The used car market parallel

[G-Man]

Massive thread hijack alert, but:

Autonomous cars should be readily available within, say, ten years, so 2031. But last I read, the 'average age of a car on the road' is now eleven years. This means it might be 20 years after 2031, or 2051, for natural attrition to get the 'new autonomous cars' above 85% on the road.

Human-driven and autonomous cars won't mesh well, to say the least.

Do you foresee something ten times the size of Cash For Clunkers to get 'older' human-driven cars off the roads to pave the way for autonomous vehicles? Who funds this?

 

[Bill]

Massive thread hijack alert, but:

Autonomous cars should be readily available within, say, ten years, so 2031. But last I read, the 'average age of a car on the road' is now eleven years. This means it might be 20 years after 2031, or 2051, for natural attrition to get the 'new autonomous cars' above 85% on the road.

Human-driven and autonomous cars won't mesh well, to say the least.

Do you foresee something ten times the size of Cash For Clunkers to get 'older' human-driven cars off the roads to pave the way for autonomous vehicles? Who funds this?

The future looks bleak.

 

[WDD]

Let the market decide when driverless cars come or if. If people want driverless cars they’ll figure out how to make it mesh

 

[schmookeeg]

The future looks bleak.

On the contrary, I am very excited for everyone else on the road to be in an autonomous vehicle. It can only improve highway flow.

 

[Bill]

On the contrary, I am very excited for everyone else on the road to be in an autonomous vehicle. It can only improve highway flow.

It can, but what about those of us who like to drive for fun or ride motorcycles for fun? Not much fun in a car driving you around.

 

[DaleB]

It can, but what about those of us who like to drive for fun or ride motorcycles for fun? Not much fun in a car driving you around.

It’s the people who are occupying the left front seat of a vehicle in motion and NOT driving that cause most of the problems now. Let the car drive for them while they **** around with their iPhone, the car couldn’t possibly do any worse than half the people on the road now.

 

[Bobanna]

The ultimate, original "Classic"

Show some sensitivity, man.

 

[Todd82]

New vehicle sales are off the charts, the biggest slowdown is the lack of inventory!

The confusing part is how many dealers / automakers are advertising deals on 2020 inventory still here in February

 

[N747JB]

The confusing part is how many dealers / automakers are advertising deals on 2020 inventory still here in February

I know! The model change over was late on a few models, F-150’s come to mind. All the guys that I know are in the business tell me 2020 was one of, if not the most profitable year they’ve ever had. Of course the PPP money helped a lot of them that didn’t have to shut down.

 

[Morgan3820]

What goes up must come down.

 

[brien23]

The used car market has simply never recovered from the massive elimination of quality inventory exacted by the staggeringly-bad “cash for clunkers” program.

It wasn’t for “clunkers” (candidate autos had to be validly licensed and roadworthy), it didn’t really save very many people any money (the federal subsidy was taxable income to its recipients, and many dealers useD the opportunity to increase the cost of the vehicle being sold); Plus, because of the mandatory destruction of the engines of the traded vehicles (as opposed to merely removing them from the road), the market for good, serviceable used engines was destroyed, and, as a result, many true “clunkers“ were forced to remain on the road much longer, with a disproportionate impact on those least able to afford to buy new cars.

It was brain dead, from the start. And, it was wasteful.

Great idea "cash for clunkers" aircraft version, get rid of those old Bonanza fuel burners
.

 

[bnt83]

this will be my new approach moving forward as well. I bought a new car two years ago and it will be my last. The prices have gotten out of hand and I find all the gimmicks more annoying than useful. Not to mention most new vehicles have uncomfortable seats and overly stiff suspensions compared to ones 15 years or more ago.

Saturday was the first time I looked at in person, all the windows are good, all the fluids looked great (could even see to the bottom of the reservoirs), started and ran fantastic, test drove it and bought it. $2500.

None of the leather seats are cracked or ripped
Carpet is pretty clean
No obvious rock chips in the windshield
The alloy wheels are bit more corroded than I was hoping for
LH outside mirror folding, spring is broke. There is no detent when folding and unfolding the mirror.
Door locks sticky on one door
Couldn't find any spare keys
Didn't know the door keypad code (looks like just removed the diver's door panel to find the master code on the module label and reprogram)
I don't know if the a/c works, the heater and climate control work great.
Windshield washer fluid jelled up on the way home, the car was showing -16C temp.
The roof has some small rusty spots from rock chips.


Its the quietest car I have ever driven, road noise, wind noise, engine/transmission, just quiet. The steering forces are 1/2 the Chevy Lumina. Traction control seems to work pretty well, turned it off for a few doughnuts in a parking lot. Drives straight hands off, no suspension clunks/rattles.

Its far from new but for $2500 I could do a lot worse and probably not a lot better.

https://i.imgur.com/u9fLcOx.mp4

 

[Bill]

Saturday was the first time I looked at in person, all the windows are good, all the fluids looked great (could even see to the bottom of the reservoirs), started and ran fantastic, test drove it and bought it. $2500.

None of the leather seats are cracked or ripped
Carpet is pretty clean
No obvious rock chips in the windshield
The alloy wheels are bit more corroded than I was hoping for
LH outside mirror folding, spring is broke. There is no detent when folding and unfolding the mirror.
Door locks sticky on one door
Couldn't find any spare keys
Didn't know the door keypad code (looks like just removed the diver's door panel to find the master code on the module label and reprogram)
I don't know if the a/c works, the heater and climate control work great.
Windshield washer fluid jelled up on the way home, the car was showing -16C temp.
The roof has some small rusty spots from rock chips.


Its the quietest car I have ever driven, road noise, wind noise, engine/transmission, just quiet. The steering forces are 1/2 the Chevy Lumina. Traction control seems to work pretty well, turned it off for a few doughnuts in a parking lot.

Its far from new but for $2500 I could do a lot worse and probably not a lot better.

https://i.imgur.com/u9fLcOx.mp4

Had a Crown Vic of the same era, a 2002, it was a nice car. It was the top line LX, so had leather, etc., and also had the performance and handling package, which included the go fast goodies of the police package but not the upgraded chassis stiffeners. Great car, but my wife hated it, so got rid of it at about 4yrs and 80kmi.

 

[bnt83]

Had a Crown Vic of the same era, a 2002, it was a nice car. It was the top line LX, so had leather, etc., and also had the performance and handling package, which included the go fast goodies of the police package but not the upgraded chassis stiffeners. Great car, but my wife hated it, so got rid of it at about 4yrs and 80kmi.

I just picked up another one, it was about 400 miles one-way to get it.

The seller was the grandson, his grandma bought in 2009 (its a 2005) when it had 58K miles on it and the dealer invoice in the glove box confirmed that. He said he could not remember it ever being driven on snow, based on how curvy and hilly the roads are in that area I'd say a rear wheel drive boat would be the last thing retired people would regularly drive in the winter in that country. I crawled under the rear bumper and looked at the frame and the crash bar and all the wheel wells, what rust?

All 4 tires were new last year and have around 5K on them. I paid $3500 for it. 139K miles on it. Runs and drives like new. All 4 wheels look almost like new and no clear pealing off them.

The interior looks like "grandmas furniture", IOW never used lol.

The windshield is cracked, got quoted $290 installed for it.

 

[a572mike]

I bought a new Ford Ranger back in November. Right now, the trade in value with 10,000 miles on it is more than I paid for it with 37 miles on it.

 

[Rgbeard]

I'm another used-car proponent.

I have never purchased a new vehicle in my lifetime (mcycs included, bicycles excluded)

I seldom purchase from a dealership. (far too much unnecessary drama)

I don't want a car payment.

If I can buy something that doesn't warrant full-coverage insurance, that's a plus.

I set a goal for five years on the vehicle, and often get far more.

 

[Bender Aviation]

I bought a new Ford Ranger back in November. Right now, the trade in value with 10,000 miles on it is more than I paid for it with 37 miles on it.

Great vehicle. The 2.3 makes it a surprisingly fast truck. A bit bouncy in the rear though, I've found it drives more composed with a few hundred pounds in the bed.

 

[Jim K]

There's lots of ways to skin it. I'm still driving the 1997 Chevy pickup I bought in 2003, but I back it up with a 2001 suburban I bought in 2011. Its not unusual for one of them to be parked waiting for me to get time to fix it. I'd be lying if I said I don't get tired of working on them.

I try to keep my wife in a fairly new car so I don't have to worry (as much) about it breaking. The biggest financial mistake i ever made was buying a new car that we outgrew a couple years later. I swore id never do that again, but the current one came with a big tax refund as it's a plug-in hybrid. Between that and the fuel savings it's been cheaper than the one it replaced. I don't mind borrowing the money if it's cheap enough, and cars are about the cheapest thing to borrow against other than a house.

 

[NoBShere]

since we are talking about used cars, if anyone is in the market for used 2010 Prius with cracked windshield, dog hair, and leaking head gasket with 189000 miles, I have a deal for you. As an added bonus, you get to replace the brake pads! I'll throw in a half tank of gas only because I don't feel like syphoning it out.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Great vehicle. The 2.3 makes it a surprisingly fast truck. A bit bouncy in the rear though, I've found it drives more composed with a few hundred pounds in the bed.

Could basically be said of every truck/full size SUV ever made, lol.

 

[NordicDave]

Most new cars are all about fuel economy they were engineered completely ignoring driving on dilapidated streets, or the overall cost of ownership.

A $3k replacement wastage & turbo assembly for that 2.0L?
$2500 worth of oxygen sensors?
$3k catalytic converters?
Low profile tires that bend/crack wheels and blow sidewall on a moderate pothole?

Yet people complain regularity about the occasional $5K annual for an airplane.