Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

imidazol97 · April 2020

Thinking of ordering masks as the White House committee recommends now?

Be careful. I ordered a 5 pack of masks KN95 on Amazon many weeks ago apparently from a China company.
When checking on shipping, I noticed a couple of new evaluations of the company had complains that instead of the 20 in the picture, they received a package of 3.
The company responded to one person saying, "Is there something wrong with you?" LOL

So I wasn't real surprised today when I found I got a package of 3 when the text in the ad said 5 and the picture said 20 in small print.

We'll see how Amazon resolves this. Oh, the listing for the product from the company going under the name Oraler at that time was gone about halfway through my shipping wait. It's like buying a used car. But I'll buy from US sources only from now on.

bwia · April 2020

Top ten money losing cars.

cribbed this from Quora. Sorry a little long but a quick read

The average automobiles in the US lose more than 50% of their value only in the first five years of exploitation.

10. Chevrolet Impala

The Impala loses 66.2% of its value during the first five years of usage.
This vehicle is often used for car rental which leads to excessive offering five years after production.

9. Jaguar XJL

Like most of the other luxury brands, it loses a lot of its initial value only the first five years.

To be more specific - 66.4%.
Usually, luxury cars lose a lot of their value during the first 3 to 5 years because most of them are bought through leasing and the moment the leasing is over, most of them are flooding the markets.

8. Mercedes E - Class

Even with a huge drop in the initial price - 67.2%, this is not the worst contender in its category.
Further, the decreasing popularity of the diesel engines also helps the falling aftermarket prices.

7. BMW 5-Series

With slightly more - 67.3% is the depreciation of the 5-Series...

6. BMW 6-Series

The depreciation of this model is 68.3%.
It seems that this luxury car is not among the favorite of second-hand car buyers and that also puts the price down after the first five years.

5. Ford Fusion Energi

One of the few American models which are in the list. The depreciation is impressive - 69.4%

4. Mercedes Benz S-Class

The depreciation of this model is close to 70%, to be more precise 69.9%.

3. BMW 7-Series

The depreciation of the 7-Series is crossing the psychological boundary of 70% to reach 71.1%.

2. Chevrolet Volt

This model made a real revolution in the world of cars at the time.
But it seems the competition was faster in making more beautiful and functional all-electric cars with one exception which you'll see below!

The loss of value for the Volt in the first five years is 71.2%.

1. Nissan Leaf

The first place is taken by another all-electric vehicle which loses the impressive 71.7% during the first 5 years.

omarman · April 2020

Making your own face mask is a good option. Still have to be careful though.

stickguy · April 2020

tjc78 said:
We are thinking about it. We could really use new front steps and walkway so wondering if we should just turn it into a nice front porch and use pots with annuals to add color.

Biggest problem is we are in the beginning stages of discussing dumping this house. It’s over improved for the neighborhood and will never be what we want it. So... once I’m settled in a new
job for a little while we may think about moving.

In other words, we don’t want to put more money into it we won’t get out. I can probably clean up the mess I made with some landscaping stones, a few cheap bushes and mulch for not much money.

We should have never put the addition on and did all the new HVAC, etc. We should have moved then.

Yeah, usually that is the answer if there isn’t an overwhelming reason why that neighborhood or house is important. Assuming the house itself does not lend itself to the upgrade, and most importantly, you don’t overdo relative to neighbors. But, hopefully it works out.

I got a nice 4 bedroom colonial I can make you a sweet deal on. Even has a pool. Basement rec room. Bathrooms just painted! High end school district. Can even walk to the speed line! 2 car garage.

oldfarmer50 · April 2020

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:
Driver, it is not about saving the owner money. It is saving the company money by making it possible to meet the cafe standards. though those seem to be going away soon. Plus most makers are more concerned about the short term (advertising better MPG) and not the down the road part when it costs the owner more to repair or replace.
They sell STOP/START as if it is going to save you money. The GLK has it all the time, on the E400 I turn it off as soon as I start the car. I mentioned it as a rip off because once again the government mandates CAFE standards for the car makers to meet, so they come up with this silly way to save a few drops of gas - but, overall, it costs the consumer more and it is probably a lot worse for the environment they are trying to save.
I have to agree with you here. I don’t think start/stop is a win for the consumer at all. Luckily my Volvo allows you to kill it once and it’s gone unless you re-enable it.

If it wasn’t that way I would be looking for a way to kill it altogether.

The little bit of gas you’ll save over the course of the system’s life won’t pay for any one of the extra hardware’s failures.
They should make it so once you buy the car you can remove the start/stop feature and toss it out. That way the car meets regulations, and we can get on with our normal lives.

In 1974 there was an ill fated attempt to force safety on drivers by making an interlock between the seat belts and the starter. No belt, no start. When the system glitched (which all 70s technology did) you had to pop the hood and press an override button. People quickly learned that you could disconnect the sensor under the seat to permanently disable the system. The government gave up the next year.

stickguy · April 2020

I remember my grandmother, who must not have liked wearing a belt, kept hers buckled behind the seat.

pensfan83 · April 2020

As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.

tjc78 · April 2020

stickguy said:

tjc78 said:
We are thinking about it. We could really use new front steps and walkway so wondering if we should just turn it into a nice front porch and use pots with annuals to add color.

Biggest problem is we are in the beginning stages of discussing dumping this house. It’s over improved for the neighborhood and will never be what we want it. So... once I’m settled in a new
job for a little while we may think about moving.

In other words, we don’t want to put more money into it we won’t get out. I can probably clean up the mess I made with some landscaping stones, a few cheap bushes and mulch for not much money.

We should have never put the addition on and did all the new HVAC, etc. We should have moved then.
Yeah, usually that is the answer if there isn’t an overwhelming reason why that neighborhood or house is important. Assuming the house itself does not lend itself to the upgrade, and most importantly, you don’t overdo relative to neighbors. But, hopefully it works out.

I got a nice 4 bedroom colonial I can make you a sweet deal on. Even has a pool. Basement rec room. Bathrooms just painted! High end school district. Can even walk to the speed line! 2 car garage.

I told the wife your ‘hood was one I want to look at . Problem is we need a pretty specific house that has a bedroom and full bath on the first floor for my mom. She has no problem with steps now, but who knows in the future.

Wife keeps looking at Erial/Sicklerville and there are some nice developments there but the schools aren’t better than what we have here. If I am gong to be spending 350+ and 13K a year taxes I want better schools.

Only bright side is we have at least 50K equity here after the realtor takes their cut.

Of course I told the wife this is all just dreaming until this whole mess with Covid is over and we return to normal.

oldfarmer50 · April 2020

ab348 said:
On Saturday I had to go to the post office. When I returned home I checked my email after a while and there was new mail from Onstar advising me that "advanced diagnostics" had detected an issue with my "engine and transmission system" that I should address within 7 days by taking it to back to the dealer. I went back outside, started the car and sure enough, there was the check engine light. Aside from the gas cap (which I checked and found fine) I was at a loss, so this morning I called the service dept. It is likely a symptom of how little business they are getting that they told me I could bring it in any time and get a loaner, so it is going in tomorrow.

It seemed to run fine on Saturday, so who knows what it is.

Did you pull a code so the dealer can’t rip you off?

roadburner · April 2020

pensfan83 said:
As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.

We replaced mulch with shale years ago. I hate spreading mulch even more than cutting grass.

fintail · April 2020

Amazon needs to ramp up its vetting system a millionfold. So many partners are selling crap now. I wouldn't buy anything like that lacking many verifiable reviews. They are even doing it with TP.

Sometimes even the US sources are just a middleman, instead of being shipped directly from Wuhan (or HK to pretend legitimacy), it is shipped to a partner in a port city, who then sends to you. You're probably better off making your own mask.

What a Pandora's Box chicken coming home to roost.

imidazol97 said:
Thinking of ordering masks as the White House committee recommends now?

Be careful. I ordered a 5 pack of masks KN95 on Amazon many weeks ago apparently from a China company.
When checking on shipping, I noticed a couple of new evaluations of the company had complains that instead of the 20 in the picture, they received a package of 3.
The company responded to one person saying, "Is there something wrong with you?" LOL

So I wasn't real surprised today when I found I got a package of 3 when the text in the ad said 5 and the picture said 20 in small print.

We'll see how Amazon resolves this. Oh, the listing for the product from the company going under the name Oraler at that time was gone about halfway through my shipping wait. It's like buying a used car. But I'll buy from US sources only from now on.

fintail · April 2020

No Audis? Maybe not enough sales volume to be counted? A8 has the resale value of used milk.

I find the diesel mention odd, as diesel E-class was likely under 5% of sales for the latest generation, and there's enough of a cult to often give those a higher value. Almost sounds like some UK/EU (where diesel is slowly but surely falling from favor) mixed in.

bwia said:
Top ten money losing cars.

cribbed this from Quora. Sorry a little long but a quick read

imidazol97 · April 2020

tjc78 said:

Wife keeps looking at Erial/Sicklerville and there are some nice developments there but the schools aren’t better than what we have here. If I am gong to be spending 350+ and 13K a year taxes I want better schools.
.

I was looking up the address for friends of ours to mail a birthday card. I used the county auditor site when I didn't find their address just doing Duck Duck Go on their name.

They are in Ohio in the middle of farm area between Lima and Ft Wayne. Nice, large home built by a builder for himself. Couple acres and nice separate garage and another out building. Their property tax is $1700 / year. School is 80% of that.

No, I did not miss a "0". It's $1600. Ours is nearer$2800 /an.

driver100 · April 2020

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:
Special shopping cart available for hoarders;

I stopped in at Kroger yesterday morning, Sunday, at 8:30, an hour and half after opening. They had most of their TP area still filled. I did see a lady with a Cottonelle 96 or 72 equivalent pack in her cart that was not in stock when I got there.

I think many people will now enter the no purchase of TP for 6 months while they use up the hoard they've accumulated.

TP seems to be in good supply now...people are well stocked. Now it is hard to find milk, canned beans, eggs, Lysol, hand sanitizer, ice cream, etc. People are stocking up with basics.....just in case.

driver100 · April 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:
Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?
Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!
Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe
That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@
You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.
My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.
My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.

How many miles did you go? Would you take them to Florida? Do they always start in all kinds of weather? I think you have had fair sized repairs that you talked about....we remember the good, forget the bad.

imidazol97 · April 2020

ab348 said:
On Saturday I had to go to the post office. When I returned home I checked my email after a while and there was new mail from Onstar advising me that "advanced diagnostics" had detected an issue with my "engine and transmission system" that I should address within 7 days by taking it to back to the dealer. I went back outside, started the car and sure enough, there was the check engine light. Aside from the gas cap (which I checked and found fine) I was at a loss, so this morning I called the service dept. It is likely a symptom of how little business they are getting that they told me I could bring it in any time and get a loaner, so it is going in tomorrow.

It seemed to run fine on Saturday, so who knows what it is.

Everyone should have a code reader. Just to get the numbers. The numbers don't necessarily diagnose.
Do any of the box stores read codes for you? Here it's Autozone, OReillys, Advance Auto Parts, and PepBoys.

The gas cap loose or not sealing is likely #1. But the car may not rerun the text until the next lukewarm restart. Had you filled car with gas and just now used fuel down to 85% level?

In my leSabre days the fuel tank had to be between 15% and 85% full, and some other such requirements before the retest was run. So if your tank is in that range, restart it from luke warm temps to see if you can clear the code and the engine light go off.

tjc78 · April 2020

imidazol97 said:

tjc78 said:

Wife keeps looking at Erial/Sicklerville and there are some nice developments there but the schools aren’t better than what we have here. If I am gong to be spending 350+ and 13K a year taxes I want better schools.
.
I was looking up the address for friends of ours to mail a birthday card. I used the county auditor site when I didn't find their address just doing Duck Duck Go on their name.

They are in Ohio in the middle of farm area between Lima and Ft Wayne. Nice, large home built by a builder for himself. Couple acres and nice separate garage and another out building. Their property tax is $1700 / year. School is 80% of that.

No, I did not miss a "0". It's $1600. Ours is nearer$2800 /an.

I couldn’t imagine. Mine are around $7500 a year for a small 4 BR rancher on a postage stamp lot.

@stickguy probably pays near double me for a house like he just described in the same county I live.

pensfan83 · April 2020

roadburner said:

pensfan83 said:
As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.
We replaced mulch with shale years ago. I hate spreading mulch even more than cutting grass.

Me too but what the boss wants...

dino001 · April 2020

driver100 said:
Special shopping cart available for hoarders;

Has anybody finally figured out the relationship between Covid-19 and toilet paper?

explorerx4 · April 2020

I'm over the property tax deduction limit.

dino001 · April 2020

I also heard a great question this weekend - is it time to start using/eating the hoards, or do we need to wait?

jipster · April 2020

benjaminh said:

jipster said:
True. But if I get a good number for buying the car, I can use that as a bargaining chip for a lower price on the lease? Minus the $750 in incentives I believe....
I don't think you can negotiate a price on a purchase and then use that as the lease price. Save time and trouble imho and just negotiate the lease discount.

I wouldn't be "negotiating" the price on the purchase. I just asked if she could send me the numbers, which she still hasnt done.

A friend of mine thought my saleslady was nice looking. Think he wants to go out with her. A bit too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Wife thought she had on too much make-up. She was not wearing a mask, but she was strict on maintaining the 6 feet.of social distancing rule. Which was awkward and made it difficult with communicating.

ab348 · April 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

Did you pull a code so the dealer can’t rip you off?

It's under warranty so the only rip-off the dealer can try is Cadillac corporate.

abacomike · April 2020

I am slowly going out of my mind! 😜🤪🤨😕😝😩😫

In order to maintain my sanity, I need more than texts from my kids and friends and constant emails from Netflix telling me to watch what I already watched and news broadcasts about covid-19 and that Navy Captain who was reassigned because he was so delirious from covid-19 symptoms he wrote a Santa Claus letter to his superiors about a pandemic on his aircraft carrier - I need some good movies to watch on my TV and a good baseball game to watch or some golf to watch. I may have to use FaceTime and make contact with a therapist.

HELP! 😛🤪😜

ab348 · April 2020

pensfan83 said:

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.

Last year when I had the garage updated I dealt with a long-standing irritant. There is a strip along the far side of the garage about 4-5 feet wide between its outer wall and the property line/neighbor's fence. That strip gets virtually no sun so it was always a mixture of mud, grass, and weeds.

I sprayed there early in the year to kill everything. When the crew was about finished with the garage work I had them lay down a double thickness of landscape fabric over the entire area, then go get a trailer full of river rock from the quarry that isn't too far from here to spread on top. A couple of hundred dollars and half a day later and it was transformed. More importantly, it still looks like the day it was finished. I really like the look of river rock in a landscaped area.

suydam · April 2020

jipster said:

benjaminh said:

jipster said:
True. But if I get a good number for buying the car, I can use that as a bargaining chip for a lower price on the lease? Minus the $750 in incentives I believe....
I don't think you can negotiate a price on a purchase and then use that as the lease price. Save time and trouble imho and just negotiate the lease discount.
I wouldn't be "negotiating" the price on the purchase. I just asked if she could send me the numbers, which she still hasnt done.

A friend of mine thought my saleslady was nice looking. Think he wants to go out with her. A bit too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Wife thought she had on too much make-up. She was not wearing a mask, but she was strict on maintaining the 6 feet.of social distancing rule. Which was awkward and made it difficult with communicating.

Just curious. You think she’s in this job for dates? Do you and your wife similarly judge the appearance of male salesmen? I don’t recall much mention of that in all our conversations here. Is she professional and does her job well? That’s all that matters.

Michaell · April 2020

ab348 said:
Last year when I had the garage updated I dealt with a long-standing irritant. There is a strip along the far side of the garage about 4-5 feet wide between its outer wall and the property line/neighbor's fence. That strip gets virtually no sun so it was always a mixture of mud, grass, and weeds.

I sprayed there early in the year to kill everything. When the crew was about finished with the garage work I had them lay down a double thickness of landscape fabric over the entire area, then go get a trailer full of river rock from the quarry that isn't too far from here to spread on top. A couple of hundred dollars and half a day later and it was transformed. More importantly, it still looks like the day it was finished. I really like the look of river rock in a landscaped area.

Most of the homes where I live use river rock for landscaping. However, the big difference between what you had done and what we get is the quality of the landscape fabric. Here we are lucky to get one layer of builder grade fabric, which inevitably fails and then you get weeds growing. Even so early in the spring, I'm starting to see them sprout up in the backyard.

I hate weeding almost as much as I hate juniper bushes. Wife won't allow any weed killer to be applied as it may affect the dogs.

driver100 · April 2020

bwia
Top ten money losing cars.
cribbed this from Quora. Sorry a little long but a quick read
The average automobiles in the US lose more than 50% of their value only in the first five years of exploitation.

Interesting. I still say luxury cars depreciate faster than most other cars because if you can afford to pay $50000 for a 3 year old luxury car, you can probably come up with $20k more to buy a new car. Plus, the luxury car probably won't have much warranty left, and there is a lot of expensive stuff that can go wrong with it.

driver100 · April 2020

suydam said:

jipster said:

benjaminh said:

jipster said:
True. But if I get a good number for buying the car, I can use that as a bargaining chip for a lower price on the lease? Minus the $750 in incentives I believe....
I don't think you can negotiate a price on a purchase and then use that as the lease price. Save time and trouble imho and just negotiate the lease discount.
I wouldn't be "negotiating" the price on the purchase. I just asked if she could send me the numbers, which she still hasnt done.

A friend of mine thought my saleslady was nice looking. Think he wants to go out with her. A bit too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Wife thought she had on too much make-up. She was not wearing a mask, but she was strict on maintaining the 6 feet.of social distancing rule. Which was awkward and made it difficult with communicating.
Just curious. You think she’s in this job for dates? Do you and your wife similarly judge the appearance of male salesmen? I don’t recall much mention of that in all our conversations here. Is she professional and does her job well? That’s all that matters.

I think we all judge people by their appearance and their manner. I don't think anyone was being nasty, just interpreting what they saw. Personally, I would never buy a car from this guy;

stickguy · April 2020

tjc78 said:

imidazol97 said:

tjc78 said:

Wife keeps looking at Erial/Sicklerville and there are some nice developments there but the schools aren’t better than what we have here. If I am gong to be spending 350+ and 13K a year taxes I want better schools.
.
I was looking up the address for friends of ours to mail a birthday card. I used the county auditor site when I didn't find their address just doing Duck Duck Go on their name.

They are in Ohio in the middle of farm area between Lima and Ft Wayne. Nice, large home built by a builder for himself. Couple acres and nice separate garage and another out building. Their property tax is $1700 / year. School is 80% of that.

No, I did not miss a "0". It's $1600. Ours is nearer$2800 /an.

I couldn’t imagine. Mine are around $7500 a year for a small 4 BR rancher on a postage stamp lot.

@stickguy probably pays near double me for a house like he just described in the same county I live.

About $12k. Paying for SF and mostly schools. Kids grown, don’t need the schools and more! If you want a 1st floor bedroom, would have to convert the living room. Just no bath.

Actually a place for sale just outside my hood where they added on a MIL suite on the first floor. Separate driveway, kitchenette, bedroom and living room. Currently empty and for sale (overpriced IMO though). But hard to find that layout. Unless you find a 2 master setup, one up one down.

fintail · April 2020

Pretty nice looking 63 Grand Prix for $2250 though, might be worth the risk.

driver100 said:

I think we all judge people by their appearance and their manner. I don't think anyone was being nasty, just interpreting what they saw. Personally, I would never buy a car from this guy;

explorerx4 · April 2020

Speaking of impressions, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

tjc78 · April 2020

Pretty sure I saw the house you just mentioned.

Yes it’s going to be tough to find exactly what we want.

driver100 · April 2020

fintail said:
Pretty nice looking 63 Grand Prix for $2250 though, might be worth the risk.

driver100 said:

I think we all judge people by their appearance and their manner. I don't think anyone was being nasty, just interpreting what they saw. Personally, I would never buy a car from this guy;

I thought the same...but, the sales guy was the best example.

driver100 · April 2020

explorerx4 said:
Speaking of impression, can't forget driver100 and the striped shirt.

I no longer own that shirt....given to the shelter....some lucky guy will buy it and carry on the tradition.

stickguy · April 2020

Gray house. Nice yard but weird neighbor.

As expected I did the trim painting. Took longer to tape but it’s done. after dinner will hit a 2nd coat (silly not too) then get the blinds back up so I can take a shower without providing a free show for the neighbors!

imidazol97 · April 2020

A couple of pics of the Malibu from yesterday's cabin fever outing. Notice, no pics of
me. I left my striped shirt at home...

I wanted to pose the car in from of a Kroger, Proctor, or Gamble stone, but thought
the cherry and magnolia tree looked nice.

jipster · April 2020

driver100 said:

suydam said:

jipster said:

benjaminh said:

jipster said:
True. But if I get a good number for buying the car, I can use that as a bargaining chip for a lower price on the lease? Minus the $750 in incentives I believe....
I don't think you can negotiate a price on a purchase and then use that as the lease price. Save time and trouble imho and just negotiate the lease discount.
I wouldn't be "negotiating" the price on the purchase. I just asked if she could send me the numbers, which she still hasnt done.

A friend of mine thought my saleslady was nice looking. Think he wants to go out with her. A bit too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Wife thought she had on too much make-up. She was not wearing a mask, but she was strict on maintaining the 6 feet.of social distancing rule. Which was awkward and made it difficult with communicating.
Just curious. You think she’s in this job for dates? Do you and your wife similarly judge the appearance of male salesmen? I don’t recall much mention of that in all our conversations here. Is she professional and does her job well? That’s all that matters.
I think we all judge people by their appearance and their manner. I don't think anyone was being nasty, just interpreting what they saw. Personally, I would never buy a car from this guy;

Thank you. Yes, just commenting on what I saw, and on previous comments about our sales lady wearing a wedding ring. Sales lady was nice, professional and treated us well. Her outfit of choice that day would raise an eyebrow of most. Seemed to be something someone would go out clubbing in. She certainly was no Harry Wormwood from Matilda fame, though. LOL. Great movie. Liked the narrator's comment about how Harry sold cars at "unfair prices".

jmonroe · April 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:
Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?
Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!
Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe
That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@
You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.
My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.
My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.

OK, that was last year. You gotta think out of the box. What about the rest of this year and next year and so on. You can't live your life in the past. One of these years you're going to have to leave one of those cars on the road side. Bet you never thought of that, huh?

jmonroe

tjc78 · April 2020

@imidazol97
Good wheel choice on the Malibu, looks good!

driver100 · April 2020

jipster said:

driver100 said:

suydam said:

jipster said:

benjaminh said:

jipster said:
True. But if I get a good number for buying the car, I can use that as a bargaining chip for a lower price on the lease? Minus the $750 in incentives I believe....
I don't think you can negotiate a price on a purchase and then use that as the lease price. Save time and trouble imho and just negotiate the lease discount.
I wouldn't be "negotiating" the price on the purchase. I just asked if she could send me the numbers, which she still hasnt done.

A friend of mine thought my saleslady was nice looking. Think he wants to go out with her. A bit too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Wife thought she had on too much make-up. She was not wearing a mask, but she was strict on maintaining the 6 feet.of social distancing rule. Which was awkward and made it difficult with communicating.
Just curious. You think she’s in this job for dates? Do you and your wife similarly judge the appearance of male salesmen? I don’t recall much mention of that in all our conversations here. Is she professional and does her job well? That’s all that matters.
I think we all judge people by their appearance and their manner. I don't think anyone was being nasty, just interpreting what they saw. Personally, I would never buy a car from this guy;

Thank you. Yes, just commenting on what I saw, and on previous comments about our sales lady wearing a wedding ring. Sales lady was nice, professional and treated us well. Her outfit of choice that day would raise an eyebrow of most. Seemed to be something someone would go out clubbing in. She certainly was no Harry Wormwood from Matilda fame, though. LOL. Great movie. Liked the narrator's comment about how Harry sold cars at "unfair prices".

I remember one sales lady who must have thought she was going to a black-tie event. She was all dolled up, almost felt bad for her in her party dress with only a test drive to go on. I would have put an offer on the car if I wanted it at the time....but the car didn't appeal to me. What she was wearing wouldn't have made a difference to me in the long run, but, I'd probably have a harder time getting to a deal than I would have with a seasoned salesperson.

bwia · April 2020

abacomike said:
I am slowly going out of my mind! 😜🤪🤨😕😝😩😫

In order to maintain my sanity, I need more than texts from my kids and friends and constant emails from Netflix telling me to watch what I already watched and news broadcasts about covid-19 and that Navy Captain who was reassigned because he was so delirious from covid-19 symptoms he wrote a Santa Claus letter to his superiors about a pandemic on his aircraft carrier - I need some good movies to watch on my TV and a good baseball game to watch or some golf to watch. I may have to use FaceTime and make contact with a therapist.

HELP! 😛🤪😜

Try free movies on YouTube. For the past year I have been watching Nollywood (Nigeria and Ghana) movies.

Those movies are produced in English, feature gorgeous Nigerian sistas, Nigerian billionaires looking for love, and wholesome family life.

Couple favorite: Wedding Party 1 and Boss Lady staring Mercy McJoe.

driver100 · April 2020

jmonroe said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:
Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?
Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!
Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe
That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@
You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.
My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.
My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.
OK, that was last year. You gotta think out of the box. What about the rest of this year and next year and so on. You can't live your life in the past. One of these years you're going to have to leave one of those cars on the road side. Bet you never thought of that, huh?

jmonroe

Yeh, I hear these stories about how I didn't put a penny into my 1998 Taurus or whatever. The best explanation, a short memory. If that does happen, it is very rare, and the owner has to be doing his own repairs.....which I am not going to be doing.....you know where I take it......that's right......The Guy.

driver100 · April 2020

tjc78 said:
@imidazol97
Good wheel choice on the Malibu, looks good!

Malibu looks like new..............hard to tell the year of some cars these days.

oldfarmer50 · April 2020

bwia said:
Top ten money losing cars.

cribbed this from Quora. Sorry a little long but a quick read

The average automobiles in the US lose more than 50% of their value only in the first five years of exploitation.

10. Chevrolet Impala

The Impala loses 66.2% of its value during the first five years of usage.
This vehicle is often used for car rental which leads to excessive offering five years after production.

9. Jaguar XJL

Like most of the other luxury brands, it loses a lot of its initial value only the first five years.

To be more specific - 66.4%.
Usually, luxury cars lose a lot of their value during the first 3 to 5 years because most of them are bought through leasing and the moment the leasing is over, most of them are flooding the markets.

8. Mercedes E - Class

Even with a huge drop in the initial price - 67.2%, this is not the worst contender in its category.
Further, the decreasing popularity of the diesel engines also helps the falling aftermarket prices.

7. BMW 5-Series

With slightly more - 67.3% is the depreciation of the 5-Series...

6. BMW 6-Series

The depreciation of this model is 68.3%.
It seems that this luxury car is not among the favorite of second-hand car buyers and that also puts the price down after the first five years.

5. Ford Fusion Energi

One of the few American models which are in the list. The depreciation is impressive - 69.4%

4. Mercedes Benz S-Class

The depreciation of this model is close to 70%, to be more precise 69.9%.

3. BMW 7-Series

The depreciation of the 7-Series is crossing the psychological boundary of 70% to reach 71.1%.

2. Chevrolet Volt

This model made a real revolution in the world of cars at the time.
But it seems the competition was faster in making more beautiful and functional all-electric cars with one exception which you'll see below!

The loss of value for the Volt in the first five years is 71.2%.

1. Nissan Leaf

The first place is taken by another all-electric vehicle which loses the impressive 71.7% during the first 5 years.

When looking at Ford Fusion listings on line the bargain ones are always the hybrids. That’s a puzzle considering they had a higher sticker price.

oldfarmer50 · April 2020

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:
Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?
Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!
Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe
That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@
You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.
My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.
My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.
How many miles did you go? Would you take them to Florida? Do they always start in all kinds of weather? I think you have had fair sized repairs that you talked about....we remember the good, forget the bad.

No too many miles but yeah, I’d drive either one to Florida. Neither has failed to start. Both cars have been pretty good on repairs. Other cars have been money pits for sure.

Just saying you can’t always equate older with high repair costs.

jmonroe · April 2020

pensfan83 said:
As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.

I have some river rock that I gathered up from a few places where it was skimpilly placed when we bought this house and placed all of it under the front window of the family room. Looks a lot better than it did the way it was. Still have some red mulch just to add some color.

Have you given any thought to using black granite chips vs. river rock. That's what Son #1 did 3 years after he bought his second house. Got tired of doing the mulch thing. It's a little pricey but has a good look to it and like river rock will never need replaced. He said his across the street neighbor is going to do that any day now.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 · April 2020

jmonroe said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:
Looked it up.. yep two batteries.

I have to wonder. With all the extra things that have to be engineered/built to make a car with start/stop technology "work" is it really worth it in an "Eco" sense?
Not really, pay extra few dollars a year for gas, or pay $100s for a new battery, plus the impact of the battery when it is tossed out!
Surprise, surprise. Now you know the car biz is directly related to the replacement parts biz. Gee, I wonder when that started?

jmonroe
That's why I prefer a new car with a warranty.....I don't get surprises like an extra battery I didn't even know I had. :@
You’d buy a new car rather than change the battery? Must to be nice to be rich.
My theory is that it probably doesn't cost a huge amount more to drive a new car over many used cars. Sometimes you get lucky with a used car and it doesn't need many repairs. But, if you consider the cost of repairs, the disruption to your life getting a car fixed all the time, the lack of reliability so you are late for appointments or work, or say the big fix....a $5000 electrical or transmission repair, then yes, maybe it is worth $3000 more a year to trade in when the warranty is up.
When you get to a certain age....you probably live longer if you don't put up with a lot of frustration......getting a car repaired constantly.
The E400 has one more year on warranty.....but, I will probably keep it for a few more years, in one year it will have less than 24k miles on it.....doesn't make sense to trade it in for what I would get for it...it is like the C250....for what I will get better to gamble that it won't need a major repair. Kind of like the simplicity of the C250.....no stop/start...no alternate battery.
My 16 yo van cost $45 in repairs last year. My 20 yo car cost $0.
OK, that was last year. You gotta think out of the box. What about the rest of this year and next year and so on. You can't live your life in the past. One of these years you're going to have to leave one of those cars on the road side. Bet you never thought of that, huh?

jmonroe

You got me. This year I put some new wheels on the van for $300. Getting close to that point where repairs cost 50% of the vehicle’s value.

houdini1 · April 2020

roadburner said:

pensfan83 said:
As long as the weather holds up our annual mulch fest with our neighbors will take place the weekend after Easter. Yesterday we spent the day cleaning out all the debris to prep them. Basically we all pitch in on a tri-axle full of mulch that's dumped in the circle and we go from yard to yard helping each other out, takes no time at all. This year that's not happening for obvious reasons so we're all effectively on our own drawing from the pile by ourselves.

I'm trying to convince the boss to convert more of the mulch beds to river rock but so far I'm being met with resistance on that front.
We replaced mulch with shale years ago. I hate spreading mulch even more than cutting grass.

Ditto, except we used river rock.

bwia · April 2020

Just remembered a joke from one of those Nigerian movies. This young stay-at-home wife was told by a friend that a company was looking for an experienced manager. And the job paid 350k to 500k naira a month plus generous benefits.

When the husband came home that night the young wife told him about the job and that he should apply. Long story short, the husband got the job. And within a couple of months she asked him to buy her a new car.

What's wrong with the new RX350 I bought you? Nothing! she replied. But honey, on Instagram my friend is getting a lot of `Likes` on the purchase of her new "Range Rover Sport," and I want one too. Needless to say, that discussion led to an argument that eventually resulted in her storming out the door into the arms of a sugar daddy.

Guys, prendre garde

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