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Used car market gets even more bizarre

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Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#141

Post by oceanplexian »

noduerme wrote: post #129
NDizzle wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will the insanity pass, though? There's talk of putting cameras in all cars starting in 2026 to prevent... drunk driving[1]?! What's next? I can't be alone in never buying a car that has this feature. [1] https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-11-09/congre...

I still won't even buy a car with GPS. Seems I'm in a vanishing minority. It won't pass, because people born after 1990 have spent their adult lives in a world with surveillance machines in their pockets at all times. Their cars are just big phones. By 2040 you probably won't even be allowed to drive your own vehicle.

This brings up an interesting point which is why I recently bought a used car. The late 90s, 00s are probably the last road-legal vehicles that won’t spy on you. I wouldn’t put it past lawmakers to make phoning home mandatory like they did with backup cameras. I’m guessing this will also cause prices to skyrocket since there is a sizable minority of people like us who will refuse to buy a car that’s plugged into the Internet.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#142

Post by Domenic_S »

carabiner wrote: post #48
nathancahill wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth to whom? Have you listed it for sale? The market for used Tacomas and 4Runners is off the hook.

Carvana. Do you think it'd be much different if I tried listing it on Craigslist?

Very much yes. Tacos have a cult following and were somewhat tough to get decently optioned models of even pre-pandemic. I would not be surprised in the _least_ if it's really worth more than you paid.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#143

Post by greedo »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #85
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mechanics are about to make a killing. If you're a mechanic and already have plenty of business, I imagine it's a tough call: do you jack up your hourly rates and take advantage of the windfall, at the risk of customer loyalty in the future? This insanity will pass, after all.

I noticed a similar dynamic with general contractors / handymen a few years ago. There was a multi-year period where the demand far exceeded supply, but they didn't seem to adjust their billing rates accordingly. I never got a clear answer as to why. The one guy I talked to seemed scarred by a very demand-limited market some years prior, so maybe he was fearful of making any changes that might leave him under-employe…

I had the exact opposite occur. The missus wanted a patio installed (pavers or bluestone) and the quote we got from one guy was 10k over what others were bidding. He didn't even submit any drawings/diagrams, just told us the quote. Obviously didn't want the job.

Same thing happened with a flooring guy who could have done $30k worth of work. He kept claiming he'd send us a bid but eventually ghosted us.

Tradespeople can skip doing the hard/less-profitable jobs right now while the market is hot.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#144

Post by oceanplexian »

syshum wrote: post #3

My truck is worth more today then when I bought it 4 years ago... Crazy that automobiles are now an appreciating asset...

The thing is, cars aren’t actually worth more today than they were 4 years ago, it’s just that your money is worth less and assets like cars+housing are where inflation is most visible.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#145

Post by gigel82 »

speeder wrote: post #133

Anything that depends on Silicon right now is heavily warped. For example my GPU used is seemly now more valuable than I paid for it new, I will soon attempt to sell it. Meanwhile new GPUs area crazy expensive too, people like to blame miners but even GPUs terrible for mining are crazy expensive, I actually then considered mining to pay a new GPU, only to find out that mining is not being too profitable either, the m…

GPUs are bad, CPUs are getting better, but the rest (except for RAM during mid-2020) are in plenty supply... I'm also looking for a SSD and there's quite a few options going on special (well below MSRP) these days. I'm waiting for Black Friday to pull the trigger, but maybe I shouldn't if things continue going this route.

FWIW, I just extended the lease on my Leaf for the 2nd 6-month term because there is simply no new Leaf in stock anywhere within 100 miles of Seattle; at this rate, I might as well buy it out (even though when I got, I negotiated for a great monthly rate and didn't care about the residual).

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#146

Post by greedo »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #118
CoastalCoder wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIUC, you're implying that that mechanic is disdainful of poor customers, and that this just provides convenient political cover. If so, I'm not sure why you'd assume that. It seems more likely to me that the mechanic is simply choosing his work based on personal interest and perhaps profitability. I don't see why we'd ask anything more than that from him.

I'm not assuming. Everyone even remotely close to the industry knows that mechanics don't like the people who want to do the bare minimum amount of work all the time and that fairly strongly correlates to "poors". Of course given the choice a mechanic would rather do an oil change on a '15 4Runner owned by some yuppie he can upsell a cabin air filter to than do a timing set on a '03 Outback for someone who'll decline…

Eh, it also correlates to "cheapskates." I know a lot of people who make FAANG money who do the bare minimum in home/auto repairs. Just cheap SOBs.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#147

Post by emaginniss »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #138
noduerme wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still won't even buy a car with GPS. Seems I'm in a vanishing minority. It won't pass, because people born after 1990 have spent their adult lives in a world with surveillance machines in their pockets at all times. Their cars are just big phones. By 2040 you probably won't even be allowed to drive your own vehicle.

GPS is a one-way communication. It's really no different from radio in that regard (a signal sent from far away and you have an antenna to read the signal). Unless there's also a cellular modem in your car (which pretty much every modern car has today so I'm not pretending this is unusual) it's impossible for others to monitor your location. You can simply disable the cellular modem and enjoy using GPS without anyone…

Right, but they can access your car later and see all the places you've been.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#148

Post by lotsofpulp »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #118
CoastalCoder wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIUC, you're implying that that mechanic is disdainful of poor customers, and that this just provides convenient political cover. If so, I'm not sure why you'd assume that. It seems more likely to me that the mechanic is simply choosing his work based on personal interest and perhaps profitability. I don't see why we'd ask anything more than that from him.

I'm not assuming. Everyone even remotely close to the industry knows that mechanics don't like the people who want to do the bare minimum amount of work all the time and that fairly strongly correlates to "poors". Of course given the choice a mechanic would rather do an oil change on a '15 4Runner owned by some yuppie he can upsell a cabin air filter to than do a timing set on a '03 Outback for someone who'll decline…

I would have thought 4runners were disproportionately bought by people who want to fix the car themselves.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#149

Post by greedo »

SilasX wrote: post #137
jiveturkey wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are dealer market adjustments ridiculous? We live and breathe market forces. No one ever, ever, complains about market adjustments in their favor.

It’s the opposite: Normal market: “this product costs $2.60.” ‘Wasn’t it like, $2.10 a week ago?’ “Yes it was.” Cars: “This car is $26k. Oh, also you have to pay a $2k market adjustment, because man things are just crazy.” That is, in normal markets, you just raise the price , you don’t need to refer to an explicit “market adjustment”, especially not as a random addon.

This is an industry famous for charging a small fortune for BS undercoatings. For Doc fees, Nitrogen air in tires, destination fees etc.

Re: Used car market gets even more bizarre

#150

Post by avidphantasm »

olyjohn wrote: post #79
mdoms wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An engine replaced 2 years ago should absolutely not fail and should be under warranty.

It was likely replaced with another used engine. No mechanic is gonna warranty that for 2 years, and I doubt they'd even warranty a new engine for 2 years unless they rebuilt it themselves. You'd have to take that up with the engine manufacturer / refurbisher or the person who sold it.

It's a Subaru, they blow through engines. A relative had a 2014 Forester and it had two engines replaced under warranty. This is apparently a known problem with a certain recent version of their 4 cyl. boxer engines.
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