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They bought an 05 carbon grey Acura TSX automatic at 3% over invoice and got $8800 for their Audi. Was that a reasonable deal? It seems ok considering Edmunds is showing sticker as the TMV for the TSX. My mom doesn't seem too enthused so far since she really wanted the G35, but my dad's desire for fuel economy and lower price won. She hasn't seen the car yet as its still on the truck.
Their second possibility was an 05 Audi A4 1.8t CVT special edition with leather. They offered $9800 on trade and $1000 below sticker. I think this was a better deal, but the Acura will hopefully yield much better trade value next time around.
at an Acura dealer in Birmingham, Alabama
2000 Audi S4
4 dr sedan
6 speed manual
55k
awd
black with gray interior
sunroof, bose, leather, all the stuff
looks to be in good condition
You now have me in a conundrum. I see in your profile that you have a G35. That is another car on my list. Maybe I should move it up to the top since the wise Terry drives one.
Anyway ... right up the street from the Crimson Tide we have a 00 S4, 55k, Quattro, not a particually good color for the area ... these "seem" to come in 2 packages: -- package 1.) I have lots of money, this is my 2nd or 3rd vehicle and I drive the wheels off, thats because I can .. package 2.) I really appreciate these vehicles and I take better care of it than my 1st born ....
If ~ it's super nice and clean, serviced in the first 15 minutes, deep in rubber, no repaints, no $2.00 car washes, no Bonnie and Clyde interior, looks/feels and drives like 20k ... then the dealer probably paid the super tall $14's, maybe the low/mid $15's, probably hits the table at the low low $16's after a this and that .... $18,5/$19,5(?) ... whats he asking.?
PS: I need to remember to change my profile, that G car is loooong gone, that said, I put 400/500 miles on it and loved it.
Terry.
He still has it, I asked him a couple days ago why he didn't have a new truck by now, he said he's waiting for them to quit playing around and make a real deal. He said they are at $8500 (overallowance I'm sure) and then confidently said......"they will come up and give me what I want". I bit my tongue. BTW, he owes $9k on it at 19.9% APR.
Also, I asked you before and I guess you missed my question.... does Alaska still pay each resident an "oil" check?
Hope that you and your family have a nice xmas.
Mark
The whole front end including both fenders and the entire passenger side had been painted. I figured it out easily, and I am no expert. The leather was pretty worn, and the computer display in the middle of the gauges wasn't working. The windshield had some pretty major cracks in it. It drove nicely.
When I got home, my afternoon paper had it priced at $18,995.
At the Lexus dealer, I saw a 2004 RX-8 with a six speed and every possible option including the spoiler package on "clearance" for 23,995. It started at $26,995 around a month ago. Is it a deal yet?
Yup we still get the dividend check, but with our govenor I figure its going to come to an end.
**..."they will come up and give me what I want".** ...
$9,000.? .. that boy has a firm grip on that bad boy .....
Terry.
Gas mileage.? .. thats a real good excuse .l.o.l.. how about just saying: "lower price" .. anyway, she should like the TSX once she see's it and drives it, they're nice vehicles ....
Terry.
Sounds like a $10,000 vehicle too me, maybe .. must have package one ...........
Terry.
2001 Oldsmobile Aurora
4 door
4.0 L V8, automatic
FWD, Traction Control
73,700
Sapphire Blue exterior, Beige leather interior
All options except heated seats and moonroof
Nearly perfect interior, difficult to find any chips/dings on the body
Tires 50% on factory chrome alloys
Brakes and maintenance supposedly up to date & okay
Clear title with no previous damage/theft/water history
Thanks,
otto
Down the street in Ft. Flatter whale - selling or buying.? .. contrary to all of the BS and hype, the Old's products still sell well and still hold some $$ ..... here we have a 01 Aurora, V8, 74k, blue with the tan guts and no slider .... if we have cold breeze, don't have any Love Bug attacks, no paint by numbers, no uh oh it's Maaco, no parking lot battles at Publics or with the 4 freaks of Fall ... then trade side, the low/mid $7's, if it's super nice and super clean and it needs -0-, then you might find a dealer to drop the super tall $7's, low low $8's in it ...... Retail Rd.? $9,900ish - what can I say, the miles kill it .......
let me know ..
Terry.
Looks like I did okay. Can't find any paint/repair issues and it is clean. Bought it for $7850, right in your trade-in range.
Thanks for your opinion..........otto
Terry.
Now this 2004 RX-8 with a *six speed and every possible option* sounds intrigueing. The car mags seem to really like them. What do similar brand new ones go for?
>>No luck with the S4.
He's living in La La Land, maybe someday he will get a reality check. I truely believe that he thinks that truck is worth $10k+ on trade.
I tried to tell him that we were offered that for our 99 Ram 3500 V10 with 26k on it so how could his 98 Sierra 1500 V8 with 150k on it be worth the same as our Ram??? He doesn't get it I guess.
And, oh yeah .... just a regular how ya doin' "Merry Christmas".!
Terry.
Q
-Mathias
We are experiencing 35 below zero right now, gotta love winter.
Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year to everyone!!!!
Rob
Woody
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We're looking for one of many big winter sales early this week of people with poor credit and a now dead beater that they cannot get running. Hard to work on the car in the front yard when the high temperature for the day is 20 degrees and you are sitting on 8 inches of snow.
All stocked up with 1999-2000 Taurus/Sables with 95K. A good tune up and a good battery and those seem to start very well when super cold. All have new tires, new fluids, new battery, and a price of: only $500 cash down and $200 bi-weekly for 18 months.
Please tell me about the trade in value of my sister's Jetta:
2000 Volkswagen Jetta GLS VR6,
4 Door/FWD/Automatic Transmission,
2.8L VR6 Engine Rated at 174hp,
48000 miles,
White Exterior/Beige Leather Interior,
16" Alloy Wheels, Leather, Auto Trans, 6 Disc Changer, Monsoon Sound, Power Sunroof
The car is in the NYC metro area
The car looks nice and it will look damn good once I bring it by the detail shop I know of in The Bronx.
Thanks Terry!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
Ignoring all the obvious cheap shots in the above softball, I'm not so sure it's a great business to be in. First, you'd need a strong stomach, sorta like a priest hearing confession.
Secondly, selling 95k Tauri for $8k is highway robbery... except: Thirdly, some of the cars won't make it the 18 months before they break down, and then the owner will duly stop paying, waiting for the car to get repo'ed. So in that sense, people are buying cars with some level of insurance or warranty. At least, it's not Kias but pretty solid midsize sedans. But what a wretched business to be in!
Friend of mine at work, I'm sure I've posted about him before, had trouble making the payments on his car... well, just as I had figured out what was going to happen to him in case it got repo'd, and was calling him to set up a time where we could fix the darned thing, Ford Motor Credit up and repossessed it. Ouch. So I thought about "helping him out" by selling him my old car for the requisite $100down and $150 a month for 12 months... and pretty quickly decided not to do it.
It's a nasty business, and it only works if you make good on your threat to pick up the car when payments aren't made... and who wants to do THAT? Plus, I can imagine what shape the average repo is in... another reason to do it quickly. People are not going to be kind to cars that they know are going to be taken away.
With my friend and colleague, it is simply a case of never having learned to budget, or be a responsible adult. Payday it's the high life -- or, depending on our point of view, the low life -- and from the the 23rd on it's Heinz Ketchup Soup.
Seems like half the people I know at work are just living paycheck to paycheck. Even smart people. Argh.
Question to the pros: When a BHPH customer has their car repo'd, does anyhthing happen to their credit report? Are there any further obligations? Or do the BHPH operators realize that it's pointless to get in line and wait for money, so they just handle it all "directly", as it were?
IOW, having bought a BHPH car, and the car having been towed away, do I have further obligations? Do I get my credit wrecked further?
Oh, and speaking of "smart" people: I woke up early this morning, it seemed pretty light, I checked my analog watch: Hey, 07:00, time to get up! Of course it was 05:00. Oh Dear.
This extended Christmas cheer gets me all befuddled. That, and the margharitas...
-Mathias
Yes, you have to be thick-skinned. Yes, you have to be fairly treacherous. But, you also have to be very well set, financially, and have to have a good eye for vehicles, plus a reliable mechanic to make sure it all runs smoothly from before the sale, until the car is paid off.
This is a business I will probably get into, although nowhere near my buddy's "area", when I retire.
Call it what you may, and talk badly about these highway robbers...but you have to understand that there is a HUGE market for this service. People need decent transportation, and have, themselves, ruined any chance of going to a dealer and buying a new or used car with conventional financing.
It's all about personal responsibility - if you pay your bills and honor your word and obligations, you can buy anything you want, from anyone you want, with either cash, or a loan from any financial establishment you want.
If you DON'T do all of the above, then you can't do any of the above, and unless you want to scrape up $300 for a rusted up beater, if you MUST have something nicer, or have to pose with your bling-bling (that's a majority of the business in BHPH), you have the choice of BHPH.
From a credit perspective, my buddy can report your account to the various credit bureaus, and will when you pay it well, or if you repo.
MOST BHPH dealers, though, don't go to the additional cost or trouble to report to the credit bureaus - simply because, in most cases, they would be doing their customers a favor, and most won't.
My brother-in-law has the same arrangement with his renters. Pay on time or be put out. He'll cut a break or two if the person arranges it in advance. Otherwise, there out. The threat of eviction is the ONLY way he'll see any money!
BHPH lots are there for people who have bad credit, people who need the same incentive. Usually, they have NO credit. The only way the operator makes any money on the deal is through inflated prices or inflated interest rates.
BHPH customers already have abysmal credit so their credit report is already ruined. They ARE liable for fulfilling the terms of their agreement ***BUT*** how can you squeeze blood from a turnip? In this country, we do NOT have debtors' prison and there are limits to what you can legally do to collect (unless you are Guido in the black Lincoln (g)).
Steine, YOU said 1000 posts back "it is expensive to be poor." And you are right. I will give you a challenge. Sell the car to your friend. I promise you that you will get the lesson of your like.
In 1998, I bought a used 1990 Chevy Lumina with 100k miles off a neighbor who was facing BK. I overpaid ($1700) but I had the money. I sold it to one of my wife's employee for $1200 - $100 a month for a year. Let's just say it took 30 months to collect. There was always an excuse - the car needed a repair, the rent was due, etc.
Never again.
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As usual, I'm just trying to learn something... the car business in all is facets is fascinating to me. Hey, it's a better weakness to have than, say, exotic dancers... it's a cheaper weakness at any rate.
What eats me up is the way my buddy goes about this... he's a hard worker, he's smart, articulate even... and he has NO discipline. Zero. When I told him, better inform the ins co that your car is gone, he just said: "Oh, there's an easy way to do that..." IOW, simply not pay.
" Let's just say it took 30 months to collect. There was always an excuse - the car needed a repair, the rent was due, etc."
Yep, that's how I pictured it... and then having to feel bad about badgering a poor person for money. No way. Thing is, if and when I find a good canoemobile for next summer, I have another friend who will buy my old Prizm immediately for his daughter... he knows a good value when he sees it, and he's got cash in hand.
It's expensive to be poor all right... my wife must be weird, because she saved all of her paper route money when she was a little girl, and had actual money in the bank when I met her 18 years ago... being brought up the same way, it never occurred to me that this might be unusual. I've been learning, though...
drift:
"Call it what you may, and talk badly about these highway robbers..."
I dont' think I did... I rarely talk badly about people, and when I do, I'm not subtle. It's just not a business I'd want to be in. But I'd also hate being a dentist, ya know...
-Mathias
MOST people think badly of these guys, and to be in my buddy's shoes, with doing upscale vehicles, now, too, and belonging to the Chambers of Commerce in three small Texas towns, supporting local activities, and having a net worth of over $3 million, people could call me whatever they wanted....provided they don't call me to make an excuse about their car payment.
In his office, and in the main office lobby, he has a cool sign/plaque - "The quicket way to get back on your feet....is to miss a car payment"...
Priceless.
A few years back when I got out of graduate school, I went to work in the HQ of a large corporation. At that point, I had two beaters that were near the end of their lives. A new car was not a priority as I was gone 200+ night a year. i just needed a sled to get me to and from the airport. One young lady (for what reason, I do not know) always brought up my vehicles as a source of humor. Of course, she had a $25k car on a $30k salary. One day, she brought it up and I had to say, "But I don't live with my daddy!"
Seriously, we have so many young people who have been conditioned to spend money as quickly as it comes in and to be forever in debt on vehicles. they come and ask me to find them cheap transportation. When I do locate something for them, I find that they have signed themselves up for 6 years of $500/month car payments.
One kid that I bowl with needed basic transportation - he spent 15k on some small GM SUV. Anything cheaper would be unreliable. His old man drives a 1994 Crown Vic in perfect condition that he he paid perhaps $5 for
Geez, my wife's first vehicle was $500 and was bought from a junkyard. It took tenyears to convince her to spend over $5k for a vehicle ...
Chicago had little if ANY snow on the ground ... cold as heck, though.
Have to admit that after all the years of having relatives call me to tell me how much snow I had in Cleveland/Detroit/Chicago, I was able to ask the Cincinnati/Dayton folks how they enjoyed their 15" ice pack ...
Probably the worst storm in N. Ohio since 1997. I am just happy that we decided not to head to cincinnati which had been our original plans/