Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

@kyfdx said:

Also, I don't mind tipping. I'm pretty generous.

But, this summer, at a fairly high-end restaurant for my birthday, there was a line on the receipt for tipping the kitchen staff. And, somewhere on the menu, their rationalization for that.

Everyone says I overtip - but if the service was good and made the night why not?

Nothing sets off a group of people in a forum more than tipping questions about a cruise or all inclusive. Wow. Popcorn material for sure

The one thing that cracks me up, is when they say Mercedes buyers (or insert your favorite luxury car here) don't care about the extra cost of premium fuel. Man, the lengths people will go to convince you they don't have to use premium, even if it's REQUIRED by the manufacturer)

sda

If it says premium suggested or required, premium it is. As a rule, false economy to do otherwise

laurasdada

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

I may have mentioned in a post some time back, that my (mine, because that's where I keep my money...) casino had installed multiple Tesla L2 charges, yay for NACS enabled EVs! But, joy to the world, this most recent visit revealed that each station is a dual setup; the NACS plug is nested in a CCS (J1772) adaptor, so free power to all the people!
Surprisingly, upon arrival and before figuring out the above, the one (working) CCS charger I was aware of was available, so no issue in juicing up.
The electric force seems to be getting stronger.

This is on your PHEV, right?

So, in a pinch, you can just fill it up at the gas station?

Yes, sir. Driving a PHEV with a charged battery nicely increases MPG. If the battery is empty, now it's a hybrid hauling around a heavy battery. And as a PHEV, pure electric mode is just for local errands. For road trips on the highway, driving in hybrid mode with a charged battery is best, it can quadruple the mi/kwh from my observation.

But even in hybrid mode with an empty battery I'm getting 32 mpg, not bad for the big beast.

driver100

I like when they tell you it is compulsory to pay an 18% tip which they add to your bill.....and I was going to leave 20%!

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

I read something recently that was an interesting analysis of why local businesses were much better off doing cash sales. Because of the fees sliced off of every credit transaction, as they go around the money in the community keeps getting smaller.

More and more businesses give you a discount for cash. You always got ten cents off gas but now even my mechanic will discount 3.9% for cash. Personally I like that since I prefer to use cash. Maybe I live in a less dangerous area but I don’t worry about traveling with cash except for a concern that the police might steal it with civil forfeiture. If they would allow it I would love to buy cars with a big brown bag full of 100s.

I found out that my Subaru dealer will only take up to $5,000 in cash. I don't know why.

They also didn't like taking a credit card, but they did. I got cash back for the $5,000 they let me put on my credit card.

I think I wrote a check for the rest, but don't remember.

It almost made them cry.

The last time I heard of a dealer taking cash was when my aunt bought a Ford Falcon in the early 60s. I heard she counted out $2000 in $100 bills.

I have never seen a dealer willing to take a personal check. Last time I bought it was by bank check only. When my BIL bought a new Nissan in Florida they would only accept an electronic transfer from his bank. Florida must be a snake pit of fraudulent cashier’s checks.

————————————————
Twice when I was going to pay cash (really by check) I asked the dealer how I should have the cashiers check made out. Both dealers said they’d take a personal check. That surprised the hell out of me. Once here in PA and once in Ohio. Still scratching my head about that.

Jmonroe

laurasdada

Results of this week's local vacation (road trips to NH & CT), with the ability to fully charge the battery in the A7 at each stop:

725 miles
@ 48mph
@ 41mpg
@ 12.3 m/kwh

Not too shabby.

snakeweasel

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

I read something recently that was an interesting analysis of why local businesses were much better off doing cash sales. Because of the fees sliced off of every credit transaction, as they go around the money in the community keeps getting smaller.

More and more businesses give you a discount for cash. You always got ten cents off gas but now even my mechanic will discount 3.9% for cash. Personally I like that since I prefer to use cash. Maybe I live in a less dangerous area but I don’t worry about traveling with cash except for a concern that the police might steal it with civil forfeiture. If they would allow it I would love to buy cars with a big brown bag full of 100s.

I found out that my Subaru dealer will only take up to $5,000 in cash. I don't know why.

They also didn't like taking a credit card, but they did. I got cash back for the $5,000 they let me put on my credit card.

I think I wrote a check for the rest, but don't remember.

It almost made them cry.

The last time I heard of a dealer taking cash was when my aunt bought a Ford Falcon in the early 60s. I heard she counted out $2000 in $100 bills.

I have never seen a dealer willing to take a personal check. Last time I bought it was by bank check only. When my BIL bought a new Nissan in Florida they would only accept an electronic transfer from his bank. Florida must be a snake pit of fraudulent cashier’s checks.

————————————————
Twice when I was going to pay cash (really by check) I asked the dealer how I should have the cashiers check made out. Both dealers said they’d take a personal check. That surprised the hell out of me. Once here in PA and once in Ohio. Still scratching my head about that.

Jmonroe

The first car I ever bought, a used car for $900.00 (about $4,150.00 in today's money) when I was in high school the dealership took a check from me. But they knew where I worked, it was at the dealership.

snakeweasel

Gave the state a lot of money today . The registration for both the BMW and the Honda were due (thank God motorcycle registration is a little less than a third of what a car is) I renewed them online. I also received in the mail a letter from the Secretary of State that since I was a safe driver (that's a laugh ) I could renew my drivers license online so I did that too.

Unfortunately I had to make each transaction separately so now I have three transactions on my credit card to the Secretary of State. today

snakeweasel

Cleaned out the Sonata today and went through the pile of paperwork I had in the glove compartment. Mostly service receipts, old registrations and emission testing results. These went back to 2011 so you could imagine how stuffed it was so I just got rid of most of it and kept what I thought I should save. The last emission test was done just under a year ago and recorded a mileage of 127,000 miles, I checked the odometer which is currently at just over 132,500. Thats about 500 miles a month on that car.

jmonroe1

snakeweasel said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

I read something recently that was an interesting analysis of why local businesses were much better off doing cash sales. Because of the fees sliced off of every credit transaction, as they go around the money in the community keeps getting smaller.

More and more businesses give you a discount for cash. You always got ten cents off gas but now even my mechanic will discount 3.9% for cash. Personally I like that since I prefer to use cash. Maybe I live in a less dangerous area but I don’t worry about traveling with cash except for a concern that the police might steal it with civil forfeiture. If they would allow it I would love to buy cars with a big brown bag full of 100s.

I found out that my Subaru dealer will only take up to $5,000 in cash. I don't know why.

They also didn't like taking a credit card, but they did. I got cash back for the $5,000 they let me put on my credit card.

I think I wrote a check for the rest, but don't remember.

It almost made them cry.

The last time I heard of a dealer taking cash was when my aunt bought a Ford Falcon in the early 60s. I heard she counted out $2000 in $100 bills.

I have never seen a dealer willing to take a personal check. Last time I bought it was by bank check only. When my BIL bought a new Nissan in Florida they would only accept an electronic transfer from his bank. Florida must be a snake pit of fraudulent cashier’s checks.

————————————————
Twice when I was going to pay cash (really by check) I asked the dealer how I should have the cashiers check made out. Both dealers said they’d take a personal check. That surprised the hell out of me. Once here in PA and once in Ohio. Still scratching my head about that.

Jmonroe

The first car I ever bought, a used car for $900.00 (about $4,150.00 in today's money) when I was in high school the dealership took a check from me. But they knew where I worked, it was at the dealership.

————————————————
But they probably weren’t willing to co-sign it.

jmonroe

Michaell

snakeweasel said:

Gave the state a lot of money today . The registration for both the BMW and the Honda were due (thank God motorcycle registration is a little less than a third of what a car is) I renewed them online. I also received in the mail a letter from the Secretary of State that since I was a safe driver (that's a laugh ) I could renew my drivers license online so I did that too.

Unfortunately I had to make each transaction separately so now I have three transactions on my credit card to the Secretary of State. today

Speaking of registrations, the plates for the daughters new Sportage Hybrid arrived today. I got a look at the itemization of the registration amount. About 80% of the total went to personal property tax (which we can deduct on our taxes).

She was able to do the whole thing on line, including the ordering of the custom "Protect the Pollinators" plates.

And, I renewed my DL this week (which expires in December) - also on-line.

stickguy

I assume these days a dealer has a way to process the check on the spot. Hard to believe they will just take it hoping it will clear in a week!

I had to use one when I bought the first RDX. 2 hours away and never occurred to me to get a bank check and they never specifically said to. I think they finally caved since the alternative was walking out without the car, and we were financing 2/3 of it anyway so they had some coverage.

corvette

@kyfdx - I like the fancy ice cubes, too. Best fancy cocktail bar experience I ever had was in Savannah, where the BT carved one of those fancy cubes into a diamond.

My regular place experimented with them a few years ago, but it was really just an additional task that the BT ended up responsible for… the equivalent of an “unfunded mandate.” Those silicone trays mysteriously disappeared after a couple of weeks.

oldfarmer50

laurasdada said:

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

I may have mentioned in a post some time back, that my (mine, because that's where I keep my money...) casino had installed multiple Tesla L2 charges, yay for NACS enabled EVs! But, joy to the world, this most recent visit revealed that each station is a dual setup; the NACS plug is nested in a CCS (J1772) adaptor, so free power to all the people!
Surprisingly, upon arrival and before figuring out the above, the one (working) CCS charger I was aware of was available, so no issue in juicing up.
The electric force seems to be getting stronger.

This is on your PHEV, right?

So, in a pinch, you can just fill it up at the gas station?

Yes, sir. Driving a PHEV with a charged battery nicely increases MPG. If the battery is empty, now it's a hybrid hauling around a heavy battery. And as a PHEV, pure electric mode is just for local errands. For road trips on the highway, driving in hybrid mode with a charged battery is best, it can quadruple the mi/kwh from my observation.

But even in hybrid mode with an empty battery I'm getting 32 mpg, not bad for the big beast.

The company has a lot of hybrids in the fleet now Jeeps, Toyotas, Hyundais, you name it. I have never seen one with any battery charge on them, strictly gas power.

stickguy

plug in hybrids make no sense for a rental car company. But plain hybrids are absolutely the way to go for just about every application.

ab348

snakeweasel said:

I checked the odometer which is currently at just over 132,500. Thats about 500 miles a month on that car.

If it’s a 2011 I make that as about 156 months, so I think your math may be off.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

I checked the odometer which is currently at just over 132,500. Thats about 500 miles a month on that car.

If it’s a 2011 I make that as about 156 months, so I think your math may be off.

I was basing it off the fact that the car had 127K miles on it 11 months prior.

If you go by the total time I owned it about 162 months and I bought it with about 6K miles on it it works out to just under 800 miles a month

roadburner

laurasdada said:

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

I may have mentioned in a post some time back, that my (mine, because that's where I keep my money...) casino had installed multiple Tesla L2 charges, yay for NACS enabled EVs! But, joy to the world, this most recent visit revealed that each station is a dual setup; the NACS plug is nested in a CCS (J1772) adaptor, so free power to all the people!
Surprisingly, upon arrival and before figuring out the above, the one (working) CCS charger I was aware of was available, so no issue in juicing up.
The electric force seems to be getting stronger.

This is on your PHEV, right?

So, in a pinch, you can just fill it up at the gas station?

Yes, sir. Driving a PHEV with a charged battery nicely increases MPG. If the battery is empty, now it's a hybrid hauling around a heavy battery. And as a PHEV, pure electric mode is just for local errands. For road trips on the highway, driving in hybrid mode with a charged battery is best, it can quadruple the mi/kwh from my observation.

But even in hybrid mode with an empty battery I'm getting 32 mpg, not bad for the big beast.

With no charging my 4xe pulls down 23.4 mpg on my commute. I'm not complaining.

mjfloyd1

OMG IU football 9-0 for the first time ever!

mjfloyd1

Dropped oldest daughter at her apartment in Indianapolis right by Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Taylor Swift is at Lucas Oil Stadium. In and out with no issues. Concert to start at 7 pm. We arrived at 605 and left at 620.

stickguy

no plugs on my Maverick but so far in 17 months, it is averaging just about 41 MPG.

corvette

@mjfloyd1 - you lucked out. NOLA traffic was awful the weekend of the TS concert.

laurasdada

stickguy said:

no plugs on my Maverick but so far in 17 months, it is averaging just about 41 MPG.

Yes, a like to like comparison of a PHEV to Hybrid, the hybrid should be more efficient, less battery weight to carry around vs the PHEV.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

plug in hybrids make no sense for a rental car company. But plain hybrids are absolutely the way to go for just about every application.

On the contrary, Enterprise makes a good portion of their profits selling cars as well as renting them. If hybrids are the wave of the future then they will stock up on a bunch of them because they will get a better price when sold. I’m sure Hertz’s ill-fated adventure with Teslas was an attempt to anticipate the market.

Gone are the days of the rental spec stripper cars. Now they study which models and trim levels that people want because they sell better.

stickguy

interesting perspective on it. But at least from the rental perspective plug in anything is not a good design.

mjfloyd1

@corvette said:
@mjfloyd1 - you lucked out. NOLA traffic was awful the weekend of the TS concert.

It seemed like everyone had already made it to their destination. They had just reopened I 65 through downtown and I was shocked by how little traffic there was and how well it was flowing.

We were stuck either way though as we had picked her up to go to Butler football and we needed to get her back to her apartment one way or another.

Sandman6472

Our yearly property tax bill comes out Monday. Will have it paid by the 15th as I always take out a 6-month CD in January or February to pay for it all. This way, know it's taken care of early in the year. And by paying before the end of November, get a small discount which is better then nothing. Have a co-worker who always boasts he pays his as late as possible to screw the county but really, isn't he screwing himself here? Some folks I work with have strange concepts on ow they deal with their money. I jus shake my head and say nothing!!!

Figured there must be an easy way to connect a monitor to my MacBook Air, a simple cord would do it. The Mrs. took my old monitor from my desktop so will keep my eyes open for an inexpensive small monitor once the Black Friday sales start. Am sure Office Depot might have just what I'm looking for. I don't always sit at my desk when on the laptop but would like the bigger screen when I do sit there. Not on the internet that often and surf mostly with some easy banking thrown in. Just move some of my work/dividends around to a few accounts mainly...nothing much really. Prefer to keep a smaller amount in my personal checking account and check the others plus c c daily since I had those fraud incidents back in the mid-2010's. Really bothered me to get emails detailing fraud in some accounts that could've cost us a lot of money if not addressed right away. Found out the hard way that there are many bad folks out there trying to steal our monies!! Made me a bit fearful and decided I need to keep a closer eye on the accounts just in case. Nothing since the c c incident at a Walmart in California in 2019 luckily but still, check morning & before I go to bed just to be sure.

tjc78

Sandy… I bought my wife this one not too long ago. Amazing for the price. No need to wait for a sale IMO.

https://a.co/d/3Q4IxKG

imidazol97

Sandman6472 said:

Figured there must be an easy way to connect a monitor to my MacBook Air, a simple cord would do it. The Mrs. took my old monitor from my desktop so will keep my eyes open for an inexpensive small monitor once the Black Friday sales start. Am sure Office Depot might have just what I'm looking for.

I would suggest watching the online choices at bestbuy.com for your local store--they have open box items, which someone bought and didn't like and returned. Also I found the instore sales people very knowledgeable about what options do what you want and point out the lower price and the good value items. I want a sound bar and likely will get one at Best Buy because they have the one I like near price for same at amazon.com. Plus I'll watch for open box at one of the two local stores.

I see there's a Microcenter in Miami--I bought a replacement monitor for my son's undergrad tower computer when I upgraded him to a hotter new model from Microcenter. I picked up a cheap monitor that was in stock at the N. Cincy store when I went by. microcenter.com
They also have shipping as well as does Best Buy.

graphicguy

When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

tjc78

@graphicguy said:
When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

Actually they prefer your signature with their financing.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

I may have mentioned in a post some time back, that my (mine, because that's where I keep my money...) casino had installed multiple Tesla L2 charges, yay for NACS enabled EVs! But, joy to the world, this most recent visit revealed that each station is a dual setup; the NACS plug is nested in a CCS (J1772) adaptor, so free power to all the people!
Surprisingly, upon arrival and before figuring out the above, the one (working) CCS charger I was aware of was available, so no issue in juicing up.
The electric force seems to be getting stronger.

This is on your PHEV, right?

So, in a pinch, you can just fill it up at the gas station?

Yes, sir. Driving a PHEV with a charged battery nicely increases MPG. If the battery is empty, now it's a hybrid hauling around a heavy battery. And as a PHEV, pure electric mode is just for local errands. For road trips on the highway, driving in hybrid mode with a charged battery is best, it can quadruple the mi/kwh from my observation.

But even in hybrid mode with an empty battery I'm getting 32 mpg, not bad for the big beast.

The company has a lot of hybrids in the fleet now Jeeps, Toyotas, Hyundais, you name it. I have never seen one with any battery charge on them, strictly gas power.

Those are the big sellers today. People who have non-plug-in charging hybrids like them, and people checking to buy have those at the top of the list. Even I would consider one of those.....

kyfdx

@imidazol97 Agreed on Best Buy. If you have one close by, it's a great place to find a bargain, and good advice, too.

ab348

graphicguy said:

When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

That has changed in recent years with laws intended to discourage bad guys.

stickguy

2 dudes contracted to Lowe’s showed up this morning with the fridge we bought yesterday. Less than 24 hours on a Sunday it was in the garage chilling away. Pretty nice unit for $540. And they apparently drive all the way from Hartford (2 hours or so) for only $29.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

Our yearly property tax bill comes out Monday. Will have it paid by the 15th as I always take out a 6-month CD in January or February to pay for it all. This way, know it's taken care of early in the year. And by paying before the end of November, get a small discount which is better then nothing. Have a co-worker who always boasts he pays his as late as possible to screw the county but really, isn't he screwing himself here? Some folks I work with have strange concepts on ow they deal with their money. I jus shake my head and say nothing!!!

Figured there must be an easy way to connect a monitor to my MacBook Air, a simple cord would do it. The Mrs. took my old monitor from my desktop so will keep my eyes open for an inexpensive small monitor once the Black Friday sales start. Am sure Office Depot might have just what I'm looking for. I don't always sit at my desk when on the laptop but would like the bigger screen when I do sit there. Not on the internet that often and surf mostly with some easy banking thrown in. Just move some of my work/dividends around to a few accounts mainly...nothing much really. Prefer to keep a smaller amount in my personal checking account and check the others plus c c daily since I had those fraud incidents back in the mid-2010's. Really bothered me to get emails detailing fraud in some accounts that could've cost us a lot of money if not addressed right away. Found out the hard way that there are many bad folks out there trying to steal our monies!! Made me a bit fearful and decided I need to keep a closer eye on the accounts just in case. Nothing since the c c incident at a Walmart in California in 2019 luckily but still, check morning & before I go to bed just to be sure.

I’m becoming an adherent of the coffee can in the back yard school of money management. A run in with Vanguard which is still ongoing has me looking for spots to bury things.

Vanguard has been moving away from their old investor platform for some time now. I was able to transition my IRA online fairly easily. But when I tried to do the same with my wife’s account(which I have full authority over) it couldn’t be done. I then had to have them send me the paperwork in the mail. However we found that we needed separate paperwork to reestablish my authority and they had neglected to include that.

While I was trying to get this additional paperwork they unilaterally switched her account to brokerage status which cut me out of all access. Numerous phone calls and verifications with my wife failed to resolve the situation and days later we get a call saying more paperwork was necessary and this time it had to be notarized. Now I had to drag my mobility impaired wife to the bank to get it stamped.

I then took it to the post office and paid for certified mail return receipt. Finally finished…..

Except……Now I’m getting notices from USPS that the paperwork has been “delayed”. No reason why it’s taken almost two weeks but I’m getting sick of people not doing their jobs and giving poor customer service.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

If you pay the dealer more than $10,000 cash you have to fill out IRS forms and I think list the serial number of each bill.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8300.pdf

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

If you pay the dealer more than $10,000 cash you have to fill out IRS forms and I think list the serial number of each bill.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8300.pdf

If you pay more than $10K in cash you don't have to fill it out, the dealership has to fill it out.

stickguy

I just set up the accounts for my stuff, the joint account, and my wife’s (pretty sure she said it was OK!). So either one of us can get into any account and do what we want to with it. One advantage of having it set up online. Not so good if your marriage is iffy.

Sandman6472

Took my oldest to the bank and put her on all my stuff, she knows to split things in thirds to give the others their portion. Schwab, Vanguard & Fidelity have my plans in order as to who gets what and the percentages. Still need to take care of my TSP account. The kids will get my half of the house and will let them get rid of any vehicle I might have at the time. Will lastly need to contact social security, retirement & The Neptune Society to come get me. Will need a county case of death statement and the urn is in my closet for when they collect what's left. Not sure if I'll go before the Mrs. so just decided to have my oldest in charge of my stuff since she's very responsible and there will be no drama unlike when my mom passed. A real sh-t show there! It's not a subject that I avoid like many others do as I want things done as easy as possible when I do depart

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

When I bought the Mustang Cobra a few years back, I found a large stack of freshly bank wrapped Benjamins helped seal the deal.

Dealerships? They couldn't care less if you came in with a large piece of rolling luggage filled with cash or just your signature.

If you pay the dealer more than $10,000 cash you have to fill out IRS forms and I think list the serial number of each bill.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8300.pdf

If you pay more than $10K in cash you don't have to fill it out, the dealership has to fill it out.

Which is probably why they don’t want cash.

stickguy

I thought the spouse defaulted to getting everything. So I guess you can put it in a will that they don’t, but do they have to agree? Especially the house.

I am on the bank account with my father. I guess he trusts me to share it with my sister.

We won’t do anything with our stuff until there is only one of us left. So I might not have to deal with that!

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

I may have mentioned in a post some time back, that my (mine, because that's where I keep my money...) casino had installed multiple Tesla L2 charges, yay for NACS enabled EVs! But, joy to the world, this most recent visit revealed that each station is a dual setup; the NACS plug is nested in a CCS (J1772) adaptor, so free power to all the people!
Surprisingly, upon arrival and before figuring out the above, the one (working) CCS charger I was aware of was available, so no issue in juicing up.
The electric force seems to be getting stronger.

This is on your PHEV, right?

So, in a pinch, you can just fill it up at the gas station?

Yes, sir. Driving a PHEV with a charged battery nicely increases MPG. If the battery is empty, now it's a hybrid hauling around a heavy battery. And as a PHEV, pure electric mode is just for local errands. For road trips on the highway, driving in hybrid mode with a charged battery is best, it can quadruple the mi/kwh from my observation.

But even in hybrid mode with an empty battery I'm getting 32 mpg, not bad for the big beast.

The company has a lot of hybrids in the fleet now Jeeps, Toyotas, Hyundais, you name it. I have never seen one with any battery charge on them, strictly gas power.

Those are the big sellers today. People who have non-plug-in charging hybrids like them, and people checking to buy have those at the top of the list. Even I would consider one of those.....

————————————————
Starting to waffle, huh?

jmonroe

xwesx

Sandman6472 said:

Our yearly property tax bill comes out Monday. Will have it paid by the 15th as I always take out a 6-month CD in January or February to pay for it all. This way, know it's taken care of early in the year. And by paying before the end of November, get a small discount which is better then nothing. Have a co-worker who always boasts he pays his as late as possible to screw the county but really, isn't he screwing himself here? Some folks I work with have strange concepts on ow they deal with their money. I jus shake my head and say nothing!!!

Sandy, it really just depends on the amount of the discount and how much you can earn on that money while it is still in your possession. Convenience and timing matters, too, so it's not just about the dollars (it's also about the sense). And, you have to make sure you do the math correctly. For example....

Our cash management office at work once tried to nix my office from paying a bill early (w/in ten days of invoice as opposed to the normal thirty days) because they didn't want to make the cash available faster... They said we'd be losing money because we were earning 5% (APR) on it as opposed to the 2% discount.

Well, here's the thing: It was a 2% discount on a $750,000 bill ($15,000) versus holding that $750,000 for an extra twenty days and earning 5% APR ($2,055). Again, the difference wasn't even close. I told them to have the funds available, because we were paying it early. The end. LOL

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

Sandman6472 said:

Our yearly property tax bill comes out Monday. Will have it paid by the 15th as I always take out a 6-month CD in January or February to pay for it all. This way, know it's taken care of early in the year. And by paying before the end of November, get a small discount which is better then nothing. Have a co-worker who always boasts he pays his as late as possible to screw the county but really, isn't he screwing himself here? Some folks I work with have strange concepts on ow they deal with their money. I jus shake my head and say nothing!!!

Sandy, it really just depends on the amount of the discount and how much you can earn on that money while it is still in your possession. Convenience and timing matters, too, so it's not just about the dollars (it's also about the sense). And, you have to make sure you do the math correctly. For example....

Our cash management office at work once tried to nix my office from paying a bill early (w/in ten days of invoice as opposed to the normal thirty days) because they didn't want to make the cash available faster... They said we'd be losing money because we were earning 5% (APR) on it as opposed to the 2% discount.

Well, here's the thing: It was a 2% discount on a $750,000 bill ($15,000) versus holding that $750,000 for an extra twenty days and earning 5% APR ($2,055). Again, the difference wasn't even close. I told them to have the funds available, because we were paying it early. The end. LOL

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Now there’s a case where figures don’t lie but you have to know how to figure.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@Sandman6472 said:
Took my oldest to the bank and put her on all my stuff, she knows to split things in thirds to give the others their portion. Schwab, Vanguard & Fidelity have my plans in order as to who gets what and the percentages. Still need to take care of my TSP account. The kids will get my half of the house and will let them get rid of any vehicle I might have at the time. Will lastly need to contact social security, retirement & The Neptune Society to come get me. Will need a county case of death statement and the urn is in my closet for when they collect what's left. Not sure if I'll go before the Mrs. so just decided to have my oldest in charge of my stuff since she's very responsible and there will be no drama unlike when my mom passed. A real sh-t show there! It's not a subject that I avoid like many others do as I want things done as easy as possible when I do depart

Isn’t it best to list all 3 kids as POD - paid on death - on the accounts ? Then there is no guessing involved.

Or just set up trust accounts.

stickguy

It skips probate. But I think the main reason is so the other person can use the account if needed.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

It skips probate. But I think the main reason is so the other person can use the account if needed.

Payable on death requires you to supply documentation. Most banks aren't going to take just a death certificate. (2-4 weeks to get that) They're going to require the executor to jump through a lot of hoops.

If you really want them to be able to access the funds, immediately, then they need to be listed as joint owners of the account.

mjfloyd1

Weird. They will accept death certificate for my niece and nephew listed as POD.

I was specifically told not to pay bills other than the necessary ones (heat, water etc) until claims made after the newspaper posting and waiting 90 days.

kyfdx

mjfloyd1 said:

Weird. They will accept death certificate for my niece and nephew listed as POD.

I was specifically told not to pay bills other than the necessary ones (heat, water etc) until claims made after the newspaper posting and waiting 90 days.

What they say now, and what happens afterwards is often two different things.

As my (uncle's) lawyer says: Don't die with money in a Chase Bank account.