Buying a car in this market

Neither would I. Toyota anything over Saturn anything.

If you get a vehicle for the right price, consider changing the belts and hoses part of the purchase price. In many cases, tires immediately or not long after taking possession of the machine.

Florida, because of humidity and coasts, can have numerous rust/corrosion opportunities.

Good for getting in the Toyota. Big upgrade, especially when it comes to solid Point A to Point B transportation.

 

This Saturn model was actually a rebadged German-made Opel, complete with a “W” VIN. We once took it to a shop that specializes in German cars. Hans, or whatever the mechanic’s name was, looked at it, shook his head and said, “Ve only vork on REAL German cars.”

 

Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche for starters. None of this pseudo-crap.

Understandable. Good mechanics want to be able to back their work, and they cannot when the vehicles start out shoddy out of the factories. Worse for those who work on foreign vehicles is knowing where to get parts that won't kneecap them and, by association, their customers financially.

 

Meanwhile, my girlfriend is now driving the 2015 Buick Regal I bought new, which also is a rebadged Opel (mine was built in Canada, however.) It has gone 76,000 completely trouble-free miles for us so far — nothing other than routine maintenance — and still looks new. Best interior of any car I’ve driven, including the Lexus ES350 that was No. 2 on my list when I bought the Buick for $10,000 less.

 

I used a broker 34(!) years ago when I bought my Supra. Only negative was the finance person trying to sneak the "credit disability insurance" and "credit life insurance" into the deal. Bank told me I had three days to remove it, so I rushed down there and pissed them off by making them remove what would have been a tidy profit for them.

 

Sold a car on Craigslist today (I've sold probably 5 cars this way), market is still pretty good.

20 yr old minivan that we bought brand new (only one for the family ever). Still runs great, well cared.

Smog test passed yesterday and listed it at 9 PM.

Some clown, first responder (2 mins after post) so I gave him first dibs, started over asking, then as appt today approached lowballed me. I said "see ya." Why do people waste your time? I had 14 people respond within 2 hours so there was no shortage of takers.

Sold with cash in hand 15 yrs later.

I went through the email responses and picked the one who wrote a complete, coherent response. He was very easy to deal with and it went smoothly. Only advice is to pick the person who writes the best, most personal response.

 

Buyers attempting to use the "sunk cost" fallacy, and vastly overestimating how much you really want to make a sale, haha. I had it happen to me a lot when I sold stuff on eBay, and people wouldn't pay until I sent them an invoice. "Hey, can I have 5 more days, or can you discount this?" No - Pay on time, or I report you and re-list it anyway.

 

Good luck buying a car in this market!

CDK Global cyberattack leaves thousands of car dealers spinning their wheels

 

I guess I got lucky, I took delivery on 6/15, just before the attack.

 

I have a 2017 Lacrosse and its been one of my favorite cars to drive.

 

No, the bigger problem is the dealers being able to get anything done without the database. Services, sales, parts, etc. ...

I just got done a couple days back with some routine maintenance. The poor souls at the dealership are having to put in a week-plus worth of handwritten backlogs into the system ... not to mention trying to input at least two dozen vehicles they have sitting out back. The lot was kinda empty, and there were few choices.

And pre-owned/used are still grossly overpriced. The chip shortage is over. Time for customers to put their foot down and stop paying grossly overinflated prices for used ... or just buy new (and listen to those same dealers moan and groan about not making any money on the "deal").

 

Consumers should also stop paying grossly overinflated prices for new vehicles, which is what's happening in the market right now. Nobody wants to pay $110,000 for a pickup truck.