Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

corvette

In KY, on a private party sale, you pay the sales tax when you register the car. Then you pay property tax every year thereafter. 

ab348

xwesx said:

I'm curious how the tax works on private party sales....?

Up here, when you go to the DMV to transfer the title, you show a copy of the bill of sale in addition to the title transfer. They then compare that to a database of similar make/model/year sale prices. If it is way out of line they demand an appraisal (or at least a viable explanation - photos of damage, etc) to validate the number. Once the sale price is confirmed, they collect the sales tax before transferring the title.

nyccarguy

@andres3 - are you going to have VW buy your wife's Golf TDI Sportwagen back and take their check? You bought that Golf about 2-3 weeks before this whole "diesel gate" scandal broke.

Reading customer reviews here on edmunds, I can't find anything but people who have extremely positive things to say about their GTIs & Hyundai Genesis

jeffb0101

Wow those are some pretty crazy taxes. I paid the 9% sales tax upon purchase, and around $100 every other year. 

tifighter

I have a friend with a 14 Golf TDI. I'm guessing he paid $26k new for it 2 years ago and has miled it up, but if what I'm reading is true, he would get about $24k. Have to think a lot of people are going to take the buyout...

28firefighter

My BIL paid 27k for his 2013 Sportwagen SEL TDI (MSRP 30k).

I expect he will end up with about 25k - have him thinking about a Soul EV lease to replace it.

nyccarguy

I'm very interested to see how this GTI Sport will be priced for 2017. I just configured 2 GTIs online. An S ($30,005) with PP, DSG, & Lighting and an SE ($33,835) with PP, DSG, Lighting, & DCC. Not bad for an extra $3,800.

breld

I'll be curious as well on that GTI sport. But there sure are some good deals out there right now - most of the local dealers here are advertising as much as $4-5k off sticker on some models.

Something like this is hard to pass up:

Autobahn w/ PP

Michaell

After my interviews this morning, I took a little drive to the ocean. This was in the town of Pacifica, about 30 minutes from where I was in Palo Alto. Also, about 15-20 degrees cooler.

nyccarguy

breld said:

I'll be curious as well on that GTI sport. But there sure are some good deals out there right now - most of the local dealers here are advertising as much as $4-5k off sticker on some models.

Something like this is hard to pass up:

Autobahn w/ PP

My local dealer has 17 GTIs in stock. 10 of them have an MSRP north of $35K

28firefighter

Breld - that's a great deal assuming no crazy doc fees.

nyccarguy

It showed a $499 doc fee

28firefighter

So it does - I was skimming. That's a ridiculous fee, but even a $5300 discount without any negotiating is really good. Dealers out here are advertising $4300 off and our doc fee is limited to $150.

stever

Was recently reminded of this dealer (in Florida of all places) and his take on doc fees - aka the "dealer fee scam". Need more like him out there.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

It showed a $499 doc fee

That's pretty typical for CO, though I've seen some as high at $599 at some stores.

graphicguy

stever said:

Was recently reminded of this dealer (in Florida of all places) and his take on doc fees - aka the "dealer fee scam". Need more like him out there.

Stever.....I've read about that dealer previously. Sounds like a dealership I could do business with if I were in his area.

I've heard all the excuses regarding dealer fees...particularly when I make an "all-in offer".

-The "dealer/doc fee" is required to be charged by law. Really? Show me the law that states that. No dealer has been able to so far.
-We charge one, we have to charge all the same fee. Again, really? Show me that law.
-I'll get fired if I don't add in that fee. Bring your manager into the office. i'll praise you on your survey telling your supervisor how honest you were with me, and an exemplary employee.

Those are just a few.

I get making a profit. Tell me up-front that's a pure profit play. That way, I can do apples to apples comparisons to the bottom line price. If not it's fair game at the negotiation table. And, even though the doc fee is relatively low in my area ($250). I WILL walk if they try to add it to my final number to make a deal.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

After my interviews this morning, I took a little drive to the ocean. This was in the town of Pacifica, about 30 minutes from where I was in Palo Alto. Also, about 15-20 degrees cooler.

Great area. I spend 4-5 vistis a year in the Bay Area. Spent practically my entire career working for Bay Area companies. Glad I can visit, but have a home in the OHIO Valley.

BTW, how'd the interviews go? Did they make you an offer?

nyccarguy

It's obviously better to shop the whole enchilada. If you negotiate a $5300 or $6000 off sticker price from one dealer and another dealer won't go more than $4000, then you pay the doc fee and go on your merry way.

I've told this before. I live in CT where "conveyance fees" are anywhere between $199 & $599. I live close to the New York State border (I work in NY). The dealer closer to my house (in CT) had a lower selling price than the dealer that I test drove the car at (in NY). Once I added the CT dealer's conveyance fee into the equation (he wouldn't remove it or take an extra $369 off the price of the car), the dealer in NY came out to be $100 cheaper. So I test drove, bought, & service my car at he NY dealer.

suydam

Michaell said:

After my interviews this morning, I took a little drive to the ocean. This was in the town of Pacifica, about 30 minutes from where I was in Palo Alto. Also, about 15-20 degrees cooler.

Good luck! That's a beautiful area. Our new place in SoCal is about a 20 minute walk to the beach. Quite a change for us.

Michaell

@graphicguy - interviews went well; met with the head of Education and the head of Global Services. No offer yet. Hoping to hear from the recruiter by the end of the week. Seemed odd to spend $1000 to bring me out for what amounted to 2 hours worth of interviews (I also met with an HR representative).

Also had a group interview with a different company on Monday afternoon - that, too, went well, but they are interviewing candidates the rest of this week, so I don't expect to hear from them until after the long holiday weekend.

@suydam - where in CA did you end up? Both @isellhondas and I grew up in SoCal, and I get back regularly as I have family still there.

kyfdx

@michaell Here is hoping that good things happen!

qbrozen

That's awesome, Michaell. Hope it leads to good things.

I happen to be starting a new job after the holiday weekend myself. I have been with my current company for nearly 9 years, which is a ridiculously long time for me. Previous longest stint was less than 2 years. Anyway, after surviving several major overhauls over the years, the latest one concerned me deeply enough that I had to get out. But, on to bigger and better things. A few weeks ago, I accepted an offer for a much larger role at an up-and-coming advertising agency. I am psyched.

kyfdx

So.. my son is on to that 9-3 Aero XWD. The local Saab dealer has downsized a couple of times, but they still service Saabs, and do recall work. He called them, and they said parts were still being made, and especially plentiful for that Opel platform.

One drawback, 15 city, 22 highway. Of course, he only gets about 17 mpg with his current car.

Sigh...

qbrozen

kyfdx said:

So.. my son is on to that 9-3 Aero XWD. The local Saab dealer has downsized a couple of times, but they still service Saabs, and do recall work. He called them, and they said parts were still being made, and especially plentiful for that Opel platform.

One drawback, 15 city, 22 highway. Of course, he only gets about 17 mpg with his current car.

Sigh...

That one posted not long ago? Is he buying it or still just considering it?

qbrozen

I keep thinking about making a change. I love my CTS, but I can't help feeling a little guilty about the payment on it. We can afford it... its just that when things come around, like the $750 electric bill I just got hit with, I get to thinking how big that car payment is. I have no idea, however, what my current payoff is because I can't remember the last time I saw a physical bill. I have a feeling it is way too big of a gap to overcome. I have also been curious if getting the wife into a new Pacifica would lower her payment any. I doubt it.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

So.. my son is on to that 9-3 Aero XWD. The local Saab dealer has downsized a couple of times, but they still service Saabs, and do recall work. He called them, and they said parts were still being made, and especially plentiful for that Opel platform.

One drawback, 15 city, 22 highway. Of course, he only gets about 17 mpg with his current car.

Sigh...

That one posted not long ago? Is he buying it or still just considering it?

Just considering it.. which, of course means, the Bank of Dad is considering it, as well.

He graduates college, next month, and a '95 M3 really isn't the best commuting car, assuming he gets a real job and actually has to show up on time. If we can get $6K out of that one, and get this one for $8K-$9K, then it's a small bump up in price.

Parts/service will be more expensive. I wouldn't consider it, except it's a stick, and I won't have to worry about a $5K automatic tranny rebuild.

corvette

Good luck with the job prospect, michaell! And good luck with the new job, qbrozen!

qbrozen

i would just want to get it checked out, but where to find a late-model Saab specialist?

stickguy

Q, big bill when you have solar! Maybe you can finally unload the spare house. And good luck with new job. I could use one of them.

Motor trend this month tested the Pacifica. Absolutely raved over it. Sounds like it raised the minivan bar.

I'm also ready to downsize some car payments. Offloading the princess will help in 2 years. And next summer the RDX is paid off. I may focus on going cheap to replace the sonata, and have no payment. Maybe.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

i would just want to get it checked out, but where to find a late-model Saab specialist?

The mechanics at the Saab-only dealership here in town, are still in business. Under some of the same ownership as before. So, that is actually not that much of a problem. About 20 minutes from where I live.

It killed that place. They had 3 dealerships between Cincinnati and Dayton. Nothing but Saabs.

sda

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

i would just want to get it checked out, but where to find a late-model Saab specialist?

The mechanics at the Saab-only dealership here in town, are still in business. Under some of the same ownership as before. So, that is actually not that much of a problem. About 20 minutes from where I live.

It killed that place. They had 3 dealerships between Cincinnati and Dayton. Nothing but Saabs.

I read some time ago that Saab had been purchased jointly by a Chinese group and some one else and they planned to bring the Saab back to market. Any idea if that is going to happen? If I was to guess, I would say no.

kyfdx

Seems doubtful

qbrozen

stickguy said:

Q, big bill when you have solar! Maybe you can finally unload the spare house. And good luck with new job. I could use one of them.

Motor trend this month tested the Pacifica. Absolutely raved over it. Sounds like it raised the minivan bar.

I'm also ready to downsize some car payments. Offloading the princess will help in 2 years. And next summer the RDX is paid off. I may focus on going cheap to replace the sonata, and have no payment. Maybe.

The solar is not turned on yet, so that's killing us.

The bill is because they estimated June WAY too low and we have the pool in this new house. Just a killer. Can't wait till the solar is finally on. JCP&L needs to come out and replace the meter. I can imagine they are none too anxious to do so during the summer.

Mr_Shiftright

qbrozen said:

i would just want to get it checked out, but where to find a late-model Saab specialist?

I'd suggest Sweden.

henryn

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

So.. my son is on to that 9-3 Aero XWD. The local Saab dealer has downsized a couple of times, but they still service Saabs, and do recall work. He called them, and they said parts were still being made, and especially plentiful for that Opel platform.

One drawback, 15 city, 22 highway. Of course, he only gets about 17 mpg with his current car.

Sigh...

That one posted not long ago? Is he buying it or still just considering it?

Just considering it.. which, of course means, the Bank of Dad is considering it, as well.

He graduates college, next month, and a '95 M3 really isn't the best commuting car, assuming he gets a real job and actually has to show up on time. If we can get $6K out of that one, and get this one for $8K-$9K, then it's a small bump up in price.

Parts/service will be more expensive. I wouldn't consider it, except it's a stick, and I won't have to worry about a $5K automatic tranny rebuild.

Funny you should bring that up. We had that debate, just a few weeks or months ago. Most of the people here have never had an automatic transmission fail. Many more of the people here have had to pay for a clutch.

stickguy

Q, we have a pool. Summer bills, not fun. Thankfully we just switched to a much lower cost provider.

Hey, what does the new job do to the commute? Can have big impact on car decision.

henryn

corvette said:

Good luck with the job prospect, michaell! And good luck with the new job, qbrozen!

+1 on that! I know where I work, we are very, very slow at getting back to the candidates after the job interview, so don't give up hope on hearing back for at least a month or two. And good luck on your new job, Q. After 9 years, I'm sure it will feel very strange.

qbrozen

Thanks for the well wishes, folks.

I actually first interviewed for this job 1 year ago, almost to the day of the offer. Went in 3 different times to meet with different people each time. Very strange, but they claim they wanted to wait on me until they were big enough and could present me with enough of a challenge.

stever

How big are y'all's pools that your swimming pool bills are that big? Are you guys running the pump 24/7?

stickguy

Mine is 22,000 gallons. Pump runs 6 hours per day not. But up until last month, I was getting hosed on my electric charges.

andres3

nyccarguy said:

@andres3 - are you going to have VW buy your wife's Golf TDI Sportwagen back and take their check? You bought that Golf about 2-3 weeks before this whole "diesel gate" scandal broke.

Reading customer reviews here on edmunds, I can't find anything but people who have extremely positive things to say about their GTIs & Hyundai Genesis

Since CA has decided that not refunding any portion of the registration and yearly license fees is somehow reasonable and/or acceptable, we are stuck with the Sportwagen for another year as we just renewed our registration dues. We waited and waited, but it seemed like VW would be given infinite extensions.

I think in a year's time (1 more year of pollution thanks to the delays), my wife will probably push for taking the check for book value at the time of the start of the scandal less mileage deductions plus $7-$10K depending on the final numbers and how they are calculated. I haven't seen definitive reports on the deal yet outlining the figures. I read something about 10 billion being the size of the pot for VW TDI owners; not a guaranteed payout amount per owner; time will tell. If I could take the money and simply keep the car after having it "fixed/ruined" I might consider that for my daily driver. I could always re-tune it to spite the EPA if I hate the way it drives and guzzles gas after the alterations.

I think we got it more like 2-3 months before the break out of diesel-gate. The car is a year old now.

My wife likes the car, but she doesn't mind the idea of getting paid to get something new/newer. I wouldn't mind a GTI daily driver, though I'd prefer the R. If my wife got the Golf R I'm not sure she'd let me take it out for exercise; she thinks exercising a car is somehow bad for it. Hard to explain that these cars are athletes, they are meant to play! Use it or lose it!

As far as affordable mid-size cars that I might like to check out, the Accord Sport and Passat deserve a look I think. I wouldn't mind an A6 TDI with the 3.0 if cost was no object and the engine wasn't outlawed currently. Seems to me that makes a perfect family sedan daily driver.

Not sure what my wife would like. I know she's still eyeing Subaru's. I think the Crosstek is too small, but she likes it.

stever

stickguy said:

Mine is 22,000 gallons. Pump runs 6 hours per day not. But up until last month, I was getting hosed on my electric charges.

Sounds crazy - got a small 13,000 gallon salt water one here. We don't close it in the winter and run the pump 3 hours a day. In the summer the pump runs 8 hours. Biggest bill in the height of AC season last summer hit $235 and my winter bill gets down to $55 in April. We pay 0.136 a kWh in the summer, less in the winter.

Afraid to ask what you pay for gas - you can still find regular here for $2.05 at a couple of stations.

graphicguy

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

i would just want to get it checked out, but where to find a late-model Saab specialist?

The mechanics at the Saab-only dealership here in town, are still in business. Under some of the same ownership as before. So, that is actually not that much of a problem. About 20 minutes from where I live.

It killed that place. They had 3 dealerships between Cincinnati and Dayton. Nothing but Saabs.

I would arguably say they were the best dealership, of any brand, in the Cincinnati/Dayton/N. KY area.

Good to hear they're still hanging on with their service and parts biz.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

@graphicguy - interviews went well; met with the head of Education and the head of Global Services. No offer yet. Hoping to hear from the recruiter by the end of the week. Seemed odd to spend $1000 to bring me out for what amounted to 2 hours worth of interviews (I also met with an HR representative).

Also had a group interview with a different company on Monday afternoon - that, too, went well, but they are interviewing candidates the rest of this week, so I don't expect to hear from them until after the long holiday weekend.

@suydam - where in CA did you end up? Both @isellhondas and I grew up in SoCal, and I get back regularly as I have family still there.

Good to hear. Yeah...a little surprised they flew you all the way out there without putting an offer letter in your hands. Are they doing background checks? I know my company always does background checks of those we're seriously considering to hire.

Not sure what that says about me, but I've had two candidates I wanted to hire nixed because of their background checks. They never told me why they failed the background checks, as that's confidential. But, I always wonder what it is I missed that would cause them to throw up a red flag.

Anyway, if they flew you out to the Bay Area, they're pretty serious about you.

Good luck!

andres3

graphicguy said:

Michaell said:

@graphicguy - interviews went well; met with the head of Education and the head of Global Services. No offer yet. Hoping to hear from the recruiter by the end of the week. Seemed odd to spend $1000 to bring me out for what amounted to 2 hours worth of interviews (I also met with an HR representative).

Also had a group interview with a different company on Monday afternoon - that, too, went well, but they are interviewing candidates the rest of this week, so I don't expect to hear from them until after the long holiday weekend.

@suydam - where in CA did you end up? Both @isellhondas and I grew up in SoCal, and I get back regularly as I have family still there.

Good to hear. Yeah...a little surprised they flew you all the way out there without putting an offer letter in your hands. Are they doing background checks? I know my company always does background checks of those we're seriously considering to hire.

Not sure what that says about me, but I've had two candidates I wanted to hire nixed because of their background checks. They never told me why they failed the background checks, as that's confidential. But, I always wonder what it is I missed that would cause them to throw up a red flag.

Anyway, if they flew you out to the Bay Area, they're pretty serious about you.

Good luck!

Bad credit? I know financial institutions don't want bad credit employees.

xwesx

ab348 said:

xwesx said:

I'm curious how the tax works on private party sales....?

Up here, when you go to the DMV to transfer the title, you show a copy of the bill of sale in addition to the title transfer. They then compare that to a database of similar make/model/year sale prices. If it is way out of line they demand an appraisal (or at least a viable explanation - photos of damage, etc) to validate the number. Once the sale price is confirmed, they collect the sales tax before transferring the title.

Interesting. Does that complicate the process of adding/removing names from titles? For example, if I were to add a spouse or child to a title, or remove my name from a title, does the DMV expect some sort of a "tax" kickback?

laurasdada

Couple of license plates spotted:

Corvette: 401K
Lamborghini: Y SAVE

stickguy

I was paying .26 cents KWH. In May, switch and now paying .09 cents. Going to make a huge difference in the summer.

Gas, don't get me started. Just paid 1.97 for Sunoco (actually 1.92 using my Sunoco card). But Jersey is in the process of raising the gas tax by $.23/gallon, so the days of being cheap are about to end. Darn. At least they still pump for you.

Sandman6472

A3 didn't start this morning and it was down at one of our daughters place. Multiple phone calls finally woke me up, n/s day here and got to the Ft. Lauderdale Audi store before the A3 did. They jumped it and she drove it over there. Turned out to be a bad cell in the battery so new battery thrown in under warranty. They called Audi road service and they came in about 45 minutes, not to bad but turned out to be a local company. All is good now.
Just got back from the nearby VW/Audi indie store and they said the cost of a rear anti sway bar will be about $350 installed plus tax...about. They did say that I'd notice a difference especially going around corners and such...guy said I'd be very pleased once it's in. Will it affect the warranty? Guy said no but really, will VW even care? And what will it do to tire wear? Tires just rotated a week ago and the fronts are wearing about an 1/8 more than the rears, said something to that effect on the bill.
Thinking of having it done first week in August, said it should take about 90 minutes or so. Opinions please? NY, know you have one and seem to like it so that helps my decison here.

The Sandman

stickguy

it won't impact your warranty.