Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

oldfarmer50

Calling stickguy:

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/schenectady-2000-miata-oem-hard-top/7765959852.html

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

Calling stickguy:

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/schenectady-2000-miata-oem-hard-top/7765959852.html

No convertible top on that one, I don't think.

sda

When I had the battery replaced on the Q5 I asked them to do a general inspection as my wife and daughter were going to drive to St George island to meet her cousins. From that inspection they found an oil leak and possible water pump leak, both minor. The Passat was driven to FL instead. The service department could not schedule the repair for about two weeks. They had the Q5 for several days. No loaners available until weeks later, groan. I didn’t want to risk a later appointment as the extended warranty expires on July 21, the 5 year anniversary of ownership. They pressure tested the cooling system and didn’t find any leaks. Thankfully the extended warranty covered the $1562 bill less $250 deductible. The dealer was affected by that huge CDK outage. Billing could not be fully completed so they released the Q5 on the honor system. I just received the bill and paid for it yesterday. A lot of work went into replacing the seals. Hopefully this isn’t the start of repairs to come. My wife loves the Q5, it is her favorite to date. Yet she has expressed loudly, if it starts to ‘cut up’ its history.

mjfloyd1

nyccarguy said:

@mjfloyd1 said:

Q7 going bye bye has been put off for a week. Located a replacement and waiting to see when it comes in before I turn in back in.

Can you share details or are you waiting for it to be completely not your problem any more.

Replacement is a Lexus RX 350h Luxury which is supposed to arrive on or before 7/29. Unsure of final disposition of Q7 - probably will drop it off.

mjfloyd1

kyfdx said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Calling stickguy:

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/schenectady-2000-miata-oem-hard-top/7765959852.html

No convertible top on that one, I don't think.

Pictures show a tan soft top and some aero bits. Odd that they removed the top and mechanism .

Sadly it is listed as an automatic

ab348

sda said:

Hopefully this isn’t the start of repairs to come. My wife loves the Q5, it is her favorite to date. Yet she has expressed loudly, if it starts to ‘cut up’ its history.

Sadly, I suspect it probably is. One of the things that makes me wary of Audi. The extended warranty proved its worth, though.

tjc78

@mjfloyd1 said:
Replacement is a Lexus RX 350h Luxury which is supposed to arrive on or before 7/29. Unsure of final disposition of Q7 - probably will drop it off.

I’ve always liked the RX. Should be a very nice vehicle for you.

jmonroe1

L

xwesx said:

jmonroe1 said:

When I think of road trips lately I can’t help but think of your trek to Ohio. Man, I don’t think I could have done that when I was at my fighting weight. How many miles/hours is that?

jmonroe

It varies by route. We're getting ready to leave in a smidge under three weeks (August 1), and this route, which takes us down through Oregon again, will be about 5,200 miles and, according to The Google, 87 hours of driving. My folks are all getting older, and my father isn't doing so well again (plus it is his birthday on 8/7), so we're taking the opportunity to swing through there and spend a few days with them. I want to say that the one-way trip can vary between 4,500 and 5,500 miles depending on route.

My wife and I agreed that this time we will take the Crosstrek.

————————————————
Thanks for the info. That proves that I wouldn’t want to make a trip like you’re about to make. I hope you enjoy the visit when you finally get there and I hope your father feels better by the time you see him.

Yikes, I don’t know how long it would take me to get over a cross continent trip like that.

jmonroe

Sandman6472

Doubt we'll ever look at another Audi product again, just not worth it. She's quite happy with her new Hyundai and as for me, just going to hang on for the time being with the Golf. It's good I don't drive very far each week and just hope nothing major happens. That tire icon a few weeks ago was because it had sat so long in the garage but seems all four tires were down about the same so a fill up back to specs cured the issue. Just not well enough to spend the energy to go look for another vehicle honestly and hate to say it, the desire just isn't there either. A hard thing for me to admit as cars have always been my passion.

jmonroe1

Hey mods, I guess Edmunds might be clamping down of lurkers. Youse guys now want me to prove I’m a humanoid. What started all this?

jmonroe

kyfdx

jmonroe1 said:

Hey mods, I guess Edmunds might be clamping down of lurkers. Youse guys now want me to prove I’m a humanoid. What started all this?

jmonroe

They don't tell us anything

corvette

@jmonroe1 - I agree, the Captcha prompts I've gotten lately have gotten way out of hand:

imidazol97

jmonroe1 said:

Hey mods, I guess Edmunds might be clamping down of lurkers. Youse guys now want me to prove I’m a humanoid. What started all this?

jmonroe

Edmunds wants to be sure only humans post. If nonhumans such as cars, for example, could post and talk about their humans, imagine how awful that would be for us humans on here. Embarrassing.

With the alleged AI expanding everywhere, I guess AI posters may evolve. But AI likely will be better at clicking on the captchas that I've seen that take me in circular and unending repeats of 4 or 5 different types until I give up and go read a different website.

nyccarguy

@sda - so how did you make out overall with the extended warranty? Did you buy the Q5 CPO? Good thing it was covered and you had the forethought to have the dealer poke around because the warranty was expiring. Hopefully the leak is just a hiccup and not a sign of more repairs to come. If you decide that it is time to move on, we are here for you!

jmonroe1

imidazol97 said:

jmonroe1 said:

Hey mods, I guess Edmunds might be clamping down of lurkers. Youse guys now want me to prove I’m a humanoid. What started all this?

jmonroe

Edmunds wants to be sure only humans post. If nonhumans such as cars, for example, could post and talk about their humans, imagine how awful that would be for us humans on here. Embarrassing.

With the alleged AI expanding everywhere, I guess AI posters may evolve. But AI likely will be better at clicking on the captchas that I've seen that take me in circular and unending repeats of 4 or 5 different types until I give up and go read a different website.

————————————————
I read that as Edmund’s not wanting Tesla’s smart brain driven cars to join in our highly technical car talk and dishwasher discussions.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

@sda - so how did you make out overall with the extended warranty? Did you buy the Q5 CPO? Good thing it was covered and you had the forethought to have the dealer poke around because the warranty was expiring. Hopefully the leak is just a hiccup and not a sign of more repairs to come. If you decide that it is time to move on, we are here for you!

————————————————-
Yeah, when did anyone in here ever try to talk a poster buddy out of buying a car?

jmonroe

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

@sda - so how did you make out overall with the extended warranty? Did you buy the Q5 CPO? Good thing it was covered and you had the forethought to have the dealer poke around because the warranty was expiring. Hopefully the leak is just a hiccup and not a sign of more repairs to come. If you decide that it is time to move on, we are here for you!

Yeah, I'm a little sad that @28firefighter hasn't contacted me yet about his TDI. It's been months!

28firefighter

Hahaha!

We love it so far. 3000+ miles, averaging 27 mpg in mixed city/highway (leaning city). No hiccups. Thing is an absolute workhorse.

sda

nyccarguy said:

@sda - so how did you make out overall with the extended warranty? Did you buy the Q5 CPO? Good thing it was covered and you had the forethought to have the dealer poke around because the warranty was expiring. Hopefully the leak is just a hiccup and not a sign of more repairs to come. If you decide that it is time to move on, we are here for you!

We bought the Q5 at the VW dealer I frequent. It had about a year and a half of the new car 4/50 warranty remaining and had just under 27k. Having heard horror stories about extended warranties I asked for a warranty that would be recognized by VW/Audi. We purchased the Platinum High Tech plan for maximum coverage, 5 yrs/75k, $250 deductible. We made two claims that were accepted without issue and basically broke even. The Service Advisor at the Audi dealer was familiar with the warranty company and said that is who Audi uses, so expect no issues. whew

nyccarguy

@sda said:
We bought the Q5 at the VW dealer I frequent. It had about a year and a half of the new car 4/50 warranty remaining and had just under 27k. Having heard horror stories about extended warranties I asked for a warranty that would be recognized by VW/Audi. We purchased the Platinum High Tech plan for maximum coverage, 5 yrs/75k, $250 deductible. We made two claims that were accepted without issue and basically broke even. The Service Advisor at the Audi dealer was familiar with the warranty company and said that is who Audi uses, so expect no issues. whew

Two claims accepted without issue - breaking even - nice job my friend!

tifighter

Made it over Teton Pass. It didn’t like it, but we made it.

corvette

Visited the Truman Library and Museum today and discovered that he did a CCBA-like move in trading his and his wife’s 1940 Chrysler and 1938 Dodge for two new 1941 Chryslers in a single transaction.

explorerx4

2% sales tax.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

Visited the Truman Library and Museum today and discovered that he did a CCBA-like move in trading his and his wife’s 1940 Chrysler and 1938 Dodge for two new 1941 Chryslers in a single transaction.

————————————————
When I was a kid in the early 50’s, I remember my Dad and uncle’s talking about getting their cars loaded. Which meant radio and heater. Then later on it was power steering and power brakes became a “loaded car”. I don’t think you can get a worthwhile option package today for what that car sold for out the door.

The window sticker for my first new car (1966 Bonneyville) was $4009 with all the standard stuff in those days, plus it had power windows. And that was not considered a cheap car.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

Visited the Truman Library and Museum today and discovered that he did a CCBA-like move in trading his and his wife’s 1940 Chrysler and 1938 Dodge for two new 1941 Chryslers in a single transaction.

$92 for radio and heater. The start of buying bling for your car.😅

xwesx

That's what, about $18,000 today? I don't think one could buy a new car for that price even if it *didn't* have a radio, heater, or even tires on it!

roadburner

$60,658 for both according to the CPI Inflation Calculator.

corvette

I'd take a generic version of whatever is considered an upscale car today for $30k.

xwesx

roadburner said:

$60,658 for both according to the CPI Inflation Calculator.

Oh, thanks. Off by ten error there. I had it through my head that it was 1950 rather than 40. Wow; inflation must have been painful during that decade!

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

That's what, about $18,000 today? I don't think one could buy a new car for that price even if it *didn't* have a radio, heater, or even tires on it!

I’ve driven cars that didn’t have either. Well, had them but they didn’t work.

andres3

nyccarguy said:

@andres3 - you left out the most important detail about your new (to you) X3 ///M40i purchase. How many keys did it come with?

2 Key Fobs, and was a question I often asked for used cars I'd consider throwing an offer out upon. However, I almost had another story, as the 2nd Key FOB didn't work!!!!!! But luckily, I had a Costco pack of those flat round batteries from a year or two ago with several still left over, and a battery change was all it took.

So lesson learned; actually TEST both Key FOB's!

andres3

Sandman6472 said:

Doubt we'll ever look at another Audi product again, just not worth it. She's quite happy with her new Hyundai and as for me, just going to hang on for the time being with the Golf. It's good I don't drive very far each week and just hope nothing major happens. That tire icon a few weeks ago was because it had sat so long in the garage but seems all four tires were down about the same so a fill up back to specs cured the issue. Just not well enough to spend the energy to go look for another vehicle honestly and hate to say it, the desire just isn't there either. A hard thing for me to admit as cars have always been my passion.

I missed your wife's change out of the Audi, was it a breakdown that prompted it?

andres3

ab348 said:

sda said:

Hopefully this isn’t the start of repairs to come. My wife loves the Q5, it is her favorite to date. Yet she has expressed loudly, if it starts to ‘cut up’ its history.

Sadly, I suspect it probably is. One of the things that makes me wary of Audi. The extended warranty proved its worth, though.

Did it though? How much was the extended warranty and you have to substract the deductible. Also, those are outrageous prices for bolts and screws by the STEALERship.

Did I mention I got my DSG Oil cooler and water pump thermostat housing replaced at my preferred shop for about the same amount (actually slightly less) as the dealership wanted for just the water pump/thermostat housing job. And this is a custom transmission oil cooler with piping and not really designed for a TTS, but a S3/Golf R, so they had to MacGyver it.

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

ab348 said:

sda said:

Hopefully this isn’t the start of repairs to come. My wife loves the Q5, it is her favorite to date. Yet she has expressed loudly, if it starts to ‘cut up’ its history.

Sadly, I suspect it probably is. One of the things that makes me wary of Audi. The extended warranty proved its worth, though.

Did it though? How much was the extended warranty and you have to substract the deductible. Also, those are outrageous prices for bolts and screws by the STEALERship.

Did I mention I got my DSG Oil cooler and water pump thermostat housing replaced at my preferred shop for about the same amount (actually slightly less) as the dealership wanted for just the water pump/thermostat housing job. And this is a custom transmission oil cooler with piping and not really designed for a TTS, but a S3/Golf R, so they had to MacGyver it.

That’s why a trusted indie shop is worth its weight in gold. My problem is I keep outliving them.

corvette

oldfarmer50 said:

My problem is I keep outliving them.

That's better than the alternative.

kyfdx

corvette said:

oldfarmer50 said:

My problem is I keep outliving them.

That's better than the alternative.

I don't know... give it 30 years and see what you think..

andres3

So my service contract from Toyota for the BMW is Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar, also known as Alpha Warranty Services (particularly for CA).

So I read the fine print, and this service contract gets a D+ grade. That's not acceptable so I think I'll be cancelling.

Luckily, laws in place protect consumers enough to get a full refund within 30 days if you cancel within 30 days. CA makes what would be a D- a D+, by taking a lot of the hogwash terms and conditions, one-sided clauses, and making them slightly more reasonable. One example of many of those is 45 days to cancel without penalty in CA only.

The fine print is a lot of garbage otherwise. So originally, an Aggregate of $6,000 box being checked caught my eye and I thought that would be the worst thing. It's actually one of the strengths, the regular language in the contract is worse, the $6,000 box is actually an "Upgrade" and improvement to the ala cart maximum liabilities they'll have as "max" payouts, which are much lower over individual categories. $6,000 would be fine for a 10 year old Civic/Corolla/Cavalier, but this is just unacceptable for a sport luxury SAV/SUV. I see no point in paying well over 35% up front for a potential maximum payout of 100% later. I thought the whole idea behind extended warranties was protection from catastrophic losses.

Another silly thing is they don't cover anything the first 45 days or 1,000 miles which is absurd (though there is a box to check for Day One coverage but that wasn't checked). 15 days and 200 miles would be reasonable to get over their pre-existing clause. At least in CA, their no early claim clause makes them have to cover you at the end of the contract for an additional 45 days and 1,000 miles tacked onto the expiration which makes total sense and is fair (CA regulation is good for some things).

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

So my service contract from Toyota for the BMW is Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar, also known as Alpha Warranty Services (particularly for CA).

So I read the fine print, and this service contract gets a D+ grade. That's not acceptable so I think I'll be cancelling.

Luckily, laws in place protect consumers enough to get a full refund within 30 days if you cancel within 30 days. CA makes what would be a D- a D+, by taking a lot of the hogwash terms and conditions, one-sided clauses, and making them slightly more reasonable. One example of many of those is 45 days to cancel without penalty in CA only.

The fine print is a lot of garbage otherwise. So originally, an Aggregate of $6,000 box being checked caught my eye and I thought that would be the worst thing. It's actually one of the strengths, the regular language in the contract is worse, the $6,000 box is actually an "Upgrade" and improvement to the ala cart maximum liabilities they'll have as "max" payouts, which are much lower over individual categories. $6,000 would be fine for a 10 year old Civic/Corolla/Cavalier, but this is just unacceptable for a sport luxury SAV/SUV. I see no point in paying well over 35% up front for a potential maximum payout of 100% later. I thought the whole idea behind extended warranties was protection from catastrophic losses.

Another silly thing is they don't cover anything the first 45 days or 1,000 miles which is absurd (though there is a box to check for Day One coverage but that wasn't checked). 15 days and 200 miles would be reasonable to get over their pre-existing clause. At least in CA, their no early claim clause makes them have to cover you at the end of the contract for an additional 45 days and 1,000 miles tacked onto the expiration which makes total sense and is fair (CA regulation is good for some things).

You mean you didn’t read the contract before you signed it? On the PT Cruiser I bought for my wife they pushed hard for me to buy one so I asked to take the contract home with me. They gave some BS reason why this wasn’t possible so I asked for at least the exclusions page so I could see what wasn’t covered. The sales dude pulled out some random page from the middle of the contract which I discovered didn’t have the full list of non covered items. I smelled deception so I declined the warranty. He acted all hurt and emotional but I wasn’t going to spend a couple thousand for a third party non-Chrysler product when he wasn’t forthcoming.

As it turned out I could have used an extended warranty on that car.

nyccarguy

andres3 said:

So my service contract from Toyota for the BMW is Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar, also known as Alpha Warranty Services (particularly for CA).

So I read the fine print, and this service contract gets a D+ grade. That's not acceptable so I think I'll be cancelling.

Luckily, laws in place protect consumers enough to get a full refund within 30 days if you cancel within 30 days. CA makes what would be a D- a D+, by taking a lot of the hogwash terms and conditions, one-sided clauses, and making them slightly more reasonable. One example of many of those is 45 days to cancel without penalty in CA only.

The fine print is a lot of garbage otherwise. So originally, an Aggregate of $6,000 box being checked caught my eye and I thought that would be the worst thing. It's actually one of the strengths, the regular language in the contract is worse, the $6,000 box is actually an "Upgrade" and improvement to the ala cart maximum liabilities they'll have as "max" payouts, which are much lower over individual categories. $6,000 would be fine for a 10 year old Civic/Corolla/Cavalier, but this is just unacceptable for a sport luxury SAV/SUV. I see no point in paying well over 35% up front for a potential maximum payout of 100% later. I thought the whole idea behind extended warranties was protection from catastrophic losses.

Another silly thing is they don't cover anything the first 45 days or 1,000 miles which is absurd (though there is a box to check for Day One coverage but that wasn't checked). 15 days and 200 miles would be reasonable to get over their pre-existing clause. At least in CA, their no early claim clause makes them have to cover you at the end of the contract for an additional 45 days and 1,000 miles tacked onto the expiration which makes total sense and is fair (CA regulation is good for some things).

Can you buy an extended warranty from BMW either locally or online, or does that have to be done before the original 4/50 expires?

mjfloyd1

@andres3 - I recall seeing something on the BMW CCA where you can buy warranties. That might be a good option. Otherwise ask your Indie mechanic what warranty is good and bad and go with what they recommend.

I do recall seeing Fidelity platinum warranty used a lot on BMW and Porsche forums. Platinum is an exclusionary warranty and it lists what is specifically excluded.

corvette

When I had Carmax' MaxCare warranty on the Murano, I don't recall it having any caps like that.

au1994

CCBA Warranty Services = sell as soon as there is a problem.

ab348

CCBA is not taking me to the first new post. I thought that had been fixed?

sda

Car Edge offers warranties. Not sure how good.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

CCBA is not taking me to the first new post. I thought that had been fixed?

Nope.. not fixed. And, it's intermittent. And, variable on different discussions, as well

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

CCBA is not taking me to the first new post. I thought that had been fixed?

Nope.. not fixed. And, it's intermittent. And, variable on different discussions, as well

————————————————
I hope you know we’re all expecting a dues reduction because of this.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

CCBA is not taking me to the first new post. I thought that had been fixed?

Maybe it doesn’t think you’re human.👹👽👿🤖

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

andres3 said:

So my service contract from Toyota for the BMW is Total Care Auto, Powered by Landcar, also known as Alpha Warranty Services (particularly for CA).

So I read the fine print, and this service contract gets a D+ grade. That's not acceptable so I think I'll be cancelling.

Luckily, laws in place protect consumers enough to get a full refund within 30 days if you cancel within 30 days. CA makes what would be a D- a D+, by taking a lot of the hogwash terms and conditions, one-sided clauses, and making them slightly more reasonable. One example of many of those is 45 days to cancel without penalty in CA only.

The fine print is a lot of garbage otherwise. So originally, an Aggregate of $6,000 box being checked caught my eye and I thought that would be the worst thing. It's actually one of the strengths, the regular language in the contract is worse, the $6,000 box is actually an "Upgrade" and improvement to the ala cart maximum liabilities they'll have as "max" payouts, which are much lower over individual categories. $6,000 would be fine for a 10 year old Civic/Corolla/Cavalier, but this is just unacceptable for a sport luxury SAV/SUV. I see no point in paying well over 35% up front for a potential maximum payout of 100% later. I thought the whole idea behind extended warranties was protection from catastrophic losses.

Another silly thing is they don't cover anything the first 45 days or 1,000 miles which is absurd (though there is a box to check for Day One coverage but that wasn't checked). 15 days and 200 miles would be reasonable to get over their pre-existing clause. At least in CA, their no early claim clause makes them have to cover you at the end of the contract for an additional 45 days and 1,000 miles tacked onto the expiration which makes total sense and is fair (CA regulation is good for some things).

You mean you didn’t read the contract before you signed it? On the PT Cruiser I bought for my wife they pushed hard for me to buy one so I asked to take the contract home with me. They gave some BS reason why this wasn’t possible so I asked for at least the exclusions page so I could see what wasn’t covered. The sales dude pulled out some random page from the middle of the contract which I discovered didn’t have the full list of non covered items. I smelled deception so I declined the warranty. He acted all hurt and emotional but I wasn’t going to spend a couple thousand for a third party non-Chrysler product when he wasn’t forthcoming.

As it turned out I could have used an extended warranty on that car.

The trick is you don't get the contract until later. You sign that you want a service contract from the dealership, but you don't actually sign the contract, the dealership does, so it's like a 3rd party sale.

the other irritation I have is an EPP charge of $640 he told me was DMV related but it looks out of place on my sales contract, it's taxed, and it's listed on "surface protection Optional" line items. From Google this might be Environmental protection package and related to the service contract, like a "profit" fee. The next time i negotiate a good price in extra innings I'm telling them get it ready for a fresh-mind next day morning review. My brain doesn't work as well after a very long day. So far dealerships in San Diego have been really straightforward in the finance department, so maybe I was too trusting. CA regulates, but they can't stop all the bad apples.

xwesx

That's why I always operate on out the door pricing. I don't care what numbers they put where, but if we agree on $20,000 out the door, that better be the price at the bottom of the page!

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

CCBA is not taking me to the first new post. I thought that had been fixed?

Maybe it doesn’t think you’re human.👹👽👿🤖

Cloudflare told me just yesterday that my human status had been confirmed. Maybe the aliens did something to me overnight???