Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

ab348 · January 12

@jmonroe1 said:
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That’s a vey good price. But, without your perks what do you think that kind of service would have cost?

In other news, I used my grocery store credit card points to get $50 worth of free cat food for Lucy today.

kyfdx · January 12

I had approximately $1500 in credit card cash rebates, this year. I can spend it wherever I want.

jmonroe1 · January 12

kyfdx said:
I had approximately $1500 in credit card cash rebates, this year. I can spend it wherever I want.

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You must have an exceptional awards card and use it more than I use mine. I have a Bank of America Visa rewards card that has a tick under $800 on it but it’s taken 2 years to get that and I use my card for everything even the dentist office.

Good for you.

jmonroe

roadburner · January 12

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
That’s a vey good price. But, without your perks what do you think that kind of service would have cost?

jmonroe

Everything would have cost $2,037.12. I still don’t think that’s too bad considering everything that was done. Using the card I haven’t paid for any service on the Club Sport or X1 for over two years.- and I still have $700 on the remaining cards.
Best of all, the added points I don’t use to redeem those cards are available to use on either Amazon or PayPal. So far I’ve used those points to buy 4 books, 2 JACO tire gauges, some magazine files, and -for the Wrangler- a Covercraft sunshade, a WeatherTech cargo mat, Quadratec door entry guards, and a radio antenna that clears the garage door opening. That current balance is $35.

jmonroe1 · January 12

roadburner said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

That’s a vey good price. But, without your perks what do you think that kind of service would have cost?

jmonroe

Everything would have cost $2,037.12. I still don’t think that’s too bad considering everything that was done. Using the card I haven’t paid for any service on the Club Sport or X1 for over two years.- and I still have $700 on the remaining cards.

Best of all, the added points I don’t use to redeem those cards are available to use on either Amazon or PayPal. So far I’ve used those points to buy 4 books, 2 JACO tire gauges, some magazine files, and -for the Wrangler- a Covercraft sunshade, a WeatherTech cargo mat, Quadratec door entry guards, and a radio antenna that clears the garage door opening. That current balance is $35.

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Thanks for the response. As far as I’m concerned, the only thing better than that is if you’d share some of those points with me.

jmonroe

corvette · January 12

Since they are forecasting winter storms, I thought it would be a great time to purge the fuel from the small gas can I keep in the garage and do a test run of my generator. It seems I either lost or was never given the adapter to free-pour fuel into the capless fuel filler of the Maverick. After looking for it for a while, and not finding it in the bag of stuff I got with the Maverick (front plate bracket, 12V Flexbed adapter), I ordered a new one on Amazon for $2 and change and put the old gas in the Volt.

Testing the generator revealed a fuel leak which appears to be coming from the area of the fuel shutoff dial (and stops leaking when said dial is turned off). I guess the first order of business tomorrow will be to disassemble it and try to fix the fuel leak.

explorerx4 · January 12

@corvette,
Hopefully Stickguy know where his is and can tell you where to look in case you haven't looked there already.
Somewhere in the rear seat area, maybe?

tjc78 · January 12

I have about 100K points on one of our cards. Airfare is 1.5X so I should get our tickets to Turks in Oct for only a few hundred out of pocket.

Best part is a lot of those points are accumulated through business expenses I’m reimbursed for.

I recently had to charge 15K for a trade show booth rental. I had gotten my expenses pretty quickly and wife was wondering why our checking account was so high before I paid the CC lol.

stickguy · January 12

explorerx4 said:
@corvette,
Hopefully Stickguy know where his is and can tell you where to look in case you haven't looked there already.
Somewhere in the rear seat area, maybe?

it was either in the glove compartment, or behind the seatback where the jack is. I actually can't recall looking for it on the new truck. I do have a spare floating around from one of my capless cars.

I should probably take a look for it tomorrow! Not that I plan to ever use it.

corvette · January 12

I could have sworn it was with the other accessories when I picked up the truck, but I don't recall specifically. It was definitely not clipped onto the jack and tire iron, where it's supposed to be. And I actually completely forgot that the seatback folds forward to allow access to the jack, since I'm so used to flipping up the rear seat to access the cubbies underneath.

pensfan83 · January 12

@tjc78 said:
I have about 100K points on one of our cards. Airfare is 1.5X so I should get our tickets to Turks in Oct for only a few hundred out of pocket.

Best part is a lot of those points are accumulated through business expenses I’m reimbursed for.

I recently had to charge 15K for a trade show booth rental. I had gotten my expenses pretty quickly and wife was wondering why our checking account was so high before I paid the CC lol.

You can pay business expenses with a personal CC? Lucky.

roadburner · January 12

Same here; I pay lodging and meals on my personal card as well.

stickguy · January 13

When I go to visit the home office the hotel was supposed to be paid through the corporate account but the Sheraton always screws that up so I need to hold with a personal card. First time the HR person got it switched. Last time I paid and had to get reimbursed. Not a big deal and lots of points on my Marriott card.

tjc78 · January 13

@pensfan83 said:

@tjc78 said:
I have about 100K points on one of our cards. Airfare is 1.5X so I should get our tickets to Turks in Oct for only a few hundred out of pocket.

Best part is a lot of those points are accumulated through business expenses I’m reimbursed for.

I recently had to charge 15K for a trade show booth rental. I had gotten my expenses pretty quickly and wife was wondering why our checking account was so high before I paid the CC lol.

You can pay business expenses with a personal CC? Lucky.

It’s very strange at our place. My field PMs have company cards due to traveling every week but yet officers of the company don’t.

I’m not rocking the boat… I like getting the points.

qbrozen · January 13

We put over $100k on our amex this past year. Rewards were about $2k cash back.

oldfarmer50 · January 13

pensfan83 said:

@tjc78 said:

I have about 100K points on one of our cards. Airfare is 1.5X so I should get our tickets to Turks in Oct for only a few hundred out of pocket.

Best part is a lot of those points are accumulated through business expenses I’m reimbursed for.

I recently had to charge 15K for a trade show booth rental. I had gotten my expenses pretty quickly and wife was wondering why our checking account was so high before I paid the CC lol.

You can pay business expenses with a personal CC? Lucky.

Back in the age of dinosaurs I had an expense account but the cheapskates I worked for required i fund the company’s operations on my personal credit card. Then they would take a month to reimburse. This was before points for the most part so I got nothing but screwed, especially when they got slow in paying me back.

pensfan83 · January 13

tjc78 said:

@pensfan83 said:

@tjc78 said:

I have about 100K points on one of our cards. Airfare is 1.5X so I should get our tickets to Turks in Oct for only a few hundred out of pocket.

Best part is a lot of those points are accumulated through business expenses I’m reimbursed for.

I recently had to charge 15K for a trade show booth rental. I had gotten my expenses pretty quickly and wife was wondering why our checking account was so high before I paid the CC lol.

You can pay business expenses with a personal CC? Lucky.

It’s very strange at our place. My field PMs have company cards due to traveling every week but yet officers of the company don’t.

I’m not rocking the boat… I like getting the points.

I wouldn't either, that's great. At my employer all expenses need to be on the company card and reservations for hotel, flight, etc. booked through travel portals. However the FF miles and hotel stays are credited to my personal accounts so it's at least something.

tjc78 · January 13

We have to use the travel portal as well. Airfare is paid on company CC everything else is personal.

The travel portal even has a place to put your frequent flyer, hotel etc memberships in. Very convenient since it then transfers to the appropriate apps.

au1994 · January 13

I use a personal card for travel as well. We have 2 that we use. One gives 4% cash back on restaurants and groceries and the other is 3% on everything. We use the latter for everything except mortgages and car payments.

corvette · January 13

Disassembled the generator's case and the fuel shutoff was dry as a bone. It must have been some spilled fuel traveling down the case and frame that gave me a scare. I slightly tightened the fuel tank outlet, but it seems to be ready for duty at this point.

breld · January 13

Sunny outside, but single digits to negative temps here all weekend. It was above freezing yesterday so took a couple cars through the car wash and cleaned out the garage floor.

Good weekend to kick back inside and watch NFL playoffs.

28firefighter · January 13

I will say, I wasn’t expecting quite this cold in the PNW when I started daily driving the Bimmer. But it’s completely fine and the best daily I’ve had (exceeding the GTI).

kyfdx · January 13

24 F here.. Wind Chill is 14

My attached garage was 48 F, this morning, which seems good, considering

xwesx · January 13

pensfan83 said:

I wouldn't either, that's great. At my employer all expenses need to be on the company card and reservations for hotel, flight, etc. booked through travel portals. However the FF miles and hotel stays are credited to my personal accounts so it's at least something.

We went to a system like this several years ago, and, boy oh boy, talk about angering folks! Of course, our rationale for doing so was to streamline the processes and generate organizational savings (particularly with airfare costs), yet the only argument that the travelers could come up with was, essentially, that they didn't want to lose the perks. I had to point out, on more than one occasion, that our organization's policy is that employees do not receive personal benefits for company travel, so such arguments were not a valid consideration. No system is perfect, but this design strikes a reasonable balance between optimizing costs and providing a little perk to the traveler.

One person (there's always one) was extremely vocal about the change, so I eventually just called him and said that, if he really wanted to push it, I'd be happy to audit his past travel expense reports, though findings could result in disciplinary action or possible termination. He's never been happy with the new system, but he sure doesn't say too much about it now! LOL

xwesx · January 13

corvette said:
Disassembled the generator's case and the fuel shutoff was dry as a bone. It must have been some spilled fuel traveling down the case and frame that gave me a scare. I slightly tightened the fuel tank outlet, but it seems to be ready for duty at this point.

Well, it didn't leak *before* you tore it apart.....

xwesx · January 13

28firefighter said:
I will say, I wasn’t expecting quite this cold in the PNW when I started daily driving the Bimmer. But it’s completely and the best daily I’ve had (exceeding the GTI).

Wow! That's quite chilly for Seattle! We were only twenty degrees colder than that here (yesterday), though now it is forty degrees colder (-22F).

xwesx · January 13

kyfdx said:
24 F here.. Wind Chill is 14

My attached garage was 48 F, this morning, which seems good, considering

So, is the garage completely unheated or passively heated (a lot of houses have their heating systems located in the otherwise unheated garage)?

kyfdx · January 13

xwesx said:

kyfdx said:
24 F here.. Wind Chill is 14

My attached garage was 48 F, this morning, which seems good, considering
So, is the garage completely unheated or passively heated (a lot of houses have their heating systems located in the otherwise unheated garage)?

Unheated.
But, it’s under the main roof of the house.
One outside wall (insulated)
One garage door wall (insulated, w/insulated garage door)
Two interior walls (obviously insulated)
Ceiling is also insulated
One door into mud room.
One window.
No exterior door (other than overhead door)

laurasdada · January 13

28firefighter said:

I will say, I wasn’t expecting quite this cold in the PNW when I started daily driving the Bimmer. But it’s completely and the best daily I’ve had (exceeding the GTI).

That dash looks familiar; where have I seen it before?

The 'vert is amazingly tight, driving in sub-freezing weather, rain/windstorm and snow, nothing seems to be getting inside. Heater, and heated seats, easily go to 11.

ab348 · January 13

xwesx said:

We went to a system like this several years ago, and, boy oh boy, talk about angering folks! Of course, our rationale for doing so was to streamline the processes and generate organizational savings (particularly with airfare costs), yet the only argument that the travelers could come up with was, essentially, that they didn't want to lose the perks. I had to point out, on more than one occasion, that our organization's policy is that employees do not receive personal benefits for company travel, so such arguments were not a valid consideration. No system is perfect, but this design strikes a reasonable balance between optimizing costs and providing a little perk to the traveler.

I’m not seeing the perk for the traveler?

Back when I was working, my employer (the provincial (state) government) put in a system of “corporate cards” for employees who frequently travelled for work. The problem was, they never changed the rest of the system, so you still had all the same requirements to fill out forms, get them signed off, provide receipts, etc., but you lost whatever rewards your personal CCs provided. Next to nobody used it as a result. I don’t know if anything has changed since.

tjc78 · January 13

@kyfdx said:
Unheated.
But, it’s under the main roof of the house.
One outside wall (insulated)
One garage door wall (insulated, w/insulated garage door)
Two interior walls (obviously insulated)
Ceiling is also insulated
One door into mud room.
One window.
No exterior door (other than overhead door)

An insulated garage door makes all the difference. At home we don’t have one and the garage is very cold. The shore has one and it never gets under 45

jmonroe1 · January 13

xwesx said:

28firefighter said:
I will say, I wasn’t expecting quite this cold in the PNW when I started daily driving the Bimmer. But it’s completely and the best daily I’ve had (exceeding the GTI).

Wow! That's quite chilly for Seattle! We were only twenty degrees colder than that here (yesterday), though now it is forty degrees colder (-22F).

————————————————
Bragging or complaining? If that were me it would definitely be complaining.

jmonroe

tifighter · January 13

@laurasdada said:
Heater, and heated seats, easily go to 11.

You forgot the heated steering wheel. Easily the most important thing.

qbrozen · January 13

My new garage holds the heat REALLY well. I run the heater for maybe 15-20 mins before I’m sweating, then I shut it down for like 60-90 mins before feeling the need to run it again. It wouldn’t even be that often if not for the fact I’m working with vinyl wrap, which of course does not like the cold at all.

corvette · January 13

My detached garage is unheated, uninsulated, and has numerous areas where drafts can come in. While working on the generator, I used a space heater, but also, rolled down the windows of the Volt, and turned it on to activate its climate control (on its charged battery). I was comfortable most of the time!

The disadvantage of a detached garage like that is that your car will still be freezing cold in the morning. The advantage is that, since it's detached and not part of the living space, one could theoretically just remote start their gasoline powered car anyway (obligatory disclaimer: this is not advice, nor do I admit to having done so on numerous occasions).

roadburner · January 13

The Wrangler and the X1 stay in the basement garage. It is heated, and rarely if ever drops below 55.

28firefighter · January 13

Our attached garage is a balmy 35 right now. Doesn’t help that our entire first floor is currently gutted so there is very little in the way of helping heat retention.

We received a note from Puget Sound Energy asking us to conserve natural gas usage due to high demand…never seen that one before.

Michaell · January 13

28firefighter said:
Our attached garage is a balmy 35 right now. Doesn’t help that our entire first floor is currently gutted so there is very little in the way of helping heat retention.

We received a note from Puget Sound Energy asking us to conserve natural gas usage due to high demand…never seen that one before.

Our natural gas provider sent out an email discussing how the spot price will increase during bad weather, and that we might have those extra costs passed along to us.

xwesx · January 13

ab348 said:

I’m not seeing the perk for the traveler?

Oh, all of their rewards #s are in the system, so they get air miles, hotel perks, etc., based on those. Let's face it, if it weren't for business travel, next to nobody would have much accumulation on any of those, and airline rewards are significant in many cases. For example, most of our regular travelers haven't purchased an airline ticket for their own private travel in a good long while!

xwesx · January 13

tifighter said:

You forgot the heated steering wheel. Easily the most important thing.

Absolutely! I'd take a heated steering wheel over heated seats any day of the year.

qbrozen · January 14

Not me. I’d much rather warm up my core than just my hands. Can always wear gloves or alternate hands with one on the wheel and one under my butt.

laurasdada · January 14

xwesx said:

tifighter said:

You forgot the heated steering wheel. Easily the most important thing.

Absolutely! I'd take a heated steering wheel over heated seats any day of the year.

The heated steering wheel has become such an integral part of my health and well-being, that I forgot it was a separate entity!

explorerx4 · January 14

Leaving the grocery store this morning, sunny, 6 degrees F, flags straight out.

Michaell · January 14

ab348 · January 14

It's 45F up here in the banana belt that is Nova Scotia.

dad23 · January 14

Yep, one of the beagles decided he didn't want to make it off the deck to relieve himself, just went out a few feet and wrote his name in the snow...

explorerx4 · January 14

Just checked, humidity is 60%, so 'Real Feel' is -18.

oldfarmer50 · January 14

xwesx said:

28firefighter said:
I will say, I wasn’t expecting quite this cold in the PNW when I started daily driving the Bimmer. But it’s completely and the best daily I’ve had (exceeding the GTI).

Wow! That's quite chilly for Seattle! We were only twenty degrees colder than that here (yesterday), though now it is forty degrees colder (-22F).

This has been one wacky winter. It was neat 50 yesterday before the cold front came in and gave us the first January thunderstorm I can remember.

Colder today but all the rain washed the salt off the roads and I saw several 2005-2009 era Mustangs out on the road this morning. I set a record on my own Mustang, this being the first year that I was ever able to drive it in January. I keep topping off the fuel and putting it away for the winter only to have the weather turn nice again.

laurasdada · January 14

I think "Winter" has become more of a suggestion, vs an actual season of late.

corvette · January 14

It's 11 here. My doggo usually hates the cold, but wanted to dawdle on our morning walk. Go figure.

Got a private offer card from Ford that expires April 2. I'm not in the market, but I think it's useful information insofar as which models likely have a lot of inventory:
$2,000 off - F-150, F-150 Lightning, Super Duty, or Expedition
$1,250 off - Explorer, Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach-E, Edge, Escape
$750 off - most other vehicles

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