted.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

No car for me.

I put in a bid for approx $2100-$2200 on the Alfa, which would put me close to $5k to my door. Sold for about $3400 or so.

They list the Jag and Toyo as sold but did not post a sale price. Honda has no details posted.

————————————————
That sounds like you can’t catch up to the fast-balls in your new biz.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Correction: the Alfa was bid to that amount but was a no-sale.

xwesx

So, you're saying there is still a chance!

Seems like the seller needs to lower expectations on it.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

So, you're saying there is still a chance!

Seems like the seller needs to lower expectations on it.

————————————————-
Yep, but what are the odds that cheapo @qbrozen will get it on the rebound.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@qbrozen -please check your PMs

nyccarguy

Cross posted from Cars & Conversations:


I’m very proud of my son. He calmly called me on his way home from school to tell me that he thinks he has a flat tire. He said the dash showed his right rear tire was at 18 psi & dropping. I’m off today, so was able to spring into action and meet him at the rest area where he pulled into. I got there and told him to open up the owners manual to see where the jacking points were and where the tools were. He started following the instructions and did everything himself. I just showed up for moral support.

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

Cross posted from Cars & Conversations:



I’m very proud of my son. He calmly called me on his way home from school to tell me that he thinks he has a flat tire. He said the dash showed his right rear tire was at 18 psi & dropping. I’m off today, so was able to spring into action and meet him at the rest area where he pulled into. I got there and told him to open up the owners manual to see where the jacking points were and where the tools were. He started following the instructions and did everything himself. I just showed up for moral support.

————————————————-
I should have asked you this over in Cars and Conversations:

Do you feel the least bit bad about letting your son do all the work? There will come a day when he remembers this.

jmonroe

28firefighter

Having this skill cannot be overstated enough. Nothing to be afraid of and doing it when you aren't under pressure on a rainy night or on the side of a busy highway is the perfect time to learn.

Also, that it's OK to call for AAA when the circumstance warrants - there have been a few times where I have been in a suit for one reason or another that I have chosen to let someone else deal with it as long as the wait isn't too bad.

kyfdx

Kid: Dad, I have 18 lbs in one tire
Dad: Look, Discount Tire is only 30 miles away. I'm sure you'll make it. It'll be fine. Call me back if any problems.

jmonroe1

I posted this in Cars and Conversations a few months ago:

I got a call one nice Summer day from Mrs. j that she had a flat tire. She had just pulled out of the grocery store parking lot and pulled way over onto the shoulder of the road and walked back to the grocery store with both of our sons to call me. This was in the mid 70’s so no cell phones. She was only a couple of miles from where I was working so it was no problem to go help her but to have some fun I told her to let Son #1 change the tire and not bother me. She didn’t think that was funny and said, “he already asked me to let him do it but I’m not going to let an 8 year old do that so stop playing around and get over here”.

When I showed up I said to my Son, “OK, show your Mom how to do it”. I knew he couldn’t break the lug nuts loose but I let him open the trunk, drag out my tripod jack set it up and try. He couldn’t do it so I did that part but he had every sequence of changing a flat tire down pat because he liked to help me when I did stuff on the car.

FWIW, this car had hub caps and he knew how to remove them and remembered to put the lug nuts in the upside down hub cap. When I asked him why he did that his answer was, “so this dirt doesn’t get all over them”. I then asked him what he’d do if there wasn’t any hub cap and he said, “I’d put them in my pocket like you told me to do”. Yep, he knew what to do alright. He just had to get a little stronger.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————-
I should have asked you this over in Cars and Conversations:

Do you feel the least bit bad about letting your son do all the work? There will come a day when he remembers this.

jmonroe

I know you are breakin my chops, but I did ask him a few times if he wanted to take a break or let me take over. He said he was fine.

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————-

I should have asked you this over in Cars and Conversations:

Do you feel the least bit bad about letting your son do all the work? There will come a day when he remembers this.

jmonroe

I know you are breakin my chops, but I did ask him a few times if he wanted to take a break or let me take over. He said he was fine.

————————————————-
If you say so. Just remember before this Spring is over when Mrs. @nyccarguy wants to clean under her triple dresser…your son is going to be sure you get the heavy end.

jmonroe

ronsteve

Nothing like CCB to rationalize a purchase... the way I have it figured, I have 4-5 years before a sequence of maintenance items would render the RDX a money pit, at which time the wife's Jetta could also be well into replacement territory. That and 2 cars/1 payment seems like balance in The Force.

So there is a punch... we traded the Jetta on a 2021 Tiguan SE 4Motion. It's a local lease turn-in with 38K miles, just enough bells and whistles to keep a couple of troglodytes like us happy, and a couple that won't be used much (sunroof might be used when I drive it solo, but the optional 3rd row might remain folded down). Added bonus - it has the grey interior, which won't heat up as badly as the black.

I'm sure this will shift the balance of miles in our household, since the Tiguan will be our weekend/roadtrip car, and help delay the "money pit" phase of the RDX.