Car Buying Follies

[DGS49]

My wife recently traded her car for a Tesla Model 3. Her car, a BMW "GT" was a good traveling car with a hatchback and seats that folded flat for storage of a large amount of "stuff." In fact, BMW classifies it as a station wagon. This left us with two cars that are functionally identical, her Model 3 and my Jetta GLI. So I started scouring around AutoTrader to see if I could find a tasty small SUV.

As all good Internet Geniuses do, I started by getting a quote from Carvana for the Jetta. They quickly offered me $19,600, which is a fair price. Retail is low 20's for that car. I found a loaded, low mileage '19 Dodge Journey GT being sold by a Honda dealer for $18,999. In a world without sales tax, I would just take the offer from Carvana (I've done that twice before with no hassles whatsoever), and buy the Dodge for cash. I gave them all my information, including a forwarded copy of the offer from Carvana.

After juking and jiving for two days, they come back with an offer to give me $17,000 for my Jetta. To the price of the Dodge they add $1,495 for "lojack" (which i gather is an anti-theft device), and $800 for paperwork - not including any sales tax. All told, they want $4,300 plus my car for the Dodge. And I still have to pay a couple hundred in fees to the state of Pennsylvania.

Would ANYBODY be stupid enough to take this deal?

I later contacted another dealer with the same Dodge, different color, and have arranged a straight trade with $400 paperwork fees. Done. This is why people hate to buy cars.

 

[Concerned American]

My wife recently traded her car for a Tesla Model 3. Her car, a BMW "GT" was a good traveling car with a hatchback and seats that folded flat for storage of a large amount of "stuff." In fact, BMW classifies it as a station wagon. This left us with two cars that are functionally identical, her Model 3 and my Jetta GLI. So I started scouring around AutoTrader to see if I could find a tasty small SUV.

As all good Internet Geniuses do, I started by getting a quote from Carvana for the Jetta. They quickly offered me $19,600, which is a fair price. Retail is low 20's for that car. I found a loaded, low mileage '19 Dodge Journey GT being sold by a Honda dealer for $18,999. In a world without sales tax, I would just take the offer from Carvana (I've done that twice before with no hassles whatsoever), and buy the Dodge for cash. I gave them all my information, including a forwarded copy of the offer from Carvana.

After juking and jiving for two days, they come back with an offer to give me $17,000 for my Jetta. To the price of the Dodge they add $1,495 for "lojack" (which i gather is an anti-theft device), and $800 for paperwork - not including any sales tax. All told, they want $4,300 plus my car for the Dodge. And I still have to pay a couple hundred in fees to the state of Pennsylvania.

Would ANYBODY be stupid enough to take this deal?

I later contacted another dealer with the same Dodge, different color, and have arranged a straight trade with $400 paperwork fees. Done. This is why people hate to buy cars.

Technology doesn't change the fact, IMHO, that car dealers are thieves.

 

[BULLDOG]

My wife recently traded her car for a Tesla Model 3. Her car, a BMW "GT" was a good traveling car with a hatchback and seats that folded flat for storage of a large amount of "stuff." In fact, BMW classifies it as a station wagon. This left us with two cars that are functionally identical, her Model 3 and my Jetta GLI. So I started scouring around AutoTrader to see if I could find a tasty small SUV.

As all good Internet Geniuses do, I started by getting a quote from Carvana for the Jetta. They quickly offered me $19,600, which is a fair price. Retail is low 20's for that car. I found a loaded, low mileage '19 Dodge Journey GT being sold by a Honda dealer for $18,999. In a world without sales tax, I would just take the offer from Carvana (I've done that twice before with no hassles whatsoever), and buy the Dodge for cash. I gave them all my information, including a forwarded copy of the offer from Carvana.

After juking and jiving for two days, they come back with an offer to give me $17,000 for my Jetta. To the price of the Dodge they add $1,495 for "lojack" (which i gather is an anti-theft device), and $800 for paperwork - not including any sales tax. All told, they want $4,300 plus my car for the Dodge. And I still have to pay a couple hundred in fees to the state of Pennsylvania.

Would ANYBODY be stupid enough to take this deal?

I later contacted another dealer with the same Dodge, different color, and have arranged a straight trade with $400 paperwork fees. Done. This is why people hate to buy cars.

All car salesmen deserve a beating just on general purpose. Salesman convinced my daughter she could buy a new car with all the bells and whistles just as easily as she could buy the late model used car she was shopping for. Of course the payments would last twice as long, and she would be paying about twice as much, but he forgot to mention that part of it.

 

[Muhammed]

The used car market still hasn't fully recovered from the scuzball corrupt Democratic party of slavery's war against the poor and middle classes.

The Democrats destroyed hundreds of thousands of cars that poor people could have used as go to work cars to land a job and keep a job.

 

[Cellblock2429]

My wife recently traded her car for a Tesla Model 3. Her car, a BMW "GT" was a good traveling car with a hatchback and seats that folded flat for storage of a large amount of "stuff." In fact, BMW classifies it as a station wagon. This left us with two cars that are functionally identical, her Model 3 and my Jetta GLI. So I started scouring around AutoTrader to see if I could find a tasty small SUV.

As all good Internet Geniuses do, I started by getting a quote from Carvana for the Jetta. They quickly offered me $19,600, which is a fair price. Retail is low 20's for that car. I found a loaded, low mileage '19 Dodge Journey GT being sold by a Honda dealer for $18,999. In a world without sales tax, I would just take the offer from Carvana (I've done that twice before with no hassles whatsoever), and buy the Dodge for cash. I gave them all my information, including a forwarded copy of the offer from Carvana.

After juking and jiving for two days, they come back with an offer to give me $17,000 for my Jetta. To the price of the Dodge they add $1,495 for "lojack" (which i gather is an anti-theft device), and $800 for paperwork - not including any sales tax. All told, they want $4,300 plus my car for the Dodge. And I still have to pay a couple hundred in fees to the state of Pennsylvania.

Would ANYBODY be stupid enough to take this deal?

I later contacted another dealer with the same Dodge, different color, and have arranged a straight trade with $400 paperwork fees. Done. This is why people hate to buy cars.

/----/ Life lessons:
1. Never ever buy a Chrysler product.
2. If you still want to buy a Chrysler product, buy it from a Chrysler dealer. They know their own cars and send the bad ones to auction.
3. The most expensive German car is an old one out of warranty.

 

[DGS49]

I have had several Chrysler products, from old LeBaron's to a PT Cruiser, to an (old style) Pacifica. Probably a couple hundred thousand miles on them, in total. The only costly repair was when the compressor gave out on my Pacifica, which cost me about $2 grand. My LeBaron's were both under warranty at first, but I had no significant issues during the time when I owned them (both 2-liter turbo's). In fact, I loved them.

I really expect a trouble-free experience with the Journey. I will be under warranty for the first year or so, and the only problem area I've identified is that the battery is in a very inconvenient spot, in front of the driver's side wheel well, and it's about $500 to replace. There are a few issues with cooling, but they are easily taken care of if noticed early.

Is it logical to assume that if a drivetrain has been in production for more than ten years, and the engine is put in literally every vehicle they produce, they have it pretty well sorted out? I think it is. We'll see. On paper, the Journey is just what I want. Picking it up tomorrow, if all goes as planned.

 

[DGS49]

Did not buy the Dodge. It has a "structural defect" noted twice on the CarFax. We put the car up on a rack and couldn't find any sign of the said defect, but I didn't want to deal with that. I trade my cars every two years and I've been abused on a couple of occasions over microscopic issues identified on a CarFax, even when the repairs are totally documented.

So while I was waiting for them to abuse me over the value of my trade, I called a local VW dealer who advertised a Tiguan that I found tasty. They were about fifteen miles distant. We negotiated a firm price - back and forth, the whole bit - over the phone. I told the Dude that I was on my way.

When I got there I was told that the car, basically, doesn't exist. It is held by their affiliate in Florida, 1500 miles away, and would remain there until sold. I asked, "Why the hell is it advertised on AutoTrader as at your dealership?" He just shrugged.

I don't NEED to trade my Jetta for an SUV, but my life would be a little simpler if I had one. I'm reaching the limits of my abuse tolerance.

 

[Cellblock2429]

Did not buy the Dodge. It has a "structural defect" noted twice on the CarFax. We put the car up on a rack and couldn't find any sign of the said defect, but I didn't want to deal with that. I trade my cars every two years and I've been abused on a couple of occasions over microscopic issues identified on a CarFax, even when the repairs are totally documented.

So while I was waiting for them to abuse me over the value of my trade, I called a local VW dealer who advertised a Tiguan that I found tasty. They were about fifteen miles distant. We negotiated a firm price - back and forth, the whole bit - over the phone. I told the Dude that I was on my way.

When I got there I was told that the car, basically, doesn't exist. It is held by their affiliate in Florida, 1500 miles away, and would remain there until sold. I asked, "Why the hell is it advertised on AutoTrader as at your dealership?" He just shrugged.

I don't NEED to trade my Jetta for an SUV, but my life would be a little simpler if I had one. I'm reaching the limits of my abuse tolerance.

/——/ Try Costco car buying service. All that BS is eliminated.

 

[DGS49]

Yesterday morning, I accepted the Carvana offer to purchase my Jetta for $19,400. That's about two grand more than the couple dealers had offered. The transaction took about terminates. I felt badly because the tires will probably have to be replaced before they re-sell it, and they are 19's. Then I went out and bought a different Dodge Journey GT, one I liked much better than the previous one I looked at.

FORTUNATELY(?), the battery on the Journey had run down and the car wouldn't start (had to be jumped). The "fortunate" part is that replacing a battery on a Journey is a pain in the ass, often costing as much as $500, because you have to remove the driver's side wheel well shroud to get at it. The dealer agreed to REPLACE the battery before I pick it up. So that's something I won't have to deal with in the future.

While these vehicles take a lot of criticism, for my purposes it is ideal. It's the right size, has a third row seat, has good power, a ton of features, and is able to tow a bit if the situation ever arises (towing a motorcycle on a trailer would be a possibility). What else can you get for nineteen grand that has/does all that?

All in all it was a good day. Now the garage has my wife's Tesla Model 3 and the Journey.