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That may be but autozone is the most lax. I can think of a couple locations where I see cars on jack stands and parking lot mechanics waiting to offer repairs to other customers.
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Nov 4, 2021 13:48
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I think I want a hybrid electric car. I've never bought a car myself before. What should I get? Is buying used good/okay/worth it? How much off should I expect used vs new if I do get new per year. Do I actually want a hybrid car? I've never had electric before.
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Nov 8, 2021 04:56
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Methanar posted:I think I want a hybrid electric car. I've never bought a car myself before. Start by reading the OP and using its suggested template to tell us what you're interested in.
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Nov 8, 2021 05:04
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Methanar posted:I think I want a hybrid electric car. I've never bought a car myself before. Congratulations on your new prius
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Nov 8, 2021 05:52
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gwrtheyrn posted:Congratulations on your new prius Why isn't the thread title "Just buy a Prius" again?
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Nov 8, 2021 06:16
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KillHour posted:Why isn't the thread title "Just buy a Prius" again? Ask/Tell › AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles, don't even bother posting, just buy a fuckin prius. Too long?
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Nov 8, 2021 06:52
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hey this thread has a good OP. Proposed Budget: 30-60k I guess? New or Used: you tell me! Probably 2-3 years used just to not pay the NEW! tax. But also to be a nice modern car. Body Style: 2 door, less is more. How will you be using the car?: Honestly don't drive a lot. 100% WFH forever. Do not plan to be hauling poo poo around. What aspects are most important to you? good fuel efficiency. Inexpensive to operate. I'm stingy and feel guilty about driving because GAS COSTS MONEY. I'm thinking I'm going to want to start doing moderate road tripping, which is what's dissuading me from going full tesla. Will be in the US. I'm emigrating to the US in a week, so one of the problems is that I'm not going to have any credit history in the US. how bad is this going to hurt if I try to get a loan. I make a lot of money, but when I arrive in the US I'm going to have 0 dollars. I don't plan on transferring more than 10k either because 1)currency conversion bad 2) anti money laundering poo poo. I've spent the last 8 years pretending I'm utterly impoverished and need to live on 15k usd a year. I'm tired of doing that and really don't need to anymore. I want to strike the balance of owning something that isn't embarrassing, while not being extravagant. Do I actually want a hybrid? Methanar fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 07:42
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Methanar posted:hey this thread has a good OP. Toyota Prius Prime.
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Nov 8, 2021 08:38
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Methanar posted:hey this thread has a good OP. ND2 Miata
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Nov 8, 2021 09:19
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How is your budget 30,000 when you don't have credit or more than 10K in your name? Sounds like you might want to buy an older used car just to get around for a while. Then you either save money or build credit, whichever comes first. If driving is a luxury and not a necessity, doesn't matter what you have at this point in time. Enjoy your 2nd gen Prius
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Nov 8, 2021 13:44
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Cadillac ATS-V. Good solid American luxury car with a turbo V6 well in your price range. Kinda small for long road trips, but fits all your other requirements. Note: may not be considered small for Europeans. Alternatively you can probably afford a used M2 or an Audi S5 if you want to go the German route, but it'll be at the upper end of your budget and you may not get loan approval with no credit history. Go find a local credit union and give them your bills and paychecks for the last 5 years, hopefully they'll approve a special loan for you.
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Nov 8, 2021 14:23
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The good news about car loans and little financial presence is that they are secured by the car so as long as you stay above water (or get gap insurance) they will still give you one based on your income. It's just going to be at a worse rate than you'd probably expect. With that in mind I'd throw my hat into the used Prius ring while you align your finances to be usable stateside/build credit and get your status symbol in a couple years. From the hybrid front I'd be really wary of getting a plug in hybrid sight unseen of where you are living and/or with road trips in mind. It's a lot of money that you only get use out of with a mostly mature charging infrastructure so if you don't have a charger at home and the shopping center (and your road trip destinations) you just have a worse full hybrid.
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Nov 8, 2021 14:46
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KillHour posted:Why isn't the thread title "Just buy a Prius" again? at one point it was, I think Methanar posted:Proposed Budget: 30-60k I guess? From a pure dollars and cents perspective, a hybrid is not going to be particularly cost effective. It's more cost effective to pay a premium for a hybrid (in actual cash, or substitution for other features at a similar price point) if you are putting a lot of miles on it. If you're driving a couple thousand miles a year, it'll never pencil. Now, I understand guilt over spending money on gas / burning gas to destroy the environment, but overall unless you are driving a lot, it's hard to make the numbers work. I don't love the Prius as a roadtrip car because it's loving dog poo poo slow at accelerating on the highway and it's kind of a rattly tin can. But a nice gently used Honda Accord Hybrid or Toyota Camry Hybrid would fit your needs well. Small cars are generally less good for roadtripping because they tend to be less expensive, which means less sound deadening materials and more cost based compromises on things like suspension and interior comfort features. They also tend to be shorter in the wheelbase so you get more noticeable body motion from bumps in the road. This is America so the roads are dogshit in like, at least 1/3 of the country. Agree with zedprime about a PHEV, I would avoid trying to get a plug-in hybrid because a) there aren't that many out there and b) I don't think you don't know whether your living situation supports plugging in a car at night.
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Nov 8, 2021 15:18
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Y'all, he has no credit in the US, but he does have financial history in another country. You can bring in proof of credit to a lender and they can provide a high dollar loan to you with proof of income and good bill payment regardless of any credit history. A lender that specializes in immigrants will give loans out for these situations. Look for no credit lenders who probably offer that service. A lot of local credit unions do this. They will require you to be a member, but it's a better bank than the Nationals anyways. Plus he was asking for luxury car and you recommended a loving Prius. The answer to every recommendation is not Prius.
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Nov 8, 2021 15:37
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the OP was asking for a luxury car? where?
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Nov 8, 2021 15:56
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:the OP was asking for a luxury car? where? Used car 30-60k is not a Prius. Something like an A4 may be in his ballpark. The problem is, spending 60k on a car that's just going to sit in the garage isn't a particularly smart use of money. Anything he gets will be stingy on gas and cheap to operate because it's not going to be driven much. I think a better option would be to buy something cheap (~10k, like a Civic or something similar), and let it sit until OP is clear on what he wants it for. If he gets serious about road tripping, upgrading to a classier car might be in order. If he never gets around to it, the cheapo will be fine for a long time and he can spend his money on something more useful.
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Nov 8, 2021 16:06
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Yeah I guess I took thisMethanar posted:Proposed Budget: 30-60k I guess? as luxury. They don't make a lot of non-luxury 2 door cars anymore that fit this criteria.
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Nov 8, 2021 16:11
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Reading between the lines I'd second the Corolla or Accord hybrid idea. You're gonna get extra doors but it's really worth it for road noise and comfort if your loftiest car goal is long distance travel I didn't really read any more into the price range than signalling "I can spend EV money if needed." The needs don't really ask for anything more than you could get in a dece 3 year old mass market sedan although they might end up disappointed with the amount of doors. There are $30-60k coupes that aren't EV/PHEV, they are sports cars and don't really meet the efficiency want although they are right at home going nowhere fast in a driveway.
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Nov 8, 2021 16:42
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Thanks for all the posts. After reading those posts, I think you're all right that it might make sense to just go to a dealership and take a discount 10 year old disel/gas used whatever for the first months until I know what I'm doing a bit more. But thinking about it more, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to buy a vehicle because in order to insure it I'll need an American driver's license. And to get a driver's license I'll need an SSN. That's probably at least a month of bureaucracy to get all the documentation sorted out. I might end up needing to just rent for the first few weeks anyway.
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Nov 8, 2021 17:46
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I don't recommend them but this popped up in my feed some time ago. https://intlauto.com/ As far as I know, you don't need a US license or SSN/ITIN to buy a car, it just makes it a shitload easier and you will likely not get access to the best rates without a credit history. You will also pay more for insurance until you have your US license + driving history. Documented income also goes a long way in making up for a credit history. If you have an offer letter or a first paystub that proves you're making a lot of money, everyone will work with you more than you'd think. All that said, yeah, if money isn't an object, just get a month-long rental for like 1000-ish and take your time searching. I had the misfortune of looking for a car in this lovely market while handling an international move, and it was a really bad time. Also, if money isn't an issue, get month-long Airnbnb or something, don't stay in a hotel while looking for an apartment. dpkg chopra fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 17:55
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Methanar posted:Thanks for all the posts. After reading those posts, I think you're all right that it might make sense to just go to a dealership and take a discount 10 year old disel/gas used whatever for the first months until I know what I'm doing a bit more. do you need a car Day 1 in america?
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Nov 8, 2021 22:46
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Mustache Ride posted:Yeah I guess I took this I took this more as "the person who has never really bought a new car and is new to the market doesn't really understand the market dynamics"
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Nov 8, 2021 22:48
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I took this more as "the person who has never really bought a new car and is new to the market doesn't really understand the market dynamics" It's this. I have no idea what I'm doing.
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Nov 8, 2021 22:50
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Methanar posted:Thanks for all the posts. After reading those posts, I think you're all right that it might make sense to just go to a dealership and take a discount 10 year old disel/gas used whatever for the first months until I know what I'm doing a bit more. We went through this in 2017, with the following process Before coming to the US, get an international license. 0) Get a US phone number the day you land. T-Mobile has prepaid plans that can be transferred to regular. 1) Get a long-term rental car. 4 weeks. 2) Apply for SSN ASAP, use a co-workers or office address. You may have an issue here, as I’m not sure if SS centers are open to visitors again. Took 2 weeks for the SSN, may be longer now. 3) Open bank account while waiting on SSN. That can be pulled off with a number of bank: we did BoA and Schwab, apparently TD works too 4) Transfer seed capital through Wise. We dumped $50K to drive up the balance. Get a prepaid CC. 5) If you have an Amex, transfer it. 6) If you have car insurance, get a statement how many years you’ve been accident-free. GEICO took everything at face value. Otherwise, rates can literally run $1K/yr to $5K/yr 7) Receive SSN, hit up DMV. Notice you may want to make an appointment in advance, as they can be booked out for weeks. Get temp license. Exams may apply. 8) Go to a Carmax or a dealership that may have experience with expats, buy car for exchange of a cashier’s check, drawn on the bank account mentioned above, with insurance paid through the transferred Amex or prepaid card. I suspect you can probably talk a dealership into selling you a car on an international license. Definitely works for insurance (for a time). The more normalcy you can project (bank account, CC, etc.), the fewer hitches you will encounter. EDIT: VVVVV Yeah, I got a chuckle out of that, too morothar fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 22:51
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how do you guys have basically the same username and the same circumstances 
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Nov 8, 2021 22:54
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I'm not so sure that you need an SSN or US license for a lot of these things, I didn't have one for the first few years of living in the US. My Canadian single payer car insurance also covered me for at least a little while but I don't recall having any trouble getting American insurance either.
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Nov 8, 2021 23:06
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morothar posted:We went through this in 2017, with the following process Excellent post. Lots of good information here. I've never heard of Wise before but it looks good. So I just sent the money to Wise. Then Wise sends USD to my US bank account. It's just a middleman. Looks cheap too, my bank would charge 2.5% where wise is like .5%.
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Nov 8, 2021 23:07
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Methanar posted:Excellent post. Lots of good information here. I've never heard of Wise before but it looks good. So I just sent the money to Wise. Then Wise sends USD to my US bank account. It's just a middleman. Looks cheap too, my bank would charge 2.5% where wise is like .5%. Wise is awesome and my hottest recommendation for currency exchange. Technically, you could just use it instead of a traditional bank, but I’ll admit I’m not quite woke enough for that. Some here in SA have found it cumbersome to set up / register, but I’ve not understood why. Feel free to shoot me a pm if you wanna go into more detail on some points.
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Nov 8, 2021 23:23
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morothar posted:Wise is awesome and my hottest recommendation for currency exchange. Technically, you could just use it instead of a traditional bank, but I’ll admit I’m not quite woke enough for that. Verification used to be a bit janky, don't know how it's going these days. But Wise is pretty great. I used it a lot when I was regularly between US/UK/Sweden/Estonia.
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Nov 8, 2021 23:32
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i mentioned a few pages ago i was planning on buying my friend's 2012 toyota prius 2 (150k miles). but what do you guys think of this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxOM1deFcbw watching that video makes me a bit more nervous about this purchase? is this dude exaggerating?
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Nov 9, 2021 09:13
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Mr Interweb posted:i mentioned a few pages ago i was planning on buying my friend's 2012 toyota prius 2 (150k miles). but what do you guys think of this? I watched long enough for the ads to almost be finished before I made up my mind. In other words, I did not watch the actual video itself. What is your definition of the worst car ever built? What is his definition of worst car ever built? Car weirdos are a weird bunch, and if something isn't fast enough, exciting enough, handle well enough or some other "enough" then car weirdos might think it sucks. If you're looking for an exciting driving experience, then maybe a prius is the worst car ever. If you're looking for something thats reliable and fuel efficient, then a prius will be fine despite the fact that someone with a whole bunch of youtube likes thinks that its the worst car ever.
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Nov 9, 2021 10:28
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wesleywillis posted:I watched long enough for the ads to almost be finished before I made up my mind. for the record, i don't think the prius is the worst car ever made for two reasons: 1. i don't know much about priuses 2. the stuff i do know about it makes me think it's enough to disqualify it for that award in that guy's case, he seems to think the biggest problems are replacing the batter and the fact that it doesn't have an alternator, but a generator and replacing it would cost more than the cost of the (used) prius
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Nov 9, 2021 10:53
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The fact that 75% of NYC’s taxi fleet has been Priuses for the past decade tells me all I need to know.
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Nov 9, 2021 13:39
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Mr Interweb posted:i mentioned a few pages ago i was planning on buying my friend's 2012 toyota prius 2 (150k miles). but what do you guys think of this? Where do yall live? If it's near me I'll come pick it up and pay cash lmao E: basically that's a really good deal
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Nov 9, 2021 13:51
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Mr Interweb posted:i mentioned a few pages ago i was planning on buying my friend's 2012 toyota prius 2 (150k miles). but what do you guys think of this? Clicked, saw who it was, closed tab. Kilmer's a click-baiting dipshit who yells anything at the camera that will get him those sweet sweet adsense dollars. He's also seriously advocated for using compression fittings on brake line repairs.
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Nov 9, 2021 16:08
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DNK posted:The fact that 75% of NYC’s taxi fleet has been Priuses for the past decade tells me all I need to know.  That said, my current ride is a '21 Civic Sport, my commute is mostly highway.
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Nov 10, 2021 02:59
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DNK posted:The fact that 75% of NYC’s taxi fleet has been Priuses for the past decade tells me all I need to know. SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Where do yall live? If it's near me I'll come pick it up and pay cash lmao i would fully agree but according to the toyota site, their batteries are good for 8-10 years up until 150k miles. are they just being conservative to be on the safe side? IOwnCalculus posted:Clicked, saw who it was, closed tab. Kilmer's a click-baiting dipshit who yells anything at the camera that will get him those sweet sweet adsense dollars. He's also seriously advocated for using compression fittings on brake line repairs. oh well that's good to know then
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Nov 10, 2021 03:38
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that's the warranty period, not the expected lifespan. do you think that the gas engine and transmission in a Toyota is only good for 5 years / 60,000 miles?
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Nov 10, 2021 04:30
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:that's the warranty period, not the expected lifespan. do you think that the gas engine and transmission in a Toyota is only good for 5 years / 60,000 miles? oh i see so how long are the batteries expected to last?
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Nov 10, 2021 06:00
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Mr Interweb posted:oh i see it's a probabilistic question - there's a certain risk of capacity degradation that increases over time and there's a certain small risk of complete failure that also increases over time. the general failure mode of the battery pack is that its capacity gradually degrades as individual cells degrade. this means it'll reduce your fuel efficiency (somewhat, not by much though), but the car will still work fine. it's rare for the battery to actually fully fail, and replacements and repairs are relatively cheap these days. In many cases you can replace cells pretty cheaply, Nitrox got quoted about $200 a pop by a shop, I think, so it's not very expensive. That's an easy option if only some cells degrade and you really care about performance, or if only some cells fail. If the whole unit catastrophically fails (which is unlikely), replacing the HV battery with a remanufactured unit costs about $2000 installed, but it's a thing you'll have to do once, if at all. again the benchmark here is that there are a ton of NYC taxis running around with 300k miles on original battery packs and those cars live a tragic, difficult life. The thing that actual fails on the cars that's kind of expensive is the brake actuator, which you absolutely must replace. That costs at minimum a thousand bucks. it makes kind of a periodic rattly noise on startup so if you hear that poo poo, run away. There's lots of YouTube videos where people have recorded it for reference. there's also the frequency of catalytic converter theft depending on where you live: priuses are particularly susceptible to it and having your mechanic install a shield may be a good decision.
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Nov 10, 2021 12:37
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