On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:42:42 -0800, (daniel
peterman) wrote:

This is the time of year for deep discounts on cars. New models coming
out and all.
A few years ago I walked into a Nissan shop just kicking tires and I was
bored so I decided to mess with these obviously tired salesmen.
So the story goes like this. I said I would make a small down payment on
a Sentra.
They had some incentive so it seemed Ok
I told them I would have a flatbed truck load the car and drop it off at
my house where I would park it in a dry garage under a cover and up on
stands so no flat spots on the tires. I would start it monthly just to
keep it going and in 9 months I would have the flatbed bring it back
with zero miles but a model year older.
Why would I do such a thing? To findout what it was really worth. I
tried to explain that it was still a new car just not stored on their
lot.
They had no answer. We all know that a 99 model year car might be made
in early 98 or mid 99.
I guess the answer is that cars are worth about half of what you pay for
them in cash. There is simply no reason to pay 400bux a mont for a chunk
of metal that sits probly 20 hours out of 24 and only goes down in value
for every mile racked up.
I used to work for a guy that probably spent more on car washes for his
Explorer and lexus than I did for my little honda civic.
Rant mode off.

Of course. Which is why Ive never bought a car newer than 4 yrs old,
and then haggled for low blue even then. Simply driving it off the
lot costs about 20% of the value, the moment the rear bumper passes
the curb. Hell..signing your name on the dotted line costs about 20%
of the value at the least. Its now a "used car"


Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner