Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

driver100

xwesx said:

cdnpinhead said:

venture said:

We have our checking account, and she has her checking account.

That's how we work it too.

Interesting. It must be a gal thing. Ours is the same way, even though 99% of our income is sourced through me.

MrsD100 does all the banking and all the paying.
I just get a meager allowance to live on.

mjfloyd1

laurasdada said:

The M240 is out of surgery, patient seems no worse for wear. My wallet, on the other hand, is now feeling so lonely, it could die.

The right front TPMS unit had actually broken off and was rolling around in the wheel, I was told. SA showed me the rather beaten-up unit. Said the other three were in not much better shape. Wonder why, car is 4+ years old, ~24k miles and from all appearances, well kept by owner current and past. Are these units that fragile?

Nice day, temp in the upper 50's with sun. So, I went topless for part of the trip home (once off the highway, quite windy, too). Off to the Cape Cod Symphony tomorrow for a Motown concert. There will be five of us, so taking the giant gas guzzling SUV X3. I shall resume topless motoring Sunday after what will likely be the most exciting, well played and schemed football game of the year, Pats vs. Jags. In London, England England.

I suspect that your original wheels were taken off to be sold to @28firefighter and the TPMS were reused on the new wheels and installed incorrectly 😳

snakeweasel

I, at times, check the life expectancy of my stuff. I tend to take it as a challenge.

Same! I am still proud of the eleven years we got out of the last battery on our Forester. Usually, as long as you're paying attention to the details, you'll know when "it's time" without it surprising you with a straight-on failure.

I got over 10 years out of the OEM battery in the Club Sport; I replaced it before it failed because the OEM batteries would fail with absolutely no warning and I didn't want to be caught out.

In the old days batteries would give you some warning before failure and if they got too weak you’d be able to jump them once or twice to at least drive somewhere to get them replaced. Modern batteries don’t give much warning in my experience and when they die the are real dead. I had that happen on one car after 5 years and the car had to be towed. More recently the battery died on my son’s car but fortunately, AAA now offers a battery replacement service right in your driveway. Getting the battery out of the engine bay seems to increase longevity. The battery in several Chryslers was located in the front fender and one lasted 9 years. It was still good when the car was junked.

Putting the battery in the front fender of the Chrysler may have extended the battery life but it likely shortened my life due to the aggravation indured trying to change that darn battery.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

laurasdada said:

Maybe the wife'll pay for breakfast.

When I read that, it made me think of my in-laws and I'm not assuming this is your situation. Do a lot of couples keep separate accounts? Every time we go out to dinner with her parents, the check comes and they both reach for their phones to calculate their portion of the bill. It gets to the point where we'll just grab the check and pay for it. It sounds like they split everything, mortgage, groceries, utilities, etc.

My friend and his wife went out for dinner with another couple for the first time.
When the waiter came over the guy said give the other couple their bill and give me one, and my wife one.
His wife was going to pay by credit card, but she said she forgot to bring her credit card with. Would her husband pay and she would pay him back later?
He said, he would do that, but asked her to sign her bill that she owed him that amount...and he kept the signed bill and put it in his wallet.
My friend said he won't be going out with that couple ever again.

————————————————
That’s a good one but maybe that guys wife tried that shenanigan before and never paid him back.

You never know about couples like that.

jmonroe

venture

graphicguy said:

As luck would have it, got back home, hit the garage door button on my mirror. I hear a loud "POP" and then nothing but a "whirrrrrr". Yep, busted garage door springs. The "whirring" was the motor of the garage door opener running as coincidentally, the belt broke on it at the same time.

$600 later, I have new springs, and a new belt.

Oh yeah....a new iPhone, too. Expensive trip all the way around.

A spring broke on my door last week. It was $293.20 for 2 new springs and the seal along the top of the door to replace one that was all raggedy.

venture

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

laurasdada said:

Maybe the wife'll pay for breakfast.

When I read that, it made me think of my in-laws and I'm not assuming this is your situation. Do a lot of couples keep separate accounts? Every time we go out to dinner with her parents, the check comes and they both reach for their phones to calculate their portion of the bill. It gets to the point where we'll just grab the check and pay for it. It sounds like they split everything, mortgage, groceries, utilities, etc.

My friend and his wife went out for dinner with another couple for the first time.
When the waiter came over the guy said give the other couple their bill and give me one, and my wife one.
His wife was going to pay by credit card, but she said she forgot to bring her credit card with. Would her husband pay and she would pay him back later?
He said, he would do that, but asked her to sign her bill that she owed him that amount...and he kept the signed bill and put it in his wallet.
My friend said he won't be going out with that couple ever again.

————————————————
That’s a good one but maybe that guys wife tried that shenanigan before and never paid him back.

You never know about couples like that.

jmonroe

There's absolutely nothing nice or fuzzy about that story.

28firefighter

@mjfloyd1 said:
I suspect that your original wheels were taken off to be sold to @28firefighter and the TPMS were reused on the new wheels and installed incorrectly 😳

You know. Thats quite a 6-degrees-of-Kevin-bacon

sda

@roadburner Big girl does surprisingly well. I had 70 DeVille convertible as a second car when I was in college. With recap Michelins on it, no way would I try this. lol https://youtu.be/ebNVdRuBXYs?si=MYjD2LZDb20i8BkO

mjfloyd1

28firefighter said:

@mjfloyd1 said:

I suspect that your original wheels were taken off to be sold to @28firefighter and the TPMS were reused on the new wheels and installed incorrectly 😳

You know. Thats quite a 6-degrees-of-Kevin-bacon

I figure that if I’m going to spew falsehoods, I might as well make it good😁

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

laurasdada said:

Maybe the wife'll pay for breakfast.

When I read that, it made me think of my in-laws and I'm not assuming this is your situation. Do a lot of couples keep separate accounts? Every time we go out to dinner with her parents, the check comes and they both reach for their phones to calculate their portion of the bill. It gets to the point where we'll just grab the check and pay for it. It sounds like they split everything, mortgage, groceries, utilities, etc.

My friend and his wife went out for dinner with another couple for the first time.
When the waiter came over the guy said give the other couple their bill and give me one, and my wife one.
His wife was going to pay by credit card, but she said she forgot to bring her credit card with. Would her husband pay and she would pay him back later?
He said, he would do that, but asked her to sign her bill that she owed him that amount...and he kept the signed bill and put it in his wallet.
My friend said he won't be going out with that couple ever again.

————————————————
That’s a good one but maybe that guys wife tried that shenanigan before and never paid him back.

You never know about couples like that.

jmonroe

Are you really going to defend that guy?

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

laurasdada said:

Maybe the wife'll pay for breakfast.

When I read that, it made me think of my in-laws and I'm not assuming this is your situation. Do a lot of couples keep separate accounts? Every time we go out to dinner with her parents, the check comes and they both reach for their phones to calculate their portion of the bill. It gets to the point where we'll just grab the check and pay for it. It sounds like they split everything, mortgage, groceries, utilities, etc.

My friend and his wife went out for dinner with another couple for the first time.
When the waiter came over the guy said give the other couple their bill and give me one, and my wife one.
His wife was going to pay by credit card, but she said she forgot to bring her credit card with. Would her husband pay and she would pay him back later?
He said, he would do that, but asked her to sign her bill that she owed him that amount...and he kept the signed bill and put it in his wallet.
My friend said he won't be going out with that couple ever again.

————————————————
That’s a good one but maybe that guys wife tried that shenanigan before and never paid him back.

You never know about couples like that.

jmonroe

Are you really going to defend that guy?

————————————————
Somebody’s gotta do it but I wouldn’t go out with that couple again either.

jmonroe

stickguy

any opinions on a grandparent 529 plan? Thinking about opening one when the grand bambino arrives.

explorerx4

My grandkids parents opened a 529 for them, so I just contribute to that.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

any opinions on a grandparent 529 plan? Thinking about opening one when the grand bambino arrives.

I remember reading that if the kid doesn’t go to college you can be hit with extra taxes.

I think NY has one.
https://www.nysaves.org/

stickguy

NY does have one. good thing with that is if I open it, I can deduct what I contribute from my NY state income tax. And they can be repointed to anyone else in the family. Besides I will be too old to care by the time the kid hits college age!

28firefighter

Did I miss the announcement you were going to be a grandpa?

mjfloyd1

529s can be transferred to others if the person intended to use it does not go to college. It could be passed on the their offspring, could be used by who put the money in for things like cooking classes if they qualify. Could be passed on to siblings.

I believe that if you withdraw it for noneducational purposes then the interest would be taxable. It seems like there are quite a few ways to use it or pass it on without it being taxable though.

kyfdx

I'd rather put it in a brokerage account, with no restrictions.

nyccarguy

mjfloyd1 said:

529s can be transferred to others if the person intended to use it does not go to college. It could be passed on the their offspring, could be used by who put the money in for things like cooking classes if they qualify. Could be passed on to siblings.

I believe that if you withdraw it for noneducational purposes then the interest would be taxable. It seems like there are quite a few ways to use it or pass it on without it being taxable though.

Like racing school?

nyccarguy

mjfloyd1 said:

529s can be transferred to others if the person intended to use it does not go to college. It could be passed on the their offspring, could be used by who put the money in for things like cooking classes if they qualify. Could be passed on to siblings.

I believe that if you withdraw it for noneducational purposes then the interest would be taxable. It seems like there are quite a few ways to use it or pass it on without it being taxable though.

It is funny that they'll let you use it for "cooking classes," but not to for private school. A few years ago when we needed to send our son to private school that specializes in ADD, ADHD, ASD, & Dyslexia we inquired if we could use funds from a 529 plan. The answer was NO.

mjfloyd1

@kyfdx said:
I'd rather put it in a brokerage account, with no restrictions.

Here you get $500 state tax credit for each $2500 you put into 529 (up to $1500 max credit). Pretty big incentive. One daughter will have probably $80k left over to save for her kids. Other daughter is prepharmacy and should have some left over too (unless she changes to dentistry and I’ll need to keep funding the 529).

mjfloyd1

@nyccarguy said:
Like racing school?

IU has summer cooking classes and it is accredited (depending on who you ask) institution. So 529 would work. Look for a racing school at an accredited institute of higher education. If you find one, then it would work.

They used to have a history of rock and roll class at IU

mjfloyd1

@nyccarguy said:
It is funny that they'll let you use it for "cooking classes," but not to for private school. A few years ago when we needed to send our son to private school that specializes in ADD, ADHD, ASD, & Dyslexia we inquired if we could use funds from a 529 plan. The answer was NO.

Strange rules. Not my monkey, not my circus. 😇

graphicguy

When the "ex" and I split, I had my afore mentioned equity in the companies I worked with/for. That could havre been significant for her, IF she would have had a little foresight as to what it could be worth. When we split, it didn't have much cash value and I wasn't fully vested to be able to cash it in, anyway.

That was the major investment. We had the house, that I still live in. We had the contacts of the house. While substantial, probably wouldn't have amounted to much. At the time, she couldn't have afforded our house as we still had a mortgage on it at the time. She made good money as an actuarial, but not enough to take over the mortgage. WE had some equity in the house, but not enough to fight over.

I ended up buying her a condo...not extravagant, but in a nice neighborhood and perfect for her. And, I gave her one of our cars, a Toyota Avalon, which I didn't much care for, but she liked. That was the end of it.

Not saying I "fleeced" her. She left me (in part because of investing in the company I was with). But, considering what she agreed to vs what she could have had monetarily a few years later with my stock, her take looks like a pittance, now. C'est la vie!

Lived with another woman for a few years. We co-mingled nothing. She wanted to marry. I did not. That put an end to that.

Been single for a couple of years, no worse for the wear.

graphicguy

xwesx said:

It's nice to take care of those basic maintenance items all in one go, though.

Agree!

corvette said:

I'm assuming the belt was marginal, and the additional force the opener had to exert as a result of the broken spring(s) caused it to snap.

Interestingly, that's exactly what the repair person said.

He also showed me the sensors on the metal rails on either side of the garage door track. He asked me how old they were. I had no clue. He said he had been repairing garage doors for 20 years and had never seen them before. I guess they were as old as the house.....30 years. They were in pretty bad shape. The lenses were cracked (he said he was surprised they still worked), the wiring connections coming out of them were all corroded. So, although they still worked, I told him to go ahead and replace those.

He said the opener (Liftmaster) and door itself were in good shape. That was good news.

kyfdx

"Been single for a couple of years, no worse for the wear"

Same, same.. (except for my wife)

snakeweasel

@nyccarguy said:
It is funny that they'll let you use it for "cooking classes," but not to for private school. A few years ago when we needed to send our son to private school that specializes in ADD, ADHD, ASD, & Dyslexia we inquired if we could use funds from a 529 plan. The answer was NO.

@nyccarguy said:
It is funny that they'll let you use it for "cooking classes," but not to for private school. A few years ago when we needed to send our son to private school that specializes in ADD, ADHD, ASD, & Dyslexia we inquired if we could use funds from a 529 plan. The answer was NO.

There are schools that you can get degrees in the culinary arts.

mjfloyd1

OMG IU beat Nebraska 56-7! I’m not sure that they have ever had a 7-0 record

jmonroe1

mjfloyd1 said:

OMG IU beat Nebraska 56-7! I’m not sure that they have ever had a 7-0 record

————————————————
Congrats.

It seems like one of the teams was playing on the wrong end of the field.

jmonroe

clm8

stickguy said:

any opinions on a grandparent 529 plan? Thinking about opening one when the grand bambino arrives.

I have one for my 5 year old granddaughter. Its a nice state tax credit, and building a nice fund for her. Certainly won't be enough for a full education, but maybe a year or two depending on where she goes.

clm8

mjfloyd1 said:

OMG IU beat Nebraska 56-7! I’m not sure that they have ever had a 7-0 record

They did in 1967. I was 10, probably before you were born.

mjfloyd1

@clm8 said:
They did in 1967. I was 10, probably before you were born.

To the contrary.

Looks like they went 8-0 before first loss in 1967. I was 2 1/2.

It’s wild with a new coach this year. The stadium is full which in the last 30’yrs has only happened when OSU or UM comes here

clm8

mjfloyd1 said:

@clm8 said:

They did in 1967. I was 10, probably before you were born.

To the contrary.

Looks like they went 8-0 before first loss in 1967. I was 2 1/2.

It’s wild with a new coach this year. The stadium is full which in the last 30’yrs has only happened when OSU or UM comes here

Hopefully, they will tie that next week, and exceed it the following. It has (finally) been a lot of fun watching them this year.

roadburner

So the judge who hears all of my cases invited all of the prosecutors and defense attorneys to a presentation about new drug abuse treatments a provider was offering. One of the presenters was Scottish and had an Aston Martin F1 hat sitting on the table beside him. After the presentation there was a Q&A. No one was talking so I asked the Scotsman about his hat. "I'm an Alonso fan!" he said. "He's a bad*ss." I replied. Then we began discussing the 2024 season. The judge just shook his head and walked out...

driver100

graphicguy said:

When the "ex" and I split, I had my afore mentioned equity in the companies I worked with/for. That could havre been significant for her, IF she would have had a little foresight as to what it could be worth. When we split, it didn't have much cash value and I wasn't fully vested to be able to cash it in, anyway.

That was the major investment. We had the house, that I still live in. We had the contacts of the house. While substantial, probably wouldn't have amounted to much. At the time, she couldn't have afforded our house as we still had a mortgage on it at the time. She made good money as an actuarial, but not enough to take over the mortgage. WE had some equity in the house, but not enough to fight over.

I ended up buying her a condo...not extravagant, but in a nice neighborhood and perfect for her. And, I gave her one of our cars, a Toyota Avalon, which I didn't much care for, but she liked. That was the end of it.

Not saying I "fleeced" her. She left me (in part because of investing in the company I was with). But, considering what she agreed to vs what she could have had monetarily a few years later with my stock, her take looks like a pittance, now. C'est la vie!

Lived with another woman for a few years. We co-mingled nothing. She wanted to marry. I did not. That put an end to that.

Been single for a couple of years, no worse for the wear.

I have 5 friends who are 70+. 4 lost their wives about 3 to 5 years ago, 1 has been divorced for a few years.
None of them have remarried or are even close to getting remarried. Hmmmmmmmm, what does that tell me.

driver100

So a guy rings the doorbell at lunch time yesterday.
He's a nicely dressed young man and they are in the neighborhood sealing a driveway and they will do mine for a special price.
The house is 18 years old, the driveway has never been sealed, and it looks fine though isn't a nice black color.
I read an article a few years ago that said this guy didn't seal his driveway, but his neighbor who had the exact same driveway had his done 10 years before....and he gets it resealed regularly. He said he can see no difference in the two driveways, both seem fine.
Anyway, I told the kid no, he asked why, I said I'll get the driveway fixed when it falls apart.

tjc78

The driveway scam is as old as Jmonroe… Google it.

qbrozen

My driveway has a habit of developing cracks. Had it sealed a few years ago, which helped. But needs it again. I’m just not ready to fork over the money.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

My driveway has a habit of developing cracks. Had it sealed a few years ago, which helped. But needs it again. I’m just not ready to fork over the money.

You probably aren't hiring the guy that "just happens to be in the neighborhood", either.

laurasdada

Agreed on the driveway scam, my former FIL fell for it many years ago.
For my first house, I sealed the driveway... once. Dirty job.

The split with my late ex. was fair, maybe a touch advantage to her. Life has worked out well for me, I take no joy in her passing. The world is not a better place with her gone.

driver100

I see a lot of driveways get sealed....and they look pretty good for a few weeks. If I did want it sealed I'd look it up and check reviews, and I'd considering looking at a flyer......but I don't buy from someone who disturbs me while I am in my home, and has an old cart, and if he does a crappy job I'll never find him again.

driver100

Some people go all out for Halloween. They must spend hours putting up giant inflatables. This was a smaller Halloween display but I thought it was relevant for the group;

mjfloyd1

clm8 said:

mjfloyd1 said:

@clm8 said:

They did in 1967. I was 10, probably before you were born.

To the contrary.

Looks like they went 8-0 before first loss in 1967. I was 2 1/2.

It’s wild with a new coach this year. The stadium is full which in the last 30’yrs has only happened when OSU or UM comes here

Hopefully, they will tie that next week, and exceed it the following. It has (finally) been a lot of fun watching them this year.

QB out probably for a couple of weeks due to thumb injury on passing hand. Not sure what injury is but newspaper say thumbnail was torn off.

oldfarmer50

tjc78 said:

The driveway scam is as old as Jmonroe… Google it.

My wife got scammed by the blacktop scammers who offered to pave the lip of our driveway with the leftovers from “another” job. Years later a guy approached me at the mailbox saying he was paving the driveway across the street and would I like them to finish the lip. I did everything but run him out on a rail only to see his company the next day across the street doing the driveway. Sometimes you can be too suspicious.

The upside was that it finally prodded me to redo the crumbling driveway lip with concrete shortly thereafter.

Michaell

All these stories makes me glad my driveway is concrete.

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

All these stories makes me glad my driveway is concrete.

————————————————-
Me too but even concrete should be sealed although not as often as blacktop.

I’ve never sealed my concrete driveway but I never throw salt on it either. Maybe next year. Too late to do it this year. Of course that’s what I’ve been saying for over 20 years now.

jmonroe

laurasdada

Today's M240 backroad pleasure blitz impediment is brought to you by the Toyota Highlander. Doing 25mph in a 30 zone since 2022...

stickguy

I did asphalt seal at my first house when I was young, ambitious and poor. Came out ok, but sucky job to do. when we moved to the house we kept for 25 years that had concrete. never sealed it but I did replace a few slabs because of settling and cracking. Not all that cheap.

new house has asphalt, as did the one we bought/sold up here. That was ready for a seal but I did not bother. all my neighbors did in a group buy. If we weren't moving I would have joined up!

stickguy

I also never salt. But this winter could be dicey. in the past we had southern exposure and no trees in the way so mother nature did most of the work. Here the driveway faces north and get enough shade that it may never melt on it's own.

corvette

I have a guy that does the driveway. Two coats will make my driveway look good for about three years.