Finance Dave
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 1,864
Ok, so I thought I'd start this thread. I have about 100 "ideas" to note...so maybe I'll list a couple each time, and get them all in over 1-2 months. If there seems to be little interest...I'll stop posting them.
Please note that the below are my opinions only. I was an ASE-certified auto mechanic for 8 years, then a diesel technician for 9 more….but I am currently neither. My specialties were brakes, suspensions, and alignments. I am an automotive enthusiast today. I own two daily drivers (one for wife, one for me), a fully restored 1969 Camaro that I’ve owned since 1982, and a 700 horsepower 2007 modified Mustang Shelby GT500. I do all my own mechanical work (not body work).
In 2004 I sold a 1989 Toyota MR2 that I had purchased brand new. I only drove the car in good weather…it only saw rain about 5 times in its life…occasionally I’d get caught in rain when on a trip. When I sold the car…it was 15 years old and only had 32,000 miles on it. I had maintained it well and kept it immaculately clean. The book value was only $4,200 because it was so old…but I sold it to a guy from Seattle for $11,500. He sent me photos two months later saying he’d won an award. He had attended the national MR2 club event for the Western US, and his car had been voted the “nicest MR2 in the Western US”.
I mention the items above not to boast, but to credential myself.
I’m not going to mention obvious things like change your oil…everyone knows that. Rather I’ll try to note things that are a bit different, and things most of us can do to lengthen the life or reduce the cost of owning our cars.
Let's see how this goes...and if the mods think this belongs in another area, feel free to move it.
Dave
Please note that the below are my opinions only. I was an ASE-certified auto mechanic for 8 years, then a diesel technician for 9 more….but I am currently neither. My specialties were brakes, suspensions, and alignments. I am an automotive enthusiast today. I own two daily drivers (one for wife, one for me), a fully restored 1969 Camaro that I’ve owned since 1982, and a 700 horsepower 2007 modified Mustang Shelby GT500. I do all my own mechanical work (not body work).
In 2004 I sold a 1989 Toyota MR2 that I had purchased brand new. I only drove the car in good weather…it only saw rain about 5 times in its life…occasionally I’d get caught in rain when on a trip. When I sold the car…it was 15 years old and only had 32,000 miles on it. I had maintained it well and kept it immaculately clean. The book value was only $4,200 because it was so old…but I sold it to a guy from Seattle for $11,500. He sent me photos two months later saying he’d won an award. He had attended the national MR2 club event for the Western US, and his car had been voted the “nicest MR2 in the Western US”.
I mention the items above not to boast, but to credential myself.
I’m not going to mention obvious things like change your oil…everyone knows that. Rather I’ll try to note things that are a bit different, and things most of us can do to lengthen the life or reduce the cost of owning our cars.
Let's see how this goes...and if the mods think this belongs in another area, feel free to move it.
Dave