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Residency Evil posted:I guess my question is whether expecting to pay the PP price from a dealer is unreasonable for some reason. Would doing something like the Rizzo method work for a used car? Depends on the car and the dealer. If they know that they can sale the car for near what they're asking then they won't budge much and you'll have a harder time talking them down. If the car has been there for awhile, has had little interest, and is a rather locally unpopular car then they're way more willing to roll the price down to recoup their money. Do some research, look to see how long the car has been there, judge how hard they're pushing the car, and then make an offer below what you're willing to pay. Worse comes to worse, they say no. I recently helped someone buy a used car, I told the salesman that the car was not worth what they're asking and that we're not buying the vehicle. He asked me why and I said the car isn't worth that much according to the blue book. He did his whole song & dance, pulled up the blue book value for the dealership price with all of the options, and gloated that they were $2,000 below that price and how much of a deal we're already getting. I told him that wasn't a viable metric to judge the price of a used vehicle, handed him several printouts from edmunds, kbb, etc., thanked him for his time, and left. By the time I was 5 minutes out of the dealership, he had called three times, sent two emails, and three txt messages. I let him sit for an hour, came back, and he was willing to deal. We got him below KBB's private party on the vehicle by the time all was said and done, along with two new tires, and the document fee waived. So you just have to be persistent and expect to receive a lot of lies, bullshit, and exaggerated claims. Just ignore all of it and hold firm. If they still won't meet your price, then walk.
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Mar 28, 2012 06:26
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An update on my situation (replacing multiple cars with a full size truck or suv + trailer or something) that BFC should feel good about. My wife and I just went to look at an '03 Suburban. Overall it was pretty clean, drove well, and was in good condition. This vehicle would have solved our problems in that it's inexpensive compared to what I wanted (~$9k cash vs. ~$15k or so partially financed) and we could still tow a trailer and have tons of room, etc. I've been kinda stressing out about it because we just really don't know what exactly we want. We showed up, drove it, and I knew it wasn't for me. The suburban was fine, but I was not fine with coming close to wiping out our savings while we had some upcoming expenses. Anyway, I just didn't love the suburban, and to be honest it's probably because we don't know what we want, and that's because we don't NEED anything different than our setup now, it's just occasionally inconvenient. So we've decided to go forth as follows: 1. Hug my savings account and tell it I'm sorry for thinking about hurting it. 2. Get our cavalier and truck inspected. Truck shouldn't need much as I had work done last year and I drove it so little. Cavalier could go either way. At the very least we'd be good for another year if we were to get the up for sale. 3. Maintenance neglect. I need to get some body work done on the truck and get the 4wd working. If we need to sell it, it will make it worth a bunch more. 4. Once the cavi/truck are squared away and legal, finish up the miata to get it ready to sell. I need a new battery ($100) and to put the top on (already purchased) and it should be pretty solid as-is. Shooting for $3-4k. This would go into savings. 5. Continue to save and either find a great deal thanks to ridiculous gas prices, or continue on saving until our cars explode and need replaced. feelsgoodman.jpg
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Mar 29, 2012 19:03
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dreesemonkey posted:
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Apr 2, 2012 08:09
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Well looks like fate has cruely smacked me down. The '99 Cavalier failed inspection yesterday due to a rusted out rear subframe. Such is the life of a PA car  Again, the wife and I are not sure what we want to do. For the moment we're looking for a ~$5k camry or similar to replace the cavalier to act as our second car and be used for longer trips as it would be bigger than the civic. Our truck is also up for inspection this month and if it shares a similar fate that it looks like I definitely will be looking to replace it with something that can pull car/truck double duty. But only if it comes down to it, I guess. Fun times!
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Apr 5, 2012 14:15
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I have a car insurance question, so I hope that this is the correct thread to ask this. My girlfriend and I are shopping around for insurance together, we currently have separate policies: her car, and me with my motorcycle. While running the numbers, the agent said that he would not be able to insure me because of something on my driving record. This is essentially impossible as the only tickets I've ever had were taken off my record with traffic school and one ticket I got in high school over 10 years ago for rolling through a stop sign. He wasn't able to tell us what the issue was exactly, so how do I actually go about finding out what the problem is?
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Apr 8, 2012 02:01
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Armacham posted:I have a car insurance question, so I hope that this is the correct thread to ask this. My girlfriend and I are shopping around for insurance together, we currently have separate policies: her car, and me with my motorcycle. Get a copy of your CLUE report from Choicepoint.
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Apr 8, 2012 02:05
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How long is it between when you sign a finance loan and when they send you the full payment paperwork? It's been almost 20 days since I signed on this loan, and I'm not sure when I should be getting all this set up. Should I start calling the bank?
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Apr 8, 2012 07:37
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Could be the dealer slacking and not sending in the completed stuff to the lienholder for them to process.
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Apr 8, 2012 15:00
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Bovril Delight posted:Get a copy of your CLUE report from Choicepoint.
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Apr 8, 2012 17:46
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Take your CLUE report to him and ask him what he's on about. If you don't have any tickets/citations and there is nothing on your CLUE report for prior claims I can't see what the issue is.
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Apr 8, 2012 18:03
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What kind of insurance policy minimums should I be looking at? I've been told 100k/300k/100k, but that seems low. Nevertheless I don't see every company offering more. I've also heard that physicians should purchase more car insurance. Is there any truth to this?
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Apr 16, 2012 21:09
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My wife and I are moving from a city with good public transportation to one with terrible public transportation, and so we're going to have to go from zero-car to a two-car household in the next couple of months (as much as it's the most financially sound thing to do, sharing a car is only an option in the extreme short-term). We're planning to get one (used) car in May and one in July, and get loans for both of them. We're trying to figure out the best way to go about it. My thinking is that it's probably better to get the two loans separately, because the first loan could make it harder to get the second a couple of months later if we do it jointly. Does that make sense?
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Apr 16, 2012 21:31
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Residency Evil posted:What kind of insurance policy minimums should I be looking at? I've been told 100k/300k/100k, but that seems low. Nevertheless I don't see every company offering more. I've also heard that physicians should purchase more car insurance. Is there any truth to this? You ideally want enough limits to protect your assets. If you are a physician earning a sizable amount, I would say you should go for 250/500/250 or a 500 combined single limit (CSL). Depending on how much you are earning and your assets you may seriously want to consider an umbrella policy. If you're sporting a 1 million nest egg and you go and seriously hurt someone, you want to have that policy to avoid getting the piss sued out of you.
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Apr 17, 2012 03:55
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Handsome Wife posted:My thinking is that it's probably better to get the two loans separately, because the first loan could make it harder to get the second a couple of months later if we do it jointly. Does that make sense? It doesn't really matter. A married couple can have 2 auto loans between them with no issue. You can get them at the same time, separate times, just doesn't matter.
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Apr 17, 2012 04:00
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Bovril Delight posted:You ideally want enough limits to protect your assets. If you are a physician earning a sizable amount, I would say you should go for 250/500/250 or a 500 combined single limit (CSL). Depending on how much you are earning and your assets you may seriously want to consider an umbrella policy. If you're sporting a 1 million nest egg and you go and seriously hurt someone, you want to have that policy to avoid getting the piss sued out of you. Do future earnings apply to this? My current income isn't very high but my future earning potential is pretty substantial. Would I need an umbrella policy in this case?
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Apr 17, 2012 04:33
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Residency Evil posted:Do future earnings apply to this? My current income isn't very high but my future earning potential is pretty substantial. Would I need an umbrella policy in this case? Depends on your assets. If you are young with no property, high end cars, etc. and a fairly low current income then you don't need an umbrella policy. As you become more established in your career and your earnings go up you can always raise your limits and get an umbrella policy if needed. Keep in mind that you have to have 250/500 or 500 CSL limits if you have an umbrella policy.
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Apr 17, 2012 04:38
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skipdogg posted:It doesn't really matter. A married couple can have 2 auto loans between them with no issue. You can get them at the same time, separate times, just doesn't matter. Sweet, thanks. I was just worried about the shortish turnaround.
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Apr 17, 2012 13:46
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This month I started my Smartypig account for my next (used) car. I currently have a 1999 Camry with 189k miles, and I plan to buy something around $10k in a year. It will most likely be another Camry, as this has been the best car I've ever owned.
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Apr 17, 2012 13:52
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I have a 2001 Toyota Celica with about 105,000 miles on it. I bought it ~18 months ago for $5,200. It has been burning oil for a while and it died the other day, though now I can start it and drive it again. I took it to the dealer for a diagnosis and they said that it isn't worth putting any money into and the engine is about to go. I can get a rebuilt engine with a 3 year warranty installed for $3,800. It is in pretty good shape otherwise, aside from some scrapes and dents on the rear bumper that were there when I bought it. My gut instinct is to go ahead and spend the money, but I'm not sure if there are other options I should look at.
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Apr 18, 2012 21:45
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I have a 2001 Toyota Celica with about 105,000 miles on it. I bought it ~18 months ago for $5,200. It has been burning oil for a while and it died the other day, though now I can start it and drive it again. I took it to the dealer for a diagnosis and they said that it isn't worth putting any money into and the engine is about to go. I can get a rebuilt engine with a 3 year warranty installed for $3,800. It is in pretty good shape otherwise, aside from some scrapes and dents on the rear bumper that were there when I bought it. My gut instinct is to go ahead and spend the money, but I'm not sure if there are other options I should look at. You should be able to find a used engine and get it installed way cheaper than that. Here is a reman on ebay for $1600 shipped http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-1ZZ-...f#ht_5037wt_936 Ive seen used ones go for $900 or so. Do you have a GT or GTS?
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Apr 18, 2012 21:58
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I took it to the dealer for a diagnosis There are only two situations where anyone should take their car to a dealer for service: 1. It's in warranty, and the work is covered by warranty 2. It's for free service covered by a factory recall That's it. Under every other circumstance, you are paying way, way, way too much for what you get. Go to an independent mechanic in your area. Your Celica is a common car (even if it is an "import") so parts are available and mechanics will be familiar with it. Having said that: I'm surprised that a Celica engine is ready to be scrapped at just 105k. I agree with Don Lapre that you can get a reasonable used engine in for a lot less. I'd also get a second opinion from a non-dealership mechanic before writing off your current engine: it may be that at non-assrape labor and parts costs, fixing the problem that's causing oil burning could be cheaper than replacing the engine.
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Apr 19, 2012 17:22
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Don Lapre posted:You should be able to find a used engine and get it installed way cheaper than that. Here is a reman on ebay for $1600 shipped Yeah, I hadn't really thought much about installing it myself. The place I went to wanted $695 for labor and the engine it came with had a 3 year warranty, so I'd have to weigh that against this. I've never taken an engine out before, but there's a first time for anything I guess. If I screwed it up and couldn't finish I could haul it to the shop and have them put it in if worst came to worst. I have a GT. Leperflesh posted:There are only two situations where anyone should take their car to a dealer for service: It was $90 at the dealership vs $50 elsewhere though so not a huge deal just to have it looked at. My worry wasn't so much whether the mechanics would be familiar with it so much as when I asked around most people had had bad experiences with the independent shops I asked about. quote:Having said that: I'm surprised that a Celica engine is ready to be scrapped at just 105k. I agree with Don Lapre that you can get a reasonable used engine in for a lot less. I'd also get a second opinion from a non-dealership mechanic before writing off your current engine: it may be that at non-assrape labor and parts costs, fixing the problem that's causing oil burning could be cheaper than replacing the engine. The $3800 is from a non-dealer mechanic, the dealer wanted $7000. I'm actually kind of doubting whether the guy who told me that has any idea what he is talking about. I don't know that much about cars but between: 1. Low power 2. Copious white smoke 3. Burning oil It seems to match up with a damaged/blown head gasket. I'm going to pull the spark plugs out and check for gunk and maybe look into replacing the head gasket, which looks tough but not as bad as pulling the whole engine.
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Apr 19, 2012 18:59
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OctaviusBeaver posted:
A blown headgasket doesn't mean your engine is dead. It means you just need to replace the headgaskset. Basically unbolt everything off the head and remove the head. Does the car knock or anything when you drive it? If not the internals are likely fine.
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Apr 19, 2012 19:53
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Don Lapre posted:A blown headgasket doesn't mean your engine is dead. It means you just need to replace the headgaskset. Basically unbolt everything off the head and remove the head. Does the car knock or anything when you drive it? If not the internals are likely fine. Agreeing with this. If you're feeling froggy and have the time and space to work on it, give it a go. A friend with some experience would be nice, too. You should stop by AI and ask there for more help.
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Apr 19, 2012 20:08
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Don Lapre posted:A blown headgasket doesn't mean your engine is dead. It means you just need to replace the headgaskset. Basically unbolt everything off the head and remove the head. Does the car knock or anything when you drive it? If not the internals are likely fine. The only time this gets tricky / spendy is if the block and/or head are warped, or if the head is cracked, at which point a used engine probably is cheaper.
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Apr 19, 2012 20:25
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Ok I stopped by the shop today and talked to the guy who worked on it. First here is his writeup of the problem:quote:Low compression in cylinder 4. Inspected engine and found large amount of oil running down the cylinder block mostly coming from the head gasket area due to possible warpage. Ran a compression test found cyl 4 to be low, added small amount of engine (oil?) and retested. Found compression to come back up meaning piston rings or cyl wall damage is present. That sounds bad to me. Clearly the head gasket is bad but if the cylinder wall is damaged my impression is that means a new engine. I guess I could have the holes rebored and put bigger piston rings in, but I don't really wouldn't want to spend that much money on a gamble. I'm really don't feel comfortable ordering an engine online, but maybe that is silly. The ones Autozone is selling here: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Engine/_/N-9enw6 are $2800 though, which isn't much cheaper than the shop. And if I was gonna put it in myself I would pay a couple hundred bucks to one of my friends who is good with cars to come help. Then again it would be a good learning experience. Hmmmm. Anybody know how long it usually takes to pull out an engine and put the new one in? I can borrow a hoist for free. I appreciate the responses I've been getting, it's tough to weigh all of these options.
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Apr 20, 2012 06:07
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Oh... Yeah, a diagnosis like that pretty much confirms that the only way that engine will run right again is with what would amount to nearly a full on rebuild. Good used engines are always cheaper than paying for a rebuild.
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Apr 20, 2012 07:33
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I'm not sure if the 1ZZ in the Celica is as prone to self-destructing as the same engine in the MR-S due to pre-cat issues, but you should be able to pick up a junkyard engine for peanuts. The 1ZZ is literally the 2000s Corolla engine and they put it in Corollas, Celicas, and the MR-S.
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Apr 21, 2012 07:48
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Phone posted:I'm not sure if the 1ZZ in the Celica is as prone to self-destructing as the same engine in the MR-S due to pre-cat issues, but you should be able to pick up a junkyard engine for peanuts. The 1ZZ is literally the 2000s Corolla engine and they put it in Corollas, Celicas, and the MR-S. I've heard they have some oil loss issues but they don't have the precast the mr2 does which is the cause of the mr2s suddenly crapping out.
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Apr 21, 2012 14:28
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I don't want to start the debate up again, but IF I decide to go for a lease on my next car, what's the best way to negotiate terms?
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Apr 21, 2012 16:38
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ArgaWarga posted:I don't want to start the debate up again, but IF I decide to go for a lease on my next car, what's the best way to negotiate terms? Best thing you can do is fully understand exactly how a lease works, and all the associated terminology. My wife and I recently decided to lease a vehicle. It works out better for us given our set of circumstances. I would read everything on leaseguide.com especially this page. http://www.leaseguide.com/lease07.htm Typically you're going to negotiate the Cap Cost of the vehicle. The residual value at the end of the lease is going to be a fixed percentage of MSRP. So say you go lease a car that has an MSRP of 30,000, and the residual at the end of 3 years and 36,000 miles is 55% of MSRP, your paying for the depreciation of 30,000 -16,500 or 13.5K in depreciation. (375/mo). Now if you negotiate the purchase price or cap cost of the car down to 27,500, your only paying for 11K of depreciation or 305/mo which would lower you lease payment significantly. The second thing I would suggest is find a post on edmunds or some other auto board that has an insider sharing the residual values and money factors of what you want to lease. That way you know if the dealer is trying to add a point or two to the interest rate/money factor on the deal. Also make sure to understand your lease end terms. If there is a fee when you turn the vehicle in or not, or if you can buy the lease out or not and what it all costs. Also don't underestimate your mileage. It's relatively inexpensive to get more miles when you sign the lease. We leased with Ford and they had options from 10,500 miles to 19,500 miles a year and the range was maybe 4% of MSRP. Penalty miles are 20cents a pop though. What kind of car are you thinking about leasing?
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Apr 21, 2012 19:28
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Thanks for the input. I'm moving out east and don't currently own a car, I've looked at a bunch and I'm leaning towards a Cruze, with a Mazda3 a close runner up.
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Apr 21, 2012 21:03
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ArgaWarga posted:I don't want to start the debate up again, but IF I decide to go for a lease on my next car, what's the best way to negotiate terms? Put down as little money as possible - ideally a $0 down payment + whatever taxes/fees you have to pay. Obviously you want to negotiate down the price of the car as much as possible as usual, and also ask about doing multiple security deposits which are money that you put into the car (not a down payment), that lowers your monthly payment by lowering the money factor, and is refunded to you at the end of the lease. Google "BMW MSD" for more information. You might also considering doing a lease takeover via swapalease, leasetrader, etc. Some people offer incentives to take over their lease.
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Apr 21, 2012 21:59
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I want to buy a nice SUV for my wife. Looking for used, about $30k, comfortable and reliable. My current favorite is the Lexus GX470, but am definitely open to other ideas. Basically, I want to get the most SUV I can for $30k, but am open to a bit higher. What are your recommendations? Taking into account cost and reliability, definitely.
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Apr 22, 2012 18:27
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I would need more info to make a good recommendation. How's the car going to be used? Does it need to be able to tow? How many do you need to seat? Do you want full on truck based SUV's like the GX or would a crossover style SUV with a uni-body structure be OK? The GX is a hell of an SUV, and you might be able to snag a 2008 Certified Pre Owned for your price range. The nice thing about the body on frame Lexus SUV's are they are super reliable. I've read forum posts of those things going 200,000 miles with nothing but normal wear and tear maintenance. In fact most body on frame large SUV vehicles are going to be really reliable since they're often based on workhorse trucks in the manufacturers lines. Does brand matter? Sometimes you can snag a nice value by getting a top of the line Ford or Chevy with comparable or better features to a lower packaged premium marque. The domestics are usually cheaper to maintain, but don't hold on to their value as well making them an attractive used car purchase. Maybe check out a Buick Enclave or a GMC Acadia in the SLT or Denali trim. The Ford Explorer Limited has some serious luxury features in it, and lots of techno gadgets. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Apr 22, 2012 |
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Apr 22, 2012 19:42
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Crossovers are okay; my main reason for wanting the GX is that I'm currently in Afghanistan and I've seen first hand how bulletproof Prados are. But crossover style is alright, as long as it's comfortable and reliable. I've always held an irrational dislike of domestics, and have never owned one, but I suppose I could consider it. It will be driven in bad weather, and some going up ski roads and such (the kind that require chains in the winter). I don't need to seat 7, but a third row would be nice. Basically I just want space and comfort because we have a tendency to take long trips. Towing (at this time) is not necessary, but we may get some ATVs in the future. I've been looking at 07 and 08 GX470s, and I've seen a lot of low mileage ones for high 20s and low 30s, which is good for me. But I still want to consider alternatives. Originally we wanted a Land Rover, but apparently the reliability has not improved as much as I thought.
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Apr 22, 2012 19:55
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Are the GXs basically the luxuried up version of the land cruiser? Honestly I don't think you could go wrong with either one of those. It's going to be reliable and comfortable and it's not your typical tahoe/yukon/escalade clone.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:21
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The GX is the luxury version of the Land Cruiser Prado, the LX is the luxury version of the full size Land Cruiser. Both are proven and reliable. I think it will most likely be what I end up getting her. Only downside is the gas mileage.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:39
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Our Gay Apparel posted:The GX is the luxury version of the Land Cruiser Prado, the LX is the luxury version of the full size Land Cruiser. Both are proven and reliable. I think it will most likely be what I end up getting her. Only downside is the gas mileage. You're going to get poo poo mileage in any large SUV unless it's a crossover, and even then you'll probably only be saving a few MPG.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:44
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Our Gay Apparel posted:The GX is the luxury version of the Land Cruiser Prado, the LX is the luxury version of the full size Land Cruiser. Both are proven and reliable. I think it will most likely be what I end up getting her. Only downside is the gas mileage. For the money you're looking at you could get into a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee. I know you said you don't like domestics, but you're being irrational and the new JGC has been winning tons of accolades from the press. Go and give one a try at least. I'm with you on the other domestic BOF vehicles though - the Escalade, Navigator, and their Ford/Chevy equivilants are all at this point quite old and lacking in technology and features, and the interiors are nothing to write home about. I really wouldn't bother with any of the Toyota SUVs on the used market. Here's the thing - they are very reliable, but in the US, Land Rover has been outselling them by a huge margin, because the equivilant land Rover (LR4/Discovery vs GX, Range Rover VS LX) is usually quite a bit cheaper with far more features - e.g. the Rovers have independent rear suspension vs live axles on the Toyota, the LR4 has standard height adjustable air suspension which IIRC the GX does not have. The problem with Toyota is that those trucks are made in Japan, and the Japanese currency has appreciated massively in the last couple of years while the British Pound has massively depreciated. Jaguar/Land Rover can simply afford to sell much better equipped vehicles for lower prices than the Japanese can while still reaping massive profits. Given the rather considerable price difference between say, a LR3/4 vs a GX which by my rough estimate looks like $6k-$10k for a 2008 model, I would probably still take my chances with the Land Rover even knowing that it will have more reliability issues. Even if you do end up spending the difference in price fixing it, and remember that even for the worst marques, it's still a minority of vehicles that end up having very serious issues, you're still getting a far more capable and luxurious vehicle, much better looking too. TL;DR Buy a Land Rover.
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Apr 23, 2012 16:19
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