just a rant

[86LK]

Some lightly used Hellcats:

Based on the ratio of wrecked cars to cars sold, Hellcats seem to do a good job of neutering loud mouth can't drive their way out of a paper sack D-bags that think Corvettes or Vipers are for sissies.

let me guess.... one-owner, only driven a couple times, low miles?

 

[fleming442]

Mint!

 

[fleming442]

Well for something like a starter, of course it's not worth going to the dealership for. And it's not gonna be worth taking a car with 200k+ miles to a dealer either. But when Joe Schmoe's Garage down the block can't figure out the problem, what do they tell you? "Take it to the dealership." For example while I was (briefly) working at a Nissan service department, a guy brought in a Nissan Frontier that was 5 or so years old. He took it to the local mechanic because it was running rough and the CEL was on. It threw a couple codes for some sensors, and the independent shop changed them out and reset the CEL. 200 miles later, CEL was back on. So the guy brought it in to the Nissan dealer. I was a technicians apprentice, so it was my job to basically just to assist the techs. The tech working on it plugged a computer into it, saw the codes and immediately knew it was the PCM. I asked him how he knew so quickly. He said "seen it couple times before, there are two resistors in the PCM for those sensors and they sometimes overheat and short."

So he pulled the PCM, opened it up and sure enough those resistors were fried. So he put a new PCM in it, and the problem was fixed. But had the guy just brought it to the dealership in the first place, he would've had a tech who already knew what to look for, and not wasted time and money on unnecessary parts at the independent shop.

The only reason it went to the dealer for a starter is because he is a dumbass. I diagnosed it at work, gave him a ride home, and he brought tools in the next day. For some reason, he absolutely refused to believe it was the starter, even at 234k miles! He gets another coworker to look at it, and it started. He decides to fix it at home, so I advised him that if it starts again, don't shut it off. Guess what? ******** stops for gas, and turned it off. That's why it went to the dealer.

 

[87National]

I am trying to instill this into my young engineers, so I park my sub $5K cars in the first parking stall by the plant entrance. If they can't fix their own $2,500 car, who will trust them to fix someone else's $25 Million Jet engine? We start engineers at $75K right out of college (3X what I made), but if they invest the money they would spend on a new car in their 401K instead, they'll have an extra $200-400K in the bank when they retire.

Same thing where I work......the new engineers go out and buy a new vehicle before receiving their first monthly paycheck. I've tried to suggest to them to buy a $2k vehicle instead and invest the money they would otherwise put towards a monthly vehicle payment. I haven't been able to reach any of them yet.

And guys my age......you can always tell when they get a promotion....you will see a new Duramax out in the parking lot. Seeing this over and over again makes me even more determined to continue daily driving beaters to work (latest purchase was an 87 c10 for $1200).

 

[wonderboy24]

I've worked as sales at a stealership a few times (shhh! don't tell) and I'm not surprised. there's money to be made on the front end and back end. they have your purchase history and can see how often you flip vehicles so they probably figured money was no object to you. basically, they lowballed you to see if you would blink. but I also just checked the trade-in value for an Impala with 10000 miles, guess what they're worth.... and local auction will be even less.

mine only has 6500 miles on it. i check kbb. if i use as trade in its 23,000 and out rite to sell to someone its 28- 32,000.

 

[xitabl442]

I've heard that nearly 30% of new Hellcats don't make it home on the first day. No surprise, they can break traction at 50mph.

 

[86LK]

mine only has 6500 miles on it. i check kbb. if i use as trade in its 23,000 and out rite to sell to someone its 28- 32,000.

there's your explanation, you used KBB. plus, I can practically guarantee you lost 20% the moment you drove it off the lot. and if there were huge rebates or factory incentives on those vehicles, that just exacerbates the issue. I, personally, leased a 2006 Dodge Ram ($34k) for 27 months as a dealer employee. At lease end it had lost over 50% of value after 24k miles, and was worth less than $16k. No dealer of any make would give me more than $16k

used car sales managers use auction data, which is updated at least once per week, and they can access it from their desktop computer in their office. in fact, they can pull all the sales data of any auction vehicle ( I saw that happen once; used sales mgr was trying to flip a customer from another dealer and showed her the car she drove in from them).

your auction price is probably closer to 20-21k and then they lowballed you by another 2-3K. now you know the reason why used car salesmen have the rep they do. to paraphrase Damone, they don't care if....

 

[UNGN]

I've heard that nearly 30% of new Hellcats don't make it home on the first day. No surprise, they can break traction at 50mph.

I know multiple people with Hellcats. NONE of them are "car guys". None have ever owned a performance cars that I know of - Maybe a 2nd gen or IROC or TA in the 1980's or 1990's - 230 HP max. The stereotype is 45-60, Divorced, Girlfriend 15-20 years younger and most important - teenage sons they are trying to impress.

The smart ones NEVER take the traction control off. The dumb wonder about that traction control button... hmmm... what would it be like if I turned this off?

 

[lilbowtie]

Kinda think you over paid for it to begin with - hope it was a loaded out priemer but you still paid sticker. If you look @ Kelly blue book (generous) they don't seem to be holding there value. I have had more than my share of new cars and back when the GM discount meant something I could break even if not make a little money after driving it a year. Yes, I too hate dealers and can only laugh when they want you to trade your car in and tell you what they will give you. I have been fortunate to have had some good sales persons that know where I'm comming from and throw down no-bull deals. I have leased my last three vehicals and have gotten what I call great deals. I let my sales person know what I want and to look for special deals - helps my daughter is in a position @ GM to know when specials are comming. Last time my sales person called me 3 months early from the end of my lease cause they had specials on the Equinax that I wanted. He used pull ahead and found that the Costco car discount worked better than my GM discount $166.00 a month. Coming due for another car and my sales person as been alerted.

 

[mclellan83]

I lucked out on the only new car I bought which was a 2013 Ford Edge Sport, I had to go over 6 hours to get the particular color and every option I wanted. But I got it for 0% which meant my payment was $750/month since they gave me almost nothing on my trade in which I should have expected. I have problems with every vehicle I have ever owned, whether I fix it or someone else does it turns into something else. But overall I did really like the SUV, decided to get rid of it and listed it on CL. Dealt with the normal BS for a while, but finally a place in North or South Carolina sent a guy up to buy it and pay cash. Almost sounded too good to be true, but right as rain got the cash and didn't quite get what I wanted for it but still walked away almost 8k to the good.

And as far as dealerships go, it really depends on if they have a good experienced mechanic. Because there are absolutely times where they know exactly what the problem is and fix it cheaper than anyone else just shooting at something they aren't used to. But have had the experience myself as well and many people I know where the dealership has the new guy on the block working on the car who just continues to guess and have no success. Which if its under warranty doesn't really cost you much money, but tons of time taking it there and back. After all the issues with my GTO I swore I would never buy another car from a dealer again, I gave in for the Edge. But will be sticking to that going forward after many of the same issues with the dealership even when I had a working relationship with them. And to boot would give them the correct troubleshooting instead of what they were saying but would still be treated like I am the ahole in the wrong.