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Leperflesh posted:Yeah that's pretty much my point. I'd never claim that every VW is mechanically perfect, but no manufacturer really has a claim to that, so I think it's wrong when some people claim VWs are all crap. With a couple of exceptions in the last decade, they're good cars. While Consumer Reports and JD Power are both majorly flawed measurements with the self-selected groups (owners of brands) identifying problems, I think it's significant that VW continues to be average to below average in two sets of mass data for reliability. Leperflesh posted:Eh? Tire Rack is a mail-order only company, as far as I know. Do they have an actual physical location somewhere?
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Apr 11, 2011 21:12
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I've been trying to sell my car. Get some pretty ridiculous offers, but this one has got me all   quote:Times right now are tough for me. I just blew my tranny on my 91 eclipse. And I lost my job a week ago. I also am a single father of 2 growing girls and I figured that the evo Is the best family car around. I'm sorry to say that the $10000 that I'm willing to spend are my life savings and it's all I can afford. But I can also understand if your not willing to part with it Yes, my Evo is the best car you could get for your situation. Yes I should let you lowball me 35% and be complicit in letting you put your life savings into a car.
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May 6, 2011 04:00
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Earth posted:The college is very expensive, and while I hope to attain funding, there is no guarantee. So I've got to be financially savvy with my choice. The reliable years / dollar metric implies that financial savvy is not to buy new. Is that feasible for your situation?
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May 13, 2011 04:27
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BigHead posted:Quoting myself from a week ago to repeat the question. I gotta pull the trigger soon. Start your bargaining below what you'd be willing to buy at. And don't be afraid to walk if they refuse to see it at your price. Of course, it seems like you're coming up against a deadline, which is going to screw you in terms of finding a deal. Have you looked at any other cars, or is this the only one?
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May 18, 2011 18:27
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nocal posted:That's right: that car you bought from a dealer, the one advertised as having "one owner"? That's technically correct; it was owned by a rental company and driven by hundreds of people. And in fact it probably missed at least one LOFR interval by 10k miles. What does LOFR stand for?
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May 21, 2011 06:48
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Wait a minute... should even a top spec Cruze be that much?
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Jul 17, 2011 03:09
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stubblyhead posted:The base invoice for the 2012 Cruze LTZ is $22070. RS package adds $524, nav system is $876 (has some upgraded sound system features as well), and the sunroof is $792. Like I said, this is going to be my wife's car, I seriously doubt I'll drive it much at all. She had one for a weekend and loved it, and while I appreciate everyone's advice, this is the car we're going to get. Alrighty, but post a trip report of how much discounting you get off the price.
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Jul 18, 2011 17:40
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Medullah posted:I'm looking at buying a new car here in the next week or so. I've been looking to trade in my car for about 6 months now, and finally am in a position where I can do it. The question I have is this...I just left my job of 13 years at Best Buy to take a job at a friend's software company, where I'll be making a bit more money. Are you talking about financing at a dealer? New new car or new to you used car?
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Jul 22, 2011 05:09
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drat Bananas posted:I live 1.5 miles from work/grocery store/bank/pet store, so my wear-and-tear is at a minimum. Actually, if you're driving those distances in isolated trips, the wear on your motor will be no lighter than if you were commuting a long distance.
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Jul 23, 2011 01:42
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Pinkied_Brain posted:I think most people just come in to the dealership and start negotiating. Many will know the invoice price I think you're giving most people too much credit.
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Jul 29, 2011 21:49
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PIPBoy 2000 posted:The wife and I are seriously considering shelling out around $23.5k for a well optioned Ford Focus Titanium next spring. We will have around $12k to put down and no debt other than mortgage debt, so we could easily afford the $350 monthly payment (and would probably pay it off more quickly than the 36 month term). What are your needs/wants? If you don't mind a bigger car with worse fuel economy, why not look at a slightly used Fusion?
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Aug 6, 2011 23:50
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chiyosdad posted:That sounds like a great rule if you're living paycheck to paycheck but my goal is to minimize my total payment over the entire course quote:Sometimes you get a good car, sometimes you get a piece of poo poo that will require a lot of repairs. I don't really want to have to deal with the possibility of having an unreliable car and the headache that comes with it, so I'd like to reduce that uncertainty. You could learn in a couple hours how to find a reliable used car that will cost you less over the year than leasing a new Civic. Seriously, for the kind of budget you're effectively talking about, it'd be no sweat. Here's a thread that you could read in 10min that will prevent you from rolling 3 or lower or whatever your analogy needs to be. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3437928
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Sep 19, 2011 08:35
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If you don't have experience with getting a decent buyer on CL, I would be careful with how much time you've modeled for having to keep both the replacement car and the Sonata. At the very least, see what other like Sonatas are going for on CL. What are you looking for in a replacement car, exactly?
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Sep 28, 2011 17:15
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MrBlandAverage posted:Can you elaborate on what you do to get a decent CL buyer? I generally don't give out my phone number, and use the anonymized email that CL provides. Yes, this will filter out legitimate buyers who aren't tech savvy, but it sure beats the alternative -- doing a 10-minute interview about the car's problems and maintenance records and if I vacuum it every week, only to be asked "will you trade for pitbull puppies?" I don't need that kind of rage in my life. I'd much rather see the same bozo's terribly worded reply email and delete it on the spot. Having them email you lets you control how much work you do as well as the schedule. You can start with the most promising (aka well written, with no upfront sob stories about how they can only give you half your asking price) and ask them for their numbers to call. Usually eager buyers are willing to volunteer that. If none of those pan out, you can work your way down to the less savory replies. Here's a post on how to prep a car for CL by PBCrunch, who flips cars on the side: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3306390&userid=28839&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post380500568 I'm trying to dig in there for a post he made on how to write the ad itself to get the least bullshit from buyers.
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Oct 10, 2011 21:54
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Harry posted:$8500 sounds pretty high for a 10 year old car. It'd be an ok price for an absolutely mint Celica GT-S.
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Feb 11, 2012 04:39
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Throatwarbler posted:It's a terrible car in every other way. It's big and comfy and people get the gently caress out of your way on the highway. Hell even in the city.
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Feb 17, 2012 08:08
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How crappy/low-value does a trade-in have to be before a dealer won't want to touch it? My thinking is -- if the perceived discount to the buyer is smaller than the money that can be made on the car at auction (so 0 effort on the dealer's part to sell the trade-in), then the trade-in is worth dealing with. If the loss from giving this discount is still within the amount of what the dealer is willing to give up to haggling, then the deal is still worth it. Ex: deal without trade-in: 20,000 trade-in's private party value: 3,000 amount that dealer is willing to give up to close deal: 500 trade-in's likely auction value: 1,000 offer dealer can give to buyer: 1,500 So the dealer closes the deal at 20k -- 18.5k cash and 1500 for the trade-in. He takes the trade-in and sells it at auction for 1000. So the total money they've gotten from the sale is now 19.5k, which reflects the maximum budge off of 20k they initialy intended. I guess my model works in general, but illustrates how a dealer might proceed if they don't want to bother at all with cleaning a trade-in up and trying to resell on their lot. e: I put the private party value as a bar for what the dealer should try to get close to so as to draw the buyer in. As opposed to causing the buyer to take on the hassle of selling the car himself to spend less money total. kimbo305 fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 05:03
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What are the costs involved with sending a car to auction? Who sends the truck around to pick up cars, and who pays for it? I'm guessing it costs the dealer roughly what a tow costs to get it to the auction site?
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Feb 20, 2012 21:34
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Is that for all auction houses, including the lots that sell just cars?
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Feb 20, 2012 21:54
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CornHolio posted:Really? holy poo poo I need to keep that in mind. He just means you can see what cars sold for (minus ones where the buyer reneged). Though depending on what your selling, you might not have a lot of data points on ebay. truecar.com has a carmax-like we buy from you type service. I tried it out on my Corvette, and it gave me an ok rock bottom price. Better than the "I have 1/2 of what you want, in cash, tonight." offers from Craigslist.
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Mar 16, 2012 16:40
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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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Edmunds does a very serious long term testing fleet. They typically hold on to a car for close to a year. Granted, that really doesn't get into reliability for modern cars, but it does form a real daily driving impression. Several editors with different tastes and preferences will say what they do and don't like about it, and put the car through various practical tests, like fitting a bike inside. They also track fuel economy and see how it stacks up to what's advertised. I subscribe to the feed, even though I'm only intrigued by a couple of cars at a time. http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2012/05/our-next-long-term-cars-are-coming.html
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May 22, 2012 15:19
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Mandalay posted:Now I have a 2010 Honda Accord EX for sale. What's the best way to sell a car? My craigslist ad only seems to be getting spammers, even though I took the blue book private party price ($19,856) and discounted it by $1k. For a car that new, I'd seriously consider bargaining with the dealer on trade-in value. Yes they will stack the whole deal against you, but it doesn't mean you won't get a decent deal for the amount of time invested compared to selling on CL.
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May 26, 2012 11:54
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broken pixel posted:Proposed Budget: If you like the HHR, it's pretty much the same as a Cobalt of the same year, which I think fits your other criteria decently.
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May 27, 2012 08:44
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Shbobdb posted:I swore my next car would be Union -- and it looks like it will be. Soviet Union, that is. I'm looking to buy a Trabant (East German, a Soviet Satellite state but come on that joke had to be made). I know I'll have to do a fair amount of basic engine repair as I drive it but it is a two-stroke engine so it shouldn't be that hard. Has anyone bought one of these? What other things should I worry about? Since theis seems like a toy/project and not a financial issue, you might be better served asking in the AI questions thread, or starting a thread in there.
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Jun 2, 2012 05:49
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CatchrNdRy posted:Can you start the AC in a Prius without starting the engine? Is it possible for me to chill out in an air conditioned Prius purely through the battery? The AC can't run very long before the motor kicks in. The new Prius can run the fans with just the solar panel, I believe.
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Jun 4, 2012 21:19
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DuckConference posted:That would just be fans though, right? In the 3rd gen Prius, you can apparently run it for 3 minutes at a stretch when the fob is outside the car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISiQSqpbRG0 I wonder if you can do that from within the car and the fob is considered onboard.
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Jun 5, 2012 08:28
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nm posted:I think Corvettes are pretty good, though I'm not sure about the ZR1, as the addition of boost might create issues not found in the NA motors. Some Z06 owners have had oil starvation issues popping the LS7 on track, despite having dry sump. I don't know that there's enough data out there now on the 2nd gen magnetic shock suspensions in the Z06 and ZR1s. If you drive any of these cars like a scared old man, you won't have problems that the electronics can't handle. If you jump on the throttle randomly, expect problems.
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Jun 17, 2012 05:33
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Throatwarbler posted:A guy in his girlfriend niiiiiiice Falcon2001 posted:[Focus] although it's approximately the same width which surprises me, as my Maxima doesn't fit in compact parking spots at all. The Veloster is the same width, and the Golf is 2" narrower. Turning circle is gonna matter more. Check out Edmunds' long term test of the Prius C, which is under way. It seems to suggest it wouldn't cut it for highway use.
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Jun 27, 2012 08:38
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:After reading more of this thread, I have two questions. First, I see a lot about how the common wisdom regarding the reliability of Civics and Corollas is outdated, and now used domestic cars are as good or almost so. So...which ones? Any suggestions for domestic Civic/Corolla equivalents? The car that comes up most frequently as a substitute for the Civic/Corolla is the 2008-2010 Focus. It's nothing special, but cheaper and reliable. To your other question, I feel like if your budget for a used car is 5-7k, then buying a used car over leasing is probably the right choice. There is some risk in total cost to own over several years, but that total cost might very well be lower than the kind of depreciation you're staring down with a nice lease.
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Jul 9, 2012 07:37
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Ahz posted:Scion FR-S / Toyota GT 86 / Subaru BRZ Be sure to let us know what you get, and review it in the AI thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3446803
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Jul 11, 2012 19:42
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:About how much should I be paying for a 2005 Civic with 100k miles? It's listed at 7,500, but my cousin has some leverage with the dealer and might be able to bump it down some. Use kbb.com and nadaguides.com with your location to get an idea.
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Jul 12, 2012 16:16
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reflex posted:When I'm buying a used car from a guy (private citizen) should I base my budget on the book's wholesale price or retail price? KBB offers a private party sale price. The only thing you should observe is that dealers will mark up the same car over what it would sell for private party. Statistically, people who go to dealers to buy used cars will pay that markup. So go by the private party value if you see one. But really, it's whatever you can negotiate out of the deal.
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Jul 18, 2012 18:10
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Mean Bean posted:The Prius is interesting, having never driven one myself can you tell me if it feels gutless? Yes, even when acknowledging it as an economy car, Edmunds found it very gutless when presented with mild hills.
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Jul 22, 2012 21:38
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leica posted:Haha, you should be fine, maybe you're lucky and got one of the good ones.  Throatwarbler posted:Remember that guy who had the thread with the thread titled "400+WHP GTI build" until AI ran him out of the forum and told him to go back to VWvortex? His craftsmanship was decent. He just wrote like a total scene kid. Maybe that grated me more than other people.
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Sep 15, 2012 03:29
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Throatwarbler posted:Well look, didn't forums regular Muffinpox have several years of successful B5 S4 ownership? I wonder if you could dig up some posts of his and get a better idea of how things are. Does successful involve crying and not being able to find replacement parts?
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Sep 25, 2012 07:04
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flyboi posted:Proposed Budget: 40-50k New Cadillacs are quite good. You could get a new ATS if you want the latest and greatest in build quality, which is a tiny bit larger than the 3 series, for your budget. Or a used CTS-V, but that doesn't quite fit your needs. But if you want to just lay out 12k on a CTS, that is a pretty cheap buy.
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Oct 16, 2012 17:40
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Costello Jello posted:Does anybody have a personal recommendation for a car shipping company? I've got to ship two cars across the country, and I'm really not looking forward to it, with the car shipping industry's well-deserved lovely reputation. LloydDobler said this to me: "I used Demoise Trk-ing as they were recommended over on Swedespeed, by guys hauling S60Rs around. There were 3 companies recommended in a specific thread, and these guys were the lowest cost of the 3. I paid $1300 to get it from Roanoke VA to Denver CO, about 1500 miles or so. The other guys quoted $1500."
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Oct 19, 2012 19:14
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Claverjoe posted:Does any US car crash like that Chinese one at 40 mph? Not any recent ones. But it wasn't so long ago... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHBMMffpGOo&t=12s
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Oct 25, 2012 07:44
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Safe and Secure! posted:How much does it cost to own a car, taking into consideration costs like maintenance, insurance, etc.? Are you asking in terms of rock bottom costs, or average, or what?
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Nov 20, 2012 06:57
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