AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Harry posted:

Great job on being the huge exception to the rule.

No, he's right, I bought a fair condition '16 stutz bearcat last year for a pittance from the duke of grafton. Except for the standard wear items (re-vulcanizing the tires, whale oil changes, etc.), I haven't had to put a single cent into it for upkeep. It's been my daily driver for a year now, and I've had no problems. Sounds like you just need to educate yourself (by you I mean your negro servants) about basic automobile maintenance.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2009 12:50

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:22

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Nocheez posted:

Take it to Judge Judy, she loves embarrassing drunk, no-insurance driving assholes.

The best part is that the show pays the judgement, and both parties get free airfare, hotel, and per diem.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2010 23:14

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Faceless Clock posted:

What is the value of owning a car? A car constantly depreciates. If you own it, it will always be worth less tomorrow than it is today. Plus, chances are that unless you really do keep your cars forever, you never will actually own the car. The bank will own the car. The average period of ownership for a person who buys a new car is 39 months. The average new auto loan term is 64 months.

You absolutely do not want to buy a new car. You are exposed to a huge amount of risk when doing so. That risk is the car's depreciation. When you lease, there is no risk. Everything is already laid out for you. What you pay each month, what you pay now, and what you'll pay if you want to buy the car later. No trying to gamble on what the car's resell value will be in five years, which is where people lose the most money.

The average American person trades in a vehicle for something different every 39 months. The average person also ends up with $4,700 in negative equity when they go for the next new car. The reason they have that negative equity is that they purchased a car, and it deprecated quicker than they paid on the loan.

Artard, if you really do have a good budget and you can afford it, lease a new car. Yes, you could buy a $1000 poo poo box. But uh, then you would own a $1000 shitbox. And you very well may end up paying $1000 or more over the next year keeping that shitbox on the road.

That's great and all but it's disingenuous to say "oh you lose money in depreciation with a new car" without mentioning that you pay for it in a lease, too.

Car dealers are not stupid. They would not offer leases if they didn't get something out of it. So yes, you do lose money in depreciation when you buy a new car. But that same exact depreciation is built into the price of a lease. I think it's a line item, even. And I doubt that they make too many mistakes estimating depreciation either, so you're not too likely to get worthwhile buyout price.

We can go around and around about buy vs lease, let's at least be clear about the facts.

For my money, I say don't buy new or lease or even buy a shitbox. Buy a 2-3 year old model. It will be past the steepest part of the depreciation curve, should still be in decent condition, and may even have a warranty on it still.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2010 06:51

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Leperflesh posted:

On the other hand, you might be able to secure a loan from the bank that you bank with, if they are willing to take your employment history into account. You do in fact have a credit history - it probably only has your current bank account in it, and possibly your direct deposit history if that's how you deposit your checks.

The first sentence is true. Banks do sometimes use that kind of information in their decision.

The second sentence is entirely false. Bank accounts and direct deposits are not on your credit report, and they have no effect on your score, good or bad. The same goes for utility and rent payments, unless you leave a bill unpaid and they send it to a collector. Then it goes as a negative on your report.

In all likelihood, if you have no credit cards and no loans of any type, past or present, then you will have no score. No score just as bad as a low score.

Your best bet is either to get a secured card and/or a store card from somewhere and wait a year, or try to negotiate with a credit union or a bank you have a long history with.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2010 07:23

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Zeta Taskforce posted:

What about the ones who after they are done filling up the tank, they go in and buy a Redbull that probably works out to $26/gallon to fill up their personal tank?

You might be good with numbers and all but those words don't make any god damned sense.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2011 23:17

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Silver Nitrate posted:

I would just like to promote the Lincoln Towncar to anyone with a bit of money to spend on a used car. I got mine with 100k miles on it, 16 years old. In perfect condition with all the maintenance done at the dealership and it was driven by a little old man, who stopped me at the grocery store to tell me how much he liked it and stuff. It cost me about a 06 Lancer with 90k miles on it and $500... so like $6000? It should run (at least) another 200k miles if I take good care of it.

Yeah, the mileage sucks, but I shouldn't have to repair anything major on it for another 100k miles. It is easy to work on and uses cheap American parts that can be found at the scrap yard for basically nothing. It is pretty cheap to pay someone to work on it too because it's a simple design and there's room to move around in the engine bay. This particular one had new air suspension put in about 6 months before I got it, so I shouldn't have to do anything but maintenance for a very long time. And I look like a boss driving my pearl white, black carriage top, chromed out Lincoln.

I am a delivery driver and one major car repair can take me out of work for a couple of days and set me back a week's pay just for the repair. 13 miles to the gallon isn't bad enough to offset the fact that my car will do what I need it to when I want it to and isn't going to cost me $500 every time something stupid breaks.

Granted you can get a Crown Vic for way less and have the same reliability, but the chance of it being owned by a little old man who did everything by the book at the dealership is going to be significantly reduced and you get no air ride. Edit: And you can't drive like an jerk and get away with it because people assume you're just old.

I don't get it. If you make your living driving, buying a 13mpg car is seriously affecting your bottom line. If you drive 25k/year, with $4 gas and 13mpg, you're paying a whopping 5k in gas more than, say, a 40mpg Prius. You could use that 5k to pay the monthly on a goddamned new prius!

Now, you may not be driving 25k or paying $4 for gas, but 13mpg is so awful that you would very likely come out on top buying a new car (hint: this usually never happens).

A towncar might be comfortable but is it worth a few hundred extra a month in gas?

(Btw, what's up with your haggling skills? You paid $500 and an 8 year old car with 90k miles for a car twice as old and with 10,000 more miles on it.)

# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 07:21

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Proposed Budget: ~30k, up to 40k if there is something that utterly blows away every $30k car (haven't found anything to suggest that though)
New or Used: New
Body Style: Smallish, 2 or 4 doors is fine, hatch/sedan/coupe.
How will you be using the car?: Commuting plus occasional long trips. Needs a back seat to carry a dog(s).
Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos?: I don't think so, bluetooth audio streaming is a must though. I also want leather if at all possible.
What aspects are most important to you? (e.g. reliability, cost of ownership/maintenance, import/domestic, MPG, size, style): I want something sporty and fun to drive, but it must be automatic. This will be my only car so it needs to be reasonably practical and comfortable. MPG not a huge factor.

I test drove the new Ecoboost mustang and it felt very heavy. I want to try the GT but of course that's nearly $40k for an auto GT with leather. I love the look though.

Is it crazy to buy a 2015 GTI? It felt very nice (the interior and the drive) in the test drive and it ticks a lot of boxes for me. I know VW has a bad reputation for reliability -- is that true for this car? I know the Focus ST and Fiesta ST are good choices here but I don't drive stick and they don't offer autos.

What else should I be looking at?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 04:33

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

Throatwarbler posted:

2014 Challenger R/T Scat pack starts at $39k MSRP, you can get it for ~$37k easily. Comes with the 6.4l engine. It's the best deal out there, as long as you are serious about the "MPG not a huge factor" part(the 6.4l requires premium IIRC, and a healthy amount of it)

https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/...4&zipcode=12121

This is a baffling suggestion to me. Aside from my desire to not give money to GM or Chrystler (not that you could have known that), by all accounts the challenger is enormous, heavy, thirsty, and has lovely sightlines and a sub-par interior, and for $7k more than I'd like to spend unless it's a loving amazing car. The camaro would be 10 kinds of compromise. And why not the mustang GT for that price?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 09:00

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:22

Magic Underwear: May 14, 2003; Young Orc

AnimalChin posted:

Oh god oh god I drove a Golf GTI.

I MUST have one.

I got one. I like it a lot. You can get it for $500 under invoice without haggling by going to http://www.vwpartnerprogram.com/ and using the company code 1142SC. Technically you are supposed to be a member of the Sports Car Club of America to use that, but my dealer never asked. You can join for $60 if you want to be fully legit.

My recommendation: get the lighting package. You're already paying a premium for the car, might as well get headlights that look way cooler and work way better than stock.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2014 22:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles