Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

bryan · May 2019

qbrozen said:

bryan said:
Just back from test driving the XTS. Very nice car. I could see myself cruising the highways in that car!

Salesman went over the CarFax with me; appears to be private one-owner; I pointed out the fact that the car had been in their possession since November 18, 2018, and had yet to sell. So...

I offered $31K before tax and tags and $799! processing fee. Salesman didn't flinch, but said he doubted the Sales Manager would bite. He didn't. Came back with no counter. Just gave me a spiel about how they price cars, etc. I told him I'd done my research and felt $31K was fair offer to start with. He went back to the Sales Manager.

Came back with $1K off their price IF I was willing to drop the Certification. It's a very nice car. I would like to have this car, but it's not a need. I'll continue my quest.

He said he would call me if there was any movement on this car. Or if he came across another XTS he thought I might like. I thanked him for his time.

So I said $33k would be fair, and they offered it for $32.6k but you walked?
hmmmm...

I do appreciate your advice. Thank you. And I strongly considered your advice along with that from other posters who also weighed in. And thanks to them too!

I don't have access to actual auction transactions. Except for what I'm able to glean here and elsewhere. And I recognize that dealers need to make some $$$ to stay in business. And I thought my offer to be a good starting point for negotiations, especially compared to other 2018 XTS Luxury models I considered with no options, like this particular car.

Since the car had been on their lot since November 2018, I thought they might be willing to negotiate. It appears I may have been wrong. And that's okay.

The $1K drop in price was contingent upon me agreeing to purchase without the Certified Pre-Owned warranty. And let's not forget the additional $799 non-negotiable processing fee.

So, IMO, he offered me a $201 discount and NO CPO warranty. Since I normally keep my cars 6-7 years, that CPO warranty, if I purchased it separately, would most likely cost me more than $1K for 6 years/100,000 miles of coverage. And I'm sure the dealer doesn't pay anywhere near what I as a consumer would pay for the same coverage CPO. So I'm not seeing that the dealer's counter offer was any great shakes. So yeah, I walked.

Again, thanks for taking time to provide your sage advice. I sincerely appreciate it.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Brian welcome to the group, I don’t think I’ve ever seen postings from you before this is an awesome group of people in here were all like another family. And thanks for keeping us updated on your Cadillac XTS looking, if this one doesn’t work out I know he’ll find one eventually the work out that you’re happy with or another make and model of car.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Proud, thanks for the update on what’s going on with your housing situation good luck and keep us updated and when you close on the new house next month.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Went on an interview on Monday at a local Nissan dealership, the woman was nice and all, but I think again my visual impairment keeps getting in the way it seems like an every job interview I go on send the way society is, just venting guys but have to stay positive and keep at it, I called the woman today to follow up because she never called me yesterday but she promised she would, she said oh there were some complications I still have to talk with the guy that she wanted me to come in for the second interview with, so we shall see, keeping my fingers crossed. I still job searching.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Send man sorry to hear about the issues you had with the refrigerator breaking, glad you got a new one though I’ll be getting it tomorrow.

xwesx · May 2019

au1994 said:
Let’s see...house was built in 02 and the dishwasher, oven and microwave are original. I replaced the electric cooktop with gas back in 14 and bought a new fridge in 13 when I moved in. So like you, fully expect the original appliances to crap out any minute!

The really scary one is that we are still on the original hot water heater.

As long as you keep the anode rod replaced (I replace mine once every two years), there's no reason it shouldn't last a long, long time.

bryan · May 2019

marcogallo1986 said:
Brian welcome to the group, I don’t think I’ve ever seen postings from you before this is an awesome group of people in here were all like another family. And thanks for keeping us updated on your Cadillac XTS looking, if this one doesn’t work out I know he’ll find one eventually the work out that you’re happy with or another make and model of car.

Thank you Marco. I appreciate your warm welcome.

I'm in no hurry for a car; I've got four in my fleet now! It'll work out when it's meant to be.

corvette · May 2019

xwesx said:

As long as you keep the anode rod replaced (I replace mine once every two years), there's no reason it shouldn't last a long, long time.

Seems a bit extreme... Do you have hard water? I try to drain my water heater once or twice a year. My old house still had its original 1994 water heater (and original anode rod) when I sold it in 2015. I think my current water heater is a 2008-ish model.

qbrozen · May 2019

bryan said:

Just back from test driving the XTS. Very nice car. I could see myself cruising the highways in that car! Salesman went over the CarFax with me; appears to be private one-owner; I pointed out the fact that the car had been in their possession since November 18, 2018, and had yet to sell. So... I offered $31K before tax and tags and $799! processing fee. Salesman didn't flinch, but said he doubted the Sales Manager would bite. He didn't. Came back with no counter. Just gave me a spiel about how they price cars, etc. I told him I'd done my research and felt $31K was fair offer to start with. He went back to the Sales Manager. Came back with $1K off their price IF I was willing to drop the Certification. It's a very nice car. I would like to have this car, but it's not a need. I'll continue my quest. He said he would call me if there was any movement on this car. Or if he came across another XTS he thought I might like. I thanked him for his time.
So I said $33k would be fair, and they offered it for $32.6k but you walked? hmmmm...
I do appreciate your advice. Thank you. And I strongly considered your advice along with that from other posters who also weighed in. And thanks to them too! I don't have access to actual auction transactions. Except for what I'm able to glean here and elsewhere. And I recognize that dealers need to make some $$$ to stay in business. And I thought my offer to be a good starting point for negotiations, especially compared to other 2018 XTS Luxury models I considered with no options, like this particular car. Since the car had been on their lot since November 2018, I thought they might be willing to negotiate. It appears I may have been wrong. And that's okay. The $1K drop in price was contingent upon me agreeing to purchase without the Certified Pre-Owned warranty. And let's not forget the additional $799 non-negotiable processing fee. So, IMO, he offered me a $201 discount and NO CPO warranty. Since I normally keep my cars 6-7 years, that CPO warranty, if I purchased it separately, would most likely cost me more than $1K for 6 years/100,000 miles of coverage. And I'm sure the dealer doesn't pay anywhere near what I as a consumer would pay for the same coverage CPO. So I'm not seeing that the dealer's counter offer was any great shakes. So yeah, I walked. Again, thanks for taking time to provide your sage advice. I sincerely appreciate it.

Its cool.
and, you are right, I would not take it without the CPO. I probably, however, would have simply countered I would take their offer of $32.6k but WITH the CPO. Their fee is absurd, but if I figure $33k is fair, then that makes it, essentially, $33k plus a more reasonable $399 fee.

roadburner · May 2019

bryan said:

Just back from test driving the XTS. Very nice car. I could see myself cruising the highways in that car! Salesman went over the CarFax with me; appears to be private one-owner; I pointed out the fact that the car had been in their possession since November 18, 2018, and had yet to sell. So... I offered $31K before tax and tags and $799! processing fee. Salesman didn't flinch, but said he doubted the Sales Manager would bite. He didn't. Came back with no counter. Just gave me a spiel about how they price cars, etc. I told him I'd done my research and felt $31K was fair offer to start with. He went back to the Sales Manager. Came back with $1K off their price IF I was willing to drop the Certification. It's a very nice car. I would like to have this car, but it's not a need. I'll continue my quest. He said he would call me if there was any movement on this car. Or if he came across another XTS he thought I might like. I thanked him for his time.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XPY5P0TaC4k

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

You are welcome Brian, and yes when it’s meant to be the white car will come along, I noticed no it like everything else in life pretty much. Yes you have a nice size 32 at the moment.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

At Ryan, just so you know, I am visually impaired, and I use the voice dictation on my phone all the time, and as you can see from the above, it’s definitely not perfect at all. So we will get a laugh and hear from it.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Hope that everyone had a good week in here, happy Friday everybody. Hoping to get out in the Thunderbird it’s been sitting for three weeks I haven’t had anyone to drive it for me stinks because if were up to me would be driving it at least once or twice a week. Hopefully next week will have somebody. But unfortunately a lot of my family is scared to even touch it I don’t know why.

graphicguy · May 2019

@bryan .....WOW....They’ve had the car on their lot for 5+ months and won’t even consider your offer? Something else is amiss. I would tell the dealer that. “Either your price is way off, or you’re fond of keeping cars on your lot for months and months at a time. It ain’t going up in value the longer it sits”.

But, as you said, it’s not something you actually have to have. Heck, the ‘20s are now coming out. That XTS is now a 2 MY old car.

corvette · May 2019

Charlie Munger has spoken a lot about how people respond to incentives. I would bet the sales force is not sufficiently incentivized to discount and move stale inventory.

nyccarguy · May 2019

corvette said:
Charlie Munger has spoken a lot about how people respond to incentives. I would bet the sales force is not sufficiently incentivized to discount and move stale inventory.

Right. If it is not a "big profit" used car, then the sales manager might not want to move it. Lots of sales people get paid on the amount of units they move, whereas a manager gets paid on how much profit he makes for the dealership. If he's going to sell it skinny or "lose" money (HA!) on the deal, it might be better for the manager to let the car sit and go back to auction.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2019

kyfdx said:
Told my wife that I'm putting it in the great room, where I have 12 foot ceilings.
She is all for it...

Didn't North Korea just fire off one of those?

henryn · May 2019

nyccarguy said:

corvette said:
Charlie Munger has spoken a lot about how people respond to incentives. I would bet the sales force is not sufficiently incentivized to discount and move stale inventory.
Right. If it is not a "big profit" used car, then the sales manager might not want to move it. Lots of sales people get paid on the amount of units they move, whereas a manager gets paid on how much profit he makes for the dealership. If he's going to sell it skinny or "lose" money (HA!) on the deal, it might be better for the manager to let the car sit and go back to auction.

I expect you’re right. I have seen some used car and new car sales managers make some very non-logical decisions, or at least their decisions appeared that way to me. Like the man said, “Walk away and no one gets hurt.”

carnaught · May 2019

@bryan, I agree with your walking away from that deal and wouldn’t be surprised if you got a call back from the dealer with a compromise. If not, so be it.

roadburner · May 2019

More than once I’ve been told that a price is as low as they can go only for them to call back a few days later offering to meet my offer.

xwesx · May 2019

corvette said:

xwesx said:

As long as you keep the anode rod replaced (I replace mine once every two years), there's no reason it shouldn't last a long, long time.
Seems a bit extreme... Do you have hard water? I try to drain my water heater once or twice a year. My old house still had its original 1994 water heater (and original anode rod) when I sold it in 2015. I think my current water heater is a 2008-ish model.

It's a good place to start. If the rod looks like it has very little corrosion after that time, then you can scale back the timing for the next change and gauge again after that point. For me, after two years the rods are heavily corroded. They would probably, technically, last another year, maybe two, but even at two years they are constantly shedding a significant amount of debris.

I took a photo of my last change out, to compare new to after two years in the tank. If I think about it, I'll share here when I have access.

Anyhow, the rods are cheap insurance and incredibly easy to replace. If my $1,500 unit is going to fail, it is not going to be a result of me neglecting it.

xwesx · May 2019

This may be the quietest day in CCBA's history. I dropped in here a full six hours after last check, and no posts! I hope that means everyone is on the front end of a fabulous weekend!

Just popping in to say.... I bought a car yesterday.

Yeah, sorta spaced that one. 2009 Ford Focus SE sedan, about 135K miles, manual everything. While I half want to keep it as a kid car, I bought this one to fix up and give to a friend of mine. I'm trying to sell my Q7, so I want to get my 2008 Forester back from him as my DD once the Q7 goes.

I grabbed the Focus from another friend who is moving out of state, and bought it dirt cheap, so I think this will be a good gift and set me up to move seamlessly from my current daily. I won't have it in hand until the end of the month, but I paid for it yesterday, so it counts. I don't contribute to our annual totals with flair, but I still do my part once in a while.

qbrozen · May 2019

Oh dear! My 2018 BMW with 6k miles is coming to the end of its complimentary service life! In what? Only 3.5 more years... or 2 yrs past my lease term!

xwesx · May 2019

qbrozen said:
Oh dear! My 2018 BMW with 6k miles is coming to the end of its complimentary service life! In what? Only 3.5 more years... or 2 yrs past my lease term!

"It is my professional opinion that now is the time to....

PANIC!!!!!!"

roadburner · May 2019

@nyccarguy Car and Driver Prelude SH Road Test

pensfan83 · May 2019

I'd be fretting more over those 34 unread emails!

qbrozen · May 2019

pensfan83 said:

I'd be fretting more over those 34 unread emails!

You should see my work account! ;b

28firefighter · May 2019

I go to inbox zero every by the end of every week. I can’t deal with unread email. Makes my head explode.

corvette · May 2019

28firefighter said:
I go to inbox zero every by the end of every week. I can’t deal with unread email. Makes my head explode.

Pretty much the same here. I keep maybe 4-5 emails in my inbox as reminders (Amazon orders I haven't received yet, etc.). My dad doesn't archive his Gmail and it drives me crazy every time I have the misfortune of seeing it.

corvette · May 2019

For those curious, here's the 2019 punch list so far:
2019 punch list (total 10):
01/15/19 jp755 2008 Volvo C30 55k
01/28/19 laurasdada’s GF 2019 Mazda CX-5
02/18/19 Sandman6472’s daughter 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier
02/26/19 sda’s sister 2019 Acura RDX Advance
02/26/19 sda’s daughter 2006 Acura TL Navi (xxxk)
03/22/19 coldinohio 2017 Porsche Macan CPO V6 xxk
03/31/19 fintail 2019 Mercedes E450 4Matic wagon (lease)
04/05/19 jmonroe 2018 Subaru Legacy 3.6R 7k
04/23/19 tifighter 2018 Tesla Model X Performance 2k (demo)
05/17/19 xwesx 2009 Ford Focus SE sedan 135k (manual everything)

Looks like a slow year. breld, where are you?

suydam · May 2019

Well, I will have to do something before my lease is up in December.

28firefighter · May 2019

We will have a punch sometime in the last quarter. Lease on the X1 will be up.

tjc78 · May 2019

28firefighter said:
We will have a punch sometime in the last quarter. Lease on the X1 will be up.

Me too by Nov 6th

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Congratulations Wezst On the punch.

fintail · May 2019

Good luck with the Focus @xwesx , you're a good guy for doing that.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Have to check my email at least once a day. Both my AOL and Gmail account, which my Gmail account isn’t much just job please come every day from Indeed. And stuff from the Department of labor. Almost done dealing with them in about a month with her have a job or not, I think I’ll be able to extend it past six months what are you tell me. But I want you to keep your search history for year doesn’t make sense.

nyccarguy · May 2019

roadburner said:

@nyccarguy Car and Driver Prelude SH Road Test

I saw that earlier today! Thanks for posting! Did you read what they said about the steering? Quite the compliment for my special little car.

ab348 · May 2019

roadburner said:
@nyccarguy Car and Driver Prelude SH Road Test

It’s amazing how far cars have come in 20 years.

roadburner · May 2019

nyccarguy said:

roadburner said:

@nyccarguy Car and Driver Prelude SH Road Test

I saw that earlier today! Thanks for posting! Did you read what they said about the steering? Quite the compliment for my special little car.

It's a great car- both then and now.

pensfan83 · May 2019

It really is. I can't think of much else I would be as happy with for what I spent.

laurasdada · May 2019

Possible punch for the boy if he gets his summer internship. And, it's determined that he "needs" a car. But, likely the punch won't be sexy. Unless I decide to invoke the "Bad Midlife Crisis Plan!"

fintail · May 2019

Funny, a midlife crisis car might not always be sexy. I have those feelings now and then, and I went out and got a MB station wagon

(then again, to me, it is a very desirable car).

We'll see if real midlife crisis mode hits in a little over 2.5 years, when replacement time is here.

henryn · May 2019

Midlife crisis is so far in the past I don't really remember it. Witness the fact that my DD is a minivan.

ab348 · May 2019

My car buddies and I always used to talk about what kind of cars we'd have if we didn't have a daily commute, family responsibilities, etc. Now that we are all retired we are all over the map. My buddy who moved to the country has his collection of collectible cars, but his driver is a GMC Canyon pickup. Another guy bought a Camaro convertible. I have the ATS which is only slightly more practical. Yet another drives a mid-00s Caddy sedan. Different strokes I guess.

henryn · May 2019

corvette said:
For those curious, here's the 2019 punch list so far:
2019 punch list (total 10):
01/15/19 jp755 2008 Volvo C30 55k
01/28/19 laurasdada’s GF 2019 Mazda CX-5
02/18/19 Sandman6472’s daughter 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier
02/26/19 sda’s sister 2019 Acura RDX Advance
02/26/19 sda’s daughter 2006 Acura TL Navi (xxxk)
03/22/19 coldinohio 2017 Porsche Macan CPO V6 xxk
03/31/19 fintail 2019 Mercedes E450 4Matic wagon (lease)
04/05/19 jmonroe 2018 Subaru Legacy 3.6R 7k
04/23/19 tifighter 2018 Tesla Model X Performance 2k (demo)
05/17/19 xwesx 2009 Ford Focus SE sedan 135k (manual everything)

Looks like a slow year. breld, where are you?

We are off to a slow start this year. Can you also post everyone's guesses on our total number for this year?

I may not have a punch this year. I like my 2 present vehicles, no desire to replace either one. I do, from time to time, consider adding YAV (yet another vehicle) but I still can't figure out where I would park it, so ...

tjc78 · May 2019

I don’t see us hitting our punch count this year. I believe there were guesses in the high 30s/low 40s

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

AWG348 hope am trying to pronounce your name correctly, that’s OK to be over the map with the cars we would like Ha ha ha. So many choices out there.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

Hopefully the punch list will pick up soon, we need to replace all the cars in his sleep already long overdue.g hopefully the punch list will pick up soon, we need to replace all the cars in his sleep already long overdue.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

What is we need Breld. To replace all the cars in his sleep now ha ha Ha I guess after he settled with his new house that he will.

marcogallo1986 · May 2019

So the punches will pick up. At the end of the year! Hoping. My dad will be on the list with an new car!

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