Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

thanks. I am going to start with a good handwash using my carwash concentrate and orange carwash sponge. See how that does. Hopefully it takes it off and can just use the cleaner/wax to re do the wax job. If it still seems filmy, I will mix up a bucket of dawn and rewash, then move on to the waxing.

will save rubbing alcohol for a last resort!

Michaell

ab348 said:

rayainsw said:

10,000 mile update on the 2015 Charger R/T.
Nothing to report.
No issues, no wear, no nuthin' ...
- Ray
In THAT respect [ only ] a bring car.

A guy I know up here is itching to buy a V-8 Charger but he cannot find any at any dealer in the entire region. I wonder what the production numbers look like?

I figured maybe he could get one in a bigger city like Toronto during a road trip. Looked at 2 big Toronto area Dodge dealers, with 1000 new vehicles in inventory between them. Together, they had zero Chargers of any type in stock. Amazing.

Yeah, poor Mark. Lots of suggestions for him to get what he wants; he just doesn't seem inclined to put in the leg work. Not sure how bad he wants it.

ab348

Michaell said:

Yeah, poor Mark. Lots of suggestions for him to get what he wants; he just doesn't seem inclined to put in the leg work. Not sure how bad he wants it.

He found one on the weekend and drove it. I think the $55K Cdn price tag is a bit of a shock.

Michaell

ab348 said:

Yeah, poor Mark. Lots of suggestions for him to get what he wants; he just doesn't seem inclined to put in the leg work. Not sure how bad he wants it.

He found one on the weekend and drove it. I think the $55K Cdn price tag is a bit of a shock.

 The one in Moncton? 

ab348

Yes.

carnaught

qbrozen said:

housing ... I am pondering putting our current house up for rent rather than sell it. I have NO CLUE how to be a landlord, however. I'm also scared to death of having to maintain 2 homes. But I am quite intrigued at the prospect of owning more than 1 piece of real estate. Seems like it might be a better investment than 401k these days.

Being a landlord can be a good thing, or occasionally a nightmare. Have heard multiple horror stories of tenants starting out great, eventually blowing threw their first/last month's rent and deposits, then when trying to evict them, having a real h*ll of a time. Tenant refuses to leave, weeks and months go by with the slow legal system not accomplishing much, and the tenant lives for "free" often for several months. Then comes the day when it's discovered they evacuated in the dead of night but trashed the place prior. The latter includes ripping fixtures out of the walls, light fixtures from ceilings, plumbing or electrical removed, stripping of drywall etc. These stories have happened to friends of mine who felt their tenants seemed to be nice decent people, not sleazebags. The experience caused them countless sleepless nights, anguish, marital strain and great financial penalty. Not that any of this would happen to you, but just know that it's possible, even with a management company, and I don't want it to happen to you.

corvette

There are a lot of bad property managers out there... I listed my old house FSBO, and you wouldn't believe the number of inquiries I got asking whether I would do rent-to-own. Hmm, if a bank won't finance someone, why should I? :@

stickguy

rent to own can work out for the right people. Not all of them of course. Some owners like it, if they can get a little higher rent, knowing it well never be executed. and if it is, they locked in a good price most likely.

but basically as the owner, you are just financing their DP to get a deal done.

corvette

It can work out, but my position was basically, if you can't afford a substantial DP, you probably can't afford to maintain the house (and I was OCD about maintaining that house, the one I have now is older and is a work in progress).

akangl

Picked up a rental car today since we are down to the Explorer and Peggy the Pig (nobody wants to feed her). I can honestly say that this rental is the NASTIEST car I have ever seen, I will be returning it in the morning. Kind of a thanks but no thanks. The interior, I can't even describe it, is in a word disgusting and smells like wet dog. I didn't notice the smell until after I left with it. By the time I drove it home the rental office was closed and I was so nauseated that I didn't want to deal with it. I highly doubt this car has ever been detailed in its life, its a 2013 Dodge Dart SXT with 30k on it. I'll drive the Silverado and feed her never ending appetite, no reason I should have to deal with a gross rental that makes me sick to drive it.

I want my Focus back!! Work hasn't even started on it yet, still waiting for parts.

henryn

corvette said:

It can work out, but my position was basically, if you can't afford a substantial DP, you probably can't afford to maintain the house

Rent to own can work out, but it is a bit of a gamble. I would rather sell outright, and be done with it, but sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want.

And I would disagree about the “can’t afford to maintain”. I have known a lot of people in my life who never managed to save money, but did have money to spend (car payments, house payments, car repairs, home repairs, etc). They just never accumulated $10k, $20k, $30k to put down on a house.

stickguy

AK, just ask for a replacement. I had to do that once at some airport. Car they gave us reeked of smoke. Turned around, went back, and got a different one.

suydam

I've done it many times with car rentals. Can be a little harder with a loaner car at a repair shop because they don't have that many. But yes, take it back!

andre1969

Hopefully I'm not tempting fate, but today I'm taking my 2012 Ram in for its first warranty issue. A couple weeks ago, one of the key fobs started acting up. It would do everything but lock and arm the truck. And if I locked it manually, sometimes it would unlock itself afterwards! Anyway, it's covered under the 3/36K bumper-to-bumper warranty, which runs out on September 23.

While I'm there, I might do a little window shopping. I'm kinda curious to test out an extended-cab model to see if I'd like it.

Michaell

andre1969 said:

While I'm there, I might do a little window shopping. I'm kinda curious to test out an extended-cab model to see if I'd like it.

Go, andre, go. You can do it!

Gotta be some stellar end of the model year deals out there.

You still using the PA as your daily driver?

henryn

I received a recall notice yesterday in the mail, for my 2006 Cadillac DTS. This is about the ignition switch issue. I just bought this car in March of this year, from a Cadillac dealer, and I am rather surprised this wasn't taken care of already.

The nearest Cadillac dealer is a long way off, unfortunately. Chevrolet is close, but I'll bet they won't do this.

Andre, I've driven trucks since -- well, most of my long life. I first stepped up from a regular cab to an extended cab in 1989, and I've never gone back.

imidazol97

henryn said:

The nearest Cadillac dealer is a long way off, unfortunately. Chevrolet is close, but I'll bet they won't do this.

I believe any GM dealer will perform the work for you. A Buick dealer might also be a good choice
because the platform for the DTS is related to the one used for the pre 2005 leSabre and Park Avenue.
Chevy has had lots of practice at replacements because the main original car with switch difficulties was
the Chevy Cobalt.

corvette

Pre-bankruptcy, a GM dealer could only do a warranty repair on their own brand, unless they had sold that exact other-GM-brand vehicle as a used car. Not sure about recalls and also not sure whether the rules changed after the bailout. 

henryn

imidazol97 said:

henryn said:

The nearest Cadillac dealer is a long way off, unfortunately. Chevrolet is close, but I'll bet they won't do this.

I believe any GM dealer will perform the work for you. A Buick dealer might also be a good choice
because the platform for the DTS is related to the one used for the pre 2005 leSabre and Park Avenue.
Chevy has had lots of practice at replacements because the main original car with switch difficulties was
the Chevy Cobalt.

I just called the Chevrolet dealership. The answer is no, they cannot.

Michaell

So, I've been thinking (I know, always dangerous around here) ...

Lease on the Elantra comes due 11/2016. I've been ruminating for weeks here about what I should get next. But, budget dictates one more cheap lease, then after 3 years I should be in a position financially to get something really nice.

At the moment, the contenders are the Sonata and Mazda 6.

Sonata because Hyundai has a nice pull ahead program and they'll waive any mileage charges I may will have.

The 6 appeals to me because its so darn good looking.

@breld - I know we talked about test driving everything under the sun next summer when the time is right, but I suspect I'll keep it simple and only drive a handful of choices.

stickguy

well, based on my experience, the $ side is going to majorly swing to the Sonata. especially on a re-lease.

are you sure you want to go that much bigger? An Elantra would be even cheaper most likely!

Michaell

stickguy said:

well, based on my experience, the $ side is going to majorly swing to the Sonata. especially on a re-lease. are you sure you want to go that much bigger? An Elantra would be even cheaper most likely!

This is true, though I'm not sure I want the same model twice in a row. 

Lots of time to think this through. 

andre1969

Well, I'm back home now, and with the same truck I started off with. The dodge dealer didn't have anything that really caught my eye, at least not at a price I'm willing to pay. I sat in one extended cab truck (they call it a "quad cab"...pretty uncomfortable in the back seat. I could actually fit back there, with the front seat all the way back to where I would have it, but wouldn't want to ride back there for long. I had to straddle the front seatback. The seat was also low to the floor, not something I normally associate with a pickup truck. And the backrest was vertical...no incline at all. It's not a place where you'd want to spend on a cross-country road trip.

They had a crew cab in the showroom, which I also sat in. It was a lot roomier in back, but the seating position was still low, and the seat cushion was thin. Another thing I didn't like is how they cut the bottom cushion short in the center seating position. But, I guess they're not really expecting people to put 6 passengers in these things. At least, not for a long trip. And I haven't squeezed six people into a car since the late 90's, when I had an '89 Gran Fury, so it's not like I really come across the need to haul myself and 5 other passengers around in limousine-like comfort very often.

FWIW, here's the quad cab truck I looked at: blue Ram quad cab. They're definitely running some deals right now...this one MSRP's for $39775, but supposedly has $9380 in incentives (of which I might not qualify for all of them). It just has a V6 though, and I'd be a bit leery of the V6 in something this size, and with the added weight of 4wd.

I guess if I started getting serious, I'd revisit this truck, or a similar truck. Who knows? As Eugene Levy once said, "You may hate it now, but wait til you drive it!!"

corvette

A $40k sticker without a back up camera or parking sensors seems insane. Aside from that, I would also want the Hemi. The back seat on an "extended" cab is going to be compromised. Mainly meant for cargo storage, but my dog would be happy back there.

nyccarguy

Plus 1 on the HEMI & The backup camera.  It is one of those things that I have in my head "ok, if I were to ever get a full sized pickup truck, it'd have to be a V8."

I have 5 customers who have current body style RAM 1500s.  4 of them were bought/leased in the last 2 months.  From what they tell me, the lease deals were too good to pass up.  

The 2016 Tacoma gets good reviews.  I wouldn't mind taking one of those for a spin.

ab348

Speaking of recalls, I got another notice of a recall today on my Cadillac ATS. But this is odd - it's a recall of a recall. A few months ago they issued a recall for the housing for the sunroof switches. Apparently they weren't recessed enough to meet standards and that was deemed a hazard. The dealer finally got the part in a month or so back and installed it. The result was that the switches were buried a little further back into the housing. Today's notice said that this was deemed to not be effective enough and so there is a redesigned housing that needs to replace the part they just redesigned. Holy cow. Was someone asleep at the switch?

stever

After the ignition switch debacle, I think the NHTSA is bending the other way to show that they are being more proactive on safety stuff. The first recall probably would have sufficed a year or two ago.

roadburner

Found another CPO Mustang GT Premium; 600 more miles than the one that got away. Going to look at it in the next couple of days, and this time I will be prepared to buy on the spot if the price is right.

stever

Ha - the hunt is still on. Good luck!

sda

stickguy said:

thanks. I am going to start with a good handwash using my carwash concentrate and orange carwash sponge. See how that does. Hopefully it takes it off and can just use the cleaner/wax to re do the wax job. If it still seems filmy, I will mix up a bucket of dawn and rewash, then move on to the waxing.

will save rubbing alcohol for a last resort!

After washing, if there is still a film. you may want to try bug and tar remover. It is still fairly gentle and can be washed off with the car washing soap after it is applied. I wouldn't try anything like rubbing compound or anything that could scratch.

imidazol97

sda said:

stickguy said:

thanks. I am going to start with a good handwash using my carwash concentrate and orange carwash sponge. See how that does. Hopefully it takes it off and can just use the cleaner/wax to re do the wax job. If it still seems filmy, I will mix up a bucket of dawn and rewash, then move on to the waxing.

will save rubbing alcohol for a last resort!

After washing, if there is still a film. you may want to try bug and tar remover. It is still fairly gentle and can be washed off with the car washing soap after it is applied. I wouldn't try anything like rubbing compound or anything that could scratch.

I think the car wash with an actual towel rubbing the surface will pick up the gummy residue. I always found that spray car washes didn't get off the gummy oil from the roads in the winter when I had to use them here. The soap brush they offer at quick washes are slow and ineffective too.

Bug and tar remover is a good idea. It's another petroleum product mixture.

au1994

imidazol97 said:

sda said:

stickguy said:

thanks. I am going to start with a good handwash using my carwash concentrate and orange carwash sponge. See how that does. Hopefully it takes it off and can just use the cleaner/wax to re do the wax job. If it still seems filmy, I will mix up a bucket of dawn and rewash, then move on to the waxing.

will save rubbing alcohol for a last resort!

After washing, if there is still a film. you may want to try bug and tar remover. It is still fairly gentle and can be washed off with the car washing soap after it is applied. I wouldn't try anything like rubbing compound or anything that could scratch.

I think the car wash with an actual towel rubbing the surface will pick up the gummy residue. I always found that spray car washes didn't get off the gummy oil from the roads in the winter when I had to use them here. The soap brush they offer at quick washes are slow and ineffective too.

Bug and tar remover is a good idea. It's another petroleum product mixture.

All good suggestions here but my .02 is to just allocate a Saturday afternoon to the project, hit the car with Dawn and strip everything off, clean it up good and go back with a high quality wax. Then you are assured that all of the bad gunk is off and you have a good wax on going into winter.

kyfdx

What is this wax thing that you speak of?

stever

Hey, that's my line!

(If I ever do get a new car I may get some Collinite though. Just for the glamour, as Shifty would say).

Oh, it's also hard to find the "original" Dawn around here, mostly it's the platinum stuff. Friends found me a bottle of the good stuff at a base BX (PX?).

jpp75

corvette said:

Pre-bankruptcy, a GM dealer could only do a warranty repair on their own brand, unless they had sold that exact other-GM-brand vehicle as a used car. Not sure about recalls and also not sure whether the rules changed after the bailout. 

There's no Infiniti dealer here, I asked the local Nissan place if they could work on it. They said they would do an oil change or tire rotation but nothing else and any recall/warranty work had to be done by Infiniti which means a 2 - 3 hour drive. I'd get rid of it in a heartbeat but the other half loves it so it stays....for now.

akangl

Took the disgusting rental back yesterday and they were quite snippy about it. I made sure that they understood just how gross that thing was, but at first they didn't seem to care, just said they'd close out the rental agreement and I could be on my way....on foot since I didn't have a ride. When I mentioned I would certainly let my insurance company know how I was treated and how nasty the rental was they changed their tune. I left with a '15 Altima with 9700 miles on it.....amazing how that works.

sda

akangl said:

Took the disgusting rental back yesterday and they were quite snippy about it. I made sure that they understood just how gross that thing was, but at first they didn't seem to care, just said they'd close out the rental agreement and I could be on my way....on foot since I didn't have a ride. When I mentioned I would certainly let my insurance company know how I was treated and how nasty the rental was they changed their tune. I left with a '15 Altima with 9700 miles on it.....amazing how that works.

Good that you stood your ground. The last few rentals that I've gotten from a certain company the starts with E
have all been filthy inside, though I don't think as bad as what you experienced. I miss the days of getting clean and low mileage rental. It really takes the pleasure out of the equation.

fezo

Yeah, the E company can be like that. One time several years back I needed a car for a week and they rented me a Malibu that smelled like someone died in it. Of course I had to do that late so it wasn't until the next morning that I took it back. They put me in an Optima. That was fine. Not exciting but fine. This was a generation or two ago on both cars so present day models are likely better. I'm sure they don't smell like that!

suydam

Better when you can pick any car in a class. I've avoided the febrezed up ones that way.

Sandman6472

Working for a rental company, I know what folks are going through though I have never seen such disgusting folks as some who rent our vehicles! Seems like some go out of their way to damage someone else's property and think they can get away with it. If things are that bad, we charge the folks a cleaning fee and that's that. Insurance company's watch us closely and want clean vehicles for their customers which we always try to deliver. Folks, treat any rental like your own and there will never be an issue...end of story!
Just hope I get a nice vehicle in October but will definitely mention I am a co-worker just to be sure...don't want special treatment but do want a clean, odor free vehicle with appropriate mleage.

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Heard this from a customer, he said I can buy insurance just in case I am not well enough to travel...the carriers carry this he said. Anyone have any info about this option? Not anticipating any issues but one never knows what might happen. Plan to take a two week period off so can have a few days upfront to not tax my spine...could always go back a day or two early depending on when I do come back. Keeping positive here and as of now, full steam ahead. Will make a plane reservation sometime next week.

The Sandman

stever

We've done that a few times and it gives some peace of mind. Almost had to use it on a flight to NY a few years back but we managed to (supposedly) get the last flight out before O'Hare shut down.

It kind of depends on the money at stake. We had connections and reservations made that would all have suffered if we had gotten stuck, and we knew that the weather could be iffy.

Sandman6472

Every time I start the Golf, get a message that oil change is due in 900 miles. Nice to be reminded and am trying to move it up from the 14th till next Thursday if possible. Just want it done already!
Watching that car show on The Esquire Channel with Spike Feresten...have seen a few episodes and is enjoyable, almost as much as Motorweek. They are testing a '15 Outback right now in the green color but without the fancy wheels that Mike got...they really like it but hey, why not. Back in December, was looking at a Subaru and favored the size of the Imprezza but communication stopped with the dealer as the new ones weren't due in till mid January and decided not to wait. Pretty sure my wife spoke with the sales lady as they were first looking for her.

The Sandman

akangl

The rental company is Enterprise. I've rented from them before and didn't have that problem, have had other issues though like expired tags and a car with a dying transmission. This car was just flat unacceptable, naturally they wanted to blame me since I needed a rental that day and the car was all they had. I really miss my little Focus, although I do have to say the Altima is very pleasant.

fezo

I lose my focus all the time but that's another matter.

You always get the best bad car rental stories from enterprise. I you're renting in an airport that bad rental crown goes to Alamo. When I go on a trip involving flying and renting my motto is "Forget the Alamo!"

stickguy

I don't rent much, and in the last few years the couple of times I did it was the "H" company, and I managed to get cars with 40K+ miles. I thought (I know, living in the past) they got retired long before that! But they were still OK cars, and not nasty.

I do remember getting a Cloud car back in the late 90s in Orlando, that I actually really liked (to the extent I almost went shopping for one). One of the few times I actually got to pick anything in the row. Found a loaded up Chrysler. White. Leather, moonroof, perfed seats. And only a couple of hundred miles. Nice car back in the day.

breld

Michaell said:

So, I've been thinking (I know, always dangerous around here) ...

Lease on the Elantra comes due 11/2016. I've been ruminating for weeks here about what I should get next. But, budget dictates one more cheap lease, then after 3 years I should be in a position financially to get something really nice.

At the moment, the contenders are the Sonata and Mazda 6.

Sonata because Hyundai has a nice pull ahead program and they'll waive any mileage charges I may will have.

The 6 appeals to me because its so darn good looking.

@breld - I know we talked about test driving everything under the sun next summer when the time is right, but I suspect I'll keep it simple and only drive a handful of choices.

Oh, I think we can still expand our test drive experiences to more than those two choices! Another economical choice may simply be the new Elantra - I think that will be out by then and I imagine it will be different enough from the current ride.

I've been down in Austin all week for work. So speaking of rental cars, I went for the cheapest rental I could find since I really just needed to drive myself around (I don't know exactly why I do that - I don't think anyone in my company really cares). Got a Nissan Versa Note with 38k miles on it. All in all, it actually wasn't all that bad to drive - the parking garage at the Hilton had pretty tight spaces, which suited the little Nissan well. Completely devoid of any current tech features though. Black on black wasn't the best option for the 105 degree Austin weather, but that's not the car's fault.

ab348

breld said:

I've been down in Austin all week for work. So speaking of rental cars, I went for the cheapest rental I could find since I really just needed to drive myself around (I don't know exactly why I do that - I don't think anyone in my company really cares). Got a Nissan Versa Note with 38k miles on it. All in all, it actually wasn't all that bad to drive - the parking garage at the Hilton had pretty tight spaces, which suited the little Nissan well. Completely devoid of any current tech features though. Black on black wasn't the best option for the 105 degree Austin weather, but that's not the car's fault.

Funny, that. When I would travel for work I used to take cabs to/from the airport and when I needed to get around until it occurred to me it was usually cheaper if I just rented a car. At first I did as you described and got the cheapest I could until I realized nobody at the other end cared, within reason.

robr2

Since I'm self employed I usually care very much about the cost of a rental car. Recently, I've been using Hotwire and getting a very good price on ho-hum mid sized cars from Hertz. They all seem to have 40K+ miles on them and on the second set of tires. I really think that Hertz has a few well worn cars in the back that they roll out for us Hotwire shoppers.

breld

Hmmm - now that I think of it, I did select some "special" rental option that basically promised a compact or better. So that's probably how I ended up with a 38k mile car. Not that I really minded - it was novel driving a car with "so many" miles!