Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

Mr_Shiftright · July 2016

snakeweasel said:
Admit it, you want to do this;

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ArjFS2_uJk4

Ah, the amusements of the bored upper middle class.

houdini1 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:
Admit it, you want to do this;

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ArjFS2_uJk4

Good thing it doesn't have one of those shark fin XM antennas, eh!

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:
Admit it, you want to do this;

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ArjFS2_uJk4

Ha ha I saw that and was going to post it myself. I suppose if you have the money to buy the car you can afford the body work after your friends dent it in and drag their sand covered butts across it.

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

driver100 said:
In the last 3 days I have seen ads for 0% financing for Hyundai, Mitsu and Jeeps. Since most buyers are so unsophisticated and only care about monthly payments, does 0% mean anything?

We have bought cars when there was 0% financing, but we knew there was going to be a savings to us at the time. But monthly payment means little if the price of the car hasn't been discounted a good amount. I am thinking maybe just saying 0% sounds so good it will bring in customers.

2016 Jeep Cherokee NORTH | 0% UP TO 84 MONTHS $38,320

At the very bottom of their ad it says:

Pricing Information

Dealer MSRP Price $39,320
Dealer Price $38,320

I didn't see that. So they give you 0% financing, but only discount a $40k car by $1000, like 2.5% And how much will that car be discounted in a few weeks when the 2017s come out? I think I answered my own question, they don't give you the monthly cost because it isn't going to be much different than it was before the 0% sale.

My in-laws didn't even ask the price of the car. They were only interested in the monthly payment. They totally threw themselves on the mercy of the salesman. I still have nightmares.

snakeweasel · July 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:

snakeweasel said:
Admit it, you want to do this;

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ArjFS2_uJk4
Ah, the amusements of the bored upper middle class.

When I saw that I recalled memories of when I was in the service. My first duty station was at the mouth of a river, the river was dredged and the edge of the river was walled so the ground was maybe 5 feet above the rivers surface and a straight drop to the bottom of the river. We had an old Dodge WC 54 truck (think M*A*S*H ambulances) that we would back up to the edge of the river so we could use it as a diving platform.

snakeweasel · July 2016

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:
In the last 3 days I have seen ads for 0% financing for Hyundai, Mitsu and Jeeps. Since most buyers are so unsophisticated and only care about monthly payments, does 0% mean anything?

We have bought cars when there was 0% financing, but we knew there was going to be a savings to us at the time. But monthly payment means little if the price of the car hasn't been discounted a good amount. I am thinking maybe just saying 0% sounds so good it will bring in customers.

2016 Jeep Cherokee NORTH | 0% UP TO 84 MONTHS $38,320

At the very bottom of their ad it says:

Pricing Information

Dealer MSRP Price $39,320
Dealer Price $38,320

I didn't see that. So they give you 0% financing, but only discount a $40k car by $1000, like 2.5% And how much will that car be discounted in a few weeks when the 2017s come out? I think I answered my own question, they don't give you the monthly cost because it isn't going to be much different than it was before the 0% sale.
My in-laws didn't even ask the price of the car. They were only interested in the monthly payment. They totally threw themselves on the mercy of the salesman. I still have nightmares.

Then you don't want to go car shopping with me. But then again I will work everything backwards to the actual price and I stand firm on the down payment and the term of the loan.

snakeweasel · July 2016

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:
In the last 3 days I have seen ads for 0% financing for Hyundai, Mitsu and Jeeps. Since most buyers are so unsophisticated and only care about monthly payments, does 0% mean anything?

We have bought cars when there was 0% financing, but we knew there was going to be a savings to us at the time. But monthly payment means little if the price of the car hasn't been discounted a good amount. I am thinking maybe just saying 0% sounds so good it will bring in customers.

2016 Jeep Cherokee NORTH | 0% UP TO 84 MONTHS $38,320

At the very bottom of their ad it says:

Pricing Information

Dealer MSRP Price $39,320
Dealer Price $38,320

I didn't see that. So they give you 0% financing, but only discount a $40k car by $1000, like 2.5% And how much will that car be discounted in a few weeks when the 2017s come out? I think I answered my own question, they don't give you the monthly cost because it isn't going to be much different than it was before the 0% sale.

Since it was a few hour's drive from the Burgh, of course we got to talking and she mentioned that she was glad we were only financing for 36 months because now that I am retired she didn't think we should have car payments at all. So, she felt she pulled off a good compromise by going for 36 months. Well, when Son #1, who's undergraduate degree is in accounting, heard that he asked why she liked that idea. She said because that's the way we have always done it when we financed a car. I just sat there and listened while he went about convincing her to go for the 60 months. When I asked her why she believed him and not me she said, "he went to school for that and he has 2 masters degrees and you only have one degree and it isn't in accounting". She was right about that, I only have one measly degree but somehow it worked for us.

jmonroe
The new generation do not believe in paying if you don't have to. Many of us, from our generation, like to pay things off as quickly as possible.

I like our method better, unfortunately a bit of debt can snowball, and it can become overwhelming if out of control.

Our grandson is a CA too, he thinks government debt is not a bad thing because you always have the resources to cover it.......yeh, and I wonder if he believes in the tooth fairy too! I like the old math better, pay for what you want ASAP!

Actually government debt is a good thing, modern economies cannot function nearly as well without it. A stable reliable government taking on debt provides safe assets that help investors manage risk make transfers and avoid issues related to mad scrambles of cash.

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

Evidently this type of ad is flooding the country. I'm going to run right down with a deposit on this bargain. Uh....what country should I run too?

http://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5702249011.html

driver100 · July 2016

oldfarmer50 said:
Evidently this type of ad is flooding the country. I'm going to run right down with a deposit on this bargain. Uh....what country should I run too?

http://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5702249011.html

Looks like a nice truck for a good price. The written part of the ad sounds like English with a Russian accent:

Outstanding velocity, gas economic system, Usb 2 . 0 graphical user interface, wireless bluetooth, interior high quality, no road or wheel noise, NAV program, seating ease and comfort. Just don't anticipate your friends to ask you for any check generate anytime soon.(WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?)

driver100 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:
In the last 3 days I have seen ads for 0% financing for Hyundai, Mitsu and Jeeps. Since most buyers are so unsophisticated and only care about monthly payments, does 0% mean anything?

We have bought cars when there was 0% financing, but we knew there was going to be a savings to us at the time. But monthly payment means little if the price of the car hasn't been discounted a good amount. I am thinking maybe just saying 0% sounds so good it will bring in customers.

2016 Jeep Cherokee NORTH | 0% UP TO 84 MONTHS $38,320

At the very bottom of their ad it says:

Pricing Information

Dealer MSRP Price $39,320
Dealer Price $38,320

I didn't see that. So they give you 0% financing, but only discount a $40k car by $1000, like 2.5% And how much will that car be discounted in a few weeks when the 2017s come out? I think I answered my own question, they don't give you the monthly cost because it isn't going to be much different than it was before the 0% sale.

Since it was a few hour's drive from the Burgh, of course we got to talking and she mentioned that she was glad we were only financing for 36 months because now that I am retired she didn't think we should have car payments at all. So, she felt she pulled off a good compromise by going for 36 months. Well, when Son #1, who's undergraduate degree is in accounting, heard that he asked why she liked that idea. She said because that's the way we have always done it when we financed a car. I just sat there and listened while he went about convincing her to go for the 60 months. When I asked her why she believed him and not me she said, "he went to school for that and he has 2 masters degrees and you only have one degree and it isn't in accounting". She was right about that, I only have one measly degree but somehow it worked for us.

jmonroe
The new generation do not believe in paying if you don't have to. Many of us, from our generation, like to pay things off as quickly as possible.

I like our method better, unfortunately a bit of debt can snowball, and it can become overwhelming if out of control.

Our grandson is a CA too, he thinks government debt is not a bad thing because you always have the resources to cover it.......yeh, and I wonder if he believes in the tooth fairy too! I like the old math better, pay for what you want ASAP!

Actually government debt is a good thing, modern economies cannot function nearly as well without it. A stable reliable government taking on debt provides safe assets that help investors manage risk make transfers and avoid issues related to mad scrambles of cash.

I am thinking of the kind of debt you don't get out of....like Greece has and others probably will have, like Italy.
Even people need "controlled" debt to some degree, or you would never be able to own a home or build a business. Debt is necessary, for a smooth running capitalistic system to work, but, not ever growing wasteful debt.

BTW....one reason we were successful in business was because we basically had no debt, we paid for shipments when received and got the best product, and when high interest rates flared up our competitors had to raise prices, but we could undercut their pricing because we were debt free. Our lawyer and accountant thought we were crazy, but, we usually slept pretty well at night knowing even if the business failed, we would have no debts.

houdini1 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:
In the last 3 days I have seen ads for 0% financing for Hyundai, Mitsu and Jeeps. Since most buyers are so unsophisticated and only care about monthly payments, does 0% mean anything?

We have bought cars when there was 0% financing, but we knew there was going to be a savings to us at the time. But monthly payment means little if the price of the car hasn't been discounted a good amount. I am thinking maybe just saying 0% sounds so good it will bring in customers.

2016 Jeep Cherokee NORTH | 0% UP TO 84 MONTHS $38,320

At the very bottom of their ad it says:

Pricing Information

Dealer MSRP Price $39,320
Dealer Price $38,320

I didn't see that. So they give you 0% financing, but only discount a $40k car by $1000, like 2.5% And how much will that car be discounted in a few weeks when the 2017s come out? I think I answered my own question, they don't give you the monthly cost because it isn't going to be much different than it was before the 0% sale.

Since it was a few hour's drive from the Burgh, of course we got to talking and she mentioned that she was glad we were only financing for 36 months because now that I am retired she didn't think we should have car payments at all. So, she felt she pulled off a good compromise by going for 36 months. Well, when Son #1, who's undergraduate degree is in accounting, heard that he asked why she liked that idea. She said because that's the way we have always done it when we financed a car. I just sat there and listened while he went about convincing her to go for the 60 months. When I asked her why she believed him and not me she said, "he went to school for that and he has 2 masters degrees and you only have one degree and it isn't in accounting". She was right about that, I only have one measly degree but somehow it worked for us.

jmonroe
The new generation do not believe in paying if you don't have to. Many of us, from our generation, like to pay things off as quickly as possible.

I like our method better, unfortunately a bit of debt can snowball, and it can become overwhelming if out of control.

Our grandson is a CA too, he thinks government debt is not a bad thing because you always have the resources to cover it.......yeh, and I wonder if he believes in the tooth fairy too! I like the old math better, pay for what you want ASAP!

Actually government debt is a good thing, modern economies cannot function nearly as well without it. A stable reliable government taking on debt provides safe assets that help investors manage risk make transfers and avoid issues related to mad scrambles of cash.

Hmmm...that must be where the saying , "Too much of a good thing" came from.

berri · July 2016

Most corporations employ debt leverage. The concept makes sense when done intelligently.

driver100 · July 2016

berri said:
Most corporations employ debt leverage. The concept makes sense when done intelligently.

I think the key word is "intelligently". I agree, we could have made more profits if we had kept our money in our pocket as long as possible, but, because we were in a business where we wanted superior product, we paid asap. Suppliers loved selling to us, they would pretty well get COD. If you had premo goods, would you sell it to the guy who will pay you immediately, or the guy you have to go begging to get your money....and then hope he will pay you one day?

You know something else? Paying on time makes you more disciplined, and it makes you more honorable. Some values you can't put a dollar value on. There are companies that stretch their payables, and for some companies it is definitely the right way to operate.....I am sure car makers do it all the time and they are smart to do it. But, if you rely on getting the best product possible in a competitive market, you have to come up with some new ways of doing business.

Mr_Shiftright · July 2016

Your debt has to be viewed relative to your net worth. If your debt increases but your net worth increases even faster, then the percentage of debt to net worth (or GDP, or whatever), goes down.

Even little guys like us ("Mongo just pawn in game of life...") have our credit judged by our debt-to-income ratio.

murphydog · July 2016

Favorite Craig's list ad

stever · July 2016

lol, that must have been a "best of" ad on craigslit.

(Got excited when I saw your name in the new posts list; figured some lucky soul wound up with a killer deal on your Dad's Karman Ghia).

driver100 · July 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
Your debt has to be viewed relative to your net worth. If your debt increases but your net worth increases even faster, then the percentage of debt to net worth (or GDP, or whatever), goes down.

Even little guys like us ("Mongo just pawn in game of life...") have our credit judged by our debt-to-income ratio.

That was a good little lesson for me......never thought of it in those terms, but, it is good to know.

So, the more we made, the larger more expensive house my wife could buy, but, that was OK because we could incur a larger debt as we had more income.......and the beat goes on............

snakeweasel · July 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
Your debt has to be viewed relative to your net worth. If your debt increases but your net worth increases even faster, then the percentage of debt to net worth (or GDP, or whatever), goes down.

Even little guys like us ("Mongo just pawn in game of life...") have our credit judged by our debt-to-income ratio.

You are also judged by your debt to available debt ratio, which is why you should never close a credit card account.

snakeweasel · July 2016

murphydog said:
Favorite Craig's list ad

Good thing it's camouflaged because I'll bet that that truck gets a lot of dings in parking lots and the camouflage would make it harder to see those dings.

imidazol97 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:
Good thing it's camouflaged because I'll bet that that truck gets a lot of dings in parking lots and the camouflage would make it harder to see those dings.

Imagine how easy life is for the body shop fixing those dings and dents. High estimate. Keep the truck a few days. And return it to the customer good as new--customer can't tell that no work was done because it's camoflaged!

Sort of like some of the repair shop scams where they pretend to fix things after feeding the customer a line of fiction about needed repairs.

ab348 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:

You are also judged by your debt to available debt ratio, which is why you should never close a credit card account.

Interesting. I remember in the late '90s/early '2000s talking to my bank manager about either a mortgage or a car loan, and she said that having too many credit cards, even ones you never used without any balance, was a factor in driving up your risk assessment on loan applications.

stever · July 2016

snakeweasel said:
You are also judged by your debt to available debt ratio, which is why you should never close a credit card account.

Not necessarily - I've closed stale accounts including one VISA I had for 20 odd years, and my score is 800. I don't like having some of dead accounts out there, just more junk to monitor for fraud (I have a fraud alert this morning on our main card, but I'm traveling so ....).

dino001 · July 2016

stever said:

snakeweasel said:
You are also judged by your debt to available debt ratio, which is why you should never close a credit card account.
Not necessarily - I've closed stale accounts including one VISA I had for 20 odd years, and my score is 800. I don't like having some of dead accounts out there, just more junk to monitor for fraud (I have a fraud alert this morning on our main card, but I'm traveling so ....).

I agree. People obsessing about closing some old appliance store card, they haven't used for 10 years, lowering their score need to put it in perspective. If you have five other cards with good limits, long account history and low utilization, good history on all payments, mortgage and car payments, closing a store card will have literally zero impact. The account doesn't have history anyway (zero activity) and the available credit is still high. Miniscule impact (if at all) on the score, none on this new car loan you want to take. Score going from 780 to 777 for one month, or two, has no bearing on the interest rate.

On the other hand, if you don't have any other card, then yes, closing that card will do damage. There are no absolutes. One should do what's right, and not worry what may impact their credit score by 5 points for two months.

In world of credit scores, there are no words like "always" or "never". Everything is conditional. The only real absolute is paying on time - that will always :wink" increase your score and not paying will always lower it.

dino001 · July 2016

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

You are also judged by your debt to available debt ratio, which is why you should never close a credit card account.
Interesting. I remember in the late '90s/early '2000s talking to my bank manager about either a mortgage or a car loan, and she said that having too many credit cards, even ones you never used without any balance, was a factor in driving up your risk assessment on loan applications.

Because this is the other side of the risk - too much credit available. The risk of that is one day you can go bananas and start buying stuff for your new 20-year old mistress.

As I said, there are no absolutes, other than paying/not paying on time.

stever · July 2016

Guess I'll be getting a new MasterCard shortly - my wife has a different number on our joint MC and someone used her number fraudulently. Good thing I have a backup card in my wallet since I'm out of town because the MC is just good for scraping ice off the windshield now.

Mr_Shiftright · July 2016

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:
Your debt has to be viewed relative to your net worth. If your debt increases but your net worth increases even faster, then the percentage of debt to net worth (or GDP, or whatever), goes down.

Even little guys like us ("Mongo just pawn in game of life...") have our credit judged by our debt-to-income ratio.
That was a good little lesson for me......never thought of it in those terms, but, it is good to know.

So, the more we made, the larger more expensive house my wife could buy, but, that was OK because we could incur a larger debt as we had more income.......and the beat goes on............

Well yes, it could spiral out of control at some point, but as long as the ratio remains viable----then, yeah, the beat goes on. Of course, not for everyone. Some people take on debt and sink like a stone because they have no way to increase net worth---no education, bad health, whatever.
It's like Lewis Black the comedian said when commenting on the 2008 economic bust:

"The banks said: 'Oh, you can't pay your rent? Well, then, how 'bout a HOUSE? You want a house?' "

graphicguy · July 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:
Your debt has to be viewed relative to your net worth. If your debt increases but your net worth increases even faster, then the percentage of debt to net worth (or GDP, or whatever), goes down.

Even little guys like us ("Mongo just pawn in game of life...") have our credit judged by our debt-to-income ratio.
That was a good little lesson for me......never thought of it in those terms, but, it is good to know.

So, the more we made, the larger more expensive house my wife could buy, but, that was OK because we could incur a larger debt as we had more income.......and the beat goes on............
Well yes, it could spiral out of control at some point, but as long as the ratio remains viable----then, yeah, the beat goes on. Of course, not for everyone. Some people take on debt and sink like a stone because they have no way to increase net worth---no education, bad health, whatever.
It's like Lewis Black the comedian said when commenting on the 2008 economic bust:

"The banks said: 'Oh, you can't pay your rent? Well, then, how 'bout a HOUSE? You want a house?' "

Metioned it before....watch "The Big Short". Scary...made even moreso because it's true!

thebean · July 2016

It's a lack of discipline. Most Americans have very little discipline. If they have a dollar on their pocket, they can't wait to spend it, and if they have a credit card that is not maxed out, it's time to go shopping. Getting a raise at work does not mean you have to go out and raise your standard of living. Be happy with what you have!

houdini1 · July 2016

I've never thought the way credit monitors compute their scores made much sense. I guess because there are so many to monitor, they have to use a very broad brush. My wife and I are in the 830's. I guess it is very easy to borrow money if you don't need it.

Mr_Shiftright · July 2016

830s is a great score---that's not combined is it?

jmonroe · July 2016

stever said:
Guess I'll be getting a new MasterCard shortly - my wife has a different number on our joint MC and someone used her number fraudulently. Good thing I have a backup card in my wallet since I'm out of town because the MC is just good for scraping ice off the windshield now.

It happened again! There are more coincidences with this site and my life than any sane person would believe.

2 days ago I got a robo call from Bank of America informing me that my Visa credit card and many other customers with BA had a security breach and they would be issuing me a new credit card very soon and to be sure to activate it quickly because on 8-3-16, my old card will be inactive. The new card came in todays mail and I just called to activate it. All 16 numbers are different. The last time this happened, only the last 4 numbers changed. This has to be the 3rd time BA has had to reissue me a new Visa Card because of some security problem they have with their Visa Cards.

I have a Master Card that is also with BA and there has never been a problem with that card but we only use that card as a backup if something goes wacky with the Visa Card whenever we are on vacation, which so far has never happened.

Mrs. j is going to call BA to make sure that our Visa account number is the same because she says we have almost $900 in rewards dollars that has been cooking in that account for several years. If they screwed that up you'll hear her and you won't have to be tuned into this site to hear that tirade. :@

jmonroe

imidazol97 · July 2016

jmonroe said:

stever said:
Guess I'll be getting a new MasterCard shortly - .

2 days ago I got a robo call from Bank of America informing me that my Visa credit card and many other customers with BA had a security breach jmonroe

Interesting. My son called saying he had an email (they can't call him at work) from our bank in the afternoon that his high limit card had been used to buy lots of stuff in Toledo/Detroit and asking if he bought that. He had used it at work to buy lunch in [Dayton] that same day. So they're sending a new card. He has identity protection through his bank because of a data breach a couple years back exposing his data but this card is newer than that.

jmonroe · July 2016

imidazol97 said:

jmonroe said:

stever said:
Guess I'll be getting a new MasterCard shortly - .

2 days ago I got a robo call from Bank of America informing me that my Visa credit card and many other customers with BA had a security breach jmonroe
Interesting. My son called saying he had an email (they can't call him at work) from our bank in the afternoon that his high limit card had been used to buy lots of stuff in Toledo/Detroit and asking if he bought that. He had used it at work to buy lunch in [Dayton] that same day. So they're sending a new card. He has identity protection through his bank because of a data breach a couple years back exposing his data but this card is newer than that.

You and your son probably know this but just a friendly reminder when the new card arrives. Don't forget to inform any merchants where you have automatic withdrawals from the card. The only one I have is EZ Pass.

I can't imagine how long some people will spend doing this. I know people (none personally) use their credit card for a lot of payments and they are probably the same people who are maxed out on their card/s. But then again, these are probably the same people who know all about this kind of inconvenience.

I try to live a very simple life but with having EZ Pass, I can't think of a better way to keep that account from going empty.

jmonroe

imidazol97 · July 2016

jmonroe said:
Don't forget to inform any merchants where you have automatic withdrawals from the card. The only one I have is EZ Pass.jmonroe

Thanks for the reminder. I don't like automatic withdrawals, but he does pay Time Warner online and uses one of his two CC's. I'll send him an email to remind him.

Keith

houdini1 · July 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
830s is a great score---that's not combined is it?

Hey, I can throw in my son and get it up to 1200 !!

ab348 · July 2016

I recently put a bunch of recurring payments like my EZ Pass equivalent up here, cable/phone/internet bill and a few others on automatic payment using one particular credit card because it gives 2% cash back every month. It adds up.

tjc78 · July 2016

In the last 5 years I've had at least 3 maybe even 4 or 5 (I can't remember) Citi bank cards. I'll get a text from them asking if I spent some odd amount in a far away place and I call them back and ten minutes later I have a new card being sent. No one has ever gotten an actual charge through but my number has been duplicated some how.

graphicguy · July 2016

Over the years, I've 86'd more and more of my credits cards. Currently, I have an AMEX that I use for business travel, and a Visa I use at Costco. That's it.

Granted, the AMEX costs me $450/year. But, since it's for business, I write it off. Costco Visa I pay off every month.

That said, I have about $50K in cars sitting on the GG estate, and neither of them are appreciating in value. So, I'm losing money on them. Still, I consider them my hobby....expensive hobby, but a hobby nonetheless.

andres3 · July 2016

graphicguy said:
Thanks all. I have a great bunch of friends here at Edmunds (or should I say, ENABLERS).....

Tooling around for the last couple of hours.....here she is.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/27879112484_e2dc5bc4d2_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/28463669256_99a0f442a1_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7789/28212392080_55e4f40677_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8886/28417761081_6b915b7b90_c.jpg

If it wasn't so hot out today, I'd detail her and slap on a coat of wax. Easier to drive than I was expecting. Clutch is a bit heavy, but engagement is positive and the the shifter is properly precise and weighted. Brakes are fine. Steering is better than I thought it would be. It has a little body flex, but I expected that. Probably runs as well as it did off the showroom floor. And, surprising for an 18 year old car. More comfortable than I was expecting, too.

Makes great noises. Not as fast as the current crop of muscle cars, but plenty fast to have some fun with. DId a burn out, just because I could. Got some applause from innocent bystanders, too.

I like the wheels a lot, simple but classy and sporty.

I like the beige (non-black) interior.

Congrats!

28firefighter · July 2016

graphicguy said:
Over the years, I've 86'd more and more of my credits cards. Currently, I have an AMEX that I use for business travel, and a Visa I use at Costco. That's it.

Granted, the AMEX costs me $450/year. But, since it's for business, I write it off. Costco Visa I pay off every month.

That said, I have about $50K in cars sitting on the GG estate, and neither of them are appreciating in value. So, I'm losing money on them. Still, I consider them my hobby....expensive hobby, but a hobby nonetheless.

Question for you GG - my travel has increased substantially and after having been stuck for hours in different airports at least 3 times in as many weeks, I was wondering what your opinion of the AMEX Platinum is? Is it worth the annual fee in your mind?

FWIW, I'm on pace to fly about 100k domestic this year.

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

ab348 said:
I recently put a bunch of recurring payments like my EZ Pass equivalent up here, cable/phone/internet bill and a few others on automatic payment using one particular credit card because it gives 2% cash back every month. It adds up.

I pay for NOTHING on line. I won't even file taxes electronically because they want checking acct. routing numbers. Never in 45 years have I had an identity theft problem.

816 credit score much to the amazement of my Ford dealer.

andres3 · July 2016

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:
We have an oversize garage, but by the time you get an S8, BMW 7 Series, MB S Class in the garage there wouldn't be enough room to walk around it. Besides, when a car is that large, a lot of the fun of driving must disappear....it would seem like a yacht or I would feel like a chauffeur.
I really think that large cars like that are designed more with the idea that it would be a chauffeur driven car.

Maybe the A8, but the S8 has been tracked; admittedly only by one guy. Still, with that much HP, it has got to be a bit fun just to push the pedal down.

imidazol97 · July 2016

graphicguy said:
Over the years, I've 86'd more and more of my credits cards. Currently, I have an AMEX that I use for business travel, and a Visa I use at Costco. That's it.

Granted, the AMEX costs me $450/year. But, since it's for business, I write it off. Costco Visa I pay off every month.

That said, I have about $50K in cars sitting on the GG estate, and neither of them are appreciating in value. So, I'm losing money on them. Still, I consider them my hobby....expensive hobby, but a hobby nonetheless.

And a nice combination of cars you have there on the estate!

ab348 · July 2016

oldfarmer50 said:

I pay for NOTHING on line. I won't even file taxes electronically because they want checking acct. routing numbers. Never in 45 years have I had an identity theft problem.

816 credit score much to the amazement of my Ford dealer.

In Canada this was the last year the CRA (equivalent to the IRS) will send you a cheque for your tax refund. Next year and beyond it is direct deposit only, so you would have no choice.

ab348 · July 2016

Spent the last 6 (!) hours setting up a couple of Sony home entertainment products: a soundbar, which took about 15 minutes, and a "smart" Blu-Ray player, which took the rest of the time and was totally aggravating. In theory it connects to your home's wireless network and then delivers content over the net. In theory.

Unlike a smartphone or most other devices that use your home network, this thing absolutely refused to work with it. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I entered all the info it wanted, reset it, reset the router, reset the modem, tried various options... nothing would work. It was incredibly frustrating. You shouldn't need to be a network engineer to connect something like this. I went online and it is a very common problem, with no real solutions found. Finally, after doing nothing different that I could identify, it just started working. Bizarre.

Right now I am watching the Mets and Cardinals on MLB TV and it is so much better than trying to pipe it from a PC to your TV using a cable. But Sony should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for putting such a poorly implemented product on the market.

henryn · July 2016

Computers are my business, my livelihood, and have been for the last 44 years. While home networking is not my specialty, it does fall within my wheelhouse.

Forget wireless, buy a pair of powerline network adapters, they start at under $30. Trust me, money well spent. And if you have multiple devices requiring a network connection there in your living room (blu-ray, smart tv, roku, whatever), then get a small 5 port ethernet switch (under $20).

roadburner · July 2016

I've used the network adapters with sucees on my aincient Samsung BD player in the basement HTS/Gaming setup, but I have a Sony BD player in my main HTS and the wi-Fi works great- ditto for the Amazon Fire Stick and Chromecast streaming dongles.

roadburner · July 2016

Today I helped a customer learn to use the Parking Assistant is his G12 7er; I set up a 3er and an X5 so I could demonstrate how it can parallel(or perpendicular) park with no input from the driver aside from pressing one button. Wild. I also performed a CPO X3 delivery as well as two lease turn-in inspections. So far I'm still having a ball...

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I pay for NOTHING on line. I won't even file taxes electronically because they want checking acct. routing numbers. Never in 45 years have I had an identity theft problem.

816 credit score much to the amazement of my Ford dealer.
In Canada this was the last year the CRA (equivalent to the IRS) will send you a cheque for your tax refund. Next year and beyond it is direct deposit only, so you would have no choice.

Our Social Security does that now. When I start taking it next year i don't know what I'll do. I don't want any black helicopters following me home from the bank.

oldfarmer50 · July 2016

henryn said:
Computers are my business, my livelihood, and have been for the last 44 years. While home networking is not my specialty, it does fall within my wheelhouse.

Forget wireless, buy a pair of powerline network adapters, they start at under $30. Trust me, money well spent. And if you have multiple devices requiring a network connection there in your living room (blu-ray, smart tv, roku, whatever), then get a small 5 port ethernet switch (under $20).

We just bought a cheap ($140) TV and hooked it up to the cable. Some of the channels occasionally break up like satellite TV does during a storm (picture breaks up into squares). Can't figure out why. Owner's manual suggest using special cables with square plugs but we only have the standard coax coming out of the wall.

I know more about brain surgery than this stuff.

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