Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

kyfdx

I try not to listen to what they say... it's pretty much irrelevant. It only counts if it's the actual owner of the car, and he might be telling me something I don't know..

xwesx

fezo said:

Here we go -





Having issues. Will get the side later.

Wait, did you buy a Mazda or a Smart?!

xwesx

On the CCBA front, I think I have my Fiesta sold, finally. Can't count that chicken till it's hatched (and a few days old, but you don't hear that part in the non-farming circles), so nothing certain yet, but the folks that looked at it yesterday are VERY interested pending successful loan paperwork at their bank.

stickguy

So what is going to replace it?

corvette

Fezo, congrats! What year and mileage is the M5 (see what I did there?)?

fezo

I like what you did. Just a hair over 20K. It's very nice but looking now it's not a conveniently laid out for the folks in front. The 6 had big door pockets which allowed you to have all sorts of things at the ready. This has tiny ones. You could fix the whole thing with a plastic crate under the seat so it's hardly an issue.

I do have a bit of stick shift remorse but it's a very nice car. As I've said before it's my turn to do the family car. Of course the Camry worked well in that regard and these days a 6 is that big. Also, for some reason the 5 is not skyactive. It's hardly a pig but the CX5 gets slightly better mileage despite being a heavier vehicle.

I don't know what's wring with the pictures. It's not that small. Could seat 7 though that third seat is unlikely to see the light of day.

breld

Well, don't think this particular ZHP is going to happen. Just got off the phone with the salesperson that @nyccarguy had dealt with last night - nice guy, but he claims they are firm at the $14,999, plus $500 d&h.

I offered $12,500, all in, and he more or less scoffed at it, but of course said he'd take it to his manager.

It certainly reflects the state of the used car market right now, but it just cracks me up. It was listed at $12,999 when I first saw it, was apparently as low as $11,999 at one point, but now is listed at $14,999 and "they're sticking with that." Hmm...that makes sense. No one's pulling the trigger on this one, so let's raise the price.

We discussed the "needs" of the car - steering wheel, seat repair, mis-matched tires, etc. - he agreed and stated the dealership didn't want to put any money into it, and this was for someone who wanted to restore it. Uh...then why is it priced way over full retail?

But...they have a list of 4 people interested in it. Uh huh.

carnaught

Breld, none of the 4 persons interested in the car have pulled the trigger....why? If I were you, I'd have offered their lowest advertised price of $11999, and pull what Mark Cuban does on Shark Tank. Say your price....then say "take it now...or else the deal is dead". I'd bet they would take your price, or call you back after they decide to take it. They're counting on YOU to capitulate. Your call though.....

fezo

Michaell

breld said:

Well, don't think this particular ZHP is going to happen. Just got off the phone with the salesperson that @nyccarguy had dealt with last night - nice guy, but he claims they are firm at the $14,999, plus $500 d&h.

I offered $12,500, all in, and he more or less scoffed at it, but of course said he'd take it to his manager.

It certainly reflects the state of the used car market right now, but it just cracks me up. It was listed at $12,999 when I first saw it, was apparently as low as $11,999 at one point, but now is listed at $14,999 and "they're sticking with that." Hmm...that makes sense. No one's pulling the trigger on this one, so let's raise the price.

We discussed the "needs" of the car - steering wheel, seat repair, mis-matched tires, etc. - he agreed and stated the dealership didn't want to put any money into it, and this was for someone who wanted to restore it. Uh...then why is it priced way over full retail?

But...they have a list of 4 people interested in it. Uh huh.

I think you know the market pretty well .. remember, this is Greenwich. I'm sure somebody's daddy will pick it up for the kid at the asking price, not knowing (or caring) about the issues.

carnaught

"I think you know the market pretty well .. remember, this is Greenwich. I'm sure somebody's daddy will pick it up for the kid at the asking price, not knowing (or caring) about the issues."

...which is why the "kid" will go for a new Bimmer over the classic one.

Michaell

carnaught said:

"I think you know the market pretty well .. remember, this is Greenwich. I'm sure somebody's daddy will pick it up for the kid at the asking price, not knowing (or caring) about the issues."

...which is why the "kid" will go for a new Bimmer over the classic one.

Yeah, a 320i with a lease payment equal to the kid's weekly allowance.

Mr_Shiftright

breld said:

Well, don't think this particular ZHP is going to happen. Just got off the phone with the salesperson that @nyccarguy had dealt with last night - nice guy, but he claims they are firm at the $14,999, plus $500 d&h.

I offered $12,500, all in, and he more or less scoffed at it, but of course said he'd take it to his manager.

It certainly reflects the state of the used car market right now, but it just cracks me up. It was listed at $12,999 when I first saw it, was apparently as low as $11,999 at one point, but now is listed at $14,999 and "they're sticking with that." Hmm...that makes sense. No one's pulling the trigger on this one, so let's raise the price.

We discussed the "needs" of the car - steering wheel, seat repair, mis-matched tires, etc. - he agreed and stated the dealership didn't want to put any money into it, and this was for someone who wanted to restore it. Uh...then why is it priced way over full retail?

But...they have a list of 4 people interested in it. Uh huh.

Good for you. I would have walked on that car at that price too. From the excellent description, it sounds like the car smacks of neglect.....never a good thing in a BMW.

breld

carnaught said:

Breld, none of the 4 persons interested in the car have pulled the trigger....why? If I were you, I'd have offered their lowest advertised price of $11999, and pull what Mark Cuban does on Shark Tank. Say your price....then say "take it now...or else the deal is dead". I'd bet they would take your price, or call you back after they decide to take it. They're counting on YOU to capitulate. Your call though.....

Well, that's more or less what I did - my offer of $12,500 is basically that lowest list price of $11,999 plus their d&h. Made it clear I was ready to pull the trigger at that price - no call back.

I think they got all excited about all the nationwide interest in this one, like they didn't really know what they had and the unexpected interest drove up the price.

Considering what it would take to "recondition" the car, not to mention the transport cost for me, I'm certainly not holding my breath on it.

As I mentioned to @nyccarguy, the search is the fun part anyway!

roadburner

Three different tire brands would be a HUGE red flag for me- two brands would make me hyper-cautious for that matter...

corvette

We only have 11 punches so far this year, counting Fezo's punch. Maybe we have fewer active members on this topic? Either way, get cracking, people! The stock market is up, interest rates are low, etc...

Got a flyer from VW in the mail today telling me "it's time to start thinking about your next Volkswagen." Guess they haven't heard of this group. It's time to start thinking about your next car right after you sign the papers for a new one!

The brochure featured the Jetta, Golf/GTI, Passat, Beetle, and Tiguan. The Touareg and Eos were conspicuously absent.

Michaell

The lease payment I made last week was the 19th on my Hyundai. I am now  on the homeward half of my lease 

xwesx

corvette said:

We only have 11 punches so far this year, counting Fezo's punch. Maybe we have fewer active members on this topic? Either way, get cracking, people! The stock market is up, interest rates are low, etc...

LOL

Hey, patience! If the Fiesta sale goes through, I'll definitely be on the list this year. I'm going to try to wait until September, though.

stickguy

well, if my plan comes together, I will have a punch this summer. We shall see!

my wife got a call the other day from the Acura dealer we bought the RDX from (that I refuse to ever step foot in again, but that is another issue), telling her they really wanted the 2013 back to trade up to a 2016. She passed.

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

breld said:

Well, don't think this particular ZHP is going to happen. Just got off the phone with the salesperson that @nyccarguy had dealt with last night - nice guy, but he claims they are firm at the $14,999, plus $500 d&h.

I offered $12,500, all in, and he more or less scoffed at it, but of course said he'd take it to his manager.

It certainly reflects the state of the used car market right now, but it just cracks me up. It was listed at $12,999 when I first saw it, was apparently as low as $11,999 at one point, but now is listed at $14,999 and "they're sticking with that." Hmm...that makes sense. No one's pulling the trigger on this one, so let's raise the price.

We discussed the "needs" of the car - steering wheel, seat repair, mis-matched tires, etc. - he agreed and stated the dealership didn't want to put any money into it, and this was for someone who wanted to restore it. Uh...then why is it priced way over full retail?

But...they have a list of 4 people interested in it. Uh huh.

I think you know the market pretty well .. remember, this is Greenwich. I'm sure somebody's daddy will pick it up for the kid at the asking price, not knowing (or caring) about the issues.

That's the thing I spoke to @breld about on the phone. Whoever buys this car isn't going to be from Greenwich. Someone in Greenwich looking for an extra fun car is going to buy a 911, SL550, or an Aston Martin. The rich Daddy looking to buy their kid a high school graduation gift is going to buy a new 4 drop top or 328/335 drop top. The enthusiast on somewhat of a budget is going to buy the newest cpo 335i coupe he or she can find.

nyccarguy

@fezo - Mazel-Tov & congratulations on the punch! The 5 is a cool vehicle that will serve you well. Nice color too;)

fezo

I'm hoping to not add another punch just yet. Some clown in a pickup truck with fishing poles and a cooler on the front ran into the back of my daughter's Camry doing likely $3K worth of damage not to say putting her in the ER. She'll be ok. Has a muscle spasm in her left shoulder that radiates down to her hand. She has her last final in her semester tomorrow. This is in sign interpretation. You think a one armed wallpaper hanger is bad?

His insurance better not try to total this. It's an 04 with a couple hundred thousand on the clock but until we bought it two years ago it had been owned for years by a Toyota mechanic and the original purchaser was his mother. This car is in fantastic shape (well it was until bozo ran into it). The cop asked her why she was overth the stop line. She said before I got hit I was behind it. They wrote the other guy for careless driving.

stickguy

that sucks Fezo, but good thing she is relatively OK.

Do you have collision on this, or is it just because the other driver is at fault that you are collecting? I get fuzzy on what gets covered when by who.

maybe being a Camry will help, or they don't accurately account for miles. But would not be at all surprised if the estimate is higher than you think, and they decide to total it out.

of course, maybe you can take a check and get the car back, and fix on your own? But then you have a rebuilt car and salvage title, not that it would matter much on something like this.

stickguy

Corvette, i told Driver100 to come by and report. he made another punch today (a new MB GLK)

nyccarguy

@fezo - that sucks dude. I hope your daughter is OK. Purge all the Toyta from your fleet while you are at it

suydam

Awful. Just hope your daughter is ok. Hate to say it but anything with that high mileage is probably a total no matter whose insurance it is.

rayainsw

Fezo -
Prayers for your daughter - YUK !
- Ray
Was in a similar collision - many years ago - YUK !!!!

corvette

Fezo, hope your daughter heals up quickly. People are incredibly careless behind the wheel. 

roadburner

fezo said:

I'm hoping to not add another punch just yet. Some clown in a pickup truck with fishing poles and a cooler on the front ran into the back of my daughter's Camry doing likely $3K worth of damage not to say putting her in the ER. She'll be ok. Has a muscle spasm in her left shoulder that radiates down to her hand. She has her last final in her semester tomorrow. This is in sign interpretation. You think a one armed wallpaper hanger is bad?

His insurance better not try to total this. It's an 04 with a couple hundred thousand on the clock but until we bought it two years ago it had been owned for years by a Toyota mechanic and the original purchaser was his mother. This car is in fantastic shape (well it was until bozo ran into it). The cop asked her why she was overth the stop line. She said before I got hit I was behind it. They wrote the other guy for careless driving.

Glad she's OK.

carnaught

Fezo, make sure your daughter does not accept a check for possible injury to her shoulder or arm. With it would be a release form to cover the insurance co. Hopefully there would be no long term effects to her, but it may take months to be sure. If it's still bothering her in the next day or so make sure she sees someone about it.

fezo

I'll have to alert my brother the attorney on this.

If they try to total it I'll fight them tooth and nail. It has a lot of miles but runs perfectly. Depending on what the body shop says we'll see how it goes.

My daughter was in pretty good spirits all told when I got to the hospital but her arm's in a soft splint. She said she could handle the signing final with it. I guess it depends how she woke up today. She's maybe 50 miles away though technically she lives here.

Michaell

fezo said:

I'll have to alert my brother the attorney on this.

If they try to total it I'll fight them tooth and nail. It has a lot of miles but runs perfectly. Depending on what the body shop says we'll see how it goes.

My daughter was in pretty good spirits all told when I got to the hospital but her arm's in a soft splint. She said she could handle the signing final with it. I guess it depends how she woke up today. She's maybe 50 miles away though technically she lives here.

I don't think how it runs is going to factor into the equation. The insurance company will look at the current value, compare it to the cost of the body work to repair it, and if one is greater than, I think, 75% of the other, it will get totaled.

Not knowing much about the car other than it's an '04, I went to Edmunds to see what value they put on it. I chose LE automatic, outstanding condition with 100K miles (I know it has more, but you say it runs perfectly), with AM/FM/Cassette/CD, alloy wheels and ABS.

Private party sale puts the value at $5800, trade in value at $4900.

With 200K, the numbers drop to $4000 and $3200.

Good luck, though I think the insurance company is going to want to write it off.

imidazol97

Fezo,

Congratulations on your second car purchase along with the first.

I'm sorry about your daughter's accident and I hope she's able to
do the classwork today for the final. Also, sorry about your Camry,
but I hope you can get the car repaired the way you'd like
since it's a car known in good mechanical condition to you.

roadburner

When I was an attorney an insurer tried to slip in a full release on a check for just the vehicle repairs- if my client had cashed it it could have been a bar against her PI claim.

fintail

I'll second that - don't take the first quick settlement. My brother was in a rear-ender 6 years ago, and he had issues for months. The offender's insurance lowballed him immediately, he just told them to wait. They then messed around when he felt ready to move on, and had to threaten them with calling an advertises on TV lawyer to get them to finish their responsibility. Ah our beloved FIRE industry.

Irritating that the cop questioned about the stop line in such an incident too. Credible.

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

When I was an attorney an insurer tried to slip in a full release on a check for just the vehicle repairs- if my client had cashed it it could have been a bar against her PI claim.

In California, damage settlements and PI settlements have nothing to do with each other. Those are separate claims.

In any event, if the insurance company wants to total the Camry, you're in for a long fight and, with an attorney involved, I don't see how it is worth it to you.

If they want to total the car based on their estimate of the damage-to-value ratio, then you'll have to hire your own appraiser, who, hopefully, will come up with a higher value, and then go to arbitration (this is what you agreed do in your insurance contract). Now if your appraiser hasn't come up with a high enough value, then it's pointless.

So if the damage is actually say $6000, there's no way your Camry is going to appraise at $8K.

But if the damage is say $4000, you might have a shot in arbitration (which you pay 1/2 the cost for, by the way, plus the cost of your appraiser, so figure it'll take you another $500 or so just to get to arbitration---and, you might lose).

So you have to decide if Camry Mountain is the hill you want to fight to the death for or not.

You might say: "But...but...the insurance company wouldn't spend more money on arbitration and legal fees than my car is actually worth, jus to fight this....would they?" Answer: I see it all the time.

I completely understand people's rage at this kind of injustice. The guiltless party gets punished. That's how insurance laws are written---actually written by the insurance lobby (oh, how shocking....).

But sometimes....sometimes...insurance companies do the right thing...they agree with your appraiser's higher estimate, forego arbitration, and fix the car or cut you a larger check. I see that happening, too.

Good luck with all of this.

nyccarguy

I know we are always talking about how some cars have insanely high residual values. They are putting up a new building next to my business here in The Bronx. I've become friendly with the excavating contractor. I notice the owner and his foreman both drive Toyota Tundras. I see the foreman got a brand new Tundra SR5 loading a BobCat onto a nice sized trailer (he said 12K pounds).

Me: "Got a new one? Nice looking."
Tundra Guy: "Thank-you."
Me: "What happened to the other one?"
Tundra Guy: "It was a 2007 with 175,000 miles on it, so I figured it was time for a new truck. You can't kill these things. The only thing I put in it was oil, gas, brakes, air filters, & tires. It still had the original spark plugs. They gave me a good price on this new one here & ten five for the old one."
Me: "Wow. 175K miles and they still gave you $10,500? Good for you"

I'm impressed. Anybody else?

rayainsw

Yes - I am impressed with 10,500 for that truck.
I think it was a Toyota truck that Top Gear tried and tried
[ unsuccessfully ] to kill ?
Our Outside Sales guys use Chevy 1500s - and we see
around that sort of miles, typically.
[ They are NOT easy miles. ]
My friends in Florida gave away their Honda Accord
with just past 200,000 on it...
- Ray
Never gonna see that kind of miles on any vehicle of mine.....

imidazol97

nyccarguy said:

I know we are always talking about how some cars have insanely high residual values. They are putting up a new building next to my business here in The Bronx. I've become friendly with the excavating contractor. I notice the owner and his foreman both drive Toyota Tundras. I see the foreman got a brand new Tundra SR5 loading a BobCat onto a nice sized trailer (he said 12K pounds).

Me: "Got a new one? Nice looking."
Tundra Guy: "Thank-you."
Me: "What happened to the other one?"
Tundra Guy: "It was a 2007 with 175,000 miles on it, so I figured it was time for a new truck. You can't kill these things. The only thing I put in it was oil, gas, brakes, air filters, & tires. It still had the original spark plugs. They gave me a good price on this new one here & ten five for the old one."
Me: "Wow. 175K miles and they still gave you $10,500? Good for you"

I'm impressed. Anybody else?

Very good condition for Tundra shows $7900 as a private party sale. Trade in value would
be lower. Did he a get a year old model and they upped the trade in value to make
it look better instead of discounting the new price?

stever

My friend who recently got an '03 F-150 short bed Lariat Supercab hopes to flip it next month for $7,500. It'll have 170k on it then.

nyccarguy

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

I know we are always talking about how some cars have insanely high residual values. They are putting up a new building next to my business here in The Bronx. I've become friendly with the excavating contractor. I notice the owner and his foreman both drive Toyota Tundras. I see the foreman got a brand new Tundra SR5 loading a BobCat onto a nice sized trailer (he said 12K pounds).

Me: "Got a new one? Nice looking."
Tundra Guy: "Thank-you."
Me: "What happened to the other one?"
Tundra Guy: "It was a 2007 with 175,000 miles on it, so I figured it was time for a new truck. You can't kill these things. The only thing I put in it was oil, gas, brakes, air filters, & tires. It still had the original spark plugs. They gave me a good price on this new one here & ten five for the old one."
Me: "Wow. 175K miles and they still gave you $10,500? Good for you"

I'm impressed. Anybody else?

Very good condition for Tundra shows $7900 as a private party sale. Trade in value would
be lower. Did he a get a year old model and they upped the trade in value to make
it look better instead of discounting the new price?

It was a 2015. I didn't prod, but this doesn't look like the guy pays full list for his pickup truck

stever

If you are under 34 and bought a used car in 2015, please email PR@edmunds.com (with year, make and model of the car) to be interviewed by a reporter about your experience by Friday, May 15, 2015. Thanks.

nyccarguy

stever said:

If you are under 34 and bought a car in 2015, please email PR@edmunds.com (with year, make and model of the car) to be interviewed by a reporter about your experience by Friday, May 15, 2015. Thanks.

no & no

stever

PR got so many hits from that "spam" that they asked me to edit the post just to get some used car buyers. People like their fifteen minutes of fame (although I read that our attention span was down to eight seconds so who knows what that.. ooh donuts....).

corvette

stever said:

If you are under 34 and bought a used car in 2015, please email PR@edmunds.com (with year, make and model of the car) to be interviewed by a reporter about your experience by Friday, May 15, 2015. Thanks.

Yes and not yet, but the year's not over yet!

qbrozen

rayainsw said:

Yes - I am impressed with 10,500 for that truck.
I think it was a Toyota truck that Top Gear tried and tried
[ unsuccessfully ] to kill ?
Our Outside Sales guys use Chevy 1500s - and we see
around that sort of miles, typically.
[ They are NOT easy miles. ]
My friends in Florida gave away their Honda Accord
with just past 200,000 on it...
- Ray
Never gonna see that kind of miles on any vehicle of mine.....

The one they tried to kill was much older ... a pre-Tundra. Here in the US, you may have known it has the Toyota pickup because it had no name associated with it (there was no other Toyota pickup to confuse it with).

corvette

Local dealer just took a 2008 Denali as a trade-in. Fully loaded, 139,000 miles--what could possibly go wrong? Only a couple of pictures, so can't tell its condition, but the clean Carfax report shows it had the transfer case fluid changed at 100k, as it's supposed to. May go take a look at it if it's still there Monday.

Michaell

corvette said:

Local dealer just took a 2008 Denali as a trade-in. Fully loaded, 139,000 miles--what could possibly go wrong? Only a couple of pictures, so can't tell its condition, but the clean Carfax report shows it had the transfer case fluid changed at 100k, as it's supposed to. May go take a look at it if it's still there Monday.

Is this in addition to, or a replacement for, the GLI?

Michaell

Had a little free time yesterday so I decided to start crunching some numbers on the potential candidates for my next lease.

As previously noted, I'm looking for something small and AWD, and I'm lucky enough (as a host) to have access to the lease numbers from all the manufacturers. I used Edmunds to build an ideal configuration of the cars in question, and using the MSRP and TMV values, I modeled a 36 month, 15,000 miles per year lease payment, and added tax (7.9% where I live).

All I can say is ... ouch. I may need to rethink my budget on this whole thing. Most everything I looked at had a payment well north of $300/mo, other than the Impreza.

For giggles and grins, I modeled a payment on the GTI as well, and discovered that it was less than some of the more plebian choices I've been kicking around (Trax & Renegade, for example).

I also "built" an A3 Quattro, but that's over $400/mo ...

Of course, the numbers can change greatly between now and November 2016, but it gives me a starting point. I'll still test drive most of the cars I'm considering, but that won't happen until next summer.

Oh, and let me wish any Canadian folks who read this an early Happy Victoria's Day.

corvette

Michaell said:

Local dealer just took a 2008 Denali as a trade-in. Fully loaded, 139,000 miles--what could possibly go wrong? Only a couple of pictures, so can't tell its condition, but the clean Carfax report shows it had the transfer case fluid changed at 100k, as it's supposed to. May go take a look at it if it's still there Monday.

Is this in addition to, or a replacement for, the GLI?

Could be either, or it could be beat all to heck, which would make me uninterested.