Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

explorerx4 · June 2020

Right now I don't pay anything for the medication and it seems to work.
If I switch to my wife's insurance, I have to meet the deductible all over again and that plus the premiums are pretty high.
The company is giving me enough health care money to cover COBRA for 3 months.
This is in addition to my severance and bonus.
I'll eligible for Medicare just before my treatment ends next year.

kyfdx · June 2020

explorerx4 said:
Right now I don't pay anything for the medication and it seems to work.
If I switch to my wife's insurance, I have to meet the deductible all over again and that plus the premiums are pretty high.
The company is giving me enough health care money to cover COBRA for 3 months.
This is in addition to my severance and bonus.
I'll eligible for Medicare just before my treatment ends next year.

I think Cobra is the easy choice. Around $600-$700 per month?

explorerx4 · June 2020

It's about $1100 a month but I've been paying around $100 a paycheck, so net will be about $900 a month.
I also get to stay with my same provider instead of having to switch.

graphicguy · June 2020

explorerx4 said:
Been trying to decide if I should go COBRA or get on my wife's healthcare plan, since my last working day is Monday.
Decided to see how much my infusion appointments cost.
Came across how much my pill prescription costs.
Each pill is $110 and I take 4 every morning.

I am looking at joining one of those group plans since I don’t qualify for Medicare yet. I can tell you, it ain’t cheap. And, the premiums go up as you get older, regardless of your health. If you can, go on your wife’s plan. It’s bound to be less expensive.

explorerx4 · June 2020

@grapgicguy,
I already met my deductible and out of pocket for this year. Have to start over if I switch plans.

graphicguy · June 2020

explorerx4 said:
@grapgicguy,
I already met my deductible and out of pocket for this year. Have to start over if I switch plans.

OK....I missed that part. My company has covered my health plan through the end of this year. But, come 1/1/21, I’m on my own. I was just pricing plans. And, I was taken aback at how expensive they’re going to be.

oldfarmer50 · June 2020

graphicguy said:

explorerx4 said:
@grapgicguy,
I already met my deductible and out of pocket for this year. Have to start over if I switch plans.
OK....I missed that part. My company has covered my health plan through the end of this year. But, come 1/1/21, I’m on my own. I was just pricing plans. And, I was taken aback at how expensive they’re going to be.

I think the school was paying something like 93% of the premium for the plan. That’s why I waited until I was 65 to retire. I chose to go with the Medicare supplement with the same company for part D prescription coverage. Cost to me was the same but the coverage was a bit less. Some drugs were more expensive and copays were a bit higher but overall I didn’t pay too much more.

It’s hard to decide since you won’t really know what’s covered better until you come down with something serious.

graphicguy · June 2020

Re health insurance....I’m sure some of you have gone through this pain of picking and choosing healthcare plans. Personally, the only time I really did some of this is when my employer changed health care companies to cover us. Those were all more or less about the same, except coverage always dropped while my premiums went up.

Now, either I have to sign up to get premiums quoted to me and/or get inundated with phone calls/texts of companies trying to get me to talk to one of their “agents”.

I should have just waited until December. I’m going to need some medical marijuana to just get through this process.

oldfarmer50 · June 2020

graphicguy said:

explorerx4 said:
Been trying to decide if I should go COBRA or get on my wife's healthcare plan, since my last working day is Monday.
Decided to see how much my infusion appointments cost.
Came across how much my pill prescription costs.
Each pill is $110 and I take 4 every morning.
I am looking at joining one of those group plans since I don’t qualify for Medicare yet. I can tell you, it ain’t cheap. And, the premiums go up as you get older, regardless of your health. If you can, go on your wife’s plan. It’s bound to be less expensive.

You can get a price break if you belong to some trade group that offers insurance. Do you belong to any professional societies? Maybe even a car group. Back in the day I could have gotten a better rate if I joined the Chamber of Commerce.

28firefighter · June 2020

I just read an article somewhere that explained that most employees have no comprehension of how much their employer spends on healthcare per employee. I want to say the number quoted was $14k per employee per year on average.

coldinohio · June 2020

Health insurance:
COBRA if you can-- make sure last day of work maximizes coverage

medications: check online with those that advertise( GoodScript, etc) to find our price range of medications; this will let you plan expenses; alternatives include Canada or elsewhere, pending where you live and laws...
Costco in my experience is cheaper than online, etc .
many of the Brand names have discounts available online or from doctors office

good luck

graphicguy · June 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

explorerx4 said:
Been trying to decide if I should go COBRA or get on my wife's healthcare plan, since my last working day is Monday.
Decided to see how much my infusion appointments cost.
Came across how much my pill prescription costs.
Each pill is $110 and I take 4 every morning.
I am looking at joining one of those group plans since I don’t qualify for Medicare yet. I can tell you, it ain’t cheap. And, the premiums go up as you get older, regardless of your health. If you can, go on your wife’s plan. It’s bound to be less expensive.
You can get a price break if you belong to some trade group that offers insurance. Do you belong to any professional societies? Maybe even a car group.

I do. I get a bit of a break by being a member of a social/charitable group. When I was kicking around retirement, I knew for a few years that I was going to have to bare the brunt of the medical coverage until Medicare kicks in.

I’m just whining about it.

fintail · June 2020

If my experience is anything to go by, your wife's plan will likely be cheaper. COBRA would have cost me 10K+/year for premiums alone, and this isn't platinum coverage.

The system is so broken, sad.

explorerx4 said:
Been trying to decide if I should go COBRA or get on my wife's healthcare plan, since my last working day is Monday.
Decided to see how much my infusion appointments cost.
Came across how much my pill prescription costs.
Each pill is $110 and I take 4 every morning.

fintail · June 2020

Ah that war on drugs, keeps people busy anyway.

roadburner said:
The drug trafficker I’m prosecuting that was one of the “stars” of the “Narcoland” show has a medical marijuana “prescription” from Georgia. The judge told him that was fine but that it’s still illegal in KY. So he tried to bribe the pretrial release drug test techs. Which means he is now charged with two more felonies.
He is also a gangsta rapper(he thinks). He’s left his videos up on YouTube so I downloaded all of them in case he takes them down.

roadburner · June 2020

Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

andres3 · June 2020

So USAA has sent me a few checks now, with one more on the way:

They paid Progressive 70% of the deductible, so Progressive sent me $700.
They then decided on their own they were 90% to blame (Progressive and I are sticking to 100%), and started sending me checks directly:
90% of my Car Seat was about $95.
90% of my car rental costs was about $465.
They called and sent a letter that my DV was somewhere between $250-300. Expecting a check for that too.
Yes, the DV claim will be disputed too; I think they just need to kick in the token $1,000 or $1,500 to make me go away. Would makes sense, as a Judge awarded 300% of Insurance appraiser in a previous claim for DV, so 300% here would be close to $1K. Maybe insurance companies do follow a playbook, unfortunately the playbook is bad faith. Their DV appraiser was from Georgia though.... interesting.....

fintail · June 2020

Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

oldfarmer50 · June 2020

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

Easily said until one of these sweethearts laces his product with Fentanyl and a love one dies.

Getting rid of that kind of character might be the best argument for legalization.

28firefighter · June 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

Easily said until one of these sweethearts laces his product with Fentanyl and a love one dies.

Getting rid of that kind of character might be the best argument for legalization.

Exactly. Legalize it and regulate the supply chain, like everything else.

kyfdx · June 2020

explorerx4 said:
It's about $1100 a month but I've been paying around $100 a paycheck, so net will be about $900 a month.
I also get to stay with my same provider instead of having to switch.

Wow, that's pretty pricey for COBRA, but then again, it's been two years since I was on it.
With your health issues and the amount you spend on deductibles/co-insurance, plus the low cost of your prescriptions, it's probably best to stay on it.

You aren't committed to the full 18 months. You could always go on your wife's plan for 2021, during open enrollment, this fall. (assuming the cost/benefit analysis pushes you that direction).

Michaell · June 2020

28firefighter said:

oldfarmer50 said:

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

Easily said until one of these sweethearts laces his product with Fentanyl and a love one dies.

Getting rid of that kind of character might be the best argument for legalization.
Exactly. Legalize it and regulate the supply chain, like everything else.

Colorado assesses a 30% tax on it; helps fund the budget, which I'm afraid will be decimated due to COVID-19.

28firefighter · June 2020

Michaell said:

28firefighter said:

oldfarmer50 said:

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

Easily said until one of these sweethearts laces his product with Fentanyl and a love one dies.

Getting rid of that kind of character might be the best argument for legalization.
Exactly. Legalize it and regulate the supply chain, like everything else.
Colorado assesses a 30% tax on it; helps fund the budget, which I'm afraid will be decimated due to COVID-19.

I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.

Michaell · June 2020

28firefighter said:

Michaell said:

28firefighter said:

oldfarmer50 said:

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

Easily said until one of these sweethearts laces his product with Fentanyl and a love one dies.

Getting rid of that kind of character might be the best argument for legalization.
Exactly. Legalize it and regulate the supply chain, like everything else.
Colorado assesses a 30% tax on it; helps fund the budget, which I'm afraid will be decimated due to COVID-19.
I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.

I don't, either, but my DIL was a "budtender" for a short time at a dispensary in Colorado Springs. Learned a lot from her.

ab348 · June 2020

28firefighter said:

I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.

Hahaha. "Crazy high" taxes on liquor being 20%? Let me tell you what the markups (technically not a tax because they are not set by legislation, and instead just imposed by the govt-owned retailer and thus changeable at any time) we charged were when I worked for the govt liquor retailer in the Great White North:

Beer: 80% of landed wholesale cost (cost of the product from the supplier plus freight, customs duties, and any other charges associated with getting the product into our warehouse)
Wine: 140%
Spirits: it had a fixed and variable component, but usually worked out as just over 200%.

I remember myself and another new hire in our logistics group looking at some invoices together one day and being stunned to see that a 750ml (a fifth in the US) bottle of rum cost us $4 from the supplier, and by the time our freight, fees, markups, bottle deposit and sales taxes were applied, the retail price was $25. Such is the price of free healthcare in Canada.

In the US that would have been purchased from a middleman distributor, who typically takes a large cut, so the retail price might not be all that much lower even with the lower tax rates, depending on the state.

I don't know what the numbers are here on weed other than that at the time of legalization the direction was to keep the govt cut low so as to discourage the black market. Hasn't seemed to do that though.

roadburner · June 2020

fintail said:
Yeah, pot being a felony is a great use of scarce publicly funded resources. But hey, it provides nice salaries and insane bennies for a special subset of the population. I am sure crime and incarceration rates in that state are the envy of the first world, legislators should be proud.

roadburner said:
Yes, he's really a great guy; a truly productive member of society. I feel so bad having to prosecute him.

In your haste to post a condescending response you made a faulty assumption; the trafficker in question actually moves heroin and meth; he just uses pot. In my state 99% of our drug interdiction and enforcement efforts are directed at fentanyl, heroin and meth.

driver100 · June 2020

ab348 said:

28firefighter said:

I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.
I remember myself and another new hire in our logistics group looking at some invoices together one day and being stunned to see that a 750ml (a fifth in the US) bottle of rum cost us $4 from the supplier, and by the time our freight, fees, markups, bottle deposit and sales taxes were applied, the retail price was $25. Such is the price of free healthcare in Canada.
.

We hardly ever drink anything, but today I bought 7 bottles of wine to have on hand......came to $75. I emailed my order and could walk in and pick it up. The people waiting to go into our government liquor stores were lined up outside 6 ft apart....probably 10 people waiting.
In Florida I would have paid about $45 for the same thing, maybe less because Sams and Costco have pretty good stuff for $5 a bottle.
But, that's OK, so called free health care is worth it....my best friend just had a quadruple by-pass, blockage 100%, 93% 80% and 72%..........no charge!
You can pay me now or you can pay me a lot more....later!

qbrozen · June 2020

driver100 said:

You can pay me now, eh? or you can pay me a lot more....later, you hoser!

fixed that for you. ;b

benjaminh · June 2020

I've vaguely considered getting a Tesla at some point, but the more videos I watch about long-term owners the less appealing Tesla ownership seems. In the years after the warranty expired this original Model S owner had $14,000 worth of various repairs to do on the car at the Tesla service center price. His doors failed, his mirrors failed, etc., etc., and repairs for a Tesla out of warranty are very expensive. Since Tesla doesn't release manuals or schematics there apparently aren't any independent repair places. And so he decided to try to fix things himself, which he was mostly able to do. This video is almost 2 years old, but I've not yet found evidence that things are different today for Teslas out of warranty. So the gas savings seems to be eaten alive by things like this. And the idea that a Tesla has fewer repairs that a good regular car seems questionable, and maybe even laughable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4CFiuR3tQ

andres3 · June 2020

benjaminh said:
I've vaguely considered getting a Tesla at some point, but the more videos I watch about long-term owners the less appealing Tesla ownership seems. In the years after the warranty expired this original Model S owner had $14,000 worth of various repairs to do on the car at the Tesla service center price. His doors failed, his mirrors failed, etc., etc., and repairs for a Tesla out of warranty are very expensive. Since Tesla doesn't release manuals or schematics there apparently aren't any independent repair places. And so he decided to try to fix things himself, which he was mostly able to do. This video is almost 2 years old, but I've not yet found evidence that things are different today for Teslas out of warranty. So the gas savings seems to be eaten alive by things like this. And the idea that a Tesla has fewer repairs that a good regular car seems questionable, and maybe even laughable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4CFiuR3tQ

Careful, you might earn yourself a lifetime ban out of the Teslarati, and in 10-20 years they might just be very reliable.

Michaell · June 2020

and in 10-20 years they might just be very reliable.

How long did it take Hyundai to achieve their current reputation?

fintail · June 2020

Or maybe you left out more details?

Maybe then lecture him about the actual drugs instead of the pot license as KY has yet to move into the 21st century in that regard? Just sayin.

It'd be amusing to see how much of the "war" has been fought over soft drugs, and a cost-benefit analysis of such, especially now that the opioid crisis now rages in so many areas, once virtually unchecked in the name of other enforcement.

roadburner said:

In your haste to post a condescending response you made a faulty assumption; the trafficker in question actually moves heroin and meth; he just uses pot. In my state 99% of our drug interdiction and enforcement efforts are directed at fentanyl, heroin and meth.

suydam · June 2020

I’m sure you could find a Honda owner with a similar horror story. Nobody would ever buy a car if we all relied upon anecdotal evidence. Both the Tesla 3 and the S are recommended by CR. I don’t quite understand the animosity for Tesla on this forum. If we love cars, it seems we’d be interested in innovation that moves the auto story forward.

roadburner · June 2020

A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.

benjaminh · June 2020

suydam said:
....I don’t quite understand the animosity for Tesla on this forum. If we love cars, it seems we’d be interested in innovation that moves the auto story forward.

As mentioned, I've been vaguely considering getting a Tesla some day. In terms of electric cars it seems like Tesla is ahead of everyone else by several years. Telsa's software and circuit boards seem to have a huge edge that I don't think at this point anyone is going to be able to top. But for those accustomed to quality and reliability in other areas it seems like Tesla has some work to do that may take at least a few years.

oldfarmer50 · June 2020

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

28firefighter said:

I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.
I remember myself and another new hire in our logistics group looking at some invoices together one day and being stunned to see that a 750ml (a fifth in the US) bottle of rum cost us $4 from the supplier, and by the time our freight, fees, markups, bottle deposit and sales taxes were applied, the retail price was $25. Such is the price of free healthcare in Canada.
.
We hardly ever drink anything, but today I bought 7 bottles of wine to have on hand......came to $75. I emailed my order and could walk in and pick it up. The people waiting to go into our government liquor stores were lined up outside 6 ft apart....probably 10 people waiting.
In Florida I would have paid about $45 for the same thing, maybe less because Sams and Costco have pretty good stuff for $5 a bottle.
But, that's OK, so called free health care is worth it....my best friend just had a quadruple by-pass, blockage 100%, 93% 80% and 72%..........no charge!
You can pay me now or you can pay me a lot more....later!

You should have loaded up your suitcase on the trip back from Florida.

How long did your friend have to wait for his bypass?

28firefighter · June 2020

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.

Oh man. That’s horrible.

driver100 · June 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

28firefighter said:

I haven't looked to see what the taxes are here, since I don't really partake. Our taxes on liquor here are crazy high - 20% on top of sales tax - so I just assumed it was similar on marijuana.
I remember myself and another new hire in our logistics group looking at some invoices together one day and being stunned to see that a 750ml (a fifth in the US) bottle of rum cost us $4 from the supplier, and by the time our freight, fees, markups, bottle deposit and sales taxes were applied, the retail price was $25. Such is the price of free healthcare in Canada.
.
We hardly ever drink anything, but today I bought 7 bottles of wine to have on hand......came to $75. I emailed my order and could walk in and pick it up. The people waiting to go into our government liquor stores were lined up outside 6 ft apart....probably 10 people waiting.
In Florida I would have paid about $45 for the same thing, maybe less because Sams and Costco have pretty good stuff for $5 a bottle.
But, that's OK, so called free health care is worth it....my best friend just had a quadruple by-pass, blockage 100%, 93% 80% and 72%..........no charge!
You can pay me now or you can pay me a lot more....later!

You should have loaded up your suitcase on the trip back from Florida.

How long did your friend have to wait for his bypass?

* You are only allowed to bring back 2 bottles of wine/liquor. Remember, we are flying so $5 bottles of wine are not a priority.
* My friend was told it was amazing he was still alive...he plays tennis a few times a week. At first his doctor said he would have to wait until COVID subsided because beds were saved for that.....unless he showed symptoms. He said, I am going to the emergency department at a hospital and say I can't breathe. They booked him in and he had it done 5 days later. If it is absolutely necessary....you will looked after.

driver100 · June 2020

suydam said:
I’m sure you could find a Honda owner with a similar horror story. Nobody would ever buy a car if we all relied upon anecdotal evidence. Both the Tesla 3 and the S are recommended by CR. I don’t quite understand the animosity for Tesla on this forum. If we love cars, it seems we’d be interested in innovation that moves the auto story forward.

Suydam....I understand your point. I am 73, I was raised with dreams of owning a nice car one day. A gasoline powered car. I get the electrical thing...it just doesn't feel the same to me. If I am spending $30, $40, $50k or more, I want a gas guzzler, otherwise it is a computer or an electrical appliance to me......sorry.

stickguy · June 2020

benjaminh said:

suydam said:
....I don’t quite understand the animosity for Tesla on this forum. If we love cars, it seems we’d be interested in innovation that moves the auto story forward.
As mentioned, I've been vaguely considering getting a Tesla some day. In terms of electric cars it seems like Tesla is ahead of everyone else by several years. Telsa's software and circuit boards seem to have a huge edge that I don't think at this point anyone is going to be able to top. But for those accustomed to quality and reliability in other areas it seems like Tesla has some work to do that may take at least a few years.

what would be ideal is if they focused on the electric car part of the equation, and had a manufacturer that knows how to, well, actually build cars (and service them afterwards) take care of that part.

so maybe a slide the electrics under an Avalon or some such? At least your windows and seats will work indefinitely!

stickguy · June 2020

In honor of JMonroe, spent the week up in NY helping our son do stuff on his new house (a circa 1960 mid century modern style ranch). Actually a nice little house. Pretty much done inside, outside will be needing some TLC along the way but not immediate.

wife and I took the week, and our daughter took off too and came to help. got quite a lot done in the end. washed a ton of windows (weird panel style with heavy glass storms, basically an early double pane set-up). redid most of the finished basement (painted the whole thing, and replaced the light fixtures). swapped out about 20 outlets. Put up 7 new 2" blinds (the brackets on those could hold up a porch swing). reversed the swing on the dryer door. Put on a bracket to stabilize a kitchen trim panel. cut the front bushes way back. assembled the lawn mower. Put together a new bedframe (first step, since it was our bed!) and re-assembled another one. Put up a new thermostat. Put down new area rugs. And I am sure some other things I am forgetting.

a very successful few days. Really spruced up the place and got a lot off his large to-do list, but after all that it was good to get home. Where I am staring at a day of pool maintenance, yard work, and car detailing!

nyccarguy · June 2020

benjaminh said:
I've vaguely considered getting a Tesla at some point, but the more videos I watch about long-term owners the less appealing Tesla ownership seems. In the years after the warranty expired this original Model S owner had $14,000 worth of various repairs to do on the car at the Tesla service center price. His doors failed, his mirrors failed, etc., etc., and repairs for a Tesla out of warranty are very expensive. Since Tesla doesn't release manuals or schematics there apparently aren't any independent repair places. And so he decided to try to fix things himself, which he was mostly able to do. This video is almost 2 years old, but I've not yet found evidence that things are different today for Teslas out of warranty. So the gas savings seems to be eaten alive by things like this. And the idea that a Tesla has fewer repairs that a good regular car seems questionable, and maybe even laughable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4CFiuR3tQ

I have issues with this guy’s sample size of 1. 1st off, he’s got a very early build car, 2nd of all he’s got a lot of mileage, 3rd of all there isn’t a TESLA service center on his small island in the Pacific Northwest. Give me a break. This guy is obviously educated. He had to have thought this through at some point (look at what @xwesx has to go through every time he needs to take a trip to the dealer). He’d be in the same situation if he bought a six figure Mercedes or BMW with over 100K on the odometer.

I get Tesla. I like the cars. I like the concept of the mechanical simplicity of the fewer than 20 moving parts, I love the instant torque.

cdnpinhead · June 2020

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story.

I don't change cars very often, but when I do I buy new. This is part of why. There are many ways to abuse a car, especially if it's leased.

cdnpinhead · June 2020

ab348 said:
"Crazy high" taxes on liquor being 20%? Let me tell you what the markups. . ..

When I lived in BC back in the mid '70s, myself and my friends availed ourselves of a dozen beers for about $3.60. We bought many, and had excellent times sailing between Olympia, WA, and Wrangell, AK.

When I came back over the years, I was amazed at what they charged for alcohol. You've helped me put numbers on it. Thanks.

jmonroe1 · June 2020

stickguy said:
In honor of JMonroe, spent the week up in NY helping our son do stuff on his new house (a circa 1960 mid century modern style ranch). Actually a nice little house. Pretty much done inside, outside will be needing some TLC along the way but not immediate.

wife and I took the week, and our daughter took off too and came to help. got quite a lot done in the end. washed a ton of windows (weird panel style with heavy glass storms, basically an early double pane set-up). redid most of the finished basement (painted the whole thing, and replaced the light fixtures). swapped out about 20 outlets. Put up 7 new 2" blinds (the brackets on those could hold up a porch swing). reversed the swing on the dryer door. Put on a bracket to stabilize a kitchen trim panel. cut the front bushes way back. assembled the lawn mower. Put together a new bedframe (first step, since it was our bed!) and re-assembled another one. Put up a new thermostat. Put down new area rugs. And I am sure some other things I am forgetting.

a very successful few days. Really spruced up the place and got a lot off his large to-do list, but after all that it was good to get home. Where I am staring at a day of pool maintenance, yard work, and car detailing!

Rather than honor me why not come over to flip #2 and put your skills to use. It sounds like you have some electrical experience replacing receptacles. While we don’t need too much of that done since we have already replaced a whole houseful of those, we could use some help with framing the basement for a game room and doing a LOT of plumbing, like the WHOLE house.

This is a small 3 bedroom house that sat empty for 3 years with no utilities so the copper pipes froze and broke as a result of that. This was not a surprise because when we looked at the house there was newly installed foam insulation on all the pipes in the basement. This house was owned by the bank and I told my Son that the insulation was a cover up for the broken water lines. Banks are sneaky that way but I figured that out because the insulation was new and stood out like a sore thumb given the age of the house. Sure enough when the water was turned on there had to be at least 7 or 8 leaks because of split water lines due to the freezing. Like I said, no surprise and the price paid reflected my supposition. We told that to the realtor and she said the bank probably won’t take your offer. So, I told her to have the bank have the water connected and if there were no leaks, we’d up our offer. She came back with an excuse from the bank that they didn’t want to put any money into having the water restored on a maybe offer. So our offer stood, the bank caved and we bought the house at our offer price and we had leaks. Since it’s a small ranch with only one bath and an open basement, running new water lines is not really that hard especially when using pex tubing. So, if you want to learn how to plumb a house your welcome to come over. As Son #1 is want to do, he’s decided to put lipstick on a pig and install a 12 valve manifold for water shut offs to damn near all tubing runs. This is a mid 50’s house that only had a water shut off valve on the street side of the meter. Didn’t even have a shut off valve on the house side of the meter and the house has survived all this time, yet my Son feels the house needs a 12 valve manifold. Go figure. Like I said, lipstick on a pig.

We’re there almost every night and weekends, so if you show up you’ll get the experience of a lifetime. Think of it like this, your Son will think the world of you when it’s time to help him again.

jmonroe

roadburner · June 2020

28firefighter said:

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.
Oh man. That’s horrible.

Just one picture- how could you not notice something was wrong?

28firefighter · June 2020

roadburner said:

28firefighter said:

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.
Oh man. That’s horrible.
Just one picture- how could you not notice something was wrong?

I have questions.

nyccarguy · June 2020

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.

I feel like you have to TRY to do that on a modern vehicle. Wake up in the AM; "Honey! What do we have planned for the day?" "Oh nothing too much. The usual. Drain the differential fluid out of the X3, drive it on to a rock, and then smash the gas to see how long it will take to blow a hole in the front differential." "Are we going out with The Smiths for dinner?"

stickguy · June 2020

JM, thanks for the kind offer. I have seen the plastic piping done, and that looks like fun. I am not touching copper though. Framing is easy. Especially if you have a pneumatic nailer!

son's place just had the kitchen redone, and that involved moving the sink and adding a DW, so in the basement there is a place that they tied the red and blue pex stuff into the existing copper and ran it to the new location. Ah, the beauty of an open ceiling on the unfinished side! He also has a ranch (3/2) with a full master batch, and about 1/3 of the huge basement was already finished.

qbrozen · June 2020

roadburner said:

28firefighter said:

roadburner said:
A guy on the BMW CCA local chapter page had a crazy story. His daughter was looking at an F25 X3; she had it “inspected” by an alleged tech who reported that all it needed was tie rod ends. She bought it and then noticed an oil leak. Her dad crawled underneath it and found that the front diff was blown(as in chunks of metal missing from the case), the front driveshaft was MIA, and the oil pan was cracked and patched with JB Weld. I suggested suing the inspector and in the future finding a tech with opposable thumbs and a functioning cerebral cortex.
Oh man. That’s horrible.
Just one picture- how could you not notice something was wrong?

“Do you have the service records?”
“Has it been smoked in?”
“Are there any dash warning lights on?”
“Have you driven it through a minefield?”

People have to remember to ask a seller the right questions!

driver100 · June 2020

Does anyone remember Walk Don't Run by the Ventures? This is a great story about how they found a 14 year old drummer to play the drums....and what happened to that kid. (it is 7 minutes long but watch at least 4 min 15 sec);
https://www.stumptownblogger.com/2012/04/what-a-cool-video.html?cid=6a010536b86d36970c0163050cd62f970d

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