Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

Dealers and high mileage.
Used 1999 Civic at 300,000 miles. 2003 Pontiac at 250,000. EQuinox 2010 250,000 mi.
https://www.troutwineautosales.com/searchused.aspx

Well, at $700 at least the price is right.😆

oldfarmer50

benjaminh said:

nyccarguy said:

I've looked at a lot of cars in the $15K and under price point on and off over the last couple of years. What am I missing with this 2014 Toyota Avalon? I appreciate everyone's input. EDIT: I see 3 hits on the autocheck.

After getting burned with some one-owner used cars with maintenance records in the 1990s, I've become an advocate of the reality that in the long-run buying new is often better if it can be afforded. Better not just in terms of time and nerves, but in terms of money. Let me see if I can try to show that in this case...

Edmunds Cost to Own charts only go back to 2019, but a 2019 Avalon is projected to have maintenance and repair costs of about $8,000 over the next five years. If Edmunds did have a chart for a 2014 Avalon the number would probably be at least $10k or so. A 2014 Avalon was rated at 25 mpg combined, and so if driven about 12k a year gas costs over 5 years at 3.50 a gal would be about $8500.

So maintenance/repairs/gas for a 2014 Avalon might be around $16,500 or so for the next five years.

A 2025 Camry LE is thought by Edmunds to have maintenance and repair costs of about $3500 for the next five years. It gets 51 mpg, and so gas costs would be about $4000.

Maintenance/repairs/gas for a 2025 Camry would be around $7500 for the next five years.

A new Camry LE costs about $14k more than that 2014 Avalon, but if you subtract the known savings of $9k from owning a new Camry, the difference in price is really only about $5k over 5 years.

And that $5k, from my pov, might even be wiped out by the resale value of the two cars in 2030? Not sure.

A 2014 Avalon will not have much resale value when it has 200k or so in the year 2030. Maybe $4k or so? Might lose 10k in value by then? Idk. Might even be getting close to going to the junkyard, in which case the owner of the car would need to start all over again on a costly new car search.

But a 2025 Camry LE according to Edmunds will probably be worth something like $19k. It will lose 11k in value, but with luck and maintenance will still be a car with at least five good years years of life left.

Just my 2 cents lol.

Here’s somebody who agrees with you:

https://youtube.com/shorts/7kNfPUjjoDQ?si=6fOi0JMOBDIaSJ1b

roadburner

From a friend:
"Hey, anybody selling a car, particularly you guys with the fancy cars, I got a secret for you…
Ceramic coating is NOT a selling point.
That you paid $700 for Jimmy at Hot Detailz for $20 worth of fancy wax is not like you had Gandalf the Shiny cast the Eternal Spell of Dentus Repellimus over your car.
Griot’s $22 ceramic coating just won an extensive 8-product shootout against the expensive boutique brands. It’s over - this year’s scam is finished."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwY2xjawMurKxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFzczhjMUdKTVJ5cTFCMzJWAR79SxZ6wZBGbObr9fTNh6ChFWK9gSsdtI1sS-jC6K4JCaTgwAsexNflhoGPTw_aem_gMYdMCkeh7nuYqgGXjveuw&v=VhLTNii5HWg&feature=youtu.be

roadburner

The Griot's ceramic coating gets my vote as well.

Michaell

Talked with my sister this morning. The i5 is getting most of the miles, now. Which is probably good, since the XC40 they bought 3 years ago with 15,000 miles on it is now at 70,000 miles. Not good being the only car in the family, that gets driven almost every day for 60-70 miles, plus any road trips that come up.

The i5 gets charged twice a week, at the moment. They were playing around with charging times, as they have solar, but found that charging from midnight to 6am is the cheapest. They both love the car - my sister feels it's a bit big for her (she prefers smaller cars), but is getting used to it.

On another note, I took the daughter's Sportage to the dealer today for its first service visit. The car will be one year old next week and has less than 6000 miles on it. Quote for an oil change and tire rotation was over $180! Thems luxury car prices, if you ask me.

If anyone is looking for me later today, I'll be outside yelling at the clouds.

I'm turning into my dad.

tjc78

That’s higher than full synthetic on my 22 Ram that had the Hemi

oldfarmer50

“ They were playing around with charging times, as they have solar, but found that charging from midnight to 6am is the cheapest. “

I’m no expert on EVs but charging with solar at night just seems counterproductive.🤣

Michaell

oldfarmer50 said:

“ They were playing around with charging times, as they have solar, but found that charging from midnight to 6am is the cheapest. “

I’m no expert on EVs but charging with solar at night just seems counterproductive.🤣

Yeah, you think?

I believe the issue is that they don't have any battery storage to handle the excess electricity that is generated from the solar panels. SDG&E charges more for daytime usage, hence the switch to overnight charging.

ab348

Michaell said:

On another note, I took the daughter's Sportage to the dealer today for its first service visit. The car will be one year old next week and has less than 6000 miles on it. Quote for an oil change and tire rotation was over $180! Thems luxury car prices, if you ask me.

Oil change alone at the dealer is probably at least $80. Tire rotation seems premature at that mileage.

Question: how do pronounce “Sportage”? Is it “sport-AJJ” or “SPORT-age”? Asking for a friend.

tifighter

Not quite-

Their website is pretty interesting, and makes a decent argument for owning one here in Switzerland.

explorerx4

My F-150 is just under $100 at the dealer for oil change(8 quarts) and tire rotation.
Maybe the altitude makes a difference.

tifighter

Also-

Michaell

ab348 said:

Michaell said:

On another note, I took the daughter's Sportage to the dealer today for its first service visit. The car will be one year old next week and has less than 6000 miles on it. Quote for an oil change and tire rotation was over $180! Thems luxury car prices, if you ask me.

Oil change alone at the dealer is probably at least $80. Tire rotation seems premature at that mileage.

Question: how do pronounce “Sportage”? Is it “sport-AJJ” or “SPORT-age”? Asking for a friend.

I've always used the latter pronunciation.

I'm OK with the tire rotation at 6K, to keep them fresh. Remember, she had to replace one a couple of months back. The tires are Goodyear Assurance, and I'll be curious what kind of life they give us.

qbrozen

@tifighter said:

Not quite-

Their website is pretty interesting, and makes a decent argument for owning one here in Switzerland.

Huh. I think that is the one I was thinking of. I just honestly thought it was Chinese.

suydam

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Looks nice. But maybe my cheap-o-meter needs to be recalibrated but 12YO and 115k miles for 15 grand doesn’t seem cheap to me.

It's apparent you haven't been shopping much, lately.

For comparison I got my youngest a used Camry with 90,000 miles for $10k —- back in the day. She’s now graduated, gotten a grad degree, married and has 2 children. Things have really changed in the car shopping world,

suydam

ab348 said:

Michaell said:

On another note, I took the daughter's Sportage to the dealer today for its first service visit. The car will be one year old next week and has less than 6000 miles on it. Quote for an oil change and tire rotation was over $180! Thems luxury car prices, if you ask me.

Oil change alone at the dealer is probably at least $80. Tire rotation seems premature at that mileage.

Question: how do pronounce “Sportage”? Is it “sport-AJJ” or “SPORT-age”? Asking for a friend.

Are you in Canada or the US? Seems Canadians prefer the French pronunciation while we Americans go with SPORT-age.

sda

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Looks nice. But maybe my cheap-o-meter needs to be recalibrated but 12YO and 115k miles for 15 grand doesn’t seem cheap to me.

It's apparent you haven't been shopping much, lately.

That’s why I gave my daughter the Passat. It was worth about that and I couldn’t come close to finding something as nice for that price. Hard to believe it will be a year on September 14 that I bought the Arteon. BTW, my daughter loves the Passat, thankfully. It is in great condition and has 58k.

stickguy

one good thing about putting on such low miles between oil changes. Can skip the rotations some times.

Benjamin, I am with you at this point. Especially after reading all the used car horror stories. Better to buy something nice, and keep it longer. Just more relaxing if nothing else. Unless you are shopping for fancier luxury stuff that depreciates heavily quickly. Assuming you can find something well kept only a few YO, that is still not super expensive.

in the old days (with kids and expenses) my plan was buy new for the wife (the family truckster), and I would get one about 3 YO and keep it until 6 YO. Worked a few times!

28firefighter

The GLI is sold. Was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. > @tifighter said:

Also-

Where do I sign?

tifighter

I can probably fit one in the overhead compartment on the flight back.

oldfarmer50

suydam said:

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Looks nice. But maybe my cheap-o-meter needs to be recalibrated but 12YO and 115k miles for 15 grand doesn’t seem cheap to me.

It's apparent you haven't been shopping much, lately.

For comparison I got my youngest a used Camry with 90,000 miles for $10k —- back in the day. She’s now graduated, gotten a grad degree, married and has 2 children. Things have really changed in the car shopping world,

In 2018 I bought a used convertible with 80k miles for $2,000. Hoopties are now only for the wealthy.😩