Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy

I expect dealers will keep the upgraded online shopping option. But push for buyers to come in to finish the sale and take delivery.

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

I expect dealers will keep the upgraded online shopping option. But push for buyers to come in to finish the sale and take delivery.

I saw a current body style RDX last night (non ASpec) in Black. That's a sharp looking SUV you picked up @stickguy.

stickguy

It is sharp. Interior is very classy. Too bad we can’t ever use it.

Michaell

@nyccarguy - I'm surprised you haven't commented on what I assume is a reduction in traffic for your commute. How much less do you think there has been, these past couple of weeks?

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

I found my red wax applicator pad last night:)

Lucky you, just in time for a second application.

jmonroe

Next car that gets done will be my Prelude. That will get the full on "Cabarnet Red @jmonroe Genesis 5.0" treatment.

I'm still sorry I got rid of that car.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

@nyccarguy - I'm surprised you haven't commented on what I assume is a reduction in traffic for your commute. How much less do you think there has been, these past couple of weeks?

Traffic has dwindled down to pretty much absolute zero. Every morning is like driving in on a Saturday AM. Travel time is around 40 to 45 minutes. I didn't sleep well last night & didn't leave the house until 6:50 this AM. I still made it here in time to open the door at 7:30 AM. Street parking here in the city is easier too because "alternate side" street cleaning regulations have been suspended.

In the afternoons, I'm making it home in the same time frame, not the solid hour it normally takes. We are closing at 4:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM, so I'm getting home earlier.

Last week I took a delivery into Manhattan. 11 miles from my store. Normally it would have taken me at least an hour to get down there. I left at 1:00 PM, found a parking spot (for my DC LB Tacoma) in front of the building at 1:25. I was back at work before 2:00 PM.

nyccarguy

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

I found my red wax applicator pad last night:)

Lucky you, just in time for a second application.

jmonroe

Next car that gets done will be my Prelude. That will get the full on "Cabarnet Red @jmonroe Genesis 5.0" treatment.

I'm still sorry I got rid of that car.

jmonroe

I know. That's why I brought it up

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

I found my red wax applicator pad last night:)

Lucky you, just in time for a second application.

jmonroe

Next car that gets done will be my Prelude. That will get the full on "Cabarnet Red @jmonroe Genesis 5.0" treatment.

I'm still sorry I got rid of that car.

jmonroe

I know. That's why I brought it up

:@ :@

jmonroe

nyccarguy

Check out this 2,000 mile 1990 Porsche 944 S2.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-porsche-944-s2-18/

stickguy

Oh my. Not pristine or my favorite color, but man, I love these!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1982-volvo-245-glt-3/

graphicguy

nyccarguy said:

Check out this 2,000 mile 1990 Porsche 944 S2.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-porsche-944-s2-18/

That's a crazy price for the 944. They weren't all that well thought of when new. Regardless of condition, not something I'd consider at ½ the price.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

@nyccarguy - I'm surprised you haven't commented on what I assume is a reduction in traffic for your commute. How much less do you think there has been, these past couple of weeks?

Traffic has dwindled down to pretty much absolute zero. Every morning is like driving in on a Saturday AM. Travel time is around 40 to 45 minutes. I didn't sleep well last night & didn't leave the house until 6:50 this AM. I still made it here in time to open the door at 7:30 AM. Street parking here in the city is easier too because "alternate side" street cleaning regulations have been suspended.

In the afternoons, I'm making it home in the same time frame, not the solid hour it normally takes. We are closing at 4:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM, so I'm getting home earlier.

Last week I took a delivery into Manhattan. 11 miles from my store. Normally it would have taken me at least an hour to get down there. I left at 1:00 PM, found a parking spot (for my DC LB Tacoma) in front of the building at 1:25. I was back at work before 2:00 PM.

Wow - that's pretty amazing.

I haven't ventured more than a few miles from home in the last month.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

Check out this 2,000 mile 1990 Porsche 944 S2.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-porsche-944-s2-18/

That's a crazy price for the 944. They weren't all that well thought of when new. Regardless of condition, not something I'd consider at ½ the price.

I’d be much more tempted by a 968.

28firefighter

roadburner said:

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

Check out this 2,000 mile 1990 Porsche 944 S2.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-porsche-944-s2-18/

That's a crazy price for the 944. They weren't all that well thought of when new. Regardless of condition, not something I'd consider at ½ the price.

I’d be much more tempted by a 968.

This

pensfan83

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

@nyccarguy - I'm surprised you haven't commented on what I assume is a reduction in traffic for your commute. How much less do you think there has been, these past couple of weeks?

Traffic has dwindled down to pretty much absolute zero. Every morning is like driving in on a Saturday AM. Travel time is around 40 to 45 minutes. I didn't sleep well last night & didn't leave the house until 6:50 this AM. I still made it here in time to open the door at 7:30 AM. Street parking here in the city is easier too because "alternate side" street cleaning regulations have been suspended.

In the afternoons, I'm making it home in the same time frame, not the solid hour it normally takes. We are closing at 4:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM, so I'm getting home earlier.

Last week I took a delivery into Manhattan. 11 miles from my store. Normally it would have taken me at least an hour to get down there. I left at 1:00 PM, found a parking spot (for my DC LB Tacoma) in front of the building at 1:25. I was back at work before 2:00 PM.

Wow - that's pretty amazing.

I haven't ventured more than a few miles from home in the last month.

Saturday was the first time I was within city limits, well Squirrel Hill which is about 20 minutes from downtown, in over a month to get some takeout.

stickguy

I need to go to the bank tomorrow. Plan to take a joyride to give my car some exercise.

kyfdx

I go get takeout for dinner, every Friday and Saturday.
Generally, a beer run once a week, to get some local craft.

Wife goes to Kroger, weekly.

That's about it

I did take the X3 for scheduled service, yesterday, and got a loaner.

nyccarguy

roadburner said:

graphicguy said:

nyccarguy said:

Check out this 2,000 mile 1990 Porsche 944 S2.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-porsche-944-s2-18/

That's a crazy price for the 944. They weren't all that well thought of when new. Regardless of condition, not something I'd consider at ½ the price.

I’d be much more tempted by a 968.

A number of years ago (maybe 10), I was at a BBQ at a family friend's house in Northern, NJ (Edison). The house was on a Cul De Sac and lots of cars. There was an awesome Silver 911 GT3 with a full roll cage. I was drawn to it. Found out who the owner was and struck up a conversation. He was impressed I knew it was a GT3. I told him I was impressed he races it. He told me he bought it about a year ago to replace The 944 he raced for years. I told him how the 944 was my favorite car as a kid growing up. He told me they are great driving cars. He told me he knows guys that race them with 200 - 300+ thousand miles on the Chassis & Body. They take LS Swap V8s with no problem.

kyfdx

944 turbos were amazingly fast for the late '80s. NA 944s, not so much.

qbrozen

Had to run to my sister's today. Charger = dead battery. Pickup = dead battery. Had to take wife's X2. Not sure why either happened since the Charger previously sat for 2 weeks and started right up. This time it sat for 1 week. Meanwhile, the truck has been plugged in this whole time (has a trickle charger under the hood). So not clear why either died. They aren't totally dead, but a few slow turns and click click click.

andres3

28firefighter said:

The Alfa dealer is reporting that at 21 months old, it needs a new battery for - wait for it - $375 installed. Of course, he doesn't have much choice. The car would not jump start and it needed to have its ECU completely reset after replacing the battery. He lost all of his navigation programming, radio presets, bluetooth, etc.

The dealer told him to call Alfa premium care to fight to be reimbursed for it...

Calling Kia Customer Care didn't go anywhere. They pretty much admitted Kia Finance complaints were on their "exclusion" list.

Sandman6472

$375 installed? That's ridiculous!!! Thought it would be like 1/2 that to be honest. Wow. Unbelievable cost. Has it been reliable in every other way? Guessing certain kinds of vehicles, one must have a fund set up in advance just knowing that things will go wrong with it and just having the extra funds available to deal with them. Guess I just don't have that sort of desire. Can't really complain too much about the Golf as the car accident wasn't my fault and the broken side mirror was more my wife's directing error than mine. Still, did cost me a decent amount of coinage. The only really bad issue was the driver door lock issue which I still have no clue why that happened and think VW should've stepped up to the plate and either paid for or paid a major part of. Still really pissed off about that.
After 3 weeks, and still have only used a 1/4 of a tank on errands. Gauge now showing 290 miles on DTE and next time it'll really get a workout is the end of June if that wedding is still on. Going down to Miami next week to help my daughter move, it's maybe 60 miles or so. Spoke with my pain doc's office and it seems like I'm only going to go in every 90 days now. Scripts those other two months will now be electronically sent into our local pharmacy which is great. Was so dumb having to drive down just for a signature and to pick up the paper script. So something good has come out of all this madness I guess!

stickguy

There are going to be a lot of changes like that forced to happen that likely will remain, since they are actually in fact good ideas!

greg128

28firefighter said:

They refused. Said Alfa "Premium" Care only responds to the customer filing a formal complaint.

I'm not crazy though, right? For a car that has been driven nearly 24k miles in 21 months, it seems illogical that the battery would be dead already let alone that they would charge him for it.

That should absolutely be covered under warranty. The battery on our leased 2016 Chevy Malibu Premier
died at 34 months. While having it replaced under warranty I mentioned that Chevy should have put in a battery that would last for another 2 months and then they wouldn't be on the hook for it.

Sandman6472

Got my monthly e-mail from my local VW store about buying/leasing a new 2020 Golf and how much they want mine as a trade. Totally ignore those now as a VW is no longer on my short list going forward. The only ones I'd even consider are the GTI or the Jetta GLI with the Beats audio system. But honestly, think VW is totally off the list now!
As much as I hate to admit it, the current Golf could stay in the stable for a few more years if things remain the same. As long as it doesn't have any real issues, makes no sense to get rid of it just to drive to my part time gig so close to the house. A used cpo unit might just be the best way to go here, one that's super reliable in it's first five or six years of ownership. Even an ex-loaner would do the trick to be honest. Really have no idea what a normal year of driving would be since I've only been there a little over 3 months. At Hertz, was averaging a good 13K/year but figuring about maybe 4K/year instead, maybe even 3500. Just no real need for something brand new if that'll end up being the case. As long as it holds up, now, that's the big question mark going forward. As long as it holds up!

ab348

Sandman6472 said:

Spoke with my pain doc's office and it seems like I'm only going to go in every 90 days now. Scripts those other two months will now be electronically sent into our local pharmacy which is great. Was so dumb having to drive down just for a signature and to pick up the paper script. So something good has come out of all this madness I guess!

Up here almost the reverse has occurred. The various provincial pharmacy associations across Canada have gotten together and put through a change to policy. Blaming hoarding (a bogus excuse) and shortages of medications (likely true for some but not all meds), they have taken the standard 90-day supply for chronic-condition scrips down to 30 days, which means you need to visit 3 times as often. Seems foolish in these times when people are trying to limit their public exposure. But the more criminal thing is that they are retaining the same dispensing fee for each of those. Some people that do not have that covered under their drug plan therefore are paying $36 to the pharmacist for his/her services, not including the drug cost, where they were paying $12 before. Even in my case my $5 co-pay now becomes $15. There is some blowback to it and I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. It has been a real black eye for the pharmacist profession.

au1994

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

@nyccarguy - I'm surprised you haven't commented on what I assume is a reduction in traffic for your commute. How much less do you think there has been, these past couple of weeks?

Traffic has dwindled down to pretty much absolute zero. Every morning is like driving in on a Saturday AM. Travel time is around 40 to 45 minutes. I didn't sleep well last night & didn't leave the house until 6:50 this AM. I still made it here in time to open the door at 7:30 AM. Street parking here in the city is easier too because "alternate side" street cleaning regulations have been suspended.

In the afternoons, I'm making it home in the same time frame, not the solid hour it normally takes. We are closing at 4:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM, so I'm getting home earlier.

Last week I took a delivery into Manhattan. 11 miles from my store. Normally it would have taken me at least an hour to get down there. I left at 1:00 PM, found a parking spot (for my DC LB Tacoma) in front of the building at 1:25. I was back at work before 2:00 PM.

Wow - that's pretty amazing.

I haven't ventured more than a few miles from home in the last month.

Been working from home for a month. All I’ve done is run to Publix in the middle of the day and during the middle of the week to avoid as much of a crowd as possible. A couple of liquor store runs in there as well. No gym, no eating out. We may break the rules and go to the lake this weekend as we are about to go crazy. My wife gets out every day but its to go to a hospital so not exactly any relief there.

greg128

I have seen some articles about used car prices tanking probably because of the Covid crisis. It seems like a good time to buy one. For the heck of it I picked a 2017 Audi 2.0T premium Quatro and found one from a dealer withf 32K miles for $17,5000. Edmunds calculated the trade in value at over $18000 and dealer price of $22,800.
That is $5000 under their estimated value. I would think similar savings should be able to be had with all makes and models.

It seems to me that people that are leasing are doing pretty well while the manufacturers/leasing companies are taking a hit as those leases come to an end. Those who bought new or late model used recently (like me) are probably taking a hit.

suydam

>Going down to Miami next week to help my daughter move, it's maybe 60 miles or so. Spoke with my pain doc's office and it seems like I'm only going to go in every 90 days now. Scripts those other two months will now be electronically sent into our local pharmacy which is great. Was so dumb having to drive down just for a signature and to pick up the paper script. So something good has come out of all this madness I guess!

I get my meds delivered to my door now.. CVS started doing that. Most pharmacies are going to that now.
With immunosuppressants covered by Medicare B, you are only allowed 30 day supply, so I appreciate not having to go there every 30 days.

andres3

ab348 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Spoke with my pain doc's office and it seems like I'm only going to go in every 90 days now. Scripts those other two months will now be electronically sent into our local pharmacy which is great. Was so dumb having to drive down just for a signature and to pick up the paper script. So something good has come out of all this madness I guess!

Up here almost the reverse has occurred. The various provincial pharmacy associations across Canada have gotten together and put through a change to policy. Blaming hoarding (a bogus excuse) and shortages of medications (likely true for some but not all meds), they have taken the standard 90-day supply for chronic-condition scrips down to 30 days, which means you need to visit 3 times as often. Seems foolish in these times when people are trying to limit their public exposure. But the more criminal thing is that they are retaining the same dispensing fee for each of those. Some people that do not have that covered under their drug plan therefore are paying $36 to the pharmacist for his/her services, not including the drug cost, where they were paying $12 before. Even in my case my $5 co-pay now becomes $15. There is some blowback to it and I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. It has been a real black eye for the pharmacist profession.

Always, and I do mean always, follow the money for the true motivations.

andres3

greg128 said:

I have seen some articles about used car prices tanking probably because of the Covid crisis. It seems like a good time to buy one. For the heck of it I picked a 2017 Audi 2.0T premium Quatro and found one from a dealer withf 32K miles for $17,5000. Edmunds calculated the trade in value at over $18000 and dealer price of $22,800.
That is $5000 under their estimated value. I would think similar savings should be able to be had with all makes and models.

It seems to me that people that are leasing are doing pretty well while the manufacturers/leasing companies are taking a hit as those leases come to an end. Those who bought new or late model used recently (like me) are probably taking a hit.

That's a helluva deal... link?

explorerx4

I log into my healthcare site and can request refills with a click.
Request goes to medical provider and when approved and filled I get a call from the pharmacy(CVS).
Right now I'm on 5 different meds. Jeez.

suydam

CVS will probably deliver it to you now as well.

explorerx4

@suydam,
It gives my wife an excuse to get out of the house.

greg128

andres3 said:

greg128 said:

I have seen some articles about used car prices tanking probably because of the Covid crisis. It seems like a good time to buy one. For the heck of it I picked a 2017 Audi 2.0T premium Quatro and found one from a dealer withf 32K miles for $17,5000. Edmunds calculated the trade in value at over $18000 and dealer price of $22,800.
That is $5000 under their estimated value. I would think similar savings should be able to be had with all makes and models.

It seems to me that people that are leasing are doing pretty well while the manufacturers/leasing companies are taking a hit as those leases come to an end. Those who bought new or late model used recently (like me) are probably taking a hit.

That's a helluva deal... link?

here: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/803289008/overview/

suydam

Last place I want to be is in a pharmacy now!

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Spoke with my pain doc's office and it seems like I'm only going to go in every 90 days now. Scripts those other two months will now be electronically sent into our local pharmacy which is great. Was so dumb having to drive down just for a signature and to pick up the paper script. So something good has come out of all this madness I guess!

Up here almost the reverse has occurred. The various provincial pharmacy associations across Canada have gotten together and put through a change to policy. Blaming hoarding (a bogus excuse) and shortages of medications (likely true for some but not all meds), they have taken the standard 90-day supply for chronic-condition scrips down to 30 days, which means you need to visit 3 times as often. Seems foolish in these times when people are trying to limit their public exposure. But the more criminal thing is that they are retaining the same dispensing fee for each of those. Some people that do not have that covered under their drug plan therefore are paying $36 to the pharmacist for his/her services, not including the drug cost, where they were paying $12 before. Even in my case my $5 co-pay now becomes $15. There is some blowback to it and I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. It has been a real black eye for the pharmacist profession.

I thought it was all free in Canada. You mean some greedy suppliers found a way around that?

oldfarmer50

greg128 said:

andres3 said:

greg128 said:

I have seen some articles about used car prices tanking probably because of the Covid crisis. It seems like a good time to buy one. For the heck of it I picked a 2017 Audi 2.0T premium Quatro and found one from a dealer withf 32K miles for $17,5000. Edmunds calculated the trade in value at over $18000 and dealer price of $22,800.
That is $5000 under their estimated value. I would think similar savings should be able to be had with all makes and models.

It seems to me that people that are leasing are doing pretty well while the manufacturers/leasing companies are taking a hit as those leases come to an end. Those who bought new or late model used recently (like me) are probably taking a hit.

That's a helluva deal... link?

here: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/803289008/overview/

In my obsessive perusals of car sites I’ve seen a couple of stores on Long Island that always seem to have lower than average prices but not that low.

28firefighter

There is a sizable gap in the history of that car in the CarFax. Over a year since an update and 17k miles ago.

I bet it has been smacked.

stickguy

looks nice enough. But it is a 4 YO Audi with no warranty, sold by a auto row type used place. So how far off of market is it really? I'm not sure how much more I would pay for that (it is a Premium too, not premium plus). But certainly seems to be a good deal.

and yes, for some reason there are places out that way that run cheap, but need to be careful about the car, and shell games, at some of them.

sda

stickguy said:

looks nice enough. But it is a 4 YO Audi with no warranty, sold by a auto row type used place. So how far off of market is it really? I'm not sure how much more I would pay for that (it is a Premium too, not premium plus). But certainly seems to be a good deal.

and yes, for some reason there are places out that way that run cheap, but need to be careful about the car, and shell games, at some of them.

Unless a buyer is willing to take the risk with no warranty, an extended warranty of decent coverage and time/miles is going to be expensive. And, hopefully the extended warranty company that is offered is reputable.

stickguy

I don't like 3rd party warranties anyway, so I would not get one of those.

andres3

sda said:

stickguy said:

looks nice enough. But it is a 4 YO Audi with no warranty, sold by a auto row type used place. So how far off of market is it really? I'm not sure how much more I would pay for that (it is a Premium too, not premium plus). But certainly seems to be a good deal.

and yes, for some reason there are places out that way that run cheap, but need to be careful about the car, and shell games, at some of them.

Unless a buyer is willing to take the risk with no warranty, an extended warranty of decent coverage and time/miles is going to be expensive. And, hopefully the extended warranty company that is offered is reputable.

Are we assuming it's 4 years old because they are not advertising "still under warranty?" For me, a 2017 is 3 years old right now.

It isn't a stripper model. They are advertising quattro AWD (a key feature) and "premium audio" though that could be false advertising. The wheels tires are definitely bare bones for an A4 though. Still, these '17 A4's have a far superior drive train for their class. 0-60 times prove it. On paper Honda's 2.0T is similar, but when you start looking at performance metrics, like 0 to 60, suddenly Honda's horses must be baby ponies, whereas Audi's are Stallions. The A4 is an every man workhorse, nothing that expensive to really break, it's no A8 or S8.

corvette

28firefighter said:

There is a sizable gap in the history of that car in the CarFax. Over a year since an update and 17k miles ago.

I bet it has been smacked.

Some areas must update more slowly than others - my VW had a bad CarFax before the body shop was finished working on it.

andres3

corvette said:

28firefighter said:

There is a sizable gap in the history of that car in the CarFax. Over a year since an update and 17k miles ago.

I bet it has been smacked.

Some areas must update more slowly than others - my VW had a bad CarFax before the body shop was finished working on it.

Do you have more carfax checks for free? I might want to run my A4 that still has an open claim with USAA. Apparently insurance companies don't consider obligations and accounts owed or liabilities "essential."

A lot of good things are said about USAA, but I have to tell you, from my sample claim of 1 I'm going with a full red black dot per CR's old rating system.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

I log into my healthcare site and can request refills with a click.
Request goes to medical provider and when approved and filled I get a call from the pharmacy(CVS).
Right now I'm on 5 different meds. Jeez.

Let me guess...bourbon, scotch, gin, vodka and beer.

jmonroe

stickguy

I said it was 4 years old because it was titled in April, 2016, so the warranty expires in 3 days. Plus of course 2021 models are out already a few places, so shortly will be 4 MY also.

stickguy

speaking of depreciation, I just read the long term test recap on an MB E450 wagon. On thing they list is a depreciation chart. Eye popping 1st year. MSRP on their unit (loaded with options) was $89k. value after 1 year, $48K. So calculating $41,000 hit for 1 year. Ouch. Though I assume that was based on their high miles, but still, ouch. At least only supposed to drop to $41k after 2 years!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

speaking of depreciation, I just read the long term test recap on an MB E450 wagon. On thing they list is a depreciation chart. Eye popping 1st year. MSRP on their unit (loaded with options) was $89k. value after 1 year, $48K. So calculating $41,000 hit for 1 year. Ouch. Though I assume that was based on their high miles, but still, ouch. At least only supposed to drop to $41k after 2 years!

Are REAL Benz owners concerned with depreciation?

jmonroe

28firefighter

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

speaking of depreciation, I just read the long term test recap on an MB E450 wagon. On thing they list is a depreciation chart. Eye popping 1st year. MSRP on their unit (loaded with options) was $89k. value after 1 year, $48K. So calculating $41,000 hit for 1 year. Ouch. Though I assume that was based on their high miles, but still, ouch. At least only supposed to drop to $41k after 2 years!

Are REAL Benz owners concerned with depreciation?

jmonroe

No. Because they lease.