Attn savy car buyers, help me out

[brewer12345]

It's not as bad as it sounds. Actually it's quite entertaining and rewarding for people who likes cars, or anything with an engine that goes vrooom vrooooom. But I understand your view too.

You have to understand: I don't even change my oil. I do my job and my mechanic does his...

 

[Sam]

You have to understand: I don't even change my oil.

I do understand. I don't change my oil either. Wait a minute, you meant your car's oil, right?

 

[Nords]

You know, all of this talk of climbing around under cars, shady sellers, geysering 170F radiator fluid, etc. makes me a lot less sorry that I buy new and run it until it dies on the side of the road.

Hey, it's not the fresh meat-- it's the thrill of the hunt. It's like finding that neglected small-cap with an unrecognized asset on its balance sheet, an income statement that justifies a P/E of four, rising margins & cash flow, and a huge short interest.

You have to understand: I don't even change my oil. I do my job and my mechanic does his...

It's probably a better use of your time (and your salary/bonus) to keep paying him to give you more time at financial analysis.

It makes more sense than being three months behind on the oil changes due to high surf...

 

[FinanceDude]

Nords:

This should be on your X-mas list this year:

CarMD - The easy-to-use handheld automotive diagnostic tool and software package

 

[Nords]

Nords:
This should be on your X-mas list this year:

Better yet, Father's Day is upon us!

I can always use another diagnostic [-]toy[/-] tool...

 

[FinanceDude]

My Odyssey has an oil life idiot light on it. When it gets to 5%, I get an oil change..........

My dad was a fanatic about oil changes every 3500 miles. When I stupidly asked why once, his response?

"Because you can buy a LOT of oil changes for the price of a new engine"............

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My Odyssey has an oil life idiot light on it. When it gets to 5%, I get an oil change..........

My dad was a fanatic about oil changes every 3500 miles. When I stupidly asked why once, his response?

"Because you can buy a LOT of oil changes for the price of a new engine"............

I LOVE the "heres what to do with me now" light on our honda. Saves me a boatload of time remembering when I did what last.

The 3000 mile oil change was invented by jiffy lube, and a fabulous marketing campaign it was. In independent lab tests, modern oil under the absolute worst possible conditions was still quite viable after more than 5000 miles.

I guess the bottom line is to follow the manufacturers recommended maintenance. I try to beat that by a little bit because its just not that expensive, but I figure since the average joe isnt doing a TCO on his car buying options, they're not going to stretch any of that further out than they have to.

What cracks me up is when the dealer, on selling you a new car, includes their own recommended maintenance schedule, which does twice as much, twice as often, for four times the price of what the manufacturer recommends.

 

[wildcat]

We should hook up, Wildcat. I've been getting the new car itch, and am deciding what to do with my 1-owner, well-maintained, nothing-wrong-with-it-except-I-want-a-new-car 1994 Honda Accord. There is a pretty good chance I will be selling it to a friend for his daughter, but if that doesn't work out, I was thinking about Craigslist. DH doesn't want to deal with "unknown" people, and would prefer to just trade it to avoid the hassle.

Hmm, where are you located: east coast, upper south area? I bi-locate right now so send me a PM. No joke

Hey, it's not the fresh meat-- it's the thrill of the hunt. It's like finding that neglected small-cap with an unrecognized asset on its balance sheet, an income statement that justifies a P/E of four, rising margins & cash flow, and a huge short interest.

That's scary. I can see Nords pulling out the Sunday classifieds and circling potential victims.

 

[Nords]

Hmm, where are you located: east coast, upper south area? I bi-locate right now so send me a PM. No joke

I've been wondering if CJ would ship to Hawaii, but that's probably a losing proposition even if it's ballast...

That's scary. I can see Nords pulling out the Sunday classifieds and circling potential victims.

That's so last millenium.

Craigslist. But the stalking analogy is appropriate!

 

[wildcat]

Craigslist. But the stalking analogy is appropriate!

 

[FinanceDude]

That's scary. I can see Nords pulling out the Sunday classifieds and circling potential victims.

And I sent him a link to the "weapon" he needs to scare them all............

 

[Sam]

Better yet, Father's Day is upon us!

I can always use another diagnostic [-]toy[/-] tool...

Nords,

Just in case you have the urge to spend money. I would not reccomend the CarMD toy. It does not allow you to reset the computer (clear the error codes). There are many alternatives out there.

And as long as we're talking about [-]toy[/-] tools, you might as well consider something more [-]fun[/-] sophisticated, like this one:

ScanGaugeII - Scan Tool + Digital Gauges + Trip Computers

It will do everything a OBD-II does and more. Have [-]fund[/-] fun.

Similarly, there are alternatives to ScanGaugeII too. I don't remember the names, but they are just interfaces that you can hook up to your laptop and do all kind of graphings and analysis.

 

[Nords]

Similarly, there are alternatives to ScanGaugeII too. I don't remember the names, but they are just interfaces that you can hook up to your laptop and do all kind of graphings and analysis.

Thanks, Sam, these suggestions are all going in my bookmarks. We'll probably be buying next summer.

I realize that a "Check Engine" light is a prerequisite to finding any codes on a scan, but again I can't help but be impressed by a scanner's negotiating power. I think I'll be playing around with the various diagnostic tools. Between them & CarFax I think we'll be shaking a lot of monkeys out of the trees.

I'm beginning to understand why our local mechanic enjoys the troubleshooting far more than the repairs. He doesn't do maintenance any more and I think he's even pulling back from the strictly mechanical jobs.

 

[FinanceDude]

Truth or Myth?

Edit removed.........

 

[Sam]

I'm beginning to understand why our local mechanic enjoys the troubleshooting far more than the repairs. He doesn't do maintenance any more and I think he's even pulling back from the strictly mechanical jobs.

Oh yeah. Getting down to the root cause of a car problem is very satisfying. The side benefit is the money saved from paying someone else to find/fix the problem and the mistake he might make along the way. Of course, no self-respecting mechanic would tell you his diagnosis was wrong and you had to pay for both fixes