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ethanol posted:Question about owning a new car, since I bought in another state I didn’t get an inspection sticker. Will bringing it to a Toyota dealer in my state inspect it for free?
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Jun 18, 2021 15:18
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Most state inspections put money right into state accounts so even if they do it on site and could or wanted to comp labor they are going to owe the state the fee. That's why I figure it's a question of how desperate they are to get you in their books. I.e. if you get first oil change coupons with your signing paperwork from a distant dealer but you want to use your local dealer they will often honor those to get you in the door.
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Jun 18, 2021 15:36
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Nitrox posted:Why does it look for pedestrians in particular? Doesn't it have some kind of radar that tells computers about an obstruction ahead and to slow down. Who gives a dick how many umbrellas they have
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Jun 18, 2021 20:11
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$15k used without strong opinions means in hell market you are on the lookout for the first car that isn't maliciously listed and doesn't seem to be falling apart. Good luck, god speed.
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Jun 22, 2021 19:44
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I trust you guys as plugged in to the wider used market better so that person can ignore my doom posting. For $15k my first stop would normally be CPO compacts but I don't know how you get a CPO right now without setting up a tent at the dealership to yell dibs when a lease return rolls up. I guess that also shows my preference for newer, warrantied cars or guaranteed maintenance history since I'd be terrified putting $15k toward something older but fancier in a tight market, PPI results be damned.
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Jun 22, 2021 20:21
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Was that not already a thing on steering column autoshifters? I'd save that judgement for the Devil's manual layout. 
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Jun 24, 2021 14:51
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KillHour posted:Leasing a car you can't afford is a bad financial decision, but the starting assumption here is you're buying a specific car and need to choose whether to lease or buy - not you're choosing between buying a 3 series and leasing a 5 series. But yes, thank you, you're very smart for leasing a high end car that falls apart outside of warranty. Meanwhile over here I'll be not taking options contracts on things I require to stay living
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Jul 14, 2021 18:23
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This entire weird conversation is about not wanting to use equity, a term describing a percent or absolute measurement of ownership of an asset, for unrealized contract profits. Equity implies a stake in something and that you're able to exchange the stake; in a lease you don't own the car yet and your contract is not transferrable. You can't use either the car or your contract as collateral for subsequent contracts like home equity or the part of a financed car above water. There was talk earlier in the thread of using a car loan interchangable with cash on hand where you essentially put the car loan into financial markets to beat the interest in a car loan. This is another way to play futures with your car (the thing you need to go to work and keep living). This at least let's you pick and choose the market you want to get into. If your depreciation curves works out right like in the current hellmarket, you could theoretically do it again by financing your car for more stock play money! They'll even let you do this after putting a bumper sticker on your car! This is closer to what equity means about the leveragability of your asset (and your ability to put bumper stickers on). When you are playing the cars future market with a lease, you are locked into the cars futures market because your contract limits you to just playing the cars futures market.
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Jul 14, 2021 21:13
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The credit market is bananas but the unsecured consumer loan market has it's limits. It's competitive or better than secured but ancient car loans but if your goal is using stock markets specifically you aren't going to beat a 1.6% margin trading account if you can afford to buy the car cash and seed the margin account. But yeah sounds like you can shop around while you get the cash lined up so you might as well check the consumer market if only because the market is going up but in real stupid ways and it'd be a real shame to lose your margin collateral because Wallstreet bets did something that halved a stock before doubling it or whatever those kids are doing these days.
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Jul 15, 2021 18:17
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Car people are going to be the ones focusing on crossovers being a tall compact. It's really popular because old and fat people don't need to bend and people like sitting higher in traffic. There might be more cubes in the spec sheet but they seem far worse to use and fill up than a compact wagon. Even then the Mazda utility line is much more obsessed with looking and feeling cool so across the entire line you lose cubes of space and/or easily removed back seats for a slick body taper and really smooth folding down back seats. So depending on how critical it is your best space for money lands on a Rav 4 or CRV.
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Jul 16, 2021 20:23
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We could go into more details about the position of privilege the car buying thread has in knowing what crossovers can do and who they are for and how going in person might not sway someone not paying attention to cars from the illusion that a crossover is big enough especially if you have a lovely salesperson selling you hard on a fat margin well equipped crossover instead of the base model CUV. But the useful takeaway for anyone reading at home about to do a similar thing is when you are buying new there is nothing stopping you from test driving cars at your old home and arranging a purchase to be waiting for you at your new home and this is actually a super useful thing to do generally because there can be vastly different markets region to region and you might get a hell of a bargaining chip when your old home dealer offers to dropship to your new home dealer on their own franchise for a lower price than your new home dealer is offering.
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Jul 17, 2021 18:46
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Parallel parking is like the one maneuver not effected by the modern pillar bulking since you do it relationally looking out your side windows and side mirror. A 360 might give you confidence to cut at the right place if you aren't spatially oriented. But as mentioned dynamic guide lines may help you avoid brushing the curb but don't help with the actual hard part to cut at the right points. So throwing my hat in the 360 or nothing for your requirement with a side note to reconsider the requirement because it's probably only on top trims (if available at all) of the cars you're looking at. I subtly miss dynamic lines for general backward maneuvering with a normal CX-5 after driving rental cars with it for so long but the reality is it doesn't do anything my brain isn't already doing. I got a CX-5 for "hauling furniture from estate sales" and my haul count in 3.5 months now is 0. Lmao don't buy a CUV for furniture. E. Just reading between the lines of the situation a bit, safety systems are above all supplementary to your skills because the goal is to avoid accidents entirely. Whether you have an ancient drivers license since you were 16 that you've kept up to date but never used, or are recently trained, the mandatory US drivers education is really half the story so if you don't have an experienced, safe copilot to give you feedback you should consider additional driving school if you can afford the time and money to do so. zedprime fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 17:14
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Y'all don't understand the scene here, I could never compare with the guy with a 15 year old Miata with a tow hitch and trailer. Serious answer you roll up in your Tesla or German import and have the help pick it up in the pickup later. I'm in a CUV for other reasons and there's a small lie of omission that I moved a fish tank and stand, but I could have done the same in any hatchback. You're already gonna get most hauling benefit from having a hatch instead of a trunk.
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Aug 2, 2021 18:16
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The whole dang market's broken so if you're going to change any purchasing habits, change the habits that let you opt out of replacing your car for a few more years. This market makes previously expensive repairs (up to and past totalling even) look very attractive. If you can't opt out of replacing your car, don't change your basic habits because all the same affinities still exist for why you would buy used or new. Caveat if the used ones cost as much as a new one it's usually because you need to get in line for a new one while you can have the used one right now so if you're sure it's the right model, the smart thing to do is probably buy an even older one to still make out against depreciation otherwise knock yourself out getting in line for the new one if you can wait.
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Aug 2, 2021 20:39
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ethanol posted:All the cars I’ve tried with mechanical lane keep assist seem more like they are trying to kill me. My Tacoma beeps and it’s annoying but at least doesn’t try to steer for me knox_harrington posted:Lane keep assist is fantastic at reducing fatigue on longer trips. I haven't driven any recently that I've thought were bad, though I think almost all were Audi / VW / Porsche so I guess the same system. I really enjoyed the Mazda one on the extended road trip I took. Instead of Jesus taking the wheel it feels more like it added resistance if I was veering toward a line and subtracted resistance to veer toward the center. So I'm still driving the car, it just makes it easier to steer toward the center.
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Aug 3, 2021 20:23
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Financing Tldr, make all your inquiries within 2-3 weeks of each other and act on them within a month of the first one is a good rule of thumb although it's not the be all end all rule. There's a lot of mysticism about the magic credit rating algorithm and how to appease it to go up and down but its all mostly logical to a layman if you stop and think about the business and less about your number. When you get 5 car loan quotes in a row, they all know you aren't financing 5 separate cars and instead you're checking the market for the best rate. If you get 5 car loans in a row, and go get quoted on a furniture loan while you're at it, the furniture loan is gonna look at the car loan like a done deal and vice versa. If you get 5 car loans in a row and don't do anything and let them time out, future auto financers are going to look at you in 2 ways: you're a time waster, or you got the car in a different way they can't see yet. A furniture loan will assume you got the car and they can't see it yet. That'll eventually become history and *number go up* but it generally makes sense: your ratings not just financial worthiness but how much of a dick you are to loan to. When you get 5 loans quoted and eventually get one, it'll take some time to percolate to the ratings but unless it was a pants on head stupid purchase you'll usually see your score go up when it finally gets seen because it's now a known quantity instead of a loan that can go up or down based on final negotiations. Final point if you make it a point to not dick around too often, if you get 5 quotes, wait too long, and go back to some of them to re-up in reference to the old quote, you are probably gonna get the same quote even though your credit score is worse because you're confirming their suspicion that you just let it time out but didn't do anything like buy another car.
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Aug 4, 2021 21:20
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Thanks for this, so essentially I should start getting quotes ASAP if I plan on buying a car on the next month. My plan was to start with a local Credit Union to set a baseline and then use that when I walk in the dealership.
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Aug 4, 2021 22:18
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Semi-Protato posted:I'm kicking around replacing my car, just starting the process and am in no rush. I know the market is crazytown but I figure I can get caught up on what's available now then do something when inventory becomes available again. Everything can handle generic winter with FWD if you have the right tires. If you have special needs like routinely unplowed hills etc. you can consider seeking out AWD or a Forester. But by the time you get $40k of bells and whistles on a CUV you're probably leaving with AWD whether you like it or not They're big tall heavy wobbly sedans so they're never gonna feel as nice as a shorter lighter one. I find my new (non-turbo) CX-5 to ride acceptably. But you need only say the word and the thread regulars will come out of the woodwork to recommend dadly, spirited wagons that can still haul a cooler and tent.
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Aug 5, 2021 20:14
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Semi-Protato posted:Thanks, I'll check out the Hondas and Toyotas. I'm not looking for anything with fancy sport acceleration, I have a base trim 4cyl Accord as my reference and anything remotely close to that would be great. If the CX-5 is as good as these things get I will have to seriously readjust my expectations, with just the two of us in the car and no cargo the thing has trouble getting up to highway speeds on a downhill on ramp. I loaded mine up for a road trip and had no trouble getting to highway speeds on any ramp without using the full throw of the gas pedal
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Aug 5, 2021 20:48
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Windstream noise is almost nonexistent in the past 20 years unless you are getting the obviously shaped wrong cars. So highway noise is usually going to be tires and you can fix that by overpaying for tires. Focus on finding a car you want and save some money for tires or earplugs or a stereo upgrade or something. The other requirements scream Prius. E. Changed my mind do this KillHour posted:drill a few 2in holes in your door panels and blow in insulation, op
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Aug 6, 2021 01:16
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That's the strangest sellers market flex I can think of. Selling a 7 year old Camry usually leans on predatory lending to people who don't pass a credit check.
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Aug 9, 2021 17:53
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KillHour posted:This is a real dick move mastershakeman posted:the lane assist seems annoying since it'll push back when you move lanes without a turn signal.
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Aug 10, 2021 22:56
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You can train to be a mechanic but I don't think that's what you mean. Bodywork con artists are super good these days but on a hack job/general checkpoints you can probably tell as a layman sometimes from: Subtle paint seams Huge panel gaps Rough action on doors opening, closing, and latching Two tone or rusty body segments Obviously painted parts that shouldn't be or overspray of things near painted stuff that are very probably two tone or rusty Subtlety non straight lines especially with hammer marks Check body between the door, in the engine compartment, in the trunk. But it's really gonna sing the liers song from underneath so get on the floor/bring a mirror (short of having access to a pit or doing more effort than you're saving just going straight to the inspection). And just be ready to not see it, there's basically a whole world of professional repairmen who can make a car look normal to everyone who isn't a mechanic. If it's obvious, it's obvious and for the rest thats why you get a PPI.
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Aug 12, 2021 00:38
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freeasinbeer posted:Ah sorry, I should of quoted my first post. You seem to be leaning hard into crossover/CUV with some of your clarifications so you might see if you like how you fit into the generic CUV recommendations: CX-5, Rav 4, CR-V. These all fit into your budget new and loaded if you want.
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Aug 17, 2021 22:07
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Headroom is a pain to google but the barest of doing so says there's not really noticeable headroom in an Xterra vs a Rav4 or CRV  Getting away from Toyota or Honda in CUVs and 3rd row SUVs is moving toward the unreliable but in 2021 the absolute junkers in common consumer styles are going to be as reliable as you need being you're ready to do basic garage work (which you won't end up doing because when things do break its epic but I take it to mean you have good preventative maintenance habits). If your biggest problem remains the height you might get better winnowing from butt-in-seats shopping or finding a Tall People in Cars forum.
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Aug 18, 2021 00:39
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c355n4 posted:I got a question about financing that I'm on the fence about. It seems rates are ridiculously low, like 2.5%-ish. We're looking at getting a 2021 Sienna. Operating under the assumption that we can afford to pay straight cash for the vehicle. How does one determine how much to finance and for how long? I've been playing with a spreadsheet to see the numbers; but, its so abstract. Assuming the absolute simplest case: you can buy the car cash, but have an investment opportunity that beats the car loan rate. In this scenario, you're mostly constrained by the loan terms: there are limits in place about how much you put down compared with the principal, and longer time terms usually means worse rates. Thus you negotiate with the financer on what your down payment and length will be to get the rate you want that you are planning to beat. Then you make the investment with the rest of your cash and hope you were right. Fake edit: also consider the minimum payment to not go underwater like they're saying. Loan terms will usually keep you there but not always. Where messy real life comes in is you also might have things you need to invest in besides market funds: need to do any home reno but are lacking home equity? What's your medical insurance deductible? Ever want a dirt bike? How's your kids college fund doing? Sometimes the best financing you do is psychological. You pay off the car with cash, forego a loan, and apply the payment to something else, maybe making it a habit that you keep up past when you would close out a car loan. Or maybe your Roth contribution isn't maxed yet and not carrying a car note let's you get there. Buying the car in cash is a form of tax avoidance that way assuming you are on the peasant side of Roth accounting.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:54
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Needs "AKA: Zoom Zoom"
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Aug 20, 2021 16:46
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liz posted:Proposed Budget: 25-27k? Would like to keep payments $400 or lower but room for flexibility. Plan to put about 3-4K down. Finance budgets in a nutshell: normal people should finance for 2-3 years, maybe 4. Financing companies make their money in 5+ and will press you to go longer if you let them wind you in with talking about your monthly note only. Exception: there are a lot of manufacturers deals lately for 0%, take those for however long they give them to you. Free money. Don't finance longer than you plan to keep the car. You can close it out and it's usually fine but that's annoying and can be leverage against you in future negotiations on finance rate or car tradeins. If you finance more than 3-4 years, make sure it's because you have a financial investment that you can make that will beat the interest for the entire term of the loan. You gotta be real sure about your shots if that's your excuse to take 5 year loan for example. If someone tells you what the stock markets gonna be doing in 2026, don't trust them but that's another discussion. The catch here that I always like to say is life is messy. If a long loan let's you restructure your budget to enable other smart, long term financial decisions I won't tell at you for that. Ex. Let's you make smarter retirement investments, put more down in a home etc. Ok so all that said, your budget in the average 4 year loan will get you a note $440-475. If you're good with that, then your budgets fine. Else dial your budget back a bit. If you need to take a longer loan, strongly consider what you are doing and why you are doing it.
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Sep 7, 2021 19:36
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:sixty months at current low rates is a perfectly reasonable new car loan to sign up for
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Sep 7, 2021 19:45
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liz posted:Wow, thanks for all the new car advice. It’s a pretty overwhelming decision but I appreciate all the tips. We can't tell you what your insurance is going to be, it's geographic and socioeconomic specific. Get quotes for the cars your interested in before shopping. If you are the sort who can budget out 5 years plus, then a car is a depreciating capital investment. You can count in it losing 90% of it's value somewhere between 10-20 years from now. Depreciated value is money set on fire in pursuit of your car things. So your car price, used or no, is something I personally count on burning up over 10 years. My personal breakpoint following this budgeting turns into the purchase price of a new car should be <50% of my yearly salary. So that budget is over 10 years, how does that effect a note that's only 4-5 years long? Well your finance choices instead are based on financing and opportunity costs of the money involved. As mentioned, with a unicorn rate the differences in financing cost of a 4 year vs 5 year 21k$ principal is $200, maybe more realistically $300-400. The difference in monthly note will be $90. You're basically paying $300 to have an extra $90 a month. If you have something you need to do with that $90, whether it's investing or other life stuff, then the 5 year loan is fine. If you are liable to buy $90 extra of pizza per month, then the 4 year loan is an easy "investment" to avoid $300 of finance cost and force you to follow a budget that avoids excess spending. As mentioned there's no downside to paying most loans off early. The truth in loaning document will call out most terms where this isn't the case even without digging into all the small print. But still read everything in a loan. So if you're on the fence about that different monthly note but think you can usually swing that $90 to the payment, and your rates are the same for 4 year vs 5 year, go ahead and get the 5 year. Generally don't buy anything the dealer is selling. But as far as manufacturer or dealer options focus on things you can appreciate and test during the test drive. A fancy manufacturer widget that is fun but kind of useless? Sure, if you like it. Paint, wheel, upholstery treatments? Nah.
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Sep 9, 2021 21:01
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Have they added "no lowballs, I know what I've got" to their form letters yet? If you can buy new and are in a mass market body style and equipment level I think you can still generally get in for MSRP, with maybe a wait for the shipment to come in.
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Sep 19, 2021 19:41
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Number_6 posted:Is there an accepted rule of thumb for how much car you can reasonably afford, as a percentage of gross salary or income? My personal limit has generally been to keep the price under 2/3 of my annual gross salary. (I typically buy a new car about every 6-7 years.) But everyone's priorities and cash flows are different. Since most people are budgeting for weeks and months instead of years and don't know what capex is, 20/4/10 keeps most people in the straight and narrow in a language they understand even if there's a huge range of budgets and options outside of it that are still acceptable expenditures.
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Oct 8, 2021 10:37
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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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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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Inner Light posted:Hey thread. Is there any best practice that you all like to use for 'car affordability' ? Meaning, maybe in terms of % of total income, yearly or monthly, something like that. I am seeing for example, a responsible % of your take-home monthly income should be something like 10%. (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/much-spend-car) It's possible to spend more without making it a lifestyle choice, and you can always lean into the lifestyle choice if you want car life. Either way if you feel restricted by 10%, it's best to look at it from the long term point of view. Assuming you're not about to trade down because you did all this big brain accounting on the front end, the simplest way to look at it is you're going to depreciate 85% or so the value of any car, used or new, that you buy over 10 years or so. Can you account for burning the majority of the price of the car over 10 years? If so you can make the note work. If put against your decade plans you see you're robbing your retirement account etc. thats when you dial it back. Your main goal being not to get tricked by your monthly budget when you've got other things on the back burner that need attention.
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Nov 12, 2021 04:36
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In the before times if you are a drive it till it drops purchaser you could maybe save hundreds to thousands of dollars in capital depreciation buying the 2 year old leases and trade ins that are constantly showing up at an average dealer. The difference can generally be assigned to the utility of getting to pick your choice out of a known set of cars or ordering off the factory line to get exactly what you want, getting the absolute newest features and safety considerations, and the marquee new car warranty experience and only 100% trustworthy maintenance history available (less useful with most cars being bullet proof for a decade beside the break in warranty period). If any of that is valuable to you personally, its not like you're losing money. Repeat new purchases have you paying that out more often, which again if that's what you get utility from and you afford and know about it not economically wasted I guess. Its a textbook durable goods market. A robot sees nothing wrong with the pants at the thrift store and the 3 year old used car and gets a great deal on them. But no one is always a robot, and even if everyone was a robot, there's no more used market and the demands collide anyway. Cash for clunkers was the first such period (I was alive for at least) where the demand curves for gently used and new smashed into each other, and the chip shortage is repeating the play.
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Nov 13, 2021 20:39
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Corla Plankun posted:This is bullshit right? E. Re option vs accessory, being accessories these are things the dealer has a crate of and has a mechanic add on, they are absolutely gonna attempt to charge labor unless you complain or just tell them to throw it in the trunk and you'll deal with the installation. zedprime fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Nov 17, 2021 |
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Nov 17, 2021 18:59
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You're mostly going to get a ticket for being an rear end in a top hat or DWB. It's more that the assholes are drawn to the red cars. Correlation not causation etc. Get the color you want, or more likely in the used market right now, the color that is on the well priced trustable car. Given the assholes probably were worse at maintaining their car, it's probably going to be boring colored anyway.
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Dec 15, 2021 16:00
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davecrazy posted:I keep pricing 2021 Mach 1s on the web site. I get “x-plan” pricing from my job but of course the Mach 1 isn’t eligible.
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Dec 29, 2021 20:59
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davecrazy posted:I think the main advantage is the transmission and some of the engine bits borrowed from the discontinued GT350. I 100% don't need the optional handling package and all that. If you haven't been in a Mustang (or similar american muscle) since your 03 I'd recommend trying to find a dealer with a GT for a test ride. May be a quest to find one - Ford is screwing around with their Mustang sales model going toward catalog ordering but I expect some dealerships may keep the higher packages on the lot as a prestige draw. I see the local dealer still has the GT and Shelby on the lot. If not I bet you could find a GT or Mach 1 through specialty car rental services. Even the base models feel quick in the past few revisions and imo if you don't want track day performance you shouldn't pay a track day premium.
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Dec 29, 2021 22:10
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