Buy a car from a vending machine?

Craig said:
I have become increasingly agitated with the car dealership experience. I hate spending 3 hours getting brow beaten. I may consider it at some point.
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I work for a company that builds all the software for automotive dealerships. It was ironic when we purchased a used Tundra and had to wait 5 hours, (while on vacation in 2014(?) towing our boat from FL to TN our 200k Sequoia had the starter go out and it was going to take them a day to fix, so we bought a used Tundra to get on the road).
The purchase was from a dealership that uses our software and it took that long because of a glitch in the F&I software that went out the night before. The old F&I guy had to run around getting the dot matrix printers lined up since the new ones only knew how to use the laser printers.

Car purchasing is the worst, it needs to be more like Tesla, here is the price, walk you through any adds, done. When we bought the Sequoia new in 2002, the F&I guy was visibly mad when we declined the undercoatings, the extended warranty, etc. like really mad. Unbelievable.
 
Craig said:
I have become increasingly agitated with the car dealership experience. I hate spending 3 hours getting brow beaten.
Click to expand...

Agreed. For my wife's last car I enlisted the services of a car buying consultant. They were 2 phases:
  1. Help identify the specific models of vehicle that would best meet objectives and lifestyle
  2. Locate the target car and negotiate the price.

This took a lot of the pain out of the car buying process. We found the car we wanted at a dealership a few hours away. Everything was negotiated via email / phone. We walked in, signed some papers, and drove home. Best car buying experience I've had, and worth the money we spent on the consultant.

Edit: The F&I guy at the dealership was actually a decent human being, too. He actually told us NOT to purchase some stuff, saying he had to present it but it wasn't worth it.
 
El Capitan said:
I wouldn’t run out and invest in Carvana stock. Millennials don’t buy cars or houses. Just sayin.
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My stock broker told me to watch this stock a year ago. 52 week low was 29.75 and the high hit 99.19. Should have bought some back then but just don’t think it’s a long term investment.
 
J.Wilt said:
My stock broker told me to watch this stock a year ago. 52 week low was 29.75 and the high hit 99.19. Should have bought some back then but just don’t think it’s a long term investment.
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Nope.

I did just buy a car last month though, without driving it. My daughter will be driving this year and a family friend wanted to get rid of her car. I gave her one gold Sacagawea dollar. She did say to pay it forward sometime. :)

The only thing that didn’t work was the cruise control. It needed a cable so I went to the junk yard and replaced it for $13.
 
MrHappy said:
View attachment 78707 Nope.

I did just buy a car last month though, without driving it. My daughter will be driving this year and a family friend wanted to get rid of her car. I gave her one gold Sacagawea dollar. She did say to pay it forward sometime. :)

The only thing that didn’t work was the cruise control. It needed a cable so I went to the junk yard and replaced it for $13.
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Hope it wasn't this one. https://www.etsy.com/listing/752114...nXiAE1KPrmcGMHJN5Y3W2hmtW-5nbA4hoCnq0QAvD_BwE
 
Craig said:
I have become increasingly agitated with the car dealership experience. I hate spending 3 hours getting brow beaten. I may consider it at some point.
Click to expand...
I learned an opening question when negotiating with car salesmen over a new car. It's "Where do you need to be in relation to invoice price on that specific car?"

If you open with things like:
"How much can I get knocked off the price?"
"How much over invoice can I be?"
it signals that you're not a good negotiator and you expect to pay over invoice for the car. By asking where they need to be in relation to invoice it sends a signal that you could expect them to sell it to you at invoice or below. They can do that because they keep the hold back on the car.
 
The last 2 vehicles were fairly common models with 3-4 dealerships within 15 minutes of me. (Honda Pilot and Jeep Grand Cherokee)

A line that works well for me is telling the salesman “I’m buying a car today, do you want to be the one that sells It to me?”
 
Its hard to fathom for many of us "car-guys", but some folks just see a car as a tool, with zero emotional attachment. I suppose this kind of thing might appeal to that demographic.

Personally, I savor the entire experience and would wouldn't even think about buying a vehicle without a test drive.
 
bobeast said:
Its hard to fathom for many of us "car-guys", but some folks just see a car as a tool, with zero emotional attachment. I suppose this kind of thing might appeal to that demographic.

Personally, I savor the entire experience and would wouldn't even think about buying a vehicle without a test drive.
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Completely agree. Back when Hummers were a thing, I took my friend's on an 8 hour trip. After that I never understood why anyone would want one. Those things are just giant boxes with space shuttle sized blindspots, terrible fuel economy, slow, felt cramped, handled like a dump truck, and crappy 2000s GM interior bits. It is something you should really sit in and drive to see if you'd like it.
 
Not a fan of used cars at all.
But if I had to buy one I would want to shop around for it myself and wouldn’t buy one sight unseen.
I’ve been leasing two new cars on the same day every three years for years now. They’re what my wife and I drive on a daily basis.
Probably not the most cost effective way to have cars, but I don’t care. I figure that it doesn’t really cost me much more when I factor depreciation, repairs and maintenance on cars I would own.
No headaches, no surprise repair bills since they are always under warranty and I know we always have reliable transportation.
Can’t remember the last time I had to buy a set of tires for our daily drivers, let alone repair anything.
Oil changes that I do myself and State inspections are about it.
Drove too many $hitboxes for too many years and sometimes it felt like I spent more time under them than in them.
Way past that at this point in my life.
I’ve only bought one used car in the last 25 years.
My daughter started driving in 2013 and I gave her one of our old cars. A low mileage Jeep Cherokee we bought new and kept it around over the years as an extra car for crappy weather or jobs.
When my son started driving 3 years later I budgeted for a used car of similar value as his sisters Jeep.
Told both kids their cars had to last them until they got out of college and could afford to arrange for their own transportation.
My daughter sold hers while home from school on winter break last year because she knew she would be moving in to Manhattan when she graduated from school.
I did the happy dance because I didn’t have to repair or maintain it anymore.
Life will be even better when my son graduates and gets rid of his car.
Last new car I bought was my 2007 Corvette. Only bought that one because I knew it was just a toy and would be around for many years.
She shares the garage with my 68 GTO and they only come out for joy rides and washing on perfect weather days.
Don’t mind puttering around with them. In fact, I enjoy it as much as I enjoy doing the same with my boat.
But I no longer get any enjoyment out of fixing or maintaining daily drivers, or worrying about them breaking down.
 
Espos4 said:
The last 2 vehicles were fairly common models with 3-4 dealerships within 15 minutes of me. (Honda Pilot and Jeep Grand Cherokee)

A line that works well for me is telling the salesman “I’m buying a car today, do you want to be the one that sells It to me?”
Click to expand...

Kind of like my line.
“I’m looking to lease two cars today and can take delivery today or tomorrow”.
 
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JVM225 said:
Not a fan of used cars at all.
But if I had to buy one I would want to shop around for it myself and wouldn’t buy one sight unseen.
I’ve been leasing two new cars on the same day every three years for years now. They’re what my wife and I drive on a daily basis.
Probably not the most cost effective way to have cars, but I don’t care. I figure that it doesn’t really cost me much more when I factor depreciation, repairs and maintenance on cars I would own.
No headaches, no surprise repair bills since they are always under warranty and I know we always have reliable transportation.
Can’t remember the last time I had to buy a set of tires for our daily drivers, let alone repair anything.
Oil changes that I do myself and State inspections are about it.
Drove too many $hitboxes for too many years and sometimes it felt like I spent more time under them than in them.
Way past that at this point in my life.
I’ve only bought one used car in the last 25 years.
My daughter started driving in 2013 and I gave her one of our old cars. A low mileage Jeep Cherokee we bought new and kept it around over the years as an extra car for crappy weather or jobs.
When my son started driving 3 years later I budgeted for a used car of similar value as his sisters Jeep.
Told both kids their cars had to last them until they got out of college and could afford to arrange for their own transportation.
My daughter sold hers while home from school on winter break last year because she knew she would be moving in to Manhattan when she graduated from school.
I did the happy dance because I didn’t have to repair or maintain it anymore.
Life will be even better when my son graduates and gets rid of his car.
Last new car I bought was my 2007 Corvette. Only bought that one because I knew it was just a toy and would be around for many years.
She shares the garage with my 68 GTO and they only come out for joy rides and washing on perfect weather days.
Don’t mind puttering around with them. In fact, I enjoy it as much as I enjoy doing the same with my boat.
But I no longer get any enjoyment out of fixing or maintaining daily drivers, or worrying about them breaking down.
Click to expand...

If you’re not expensing the lease it makes no sense to me to be in a perpetual payment mode for a depreciating commodity.

I’ve had two vehicles since 1993.
I purchased my 1992 BMW 735i in 1993 and got 295,xxx from her till the tranny gave then I donated it to a veterans group.

My truck is a 2000, just clocked 200,xxx last month. It’s still a cream puff.

My Sea Ray is a 1970 and my Harley is a 1970.
 
Your boat and bike both look sweet.
Yup, as I indicated, leasing doesn’t always make financial sense. But I really don’t care. It well worth it to me.
 
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