Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

suydam said:

Sounds like being a mom more than wanting this car. Which is fine as long as you realize that!!

Yup. which is why I suggested writing a check up front, instead of taking on an expensive headache!

carnaught

My "4th of July punch" didn't materialize yesterday, related to the proposed swap in tires, but probably will mid week.

Mr_Shiftright

I think they'll be a lot happier.

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

Fezo & Stickguy - congrats on your 4th of July punches! Nothing for me, but I do have a parental punch to report. Mom & Dad unloaded their 2013 X5 today for a 2016 Porsche Cayenne.

Ooooohhhh.....Ahhhhhhh!

Bet that was a fun buying/test drive experience for them.

Sandman6472

What is the s d player in my glove compartment and what does it need to work? Not sure what it does or how to even use the silly thing and can't get why they didn't put a usb port anywhere in the vehicle. Have a small portable charger that I keep in the console to charge the cell if needed...since the car charger I've got blew a fuse, don't want to have that happen again. Got rid of the supposed bad charger and was given another from a guy at work but still hesitant to use the thing.
The first cuv I looked at was a slightly used 2014 Escape SE with the 1.6 ecoboost engine and though a nice vehicle, didn't trust that engine after doing some research and it was just too big...it just fit on my side of the garage, just barely so passed. Funny about the comment with the CC interior, I thought it was pretty nice and better than the SE interior, a step above really. Guess the Titanium has different surfaces which make it more upscale as I've never seen one. There are loads of cuv's down here in South Florida but the Mazda/Toyota duo seem to have a large share of the market followed by the Hyundai/Kia cousins...not as many Escapes as I'd bet there'd be in middle America. Maybe it's me but imports seem to do better down here and on the California coast line and up through Washington where I'd bet Subaru is the king of the hill.

The Sandman

stever

You can get an SD card at Walmart or most any convenience store or big box electronic store. You can put mp3 files on it, stick the card in the slot in the glove box and your tunes should play through your car stereo.

The trick is loading the SD card - I use a laptop for that since mine has an SD slot. Your operating system will just treat the SD card like another drive.

Mostly I used the SD cards to move my photos from my camera to the laptop. Lots faster than using the USB cable that connects the camera to the computer.

No laptop slot? Then you'd have to buy a card reader gizmo for another $10 to hook up to the computer or device where your tunes live, assuming you have a file of mp3s stashed somewhere.

[edit, per Stick, this all assumes the SD slot is for tunes and not the nav.]

stickguy

I need to investigate closer. SD slot might be for the navigation if you have it?

I think you are right about the USB. the MDI is "old school" but accomplishes the same thing. For us, not a big deal, since likely the only thing ever going to be plugged in is her iPhone, and once we have the right wires in place, that will be good to go.

VW is definitely behind the times compared to Hyundai or Honda in terms of the electronics like that.

stever

Shoot, I thought the Soul had a tunes SD slot, but looks like it's just for Nav too. Rats.

stickguy

speaking of Navi (were we?) Honda and Acura have moved on to the future. If you don't get the (very expensive) factory Nav, on the ILX and Civic (soon to be more, those I know for sure), they have an App available for the iPhone. $60 to download, but it basically turns the head unit into a fully functional touch screen nav system, running through your phone. So no more having to clamp the little phone to the vents.

Did not see it in action, but I believe it will look just like the factory system when you have it running. Will use data (but no more than your phone, which many people have switched to anyway). and you don't always have the map showing, if you are into that.

but for the cost of the app (and a special cable), even at $10/mo for extra data, should be way cheaper than the factory set up. Plus, your maps and interface will always be perfectly up to date!

fintail

No USB in a 2015 Golf? That can't be. Even the low option 2014 Charger I rented several months ago had USB. MB has had a SD slot in the dash of E-class since at least 2012.

fezo

Back to square one, @stever .

Jolie, as you are pretty much a founding mother of this topic it kills me to say this but don't buy the car! The accident doesn't concern me (as long as it was repaired by a real pro) as does the upside down part and your son's driving history. Now I'm generous to a fault with my kids but it sounds like he's ready for a lesson in reality.

I'm not saying do this but if it were me I think I'd cover part of the upside down but make him eat some of it. It would be a valuable lesson. Of course you don't know if $21K is a realistic price or if that's with your mom hat on.

stickguy

My rule is that I handle transportation through college (all part of the overall cost package, since they have to get back and forth somehow!). But once they graduate, my car comes back to me, and they are on their own for supporting themselves. A little grace period while appropriate employment is procured (I let the son share the TL for a while until he had a job that was relatively permanent, then he got his Jetta, in his name, and on his dime). At that point, he is on his own.

the new Jetta is timed to get though graduation. I did confirm that, if needed, we can go month to month for a few months (in case say she gets a job that doesn't start until September).

depending on how things work out (miles put on, reliability, her job situation) may also consider having her buy the car out at the end of the lease. buy-out is $13,040, so not that much. If it is clean with say 25,000 miles on it or less, might be hard to find something as good for that money. But it would be in her name.

and once they have their own car, they are responsible for it. I'll give advice, but not $ support!

fezo

I'm a little easier than that with the kids but play it by ear. The 07 Camry will go to my oldest daughter this week. (Since I own the cars at the appropriate moment I just give them the car and then leave the rest to them, though their idea of repair is "dad, the car's doing something funny." They're good, responsible kids so I follow my best guess. It'll be at most a year before I give daughter number two the 04 Camry. I have all of two years and a little under three months before I have two kids on permits.

stickguy

I thought about just giving my son the Tl outright, but decided to sell it and pocket the money instead. Hey, I paid for the damned thing in the first place!

but mostly, it was time for him to have a reliable car, and that way, I didn't have to worry about the "something broke and it will be expensive to fix" debate. Leasing the first one was an easy call. Let him conserve cash, and he will have his student loans paid off before the lease expires. at that point, he can do whatever he wants (being in a well paying job doesn't hurt with that either!)

fezo

Can't argue with that.

Sandman6472

No navi unit and still can't locate a usb port. Will ask about all this when I take it in for it's first and only free service. Kudos for getting the 2nd and 3rd on the Jetta though I did get those at a fraction of the cost upfront. Since am not sure about the XM subscription after the first year is over, want to know my options. Have the old style ipods so having the old style connector in the dash already, that's an option. Have my itunes in the cloud but have an android cell so that's gonna be a problem. Could live with the ipods but have to admit, like the variety of music XM affords me, especially on the half dozen stations I have already programed into the head unit.
Just making sure I have more options than just the FM stations as I hate commercials and talk...the constant music from XM is very compelling and if I can get the same deal as I currently have, I'm cool with that because I grew up with music 24/7 in any vehicle I drove.

The Sandman

stickguy

I think you can get a different cable (or an adapter) from VW to use the MDI with a different plug. Or, just find an Ipod to whatever adapter, since I think you can get one for any application. Jetta definitely does not have a USB plug, which would make life simpler.

kyfdx

@stickguy Nice deal on the Jetta. It must have killed you to pass up that deal on the SI. I would have tried to talk the kid into driving a stick. ;-)

Not sure what my rules are for providing transportation for the college kid. Whatever they might have been, I've adjusted them 5 times, depending on what we are hot for..

suydam

The day before your XM expires call them and you should get a cheap promotional rate.

corvette

suydam said:

The day before your XM expires call them and you should get a cheap promotional rate.

I got 3 free months on the Yukon. They sent me a flyer with the $25/5 months rate. You have to put it on your calendar because it will auto renew at full price. I hate doing business with companies that treat their customers that way, but I think FM stations playing what seems like 20 minutes of ads, 20 minutes of an annoying DJ talking, and 20 minutes of music per hour is worse.

XM had excellent coverage of the Firefly and Bonnaroo music festivals. I found excuses to work outside in the garage and drink beer and left the windows rolled down and the radio on to enjoy.

stever

I have Sirius this week and miss the "old" Coffee House. Tried a few other stations but went back to my net radio channels.

sb55

fezo said:

I'm a little easier than that with the kids but play it by ear. The 07 Camry will go to my oldest daughter this week. (Since I own the cars at the appropriate moment I just give them the car and then leave the rest to them, though their idea of repair is "dad, the car's doing something funny." They're good, responsible kids so I follow my best guess. It'll be at most a year before I give daughter number two the 04 Camry. I have all of two years and a little under three months before I have two kids on permits.

It's really hard to cut the kids loose. My 28 y.o. daughter went to Peace Corps in Africa for 3 years after college, came home, and decided to move to Brooklyn. She got a job at a non-profit and gets paid a pittance. Rent in Brooklyn is high. Now she is going back to school full time to get a MSW, plus working. So, she will probably never make a lot of money. She pays her rent and has college loans. She and my 26 y.o. son are still on my ATT family plan, plus my son drives one of our cars and has never paid for his own car insurance. These "millennial's" aren't having an easy time, but when does dad cut them off?

akangl

The Focus ST.....
I've decided to go ahead and take the car over for him. It's a good car and I do like it. Maybe some is being a mom and helping him. I'm not too worried about the accident it was in, overall it was fairly minor, parts are just stupid expensive for that car. I thought about driving it up but I think the Alcan is just a bit much to do to that car. I can get the car paid down quickly and hope he learned his lesson. I know he's keeping bird and storing it until he gets back. 
The Ford dealer offered him $18.3k and Carmax offered $15k. A wholesaler friend of mine here in Alaska said $19.5k. Crazy amount of depreciation on a car less than a year old and that had an msrp of $30k (he didn't pay that for it but still). I thought my explorer was bad!

On another note I almost pulled the trigger on '15 Veloster last night but being a mom I'll take the Focus and enjoy the little bugger. Plus the Veloster isn't even in the same ballpark as the ST, nice car but runs out of go pretty quickly even with the turbo. Daughter loved it but then again it was an auto and she can't drive a stick. 

corvette

Would he be able to take it with him to Germany and sell it to another serviceman there? Just thinking out loud.

akangl

He could take it to Italy with him but he really doesn't want to and he really doesn't want the car. I understand where he's coming from, he's newly married and wants to save money. He swears he learned his lesson and won't buy anything new again. He knows I'm doing him a huge favor. 

Sandman6472

My 27 year old son asked to be taken off our ATT family plan last week. They sent us a letter saying he could come in and pick a free phone since they will not cover his 3G phone after next June, we couldn't do it in Florida without his sim card unfortunately. Told him to go to an ATT store in Chicago and just do it but he decided to go with Cricket wireless and said cancel his line which I promptly did. Down to 4 lines and saving some $, what's not to like!
He's a good kid and even after I said I didn't mind paying for everyone's cell phones, guess he just wanted to be really on his own. Give him credit here as he's grown very responsible lately...must be his girl is rubbing off on him and he's no longer that forgetful kid!

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Finally drove a Lexus IS 250 at work yesterday and was amazed at the lousy range, it was full but said 262 miles...seriously? Bet to be really full would be closer to 275 but still, what's up with that? My neighbor has a dark gray one which I really love the looks but mileage ain't it's strong suit one bit! Drove nice enough but for the price, see why so many are leasing them, a bit on the pricey side for what one gets. We had that and a CT 200h in our lot and the folks who reserved them for July 3rd never came to pick them up so when I had to go to Lexus to pick up a rental customer, boss said take whatever we have in the drawer. Got keys and asked again and if he meant the Lexus...said sure. That was all I needed and I drove right over. Like I said, nice vehicle to lease!

The Sandman

stickguy

my son went off on his own cell plan after he moved out, and wanted a new phone. He just went into the Verizon store, and they spun him off on his own, keeping the phone #. about the same as him paying us for his share, but independent.

only thing he actually is still on is the medical insurance, but that is only because he is a contract employee so he would have to get it on the exchange, and staying as a dependent on ours costs very little. Just needs to get a job with real benefits withing 2 years!

corvette

stickguy said:

Just needs to get a job with real benefits within 2 years!

Don't worry, there's hope: it only took me until I was 32 years old to get my first job with real benefits!

nyccarguy

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

Fezo & Stickguy - congrats on your 4th of July punches! Nothing for me, but I do have a parental punch to report. Mom & Dad unloaded their 2013 X5 today for a 2016 Porsche Cayenne.

Ooooohhhh.....Ahhhhhhh!

Bet that was a fun buying/test drive experience for them.

Actually, it was uneventful. I asked @qbrozen what the GALVES value of their 2013 X5 was, used the Porsche car configurator to build a 2016 Cayenne that mirrored the 2011 Cayenne Mom & Dad had, then plugged those options into edmunds to figure out the invoice price, added $1500. Then I printed up an excel spreadsheet, told them to go test drive & present the @graphicguy offer sheet. The dealer they test drove at had a car tey wanted with just a few other options than I had configured the car with (Pano Roof & upgraded Stereo). They agreed on a price and will pick the Cayenne up next week!

fezo

My older girls are on their own cell plans and the younger ones are on a pay as you go plan. My wife and I have the two phones on our regular plan.

Verizon makes things difficult. We were going month to month which got us a couple extra GB of data. They were trying to move us into a plan that would have is pay for new phones over two years but would lose the extra data. So we just bought the new phones outright. Get another gig for being on automatic payment.

The second daughter will likely be in the real working world (in school to be a sign language interpreter) before the first but my oldest had issues beyond her control so I cut her a lot of slack. Both good kids and both will be fine. Both also have significant others that are a full foot taller than they are.

stickguy

interesting conversation with wife today. as expected, she expressed relief that I did not end up getting the Civic, pointing out that we would not be taking that anyplace! We do actually use the Sonata most of the time when we don't need the extra carrying capacity of the RDX. She also really likes that car, so is happy to have it back.

and good news, the princess has fallen in love with the Jetta. So that seems to be a hit. So, I got my fancy car back, both women in the house are happy, and I managed to keep to the (1st revised) budget.

eventually a toy will arrive. Most likely the appropriate way, which is as a spare set of wheels for weekend fun!

Michaell

@stickguy - congrats on the Jetta punch. Glad the story has a happy ending.

@firefigher28 - nice job on the Escape. I see a lot of them around town. Sharp looking.

Busy busy busy here in the ol' LL household. We are under contract to buy a new house and are working furiously to get our house in shape to get it listed this week. The market here in Colorado is super hot and I am gobsmacked at how much our current home can sell for.

Why are we moving? Primary reasons include being closer to wife's work - her commute will be cut in half - and a ranch style home rather than a two story, which my wife has wanted for a number of years. Just happened to find a house that met both those criteria in our price range.

ab348

@Michaell - What is driving the hot real estate market there?

Michaell

ab348 said:

@Michaell - What is driving the hot real estate market there?

You know, I'm not sure. I know the economy is humming along nicely here - partly driven by the influx of folks looking to take advantage of our relaxed drug laws. Unemployment is down and wages are up.

Mostly, I think, it's inventory .. I read something recently that Metro Denver (population ~ 3 million) has half as many houses on the market now as it did a year ago (6000 vs. 13,000).

And, given that our house is considered "entry level", there is even more demand for it. Our agent thinks we will get above our asking price.

Wife and I have put in our guesses as to how long the house will be on the market before we get our first offer. I say 4 days, she says 7.

stever

That's terrific @Michaell!. (I hate stairs, and your dogs should like the one level better too). Still a buyer's market down here. Last I heard, the inventory is still around 1,300 houses for our 100k population.

Michaell

stever said:

That's terrific @Michaell!. (I hate stairs, and your dogs should like the one level better too). Still a buyer's market down here. Last I heard, the inventory is still around 1,300 houses for our 100k population.

Thanks, @stever - our doxies will only have a few steps from the deck to the yard to deal with. The basement is finished, but they'll never have to go down there.

This doesn't rule out a future move to a warmer climate, but that won't happen until my wife either stops working or isn't working full time (10+ years at a minimum, we figure).

stever

Between us and our Michigan friend who's under contract, I bet we've looked at 80 houses in the last year and eyeballed a few hundred on Zillow. Can't remember a one with a basement - it's all slab down here.

The real question though is what's bigger - the house or the garage?

Michaell

stever said:

Between us and our Michigan friend who's under contract, I bet we've looked at 80 houses in the last year and eyeballed a few hundred on Zillow. Can't remember a one with a basement - it's all slab down here.

The real question though is what's bigger - the house or the garage?

The house is bigger, but the garage is smaller than the one we currently have. Gonna be a tight fit for the Outback and the MINI. I think some purging is in my immediate future.

stever

You'll need to purge for the house staging anyway if you want top dollar (that process literally took us a year in Boise). Get cracking.

corvette

Michaell said:

Wife and I have put in our guesses as to how long the house will be on the market before we get our first offer. I say 4 days, she says 7.

At the time I bought my house in Louisville, desirable houses with realistic prices went under contract within 24-48 hours of being listed. I missed out on several because they were under contract before I had time to go look at them.

The house I ended up buying, the sellers deliberately underpriced, listed on a Wednesday, and said they would not consider any offers until after the open house the following Sunday. Paid about 6% over asking in order to get it (there was at least one other offer).

28firefighter

We had a similar experience here in Seattle, Corvette. Home prices are through the roof and most homes in desirable locations and not falling down will be multiple-offers with cash buyers. 

We put bids on 3 different homes. Each time we lost out to cash buyers, over asking. In one case, we lost out to a cash offer 75k over asking - agent said it was an absurd price for the property to go for. Finally landed on our current house because it was the last new build in a new development - builder was eager to get it sold. Even then, we paid asking price. 

Here in Seattle it's, in part, the availability of high paying jobs from Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, etc driving the market. There is also a lot of foreign money from Asia Pacific being parked in real estate here for varying reasons. 

Sandman6472

Things are hot also down here in South Florida and houses in our range do sell fast. Have a 4/2 and really only two of us here now with two of the kids coming in every so often. Waiting on our middle child to finish pharmacy school, last year, and then we'll see where she ends up. Regardless, think within 5 or so years, we'll have the house up and be off somewhere else.
Will insist on getting a garage at any new place we go to, like parking both vehicles inside when we're here. And to be honest, with just under 2000 square feet under air, it fits us and not sure we could go down much under 1300 to be honest. Been here 28 years as of today and it is a comfortable place, close to everything and places we usually go. Would love to lessen the commute to work, but if we do move, it'll be either across the state to the west coast or closer to northern Florida at this point.

The Sandman

akangl

Well. Hubby decided to be the "voice of reason" and said he's going to cut the kid a check for $2500 (what we would have spent to ship the car). He did say he will still buy me a sporty car, so we are going to take another look at the Veloster this next weekend when he comes home. Would have to order the car though since there's none in the state with options/color we want. 

stickguy

Hubby sounds like a smart man. sometimes you do need a voice of reason. In the long run, you will all likely be better off. Your son ends up in the same place, and you get something a bit more practical (and probably much cheaper). Plus the bonus that your daughter can drive it!

While at the VW dealer, sat in a nice GTI. 2-door S. Loved the classic plaid seats (so much better than pleather). DSG, and base so no roof. but it did have the lighting package. MSRP was ~27,200. Much classier interior than the Civic Si (though also much pricier). Seats a touch snug in the bolsters. Definitely not a car if you have too much "middle aged spread". If you could get it with those seats but add the roof, just about perfect.

a GLI down the road might also be in the cards (if my son doesn't get one first!)

Michaell

stever said:

You'll need to purge for the house staging anyway if you want top dollar (that process literally took us a year in Boise). Get cracking.

Already a step ahead of you. Girls are wrapping up the kitchen and bathrooms today while I spent all morning outside. 

Michaell

Michaell said:

stever said:

You'll need to purge for the house staging anyway if you want top dollar (that process literally took us a year in Boise). Get cracking.

Already a step ahead of you. Girls are wrapping up the kitchen and bathrooms today while I spent all morning outside. 

And the mini is parked in the driveway for the duration. Lots of furniture and boxes in the garage. 

stever

Getting a storage unit?

stickguy

I want to downsize and move down south. The thought of clearing out the house enough to do so is terrifying. I could do it. My wife has some hoarder tendencies (really has trouble getting rid of stuff).

Having recently had practice clearing out my father's house in record time, I know I can make it happen. Would probably be divorced before the house sells, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

stickguy

If you have extra stuff you want out of the house, but plan to keep, get a pod. pack all the extra stuff in it, and can even have it moved to storage lot, then dropped at the new house when you are ready.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I want to downsize and move down south. The thought of clearing out the house enough to do so is terrifying. I could do it. My wife has some hoarder tendencies (really has trouble getting rid of stuff).

Having recently had practice clearing out my father's house in record time, I know I can make it happen. Would probably be divorced before the house sells, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Well... if that happens, you can get a lot smaller house. Assuming you have any money left (doubtful).