CARS

[lumberjim]

ok, in the US, i believe ( just by looking at it) that the magna is known as a Galante. These are OK cars, but with 113,000 miles on it, the price had better be really right. I don't know how us & aus dollars convert, but over here, that car would be worth around $2000. $500 wholesale. A rebuilt transmission, you say? I'd prefer a manual trans with miles like that, provided it had a fresh clutch, but if the tranny was done recently, and it runs well, i guess it's ok. looks pretty clean. You might want to call a mitsu dealer( service dept) in your area and ask them about the common problems that they have. Ask if they have timing belts or chains, and when they should be replaced...then ask the seller if he has record of it being done. When in doubt, take the car to your mechanic or that mitsu dealer BEFORE you sign or pay for the car.

looks like a nice litle ride, though. I had figured you for the Jeep Wrangler type, though......I can get you a really nice deal......shipping not included

good luck!

[Radar]

I have a question. When you ask a dealer to see their invoice, do they just make up stuff. I'm sure they don't show customers what they actually pay do they?

[lumberjim]

it's illegal to make a fake invoice. Most dealers are very careful to be legal. If someone is shown the invoice, then that is what the car cost the dealer.

NOW> there MAY be dealer incentives. These are like rebates, but they go directly to the dealer. The dealer CAN pass this along, but does not HAVE to. Chrysler likes to put "stair step" programs out. This means that they set an objective....say 50 jeeps in a month, then they give you $500 per jeep back to the first one if you hit 100% of your goal. $750 for 110%, $1000 for 120%. A smart and brave dealer will write deals as though he has already acheived the first level. the theory being that if they pass on deals that they could have made with the extra cash, then they wont ever reach the level that is needed to earn it anyway.

you can check invoice amounts at edmunds.com or kbb.com. keep in mind that there are advertising fees billed to each car. edmunds mentions them, but cannot quantify them, as they vary from region to region. on a Jeep, there are 2. ppa and daa. national and local advertising groups. one is $220 or something, the other is closer to $450. allow for something like this when you build your car to check the prices.

[Elspode]

Dealerships also make a lot of money on other back-end stuff after the sale itself, such as carrying financing themselves or selling a loan they originated.

When you see the invoice, it is legit enough, but it really doesn't tell you very much about the whole deal. Also keep in mind that options added on at the time of purchase are very, very profitable for dealerships.

I'm sure there are other things, but these two come to mind right off. We have a dealership locally here whose whole pitch is "$50 over dealer invoice". I assure you, if they only made $50 per car, they wouldn't have been in business as long as they have.

[Radar]

I remember a few years ago, I went to a dealer in Vegas before "Fletcher Jones" and they hold onto your license while you're doing the test drive and don't want to give it back while they are pressuring you. This is the same place that said, "get Mr. Ireland the invoice please...and the guy who got it seemed like he was going......suuuuure.....I'll get the invoice."

My friend later went to the same dealer and when he asked how much the car was the guy had the nerve to look him in the face and say, "It doesn't matter how much the car is because the payments will be low."

[Sun_Sparkz]

thanks for your advice LJ, you were right in that too much needed to be done to the car from so much mileage.

I opted for a newer (more expensive) car with only 20,000 Kilometres on it.

Have called it 'Chilli Dragon' in memory of my late Daewoo 'Puff the Magic Dragon'

[lumberjim]

hyundai accent?

[Sun_Sparkz]

no, Hyundai Excel actually. 2001 model.

Look, i know what everyone will say - why did i do it?!

but honestly, its an economical car, i know a guy who had one and travelled round Australia for three years without a problem! and he was towing a camper van!

I know that if i crash thats the end of me, but hey, its a car. and i think its cute.. so leave me alone!!!

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Sun_Sparkz
and i think its cute.. so leave me alone!!!

And you're a girl.

[lumberjim]

hyundais are well made. The only real problem ( other than the unavoidable disadvantage it has in an encounter with a Ute) is the way they hold their value. But, having bought a 2001, it has seen the greater percentage of it's depreciation already. Did the long powertrain warranty transfer with ownership? I think they come with a 10yr, 100,000 mile PT since right around 2001 over here in the US. I'm wondering how much of that was an image rescue tack over here, or a company wide move.

[Sun_Sparkz]

Yes they do loose their value, the guy i purchased it from brought it for $12,00 in 2001, has barely driven it and i just brought it for $6,200. But if i have it for 5 years, it really doesnt bother me that much. Excels are like assholes around where i live - everybodys got one.

The warranty will transfer with the car. it is a 5 year/ or 150,000 Kilometre warranty. which i thought was pretty good.



It drives much better than the Daewoo did, it has a twin double over head cam on it and it has power steering too.

[lumberjim]

Coincidence?

This morning as I rode in to work, traffic was stopped. There was a big Mason's truck stopped in the opposite lane. There is a house that has(had) two large concrete and stone pillars at the end of it's driveway. The pillars are 5 ft tall, and 2-3 ft sq. Big.

I thought at first that the masons were removing the pillars, as I could see that one of them had been knocked down into a pile of rubble. When I got closer, though, I saw that someone had run their black hyundai excel ( just like yours) into this pillar. An Indian man was standing there rubbing his head. He was wearing green surgery scrubs. Seemed obvious to me that he had fallen asleep at the wheel after a long night shift. (The road is straight at this point)

the hood was crumpled, but the passenger cabin was intact.

Hopefully you'll never test yours to see if it holds up as well.

[Sun_Sparkz]

oh dear!

i hope everyone was ok, it sounds as though they were. well i suppose with any little car you do have to pay for your choice through a safety comprimise. Excels are just as small as my daewoo, which crumpled like a sheet of paper when i hit a tree coming off the freeway in the rain.

Ill just have to be carfull and drive with the concoious thought that i am in fact in a small fart bubble of a car, which will mean giving way a lot more to larger vehicles than mine. (eg. 4x4's that threaten to run over the top of me!)

heres a photo of the daewoo i smashed last november:

[Griff]

So Jim, how long until we just throw them out?

Last fall, a brand new BMW 3-series car rolled into the Old Dominion Carstar Collision Center in Eugene, Ore. - literally. A teenager was "driving dad's car," says shop owner Patty McConnell, and rolled it over - with little apparent structural damage. The teen walked away, and normally the damage wouldn't have been hard to repair. But the BMW had so many air bags "it looked like a balloon," recalls Ms. McConnell. The new car, worth more than $30,000, was totaled.

Some Cellarite was talking about their insurance company totaling their car because of airbag deployment.

[lumberjim]

disposable cars.


like a motorcycle helmet. once it;s been cracked or dropped, replace it. the post impacted helmet is weaker than a new one, and unsafe if you should go down again.

the really tricky part of totaling a newer car is that in most cases, people are in negative equity positions until about 4 years into a 5 yr purchase. And with loans going longer and longer as prices rise, the effect is amplified.

If you were to buy a new car, put tax and tags down, and end up financing the invoice amount, you could count on being "upside down" by the time you got home from the dealership.

an example:

you buy a grand cherokee limited for 35000. take the 3500 off for the rebate, and you pay the tax and tags. you're financing 31500. In one year, that jeep is worth about 22-23k. And jeeps are better than most american suv's in holding their value. so, as described in griff's article, the jeep gets totalled.

the insurance company gives you 24K for it, you call for your payoff, and find out that you still owe 28500. you have to pay $4500, and you no longer have a car to get to work in.

don't wreck your car. or let it get stolen

what to do to prevent it?

buy gap insurance. it pays the $4500 in the example above. most policies will cost under $200 for the term of the loan. that usually means about 5 or 6 bucks a month.