Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

roadburner · March 2018

My father was a professor at the University of Louisville School of Law from the 1940s to the 1970s; I still run into some of his students and they always speak very highly of him. As for my teaching history, I've occasionally taught classroom sessions for Street Survival and similar schools, but most of my teaching has been as an HPDE in-car instructor. I really do enjoy it, even though my reputation for patience means that I am sometimes assigned students who are a bit more challenging.

jmonroe · March 2018

roadburner said:
My wife was a substitute as my son's school for nearly a decade, she grew tired of dealing with the higher grades and when the Kindergarten Aide retired she applied and was hired. She much prefers herding cats to dealing with middle school and high school students. She's actually a Registered Dietitian, but unlike me there is zero chance that she will ever return to the field she majored in.

I've heard you mention before that your wife is a Registered Dietitian so you should be able to confirm what one of those told a group of us at a party I attended way back.

I'd say this was at least 35 years ago, while at a holiday party at a fellow employees home. For the record I was still pretty close to my fighting weight back then. As we were talking the subject of jobs came up. Specifically jobs that women seemed to have more than men and one of the engineers at the party thought he'd ask the wife of a fellow engineer, who was a Registered Dietitian, about the difference between a Dietitian and a Registered Dietitian. Her response was, "a Dietitian is a person who has tried several diets without much success but feels they can tell others how to lose weight whereas a Registered Dietitian found one that worked so they are now "qualified" to tell people how to eat healthy so that they can lose weight and feel better. Sorta like an engineer who relies more on empirical data not just what they read in books. You guys should be able to appreciate that". That sounded pretty good to me but I doubt that this woman was ever over weight. She reminded me of a person that always watched what she ate, even at parties. I would not have wanted to be one of her kids because she would have probably grabbed a candy bar from them at Halloween after 2 bites.

As I was wolfing down a couple Swedish meatballs and cocktail weenies she looked over at me and said, "you should go easy on that stuff you're eating otherwise you'll be coming to see someone like me in a few years". I hate people who can predict my future many years in advance. :@

jmonroe

Mr_Shiftright · March 2018

fintail said:
Good luck with the teaching gig - still probably the most unfairly castigated and questionably managed profession. I have a friend who wanted to be a high school math teacher - he's a math nut and he gets along with kids. He did a couple quarters of student teaching and backed out - the micromanaging he was receiving from the established teachers seemed to be set up to drive people away (the kids apparently loved him), and the teaching school did nothing to help. Now he works in the actuary field and no doubt makes a few multiples of a teaching salary - and the school system lost someone who could have been a valuable resource in a tough area.

My sister is going into teaching soon, I think starting next year. She was a GM at a local daycare chain, but got burnt out, and had a medical issue that made her slow down and think about things. She'll be in special ed, which is another one where there's probably a shortage of talent.

The teachers in West Virginia seem to have gotten pretty fed up with the low pay. They shut the system down. Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma are beating the drums. I wish 'em luck.

jmonroe · March 2018

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:
@qbrozen, Good to hear you're on your way with the job thing. It has to feel good that you found something.

I doubt that I would have ever been allowed to teach, especially 5 th grade, since that was the worst 3 years of my life.

jmonroe
Did you get an F in composition.....stories are too long?

That was only half of it.

My command of grammar while using the English language put me in the slow lane. :@

jmonroe

28firefighter · March 2018

My wife is a Registered Dietitian too - works for a startup in the wellness space after having started her career working inpatient at a few major hospitals. If you want to make her head pop off, simply tell her there is no difference between a nutritionist and dietitian - or worse - call her a nutritionist.

houdini1 · March 2018

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

sandman_6472 said:
About the handicapped placards, I have one, have had one since my on the job accident back in 2005. I use it and don't feel ashamed in the least to be honest. I walk with a cane 100% of the time and walking any distance can be very painful for me. My pain doctor is a nice guy but a no nonsense guy also, he knows [non-permissible content removed] when he sees it. He suggested that I get the placard after my accident because he could see how painful and difficult walking was for me.
No one has ever said a word to me when they see me exit my vehicle and walk with my cane but one lady in the supermarket actually told me I didn't need a cane and to believe in G-d and he would make sure I didn't use it anymore. Not sure if she was kidding or what!
I understand some folks do abuse the use of their placard but some ailments aren't seen from the get go, so don't throw out the baby with the bath water here as some things aren't what they seem sometimes!!
And about Carfaxes, my Golf will have one if they indeed fix it from last weeks accident. And I am very unhappy that this really could happen! I did nothing wrong and as a result of someone else's stupidity, I could get a vehicle back that's no longer in excellent shape and will bring less when I go to trade it because of this. Why should I lose money on it's value? It just really isn't fair and I should be compensated somehow for it's diminished value!!
Getting off my soap box now and using my cane to do so!

The Sandman :@
Need more people like you demanding to be made whole including diminished value. If enough people demand it as something normal, eventually it will be.

For me, this is an issue where if the insurance industry had any honor, they would all fire themselves and put people in charge that understand what being made whole is.
I have said it before, Diminished value is an unrealized loss that cannot be quantified until the vehicle is sold. Beyond that the longer you keep the vehicle and the more it depreciates the so call diminished value diminishes. So let me ask you this, if you get into an accident and you get $10K for diminished value and you keep the car for another 5, 6 or 7 years and when you trade it in you only realize $2K in diminished value will you give your insurance company the extra $8K back?
NEGATORY!

The owner should have the option to sell immediately without realizing a loss. This is the only way to do that, to give full compensation to be made whole at the time of the loss. The only relevant factor is the loss at the time of the loss (the date of the collision). Everything that happens after that is just the owner's due diligence.
The only way to do something like that is for the insurance company to take ownership of the car and write a check for the pre-accident value of the vehicle. Then fix it and sell it on the open market.

If you keep the car then a fully repaired car has made you whole.
andres3 said:
If you propose insurance companies "buy back" the repaired car in lieu of paying DV that's probably an acceptable fair option. Pretty much the same as totaling the vehicle, where they then have to sell the scrap or salvaged title. Only difference here is it might not have a salvaged title (but certainly a tarnished one).

Would you propose if someone injects you with a deadly disease the amount of civil damages should be limited by how long you live? To me that sounds like bad faith for the sole purpose of delaying the claim amount until you die (so time of death is known fact).
Now you're comparing apples to aircraft carriers. Injecting someone with a deadly disease does diminish the quality of life once the symptoms start to take effect and shortens that persons life span. Once your car is fully repaired it does not shorten the life of the car nor does it diminish the quality of it.
andres3 said:
Why must an asset be sold to determine it's value? Asset values are determined all the time through market research and estimates. How do you sell a totalled vehicle? How do you sell a burned down home?
Because something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Yes asset values are determined all the time through market research and (this is the key word) estimates. So unless the person who does the research and makes the estimate has a check in hand to buy that asset it is simply a guess. Oft times the guess is wrong.

Case in point, many years ago my sister was moving and selling her house. A really nice house with a lot of upgrades. Her realtor (an expert) priced the house and listed the house for that amount. One day, maybe six months or so after the house was listed, she was talking about how the house wasn't selling. She had got some offers but nowhere near what the house was worth. I told her she was getting offers of what the house was worth because those with cash in had are not going to pay more than what they think the house is worth. And if many people give the same offer your realtor is wrong.

I used to buy and sell antiques and collectibles and I very often see experts value something at say $3,000 and at an auction get a high bid of $500. I have also often seen an expert valuing something for a few hundred go for thousands.

Now with many things we buy the thing we buy is 100% identical to every other one of that product so it is easy to say what the price is (as everyone pays nearly the same for it). But somethings are not that way, like houses and used cars. With houses simply being one lot over can change the value by thousands. With used cars it becomes difficult to find the exact same car, with the exact same miles in the exact same condition as time goes by.

Now back to diminished value in a car. Suppose you get hit while driving your 2015 Buoyta Benz Sludgemobile. Now suppose take your car to an expert and he says that before the accident it was worth $25K and after it was fixed it was only worth $22K. So do you have $3K in diminished value? Maybe, then again maybe not.

Now suppose I come along to buy the car and since it was in an accident I give you the $22K for the car feeling that is a reasonable value for that car after the accident. So did you have $3K in diminish value? Again maybe and maybe not as I may have been only willing to pay $24K for the car if it was never damaged. Or I may have been willing to pay $26K for the car prior to the accident.

Now lets say that after the expert says its now only worth $22K but I say "Nope $21K". You say "it's worth $22K the expert told me".Guess what? I have 21,000 reasons why its only worth $21K, your expert has none.

Now lets look at it from another perspective. You keep the car another 10 years and put another 175K miles on it. If the car had never been in the accident it would be worth $1K, so how can you claim $3K in diminished value?
andres3 said:
According to your statement, we can't determine the value of anything basically. You can't sell what is lost or destroyed. Perhaps their is land value if you don't rebuild the home. Until the home is rebuilt, you have tremendous diminished value.
If you rebuild a home then it is an entirely new home and should have no diminished value. Just like the car you buy to replace a totaled car.

Snake, I'd like to take you with me when I protest the amount of my property valuation assessment !!

fintail · March 2018

Somehow I am not surprised it is those locations.

Mr_Shiftright said:

The teachers in West Virginia seem to have gotten pretty fed up with the low pay. They shut the system down. Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma are beating the drums. I wish 'em luck.

houdini1 · March 2018

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:
.
Turns out you have to look at lumens not wattage.
I bought some 40 watt LED replacements that use only 4 watts and put out 2/3 of the lumens of the 6 watt LED's.

jmonroe,
Feel free to rewrite this in a longer version, so driver100 can get to sleep on time tonight.
Lumens, wattage, LED, halogen, voltage, and hours of usage..........I can't keep up....too many decisions to make.

Yeh, we'll get JMonroe to explain it and that should put us all to sleep.

Lol we think alike. I didn’t see your post before I posted mine.
I know - that happens. But we both forgot choices, daylight, ultra white light, soft light. Hard to even match lights any more.

Speaking of LED lights, I must have bought 10 or 12 LED flash lights in the last few years. I suppose the bulbs will last forever, but the darn flashlights simply quit working after a few months !

tbirdmarco · March 2018

An glad to hear things are working out

tbirdmarco · March 2018

Do you work car guy glad to hear your son’s hockey tournament

tbirdmarco · March 2018

All interesting above

andres3 · March 2018

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

I'm fine with the first line. The second line is untrue because you have DV losses after the repairs.
Your loss is quantified and unrealized. Until you realize a loss you do not have one.

You realize the loss as soon as your vehicle becomes un-drive-able in its previous condition.
Being able to restore the car 30 or maybe 60 days later does not prevent that immediate loss, nor ever erase it or make it go away. That being said, I'm not against forcing the owner to choose between the DV value or having the insurance company have the option of buying the vehicle to realize the loss fully. However, this should be the victims' choice, not the perpetrator's choice!
andres3 said:

What if the disease didn't have symptoms other than death? I disagree about shortened life span on the car, and diminished quality. No body shop can match the factory quality under standard industry conditions. Furthermore, the paint looks like feces. Lastly, I bet that Misano Red S4 looks terrible 7 years down the road compared to an unre-painted S4 of the same color and age all other things being equal (waxes and washes) This is further unrealized then realized over time DV. What broke on my S4 requiring 3 trips to the dealership? All things likely related to the collision. Without the collision, I may have been spared 3 trips to the dealership to fix things
Again you are comparing unrelated items, lets stick with the discussion at hand.
andres3 said:

yes, but not until you completely rebuild the home from scratch. Until that time you have DV.
Most homeowner's policies have "loss of use" coverage for this loss. Rental cars don't quite work the same way because I'm not put in a like kind and quality rental and for some reason insurance companies argue this too.
Rebuilding the home is like reparing your car. Both take time and in both cases you cannot use the item while it is being worked on. And in both cases you can be insured to cover temporary replacements for them.
andres3 said:
DV cars are like broken backs and necks. You just don't know right away how often and how bad the pain will be, or re-occur, or never go away. Perhaps you will walk again. If you walk again, and the Doctors said you would never walk again, should you give a settlement refund to the lawyers?
Sorry but cars are not necks and backs. Please stop comparing apples and aircraft carriers.

I've given you multiple examples of problems that can creep up at a later date from a "repaired"
vehicle. There can be unknown problems that take time and age to manifest themselves. This is why the comparison is valid. From experience, I know that a repaired vehicle will likely take up more of my time in repairs and maintenance frequency (and severity/down time) than would otherwise have occurred.

ab348 · March 2018

Living where I do, with a powerful and activist teacher's union, and a hugely bureaucratic and fuzzy-thinking provincial (i.e. state) Dept. of Education, I find it a bit mind-boggling how someone can just decide to go into teaching as a job change. Up here you need a 4-year degree program just to get put on the list for substitute teaching, and if you do OK at that after 5 or 6 years you might get a crack at a staff job. But in order to advance you need a Masters in Education plus all sorts of continuing ed too. Teachers here start at just under $60K and top out at just below $100K a year, with great benefits and a pension. Of course the departmental bureaucrats make much more and that is where a lot of teachers decide to go after teaching for many years. It is a very odd situation where the teachers union essentially controls the system thanks in part to the preponderance of members working in the department.

roadburner · March 2018

jmonroe said:

roadburner said:
My wife was a substitute as my son's school for nearly a decade, she grew tired of dealing with the higher grades and when the Kindergarten Aide retired she applied and was hired. She much prefers herding cats to dealing with middle school and high school students. She's actually a Registered Dietitian, but unlike me there is zero chance that she will ever return to the field she majored in.
I've heard you mention before that your wife is a Registered Dietitian so you should be able to confirm what one of those told a group of us at a party I attended way back.

I'd say this was at least 35 years ago, while at a holiday party at a fellow employees home. For the record I was still pretty close to my fighting weight back then. As we were talking the subject of jobs came up. Specifically jobs that women seemed to have more than men and one of the engineers at the party thought he'd ask the wife of a fellow engineer, who was a Registered Dietitian, about the difference between a Dietitian and a Registered Dietitian. Her response was, "a Dietitian is a person who has tried several diets without much success but feels they can tell others how to lose weight whereas a Registered Dietitian found one that worked so they are now "qualified" to tell people how to eat healthy so that they can lose weight and feel better. Sorta like an engineer who relies more on empirical data not just what they read in books. You guys should be able to appreciate that". That sounded pretty good to me but I doubt that this woman was ever over weight. She reminded me of a person that always watched what she ate, even at parties. I would not have wanted to be one of her kids because she would have probably grabbed a candy bar from them at Halloween after 2 bites.

As I was wolfing down a couple Swedish meatballs and cocktail weenies she looked over at me and said, "you should go easy on that stuff you're eating otherwise you'll be coming to see someone like me in a few years". I hate people who can predict my future many years in advance. :@

jmonroe

To be a credentialed R.D. requires a college degree as well as keeping current by taking a minimum number of continuing education courses. And yes, the one thing that really gets under my wife's skin is how most anyone can advertise themselves as a "Nutritionist" with virtually no formal training.

28firefighter · March 2018

@roadburner - not sure if this was something more recent, but my wife also had to do a 1 year clinical internship before being able to sit for her registration exam.

jipster · March 2018

I have said it before, Diminished value is an unrealized loss that cannot be quantified until the vehicle is sold. Beyond that the longer you keep the vehicle and the more it depreciates the so call diminished value diminishes. So let me ask you this, if you get into an accident and you get $10K for diminished value and you keep the car for another 5, 6 or 7 years and when you trade it in you only realize $
The only way to do something like that is for the insurance company to take ownership of the car and write a check for the pre-accident value of the vehicle. Then fix it and sell it on the open market. If you keep the car then a fully repaired car has made you whole.
If you propose insurance companies "buy back" the repaired car in lieu of paying DV that's probably an acceptable fair option. Pretty much the same as totaling the vehicle, where they then have to sell the scrap or salvaged title. Only difference here is it might not have a salvaged title (but certainly a tarnished one). Would you propose if someone injects you with a deadly disease the amount of civil damages should be limited by how long you live? To me that sounds like bad faith for the sole purpose of delaying the claim amount until you die (so time of death is known fact).
Now you're comparing apples to aircraft carriers. Injecting someone with a deadly disease does diminish the quality of life once the symptoms start to take effect and shortens that persons life span. Once your car is fully repaired it does not shorten the life of the car nor does it diminish the quality of it.
Why must an asset be sold to determine it's value? Asset values are determined all the time through market research and estimates. How do you sell a totalled vehicle? How do you sell a burned down home?
Because something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Yes asset values are determined all the time through market research and (this is the key word) estimates. So unless the person who does the research and makes the estimate has a check in hand to buy that asset it is simply a guess. Oft times the guess is wrong. Case in point, many years ago my sister was moving and selling her house. A really nice house with a lot of upgrades. Her realtor (an expert) priced the house and listed the house for that amount. One day, maybe six months or so after the house was listed, she was talking about how the house wasn't selling. She had got some offers but nowhere near what the house was worth. I told her she was getting offers of what the house was worth because those with cash in had are not going to pay more than what they think the house is worth. And if many people give the same offer your realtor is wrong. I used to buy and sell antiques and collectibles and I very often see experts value something at say $3,000 and at an auction get a high bid of $500. I have also often seen an expert valuing something for a few hundred go for thousands. Now with many things we buy the thing we buy is 100% identical to every other one of that product so it is easy to say what the price is (as everyone pays nearly the same for it). But somethings are not that way, like houses and used cars. With houses simply being one lot over can change the value by thousands. With used cars it becomes difficult to find the exact same car, with the exact same miles in the exact same condition as time goes by. Now back to diminished value in a car. Suppose you get hit while driving your 2015 Buoyta Benz Sludgemobile. Now suppose take your car to an expert and he says that before the accident it was worth $25K and after it was fixed it was only worth $22K. So do you have $3K in diminished value? Maybe, then again maybe not. Now suppose I come along to buy the car and since it was in an accident I give you the $22K for the car feeling that is a reasonable value for that car after the accident. So did you have $3K in diminish value? Again maybe and maybe not as I may have been only willing to pay $24K for the car if it was never damaged. Or I may have been willing to pay $26K for the car prior to the accident. Now lets say that after the expert says its now only worth $22K but I say "Nope $21K". You say "it's worth $22K the expert told me".Guess what? I have 21,000 reasons why its only worth $21K, your expert has none. Now lets look at it from another perspective. You keep the car another 10 years and put another 175K miles on it. If the car had never been in the accident it would be worth $1K, so how can you claim $3K in diminished value?
According to your statement, we can't determine the value of anything basically. You can't sell what is lost or destroyed. Perhaps their is land value if you don't rebuild the home. Until the home is rebuilt, you have tremendous diminished value.
If you rebuild a home then it is an entirely new home and should have no diminished value. Just like the car you buy to replace a totaled car.
Snake, I'd like to take you with me when I protest the amount of my property valuation assessment !!

Good luck. I thought about challenging my property evaluation. Friend said it was extremely difficult to win such cases...can't fight city hall and all. Don't know if it's true or not. But, this know it all is usually right. ;-)

The Mercury Milan owner still has his car listed on Craigslist. The more I think about it the more I'm glad I didn't go $6,200. Glad he didn't take $6,000. Now dont know if I'd even pay that. The first offer is usually the best...no?

jipster · March 2018

Why are quotes of quotes of quotes of quotes, etc. etc. etc. included when I quote someone? Do I have to manually delete 100,000 characters...the length of the average jmonroe post, or is there an easier way to do it?

driver100 · March 2018

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:
@qbrozen, Good to hear you're on your way with the job thing. It has to feel good that you found something.

I doubt that I would have ever been allowed to teach, especially 5 th grade, since that was the worst 3 years of my life.

jmonroe
Did you get an F in composition.....stories are too long?
That was only half of it.

My command of grammar while using the English language put me in the slow lane. :@

jmonroe

In music we had the canaries, the sparrows, and the bears...I was always a bear and I wasn't allowed to sing

driver100 · March 2018

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:
.
Turns out you have to look at lumens not wattage.
I bought some 40 watt LED replacements that use only 4 watts and put out 2/3 of the lumens of the 6 watt LED's.

jmonroe,
Feel free to rewrite this in a longer version, so driver100 can get to sleep on time tonight.
Lumens, wattage, LED, halogen, voltage, and hours of usage..........I can't keep up....too many decisions to make.

Yeh, we'll get JMonroe to explain it and that should put us all to sleep.

Lol we think alike. I didn’t see your post before I posted mine.
I know - that happens. But we both forgot choices, daylight, ultra white light, soft light. Hard to even match lights any more.
Speaking of LED lights, I must have bought 10 or 12 LED flash lights in the last few years. I suppose the bulbs will last forever, but the darn flashlights simply quit working after a few months !

I love those little LED flashlights. I use one when I take Gigi for her last outing at 9 p.m. They can really shine a good distance....spotted Armadillos twice this year. Man, are they ugly and frightening. They do run away slowly, but they are big carriers of rabis...so I try to keep Gigi away from them. I haven't spotted an alligator on land yet, but I know they are in the ponds on the golf course about 50 yards away.

driver100 · March 2018

jipster said:
Why are quotes of quotes of quotes of quotes, etc. etc. etc. included when I quote someone? Do I have to manually delete 100,000 characters...the length of the average jmonroe post, or is there an easier way to do it?

My cursor ended up clicking on the wrong post...but while I am here.......it could take you many hours to delete a JMonroe post = my finger gets tired holding down the delete button.....we should get a bonus if we reply to him.

About the Fusion.....if you were willing to go $6000 why not throw $5400 out there. The guy might be ready to take it. It might be a great car, just not the glamour (chick magnet) car some people are looking for.

jmonroe · March 2018

jipster said:
Why are quotes of quotes of quotes of quotes, etc. etc. etc. included when I quote someone? Do I have to manually delete 100,000 characters...the length of the average jmonroe post, or is there an easier way to do it?

CAUTION: If you ever delete 100,000 characters that were mine, they'll be the best damn 100,000 characters you'll never see again. :@

jmonroe

tbirdmarco · March 2018

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wjPlZKBZhgE

ab348 · March 2018

jipster said:
Why are quotes of quotes of quotes of quotes, etc. etc. etc. included when I quote someone? Do I have to manually delete 100,000 characters...the length of the average jmonroe post, or is there an easier way to do it?

I just went to quote your long, long post and I got a clue, how about that?

Normally when you quote a post that several people replied to, in the text box where you type you will see a bunch of "blockquote" lines with the original poster's name next to it that are contained within angle brackets. On your long one with all the quoted text showing, none of those except yours had the original poster's name. They just said "blockquote" in between a set of angle brackets. I guess that makes it behave by showing the text.

Now as to why the original poster's names aren't there, I don't have a clue.

tbirdmarco · March 2018

Yes good meeting if that car I had a feeling it was still going to be on craigslist weeks later you made a good offer yes would pay less now are you look looking at any other cars for your son

explorerx4 · March 2018

@jipster,
Maybe you could have your son call and ask for the lady who is selling the car.

xwesx · March 2018

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:
@driver100,
I would have them look at a Durango or Tahoe. They have longer wheelbases than a JGC, close to a Q7 in overall size, a lot cheaper and proven drivetrains.
Thanks...I will definitely mention them explorer. They would be good comparisons. I think it would be a waste getting an X7 our Audi Q7....how much handling and feel of the road do you get towing a trailer?

I was going to try to get through the 250 or so posts since late Friday when I last checked here before responding, but I give up. I think y'all post faster than I read them!

Tow vehicle really depends on the size, weight and tongue weight of the trailer! For trailers you tow a lot, I recommend that you size your tow vehicle to trailer so that you aren't using more than about 75% of your tow rating. In general, vehicles can to far more than their rating, but the loads can start getting somewhat unruly/tedious when you approach or exceed the rating.

If you're looking at an RV trailer at maybe 20' - 25' and 5,000#, the Q7 or Touareg TDI is a fantastic choice. The drivetrain is smooth and powerful, and, if loaded properly, it pulls like the trailer is not even there. Add to this the bonus that fuel economy is substantially better than a gasoline engine (16-18 mpg while towing a large trailer is quite obtainable), and I'm not sure that you can go wrong here. Plus, they're incredibly comfortable (and handling is not even in the same league) for all those times when you're NOT pulling the trailer around. However, I am not a big fan of the space usage in the Q7 - otherwise, it is an enjoyable ride.

I agree, though, that the NOS units being sold as new are over-priced.

I was a little under 18 mpg on this 700-mile run from last March. I had the cruise set at 70 mph the whole way and hardly even noticed the trailer (darn mirrors, anyway!).

qbrozen · March 2018

ab348 said:

Living where I do, with a powerful and activist teacher's union, and a hugely bureaucratic and fuzzy-thinking provincial (i.e. state) Dept. of Education, I find it a bit mind-boggling how someone can just decide to go into teaching as a job change. Up here you need a 4-year degree program just to get put on the list for substitute teaching, and if you do OK at that after 5 or 6 years you might get a crack at a staff job. But in order to advance you need a Masters in Education plus all sorts of continuing ed too. Teachers here start at just under $60K and top out at just below $100K a year, with great benefits and a pension. Of course the departmental bureaucrats make much more and that is where a lot of teachers decide to go after teaching for many years. It is a very odd situation where the teachers union essentially controls the system thanks in part to the preponderance of members working in the department.

The part about a masters and continuing ed to really get anywhere is true here, too. But you can do that while teaching. If I succeed in getting my certification and getting a job, I'm then on a 2-yr trial, during which time I also have to complete a more formal education program. I think it is 300 hrs. After all of that, then I get an Advanced Standing cert. I don't really know what that means.

oldfarmer50 · March 2018

qbrozen said:
I don't know where I left y'all with the whole job situation. A few weeks ago, I started down the path to becoming a teacher. It would be a massive cut in salary for me but I feel like it will make me much happier. Long story short, I am registered to take the mandatory 50-hr course and will complete that in June. I am in talks with my home district about substituting, which you can apparently do with nothing more than a background check and interview. And I have taken a few practice certification tests and scored well above passing with zero preparation.

Meanwhile, an old coworker reached out to me on Thursday wondering if I'd be interested in being a freelance editor at his new company. I start tomorrow. Unfortunately, it means trekking to NYC twice a week for the next several weeks, but gotta do what ya gotta do. They are nice enough to agree to let me work from home the other days and probably more often after we are aquainted. It is certainly good money.

Back in 1990 I was considering the choice between becoming a sub teacher or a sub bus driver. I only needed about 9 credit hours of courses to get a teaching certificate added to my MSW. Then I took a look at the pay and realized the bus driver made more.

oldfarmer50 · March 2018

jipster said:

I have said it before, Diminished value is an unrealized loss that cannot be quantified until the vehicle is sold. Beyond that the longer you keep the vehicle and the more it depreciates the so call diminished value diminishes. So let me ask you this, if you get into an accident and you get $10K for diminished value and you keep the car for another 5, 6 or 7 years and when you trade it in you only realize $

The only way to do something like that is for the insurance company to take ownership of the car and write a check for the pre-accident value of the vehicle. Then fix it and sell it on the open market.

If you keep the car then a fully repaired car has made you whole.

If you propose insurance companies "buy back" the repaired car in lieu of paying DV that's probably an acceptable fair option. Pretty much the same as totaling the vehicle, where they then have to sell the scrap or salvaged title. Only difference here is it might not have a salvaged title (but certainly a tarnished one).

Would you propose if someone injects you with a deadly disease the amount of civil damages should be limited by how long you live? To me that sounds like bad faith for the sole purpose of delaying the claim amount until you die (so time of death is known fact).

Now you're comparing apples to aircraft carriers. Injecting someone with a deadly disease does diminish the quality of life once the symptoms start to take effect and shortens that persons life span. Once your car is fully repaired it does not shorten the life of the car nor does it diminish the quality of it.

Why must an asset be sold to determine it's value? Asset values are determined all the time through market research and estimates. How do you sell a totalled vehicle? How do you sell a burned down home?

Because something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Yes asset values are determined all the time through market research and (this is the key word) estimates. So unless the person who does the research and makes the estimate has a check in hand to buy that asset it is simply a guess. Oft times the guess is wrong.

Case in point, many years ago my sister was moving and selling her house. A really nice house with a lot of upgrades. Her realtor (an expert) priced the house and listed the house for that amount. One day, maybe six months or so after the house was listed, she was talking about how the house wasn't selling. She had got some offers but nowhere near what the house was worth. I told her she was getting offers of what the house was worth because those with cash in had are not going to pay more than what they think the house is worth. And if many people give the same offer your realtor is wrong.

I used to buy and sell antiques and collectibles and I very often see experts value something at say $3,000 and at an auction get a high bid of $500. I have also often seen an expert valuing something for a few hundred go for thousands.

Now with many things we buy the thing we buy is 100% identical to every other one of that product so it is easy to say what the price is (as everyone pays nearly the same for it). But somethings are not that way, like houses and used cars. With houses simply being one lot over can change the value by thousands. With used cars it becomes difficult to find the exact same car, with the exact same miles in the exact same condition as time goes by.

Now back to diminished value in a car. Suppose you get hit while driving your 2015 Buoyta Benz Sludgemobile. Now suppose take your car to an expert and he says that before the accident it was worth $25K and after it was fixed it was only worth $22K. So do you have $3K in diminished value? Maybe, then again maybe not.

Now suppose I come along to buy the car and since it was in an accident I give you the $22K for the car feeling that is a reasonable value for that car after the accident. So did you have $3K in diminish value? Again maybe and maybe not as I may have been only willing to pay $24K for the car if it was never damaged. Or I may have been willing to pay $26K for the car prior to the accident.

Now lets say that after the expert says its now only worth $22K but I say "Nope $21K". You say "it's worth $22K the expert told me".Guess what? I have 21,000 reasons why its only worth $21K, your expert has none.

Now lets look at it from another perspective. You keep the car another 10 years and put another 175K miles on it. If the car had never been in the accident it would be worth $1K, so how can you claim $3K in diminished value?

According to your statement, we can't determine the value of anything basically. You can't sell what is lost or destroyed. Perhaps their is land value if you don't rebuild the home. Until the home is rebuilt, you have tremendous diminished value.

If you rebuild a home then it is an entirely new home and should have no diminished value. Just like the car you buy to replace a totaled car.
Snake, I'd like to take you with me when I protest the amount of my property valuation assessment !!

Good luck. I thought about challenging my property evaluation. Friend said it was extremely difficult to win such cases...can't fight city hall and all. Don't know if it's true or not. But, this know it all is usually right. ;-)

The Mercury Milan owner still has his car listed on Craigslist. The more I think about it the more I'm glad I didn't go $6,200. Glad he didn't take $6,000. Now dont know if I'd even pay that. The first offer is usually the best...no?

Yikes! Buyers remorse before you even buy? Remember, scared money don't win.

oldfarmer50 · March 2018

Great day at work. Got to drive many models I never drove before. The best was an Infinity Q 60 AWD 3.0t. Man, that car is seriously fast. Does AWD give a more torquey feel? It really threw you back went you stepped on it.

xwesx · March 2018

oldfarmer50 said:
Great day at work. Got to drive many models I never drove before. The best was an Infinity Q 60 AWD 3.0t. Man, that car is seriously fast. Does AWD give a more torquey feel? It really threw you back went you stepped on it.

Well, if the alternative was spinning tires (without the AWD), then, yes, it does!

explorerx4 · March 2018

AWD puts the power down starting from a standstill.

ab348 · March 2018

I had to look up what an Infiniti Q60 was - I thought at first it was a SUV - because their names are always a mystery to me.

explorerx4 · March 2018

I thought I had some ceiling paint, but it was a satin finish. No good.
Went to the store and am looking at a bunch of ceiling paint.
They have a choice of colors like purple and pink. Huh?
Looking closer, they all 'Ultra Bright White'.
Turns out they have paint that goes on one color and dries white, that way you don't miss any spots.
That's progress!

qbrozen · March 2018

oldfarmer50 said:

I don't know where I left y'all with the whole job situation. A few weeks ago, I started down the path to becoming a teacher. It would be a massive cut in salary for me but I feel like it will make me much happier. Long story short, I am registered to take the mandatory 50-hr course and will complete that in June. I am in talks with my home district about substituting, which you can apparently do with nothing more than a background check and interview. And I have taken a few practice certification tests and scored well above passing with zero preparation.

Meanwhile, an old coworker reached out to me on Thursday wondering if I'd be interested in being a freelance editor at his new company. I start tomorrow. Unfortunately, it means trekking to NYC twice a week for the next several weeks, but gotta do what ya gotta do. They are nice enough to agree to let me work from home the other days and probably more often after we are aquainted. It is certainly good money.
Back in 1990 I was considering the choice between becoming a sub teacher or a sub bus driver. I only needed about 9 credit hours of courses to get a teaching certificate added to my MSW. Then I took a look at the pay and realized the bus driver made more.

I wish that was the case here because they are looking for sub drivers. But the pay is a little over $10/hr.

driver100 · March 2018

"xwesx">>
Tow vehicle really depends on the size, weight and tongue weight of the trailer! For trailers you tow a lot, I recommend that you size your tow vehicle to trailer so that you aren't using more than about 75% of your tow

I was a little under 18 mpg on this 700-mile run from last March. I had the cruise set at 70 mph the whole way and hardly even noticed the trailer (darn mirrors, anyway!).

Good info XWESX. I talked to my brother and I think he decided. I'll try to write more tomorrow. He lives in Alberta, but if he buys a trailer and a 2017 JEEP Overland with V8 and tow backage and everything...12000 miles on it in Ontario he will save about $10000.

26 ft trailer, 3000 pounds, and the JEEP will tow I believe double that.....have to check. Try to do more tomorrow.

andres3 · March 2018

oldfarmer50 said:
Great day at work. Got to drive many models I never drove before. The best was an Infinity Q 60 AWD 3.0t. Man, that car is seriously fast. Does AWD give a more torquey feel? It really threw you back went you stepped on it.

I drove the RWD Stinger today and it had nice throw you back torque, and the Michelin tires gripped well.

It was brand new so still in break-in mode. The mid-range was better than the top end though power wise.

Turbo V6's (or supercharged) have a ton of torque.

iluvmysephia1 · March 2018

Good luck QB, you have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Changing jobs and careers frequently is becoming the new normal....I was ahead of my time (as usual ).

Don't I know. I changed again, AAMOF, guys! We're back in little 'ole Alamogordo, NM, at my old job. Same exact job I had in Wenatchee, WA, but man, I was dying at that job. It's the way they require you to document what you see on your study every half hour - it took my 10 minutes per patient and we pert-near always had two patients - like most Sleep Tech's have per night.

Well, I lived in Manson, WA, about an hour and 15 minutes north. With being tired at 7:30AM and driving back, I would have to stop in Entiat and sleep at the City Park.

OK, fine, but when it happens almost every day after working overnight, it gets old. Once I clipped a snow marker and another time I plowed into a snow pile and back out, no damage done to my '11 Kia Soul, just woke me up to trouble brewing for keeping this job. Trouble was, rents and mortgages are so high even in Wenatchee, Rock Island, Entiat, Leavenworth (name an oakie eastern War-shington town) that once our lease expired in mid-May and we had to re-up on a rental, we'd be up against it again.

So, one day an e-mail popped into my inbox from the same job recruiter that got me the Alamogordo hospital job in January of 2013.

"Hey, could you tell me what New Mexico city you're advertising for?"

"Same one you worked at last time, iluv!"

"Could you ask them if they'd like to talk to me again?"

"sure."

Long jmonroe story short - I got the job! And what's more - the hospital agreed to pay off the remaining amount of our lease, which was $4,200! And they reimbursed me (haven't got the money yet, s/b next paycheck) for our travel expenses. And, they're putting us up in a nice apartment in Alamo for free until we can locate a rental house or buy our own. We're thinking we want to buy a house of our own again. So we have an offer in on one and we're awaiting a flood elevation report for insurance. The house we picked out is primo but it's 21 years old and has it's original RUUD A/C and it's original roof.

So we've been here for about a month and I'm now licensed again in New Mexico. That's another short story that I can sum up easily - when you move around a lot, you lose papers! I couldn't find my South Dakota license copy. But that's done, I'm licensed and I am busy re-learning things and learning more things and...yep. I'm busy. I have kept up with all of yer all posts since I was posting from Washington more frequently.

We like the desert southwest and I have 6 1/2 years of work left if I plan in retiring at 65 (or do they require you ta go to 66 years and 10 months now?) and 3 1/2 if I stop at 62. I'd love ta stop at 62 and I'll try and figure out how, but more and more it looks like it'll be 65. But that's why we're thinking of buying here and just retiring here - we like this little peaceful southern New Mexico town. I finally decided it was time to pop back on here and do a freshen-up. Things seem mostly the same in here, really.

andres3 · March 2018

Speaking of the Optima:

After the 15/18K mile service I just got:

Oil change
Alignment
Fuel System and Induction Cleaning Service
Cabin Air Filter

The car definitely rides smoother and straighter and with less vibration. Amazing how things that deteriorate over time can be missed or ignored but I definitely noticed it when fixed.

Front left was within spec for all 3 measurements.

Front right had the toe go from - 0.13 to -0.02 (spec is -.10 to 0.10)
Rear left camber went from -1.6 to -1.0 (spec is -1.5 to - 0.5)
Rear left toe went from -0.22 to 0.08 (spec is - 0.02 to 0.19)
Rear right camber went from -1.6 to -0.9 (spec is -1.5 to -0.5)
Rear right toe went from -0.03 to 0.09 (spec is -0.02 to 0.19)

Finally Front Total Toe was -0.22 and went to -0.01 (spec is -0.2 to 0.20)
Rear Total Toe was -0.25 and went to 0.17 (spec is -0.03 to 0.37)

oldfarmer50 · March 2018

nyccarguy said:
My 11 year old son & his Pee Wee hockey team won the state championship tonight! Wow! What an amazing run!

Belated congrats on your win. It's amazing how the acomplishments of our kids are more rewarding than our own.

venture · March 2018

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:
I don't know where I left y'all with the whole job situation. A few weeks ago, I started down the path to becoming a teacher. It would be a massive cut in salary for me but I feel like it will make me much happier. Long story short, I am registered to take the mandatory 50-hr course and will complete that in June. I am in talks with my home district about substituting, which you can apparently do with nothing more than a background check and interview. And I have taken a few practice certification tests and scored well above passing with zero preparation.

Meanwhile, an old coworker reached out to me on Thursday wondering if I'd be interested in being a freelance editor at his new company. I start tomorrow. Unfortunately, it means trekking to NYC twice a week for the next several weeks, but gotta do what ya gotta do. They are nice enough to agree to let me work from home the other days and probably more often after we are aquainted. It is certainly good money.
Back in 1990 I was considering the choice between becoming a sub teacher or a sub bus driver. I only needed about 9 credit hours of courses to get a teaching certificate added to my MSW. Then I took a look at the pay and realized the bus driver made more.

I can't think of an other profession that requires so much formal education yet pays so poorly.

venture · March 2018

explorerx4 said:
I thought I had some ceiling paint, but it was a satin finish. No good.
Went to the store and am looking at a bunch of ceiling paint.
They have a choice of colors like purple and pink. Huh?
Looking closer, they all 'Ultra Bright White'.
Turns out they have paint that goes on one color and dries white, that way you don't miss any spots.
That's progress!

Good luck with that. Maybe I paint slow, but it usually turns white before I can tell if I missed a spot after putting more paint on the roller.

ab348 · March 2018

explorerx4 said:
I thought I had some ceiling paint, but it was a satin finish. No good.

I thought most ceiling paints were satin, i.e. flat?

driver100 · March 2018

iluv, great to hear from you. Sometimes you need to try something different, to find out what is really important to you. It looks like you are on the right path now. Good luck....enjoy!

ab348 · March 2018

Hey, @iluvmysephia1 , nice to hear from you! You keep moving around but this one sounds like a better fit. Hope everything works out well.

driver100 · March 2018

venture said:

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:
I don't know where I left y'all with the whole job situation. A few weeks ago, I started down the path to becoming a teacher. It would be a massive cut in salary for me but I feel like it will make me much happier. Long story short, I am registered to take the mandatory 50-hr course and will complete that in June. I am in talks with my home district about substituting, which you can apparently do with nothing more than a background check and interview. And I have taken a few practice certification tests and scored well above passing with zero preparation.

Meanwhile, an old coworker reached out to me on Thursday wondering if I'd be interested in being a freelance editor at his new company. I start tomorrow. Unfortunately, it means trekking to NYC twice a week for the next several weeks, but gotta do what ya gotta do. They are nice enough to agree to let me work from home the other days and probably more often after we are aquainted. It is certainly good money.
Back in 1990 I was considering the choice between becoming a sub teacher or a sub bus driver. I only needed about 9 credit hours of courses to get a teaching certificate added to my MSW. Then I took a look at the pay and realized the bus driver made more.
I can't think of an other profession that requires so much formal education yet pays so poorly.

When I graduated as an elementary school teacher my favorite instructor said he left the teaching biz to sell text books....and that was a better job than teaching. He said most teachers last about 3 years, so be prepared to change jobs......it isn't for everyone. Some people absolutely love it, others don't, and it depends a lot on where you end up teaching and the kind of students you get. Not as easy and glamorous as it sounds.

driver100 · March 2018

In brief, I was surprised, my brother made some quick decisions. He found the Durango too big, and he likes the whole JEEP idea, and I agree. There aren't many V8s around, so he found a 2017 with 12k miles on it in Ontario.

The trailer is 4000 pounds (I think I said 300 yesterday) and is 26 feet. It is a Vintage model so it looks like a trailer from the 50s. I would have wanted a modern look, I think you may get tired of the 50s look.

He has thought it through pretty well and it seems like the right move for him. The JEEP he will love, and he can try the trailer life and if it works great, if not he will sell it but he is OK with that.

I like the JEEP, it is the one D3 car I would really consider. Interior is really nice, brown seats with dark blue;

stickguy · March 2018

snazzy looking Jeep. That should be able to handle the trailer no problem.

fintail · March 2018

Nice to see you, iluv. I know the Wenatchee area is becoming popular for affluent boomer new retirees, so the market there for normal people is probably becoming ruined too. You'd have to go a bit more to the east for things to become reasonable.

Regarding alignments, with the crumbling not-exactly-first-world quality of roads in this great land, we'll probably come to the point where they are yearly maintenance. I live in a mild climate, and some of the road surfaces here are shameful.

stickguy · March 2018

interesting Iluv. But sounds like a good move. Nice to retire somewhere warm too, and cheaper is definitely better. That part of NM, is it desert, or up in the hills? I assume you are not getting any more use out of your new snow tires!

Good luck with the house hunt.

So, same hospital, same job? They could have saved a lot of money just keeping you in the first place!

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