Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner · February 2022

And on an unrelated sports note, my son has been texting a college basketball podcast located on the Field of 68 website. His picks have been so consistently accurate that he is usually mentioned on every podcast, for example, he is currently 8-1 on his "Lock of the Day" picks. He's headed to Vegas for the first round of the NCAA Tournament and is meeting with the guys from the podcast. Nothing may come of it, but he may yet get a shot at a sports broadcasting gig; his knowledge of major college and pro sports borders on the encyclopedic- and that's not including F1, IMSA, and NASCAR.

graphicguy · February 2022

mjfloyd1 said:

@graphicguy said:

We had Cream Cheese aplenty at Jungle Jims on this side of the river. The flip side, yesterday a.m. it was a mad house. I’ll never do that again on the morning of the SuperBowl that the Bengals are playing in.

How many more chances do you think you will have?

I dunno. We’ve got one of the top QBs in either the league, and the primo WR, as well as two other WR studs, and a top 10 RB, and a top 5 sacks artist, etc. I think drafting OL in next season’s draft, should do the trick. Plus, we have the 3rd most cap space in all the NFL. So, we can bring in complimentary pieces in free agency. We’ve got the young forward thinking HC. He certainly doesn’t “whiff” on the drafts like Marvin Lewis did on occasion.

We’re one of the youngest teams in the league.

We weren’t supposed to be there this season. But, we were.

I can think of probably 90% of the NFL would love to have our QB. That’s supposed to be the key.

From what the pundits say, we’re the new standard other teams will want to copy.

I think we’ll win more than one SB in the next 5 years.

Then again, I’m a homer!

graphicguy · February 2022

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.

imidazol97 · February 2022

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.

Worse addon sticker I ever saw was at (Marge) Schott Buick back in early 80s. It was the equivalent
of that one. Store was on Reading Rd, Norwood, Ohio. I used to browse all the greater area dealers to
see actual cars, colors, interiors, options, to pick what I thought I'd want to order.

graphicguy · February 2022

imidazol97 said:

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.
Worse addon sticker I ever saw was at (Marge) Schott Buick back in early 80s. It was the equivalent
of that one. Store was on Reading Rd, Norwood, Ohio. I used to browse all the greater area dealers to
see actual cars, colors, interiors, options, to pick what I thought I'd want to order.

I remember the dealership. Didn’t she also have one on Montgomery Road? If memory serves, it was near a Rolls Royce dealership. I went past it, but never went in. Then again, I can’t ever recall being in the market for a Buick!

explorerx4 · February 2022

The Bengals better draft some offensive linemen. Otherwise Burrows is going to have a short career.

breld · February 2022

Count me in as a fan who would LOVE to have Burrow on our team!

My son texted me at some point during the playoffs, saying he’d give a kidney to have Joe Cool as the Broncos QB.

carnaught · February 2022

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.

While I don’t disagree with you on that, it is still better than the mandatory add-ons at outrageous prices.

kyfdx · February 2022

graphicguy said:

imidazol97 said:

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.
Worse addon sticker I ever saw was at (Marge) Schott Buick back in early 80s. It was the equivalent
of that one. Store was on Reading Rd, Norwood, Ohio. I used to browse all the greater area dealers to
see actual cars, colors, interiors, options, to pick what I thought I'd want to order.
I remember the dealership. Didn’t she also have one on Montgomery Road? If memory serves, it was near a Rolls Royce dealership. I went past it, but never went in. Then again, I can’t ever recall being in the market for a Buick!

That's the one, it was on Montgomery.

I don't let the stickers bother me. I offer what I want to offer.

henryn · February 2022

kyfdx said:

graphicguy said:

imidazol97 said:

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.
Worse addon sticker I ever saw was at (Marge) Schott Buick back in early 80s. It was the equivalent
of that one. Store was on Reading Rd, Norwood, Ohio. I used to browse all the greater area dealers to
see actual cars, colors, interiors, options, to pick what I thought I'd want to order.
I remember the dealership. Didn’t she also have one on Montgomery Road? If memory serves, it was near a Rolls Royce dealership. I went past it, but never went in. Then again, I can’t ever recall being in the market for a Buick!
That's the one, it was on Montgomery.

I don't let the stickers bother me. I offer what I want to offer.

That is the key to success, just decide how much you're willing to pay, make the offer, and stand by it. That used to work. In the present market, it probably won't.

So maybe that's no longer the key to success?

oldfarmer50 · February 2022

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.

I usually don’t pay attention to ads that come with YT videos but I just caught the end of one for a dealer that claimed they didn’t charge over MSRP. Wish I had watched it closer.

I think it was a Chevy dealer located in Springfield (which one?)

explorerx4 · February 2022

If Springfield Mass, probably Balise Chevreolt.

stickguy · February 2022

quite a few dealers aren't charging over MSRP. Though a lot of them already had packages added to cars on the lot. Local Honda dealer is at MSRP max for everything except the Si (last time I was there in December at least). They do have an $899 (i think) pack on the car (locks, trunk tray, pin stripe, a few things like that). But they have always done that and you could just negotiate it down or out in the past.

kyfdx · February 2022

henryn said:

kyfdx said:

graphicguy said:

imidazol97 said:

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:

sda said:
Sorry sign of the times.

The add-on’s price are beyond ridiculous, especially the lifetime nitrogen. Most seem to be a 2-fold increase.
Happened to talk to a local Honda dealership about a ‘22 Accord Hybrid Limited. Yes, they have add-ons but the mandatory doc. fee is $399 and if I was present there as a “serious buyer”, the few add-ons would be removed. For these times, not bad.

I would walk in to that dealership. See that sticker, and before a sales person got within 10 feet of me, I would walk out. Never did business with dealers that pulled that stunt back in the ‘80s. Won’t start now.
Worse addon sticker I ever saw was at (Marge) Schott Buick back in early 80s. It was the equivalent
of that one. Store was on Reading Rd, Norwood, Ohio. I used to browse all the greater area dealers to
see actual cars, colors, interiors, options, to pick what I thought I'd want to order.
I remember the dealership. Didn’t she also have one on Montgomery Road? If memory serves, it was near a Rolls Royce dealership. I went past it, but never went in. Then again, I can’t ever recall being in the market for a Buick!
That's the one, it was on Montgomery.

I don't let the stickers bother me. I offer what I want to offer.
That is the key to success, just decide how much you're willing to pay, make the offer, and stand by it. That used to work. In the present market, it probably won't.

So maybe that's no longer the key to success?

The point is: What it actually says on the sticker doesn't really matter. Only what you can negotiate.

How you negotiate is up to you. But, I wouldn't be scared off by a piece of paper. That dealer may sell the car for exactly the same amount as the next dealer down the road.

carnaught · February 2022

A Hyundai dealer I think told me a fib. He told be that with the new Ioniq 5, the dealership is paying MSRP, with no dealer cost available. They had about $1.2K in “mop and glo” extras plus a $5k premium and a doc fee of $799. Needless to say they saw my backside shortly thereafter, plus I will never do business with them in the future.

stickguy · February 2022

The S in MSRP does stand for suggested. So if you are adamant about not paying more during a shortage, I hope you force the dealer to take sticker when they have a glut!

These days, 3 options. Just have to decide what’s important.

You want a certain car, a certain way. And will pay up because you really want it

You have to get a car out of true need, but will shop around and compromise on features to get a moderately reasonable price.

You want a killer deal, and dont much care what the car is.

breld · February 2022

carnaught said:
A Hyundai dealer I think told me a fib. He told be that with the new Ioniq 5, the dealership is paying MSRP, with no dealer cost available. They had about $1.2K in “mop and glo” extras plus a $5k premium and a doc fee of $799. Needless to say they saw my backside shortly thereafter, plus I will never do business with them in the future.

It's like a lot of the more attractive Hyundai and Kia offerings (namely the Palisade/Telluride). They're offering a product that generally is ahead of the direct competition, but then the dealerships are charging crazy markups that put it more up against luxury offerings...where they may not be as competitive.

A nice Palisade or Telluride is around $50k MSRP? But I've seen markups on them that put them into X5/GLE/XC90 territory.

The EV6/Ioniq5 - both sound like compelling EV options, but with markups, we're talking Polestar 2 pricing.

I imagine a lot of buyers get set on the target and never "reset" to consider what else is available once the pricing gets increased.

ronsteve · February 2022

@graphicguy said:

I think we’ll win more than one SB in the next 5 years.

Then again, I’m a homer!

Two words for you. Dan Marino.

Though I would like to see a compelling 3-way competition in the AFC between Burrow, Mahomes, and Josh Allen. Preferably with Allen coming out on top a few times.

jmonroe1 · February 2022

@explorerx4 said:
CR hates anything with a Domestic nameplate and trucks, too.
The Escape and Bronco Sport are good vehicles. If you copy them, it's a bad thing?
They keep saying 'at that price point'. What else is there?
I have yet to see anyone else say the 2.0 turbo is underpowered.
Maverick has a $1495 destination charge. Santa Cruz is 1245. Not a huge difference.
The Maverick actually has a higher payload than most half ton pickups.
Nothing new going on in that review.

I’m not saying the Maverick is a bad car but the difference between $1495 and $1245 is plenty big enough to get my attention. Destination charges today are nothing more than gouging by the manufacturer. Nice work if you can get it.

Back to the difference, that difference would allow me to take Mrs. j out to a pretty nice place for Valentines Day and get her a couple nice roses too and no telling what else if I had more time to think about it.

Huge like looks depends on who’s looking and what wallet size you have.

jmonroe

Michaell · February 2022

RIP, P.J. O'Rourke.

qbrozen · February 2022

ronsteve said:

Though I would like to see a compelling 3-way competition in the AFC between Burrow, Mahomes, and Josh Allen. Preferably with Allen coming out on top a few times.

I'll reply over here in the non-car car discussion.

qbrozen · February 2022

stickguy said:
The S in MSRP does stand for suggested. So if you are adamant about not paying more during a shortage, I hope you force the dealer to take sticker when they have a glut!

"Suggested" goes both ways. They want to suggest more, but I want to suggest less. More often than not, I seem to be the party less willing to be flexible. I've paid MSRP a couple of times, but never more. You could argue I paid over with the WRX only because of their high doc fee, however. But, I do consider their MSRP to be a bargain in this day and age of high-priced metal.

andres3 · February 2022

henryn said:

stickguy said:
Wes. I thought of you when I watched this Video. Sometimes I think the engineers just hate the techs so do this kind of nonsense on purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfQfHM46uD4
That video is 39 minutes long, I only watched the first 3 or 4 minutes, to see what it was about. +/- 5.5 hours to replace a valve cover. Assuming $125 an hour flat rate, that would be $687.50 just for the labor. A very good reason not to own an Audi out of warranty.

Couldn't they just epoxy the pinhole leak in the plastic housing much more easily?

qbrozen · February 2022

jmonroe1 said:

I’m not saying the Maverick is a bad car but the difference between $1495 and $1245 is plenty big enough to get my attention. Destination charges today are nothing more than gouging by the manufacturer. Nice work if you can get it.

jmonroe

Destination has become an ongoing joke. I really wish they'd just kick up the base price and delete that line item. It is dumb.

andres3 · February 2022

jmonroe1 said:

@explorerx4 said:

CR hates anything with a Domestic nameplate and trucks, too.

The Escape and Bronco Sport are good vehicles. If you copy them, it's a bad thing?

They keep saying 'at that price point'. What else is there?

I have yet to see anyone else say the 2.0 turbo is underpowered.

Maverick has a $1495 destination charge. Santa Cruz is 1245. Not a huge difference.

The Maverick actually has a higher payload than most half ton pickups.

Nothing new going on in that review.

I’m not saying the Maverick is a bad car but the difference between $1495 and $1245 is plenty big enough to get my attention. Destination charges today are nothing more than gouging by the manufacturer. Nice work if you can get it.

Back to the difference, that difference would allow me to take Mrs. j out to a pretty nice place for Valentines Day and get her a couple nice roses too and no telling what else if I had more time to think about it.

Huge like looks depends on who’s looking and what wallet size you have.

jmonroe

That destination cost is 20%+ difference. The same difference between a $60K and $50K car percentage wise. For a high roller, that doesn't matter, but for some, that's a "huge" difference.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=21654

jmonroe1 · February 2022

@qbrozen said:
Destination has become an ongoing joke. I really wish they'd just kick up the base price and delete that line item. It is dumb.

Agree but what manufacturer will be the first to commit suicide by raising the base price of their car?

Rhetorical question, no response required.

jmonroe

roadburner · February 2022

@Michaell said:
RIP, P.J. O'Rourke.

I loved Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance

tjc78 · February 2022

Guys do you realize how much shipping charges have gone up? Full truckloads that used to cost 8-9K are now 16-19K. Spot market for containers used to be sub $3000 to the East coast, now it’s 15K+.

This isn’t speculation.. these are real world numbers.

stickguy · February 2022

only thing that really matters is the bottom line number. It probably matters to the dealer, and the company likes being able to play advertising game, but as a buyer I really don't care how they break out the line items.

My Maverick was still a very good deal. And would not have mattered to me if they knocked the dest fee down $500 if they just increased the base price by the same amount!

I do agree it is a silly concept.

andres3 · February 2022

https://youtu.be/a1KxnEAcR9c

I found this video kind of "funny" actually. I haven't been in this Trooper's State but I feel some of the cops I've been pulled over by over the years had the same mentality and spirit of this scum bucket.

Also, it doesn't surprise me that some enforcing traffic laws drive so negligently and recklessly causing collisions like this one more often than the people they pull over.

After all, when it comes to collisions caused by me in La Mesa vs. La Mesa PD crashing into me the score is 0-1.

qbrozen · February 2022

tjc78 said:
Guys do you realize how much shipping charges have gone up? Full truckloads that used to cost 8-9K are now 16-19K. Spot market for containers used to be sub $3000 to the East coast, now it’s 15K+.

This isn’t speculation.. these are real world numbers.

Yes. But that doesn't change my opinion. It is a silly line item. The only way it would make sense is if they charged a different dest charge based on the dealer's location to the factory. Since they charge the same flat rate to everyone, it should be in the price. Charging the same dest fee on every car as a separate line item is akin to putting separate line items for every piece of standard equipment.

andres3 · February 2022

qbrozen said:

tjc78 said:
Guys do you realize how much shipping charges have gone up? Full truckloads that used to cost 8-9K are now 16-19K. Spot market for containers used to be sub $3000 to the East coast, now it’s 15K+.

This isn’t speculation.. these are real world numbers.

Yes. But that doesn't change my opinion. It is a silly line item. The only way it would make sense is if they charged a different dest charge based on the dealer's location to the factory. Since they charge the same flat rate to everyone, it should be in the price. Charging the same dest fee on every car as a separate line item is akin to putting separate line items for every piece of standard equipment.

What about "advertising" fees? Or when a salesman says "we got to be able to pay to keep the lights on."

In other news, Carvana reported that they made enough money off CCBA Edmunds flippers that it funded 99% of their Superbowl commercial expenses.

Michaell · February 2022

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

tjc78 said:
Guys do you realize how much shipping charges have gone up? Full truckloads that used to cost 8-9K are now 16-19K. Spot market for containers used to be sub $3000 to the East coast, now it’s 15K+.

This isn’t speculation.. these are real world numbers.

Yes. But that doesn't change my opinion. It is a silly line item. The only way it would make sense is if they charged a different dest charge based on the dealer's location to the factory. Since they charge the same flat rate to everyone, it should be in the price. Charging the same dest fee on every car as a separate line item is akin to putting separate line items for every piece of standard equipment.
What about "advertising" fees? Or when a salesman says "we got to be able to pay to keep the lights on."

In other news, Carvana reported that they made enough money off CCBA Edmunds flippers that it funded 99% of their Superbowl commercial expenses.

I thought they were saving money by not filing the DMV fees and sending the titles to their customers.

xwesx · February 2022

Okay, so these images are a week old now... or maybe two.... but that Bronco I mentioned "seeing in the wild" previously turned out to be a unit being raffled as a fundraiser for the local university. The night I saw it, it did not have this on the side, but these are a couple shots of it the very next day.

I apologize for the image quality; light was limited and I was walking at the time:

Soft top (no surprise there, although not necessarily a comfortable option in this climate).

xwesx · February 2022

Final post on the alternator (I hope!):

As I noted previously, it was a bit of a chore getting this thing out. Ultimately, I bought a set of those ratcheting box-end wrenches that were about 2" longer than the classic style units I was trying to use, and the 13mm unit ended up giving me just enough reach that I could slowly, carefully wiggle the nut loose. Still I had to take half of the car apart just to wrench the alternator out once I had it loose.

After removing the passenger front tire and the wheel well liner, I could access the alternator through the hole where the air box (air filter housing) normally lives.

After carefully removing the wires from the rear of the alternator, I quickly realized that there was no way to get the unit out through the top without disconnecting the full turbo intercooler piping system and the coolant lines for the radiator, so I decided to try for going out the bottom. This is what I could see under the frame rail, which didn't give me enough room:

After a few minutes, I was able to take out the large hockey puck-looking thing (not sure the purpose of that) as well as the aluminum cap that holds the sway bar to the frame. Then, I removed the soft section of hose on the lower right intercooler line to allow some flex and a gap there, which gave me the room to slip out the old unit and slip the new one in.

Ten more minutes of patient wiggling and adjusting, and I had the new unit in place. It was another hour to put it all back together, but I have charging now, so I guess that's good!

After starting the car, I discovered a new problem: The MAF sensor seems to have been heavily smoked due to the copious amounts produced by the other unit as it fried itself, and I'm having several codes relating to air. If I disconnect the sensor, the car will idle fine, but it is like trying to drive a child's roller coaster (you know, the ones that are super slow up hills, gravity-fed down). If I connect the sensor, then it tends to buck and sputter until it dies. Cleaning the unit did not help significantly, so I have a new one on the way. Here's to hoping that does the trick. /sigh

venture · February 2022

Man! You have more patience than 3 men.

stickguy · February 2022

better buy yourself some raffle tickets so you can dump this mess!

tjc78 · February 2022

@qbrozen
You have a point. I’m assuming they cost average the freight so they can have the same number on all stickers, but who knows. At any rate, I was just trying to show the increase is justified based on current conditions.

tjc78 · February 2022

@xwesx
What a nightmare!

qbrozen · February 2022

Nice job.
Seems pretty similar to changing the Escape's alternator.

oldfarmer50 · February 2022

tjc78 said:
Guys do you realize how much shipping charges have gone up? Full truckloads that used to cost 8-9K are now 16-19K. Spot market for containers used to be sub $3000 to the East coast, now it’s 15K+.

This isn’t speculation.. these are real world numbers.

If it costs so much to ship a car that’s a guarantee of employment for me. I move metal cheap.

oldfarmer50 · February 2022

xwesx said:
Okay, so these images are a week old now... or maybe two.... but that Bronco I mentioned "seeing in the wild" previously turned out to be a unit being raffled as a fundraiser for the local university. The night I saw it, it did not have this on the side, but these are a couple shots of it the very next day.

I apologize for the image quality; light was limited and I was walking at the time:

Soft top (no surprise there, although not necessarily a comfortable option in this climate).

Taking the $15k seems like a loser choice seeing how much those sticker for.

ronsteve · February 2022

@tjc78 said:
@qbrozen
You have a point. I’m assuming they cost average the freight so they can have the same number on all stickers, but who knows. At any rate, I was just trying to show the increase is justified based on current conditions.

Cost averaged freight is the entire point of the destination charge.

If that’s going up in this climate, it makes sense.

oldfarmer50 · February 2022

xwesx said:
Final post on the alternator (I hope!):

As I noted previously, it was a bit of a chore getting this thing out. Ultimately, I bought a set of those ratcheting box-end wrenches that were about 2" longer than the classic style units I was trying to use, and the 13mm unit ended up giving me just enough reach that I could slowly, carefully wiggle the nut loose. Still I had to take half of the car apart just to wrench the alternator out once I had it loose.

After removing the passenger front tire and the wheel well liner, I could access the alternator through the hole where the air box (air filter housing) normally lives.

After carefully removing the wires from the rear of the alternator, I quickly realized that there was no way to get the unit out through the top without disconnecting the full turbo intercooler piping system and the coolant lines for the radiator, so I decided to try for going out the bottom. This is what I could see under the frame rail, which didn't give me enough room:

After a few minutes, I was able to take out the large hockey puck-looking thing (not sure the purpose of that) as well as the aluminum cap that holds the sway bar to the frame. Then, I removed the soft section of hose on the lower right intercooler line to allow some flex and a gap there, which gave me the room to slip out the old unit and slip the new one in.

Ten more minutes of patient wiggling and adjusting, and I had the new unit in place. It was another hour to put it all back together, but I have charging now, so I guess that's good!

After starting the car, I discovered a new problem: The MAF sensor seems to have been heavily smoked due to the copious amounts produced by the other unit as it fried itself, and I'm having several codes relating to air. If I disconnect the sensor, the car will idle fine, but it is like trying to drive a child's roller coaster (you know, the ones that are super slow up hills, gravity-fed down). If I connect the sensor, then it tends to buck and sputter until it dies. Cleaning the unit did not help significantly, so I have a new one on the way. Here's to hoping that does the trick. /sigh

That’ll teach you to not abuse your alternator.

ab348 · February 2022

I’m not sure that a destination charge ever has had a whole lot to do with freight costs, though with freight costs at present, it may actually represent that, or a bigger part of it. I always figured it was largely a profit line item that was excluded from MSRP so they could advertise a lower sticker price. When I worked in retail we included inbound freight as part of our cost of goods sold and marked it up accordingly.

imidazol97 · February 2022

graphicguy said:

I remember the dealership. Didn’t she also have one on Montgomery Road? If memory serves, it was near a Rolls Royce dealership. I went past it, but never went in. Then again, I can’t ever recall being in the market for a Buick!

I misspoke. The Schott Buick was on Montgomery Rd. Reading Rd touches but doesn't go through Norwood.

xwesx · February 2022

oldfarmer50 said:

Taking the $15k seems like a loser choice seeing how much those sticker for.

Agreed, but there are those that would prefer that over the paperwork involved with the vehicle. I imagine that Seekins would be ecstatic if the winner chose the cash payment option. LOL

mjfloyd1 · February 2022

Others may not have the cash to pay taxes on the new Bronco so they choose the cash.

stickguy · February 2022

take the truck and go straight to Carmax. will have plenty of cash well before the tax bill arrives!

mjfloyd1 · February 2022

Will Carmax etc take a vehicle that has not been registered? You typically have to pay taxes first…

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