Author Topic: Advice sought on temporary car situation  (Read 7106 times)

ysette9

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Advice sought on temporary car situation
« on: February 17, 2017, 09:34:25 AM »
That is probably a mis-leading title, come to think of it. I have a temporary situation with a car, not that I need a car temporarily. :)

I have a VW TDI that is part of the emissions recall. I plan on turning the car in sometime in the next six months-ish, whenever I find a replacement car that I like on craigstlist. I have narrowed down pretty much exactly what I want and am now just scouring the ads, checking things out, and waiting until the right thing pops up. I checked out a promising replacement two weekends ago that bombed at the pre-purchase check. All of this is a way of saying that I will be replacing the car on a timeline that is somewhat undetermined and a little out of my control.

The TDI needs a little maintenance work. It needs a regular oil change (good for a year), the front wheels are misaligned which is a bit annoying to drive, and more importantly it is very close to needing new tires. Since we have been getting a lot of rain this year, that is the biggest thing that concerns me. I hit a massive pothole that opened up due to the storms recently that killed one of my tires. We replaced it with a used tire but the tire place cautioned that all of them would need replacing soon.

Right now I am thinking: screw the front end alignment, ignore the oil change for now, keep driving on the tires in hopes I can find a replacement car within the next month. If a month goes past and I still don't have a replacement car, price out a new set of used tires for the car. I'm loathe to put any money in this thing but on the other hand, I want to be safe on the road. What would you do? Am I missing anything here?

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2017, 09:43:28 AM »
Where do you live? Rural or a big city? In my area, a relatively big city, there are TONS of cars for sale under $10k. You could find something that was well kept in a weekend if you really dedicated the time. Don't forget nearby areas on Craigslist too--but only drive further if you're given a lot of pictures, VIN number to check for salvage titles, etc.  Also, join yard sale groups on Facebook. People post a ton of cars there that they might not on Craigslist. Unless you need something very specific I would just spend the extra time to find a car rather than spend the extra money. I don't know what I would do in the worst case scenario if you didn't find one, though... How often does it rain and do you have a backup to drive (SO/friend's car) in a bad weather situation? Can you go without driving at all if there's a storm?

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2017, 09:56:05 AM »
I live in the Bay Area, so urban/suburban. Going without a car isn't an option since my work is a little too far to regularly commute by bike and I pick up my kid from daycare (combined with the aforementioned rain). During the winter it rains maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of the time, though this winter it is closed to 1/2 of the time. I realize that there are plenty of cars for sale, but cars and driving are important to me, and I have narrowed down to the car that I want. I am willing to wait until the right one comes on the market. :)

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2017, 10:05:44 AM »
I live in the Bay Area, so urban/suburban. Going without a car isn't an option since my work is a little too far to regularly commute by bike and I pick up my kid from daycare (combined with the aforementioned rain). During the winter it rains maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of the time, though this winter it is closed to 1/2 of the time. I realize that there are plenty of cars for sale, but cars and driving are important to me, and I have narrowed down to the car that I want. I am willing to wait until the right one comes on the market. :)

Haha, if you narrowed it down to ONE car then that certainty makes it difficult! What about Carmax? If you have one in your area, they will transfer a car from out of state to your local Carmax for free or cheap. It'll be more expensive since it's not private party but it could be worth not having to get the safety upgrades. You should be able to search on their website to see if they have the exact car. Otherwise there's not too much of a choice if you can't find the right car, don't compromise on safety!

HipGnosis

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2017, 11:04:41 AM »
I find it ironic.  On multiple issues.
You didn't buy a car because it didn't pass a 'check'.  Will your car pass a 'check' with used tires and without an alignment?
You say a car and driving are important to you, going without isn't an option and you want to be safe.  But, you're driving a car that needs tires and an alignment and is due (over due?) for an oil change.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2017, 03:30:05 PM »
I suppose it would behoove me to be a little clearer.

My car will soon need tires and an oil change; it doesn't need them yet.

I will be "selling back" the car to VW. VW will then be forced to scrap it. After I turn it in, no one will be driving it ever again. Hence my desire to treat it disposably, which I wouldn't ordinarily do with a car.

The car I passed up on was listed at $12K and the mechanic said it would need $6K worth of work in the next year. That was a headache I didn't care to take on.

Good advice on Carmax. I have only been looking on Craigslist to this point so I will check out that resource. Do you know how pre-purchase checks are handled with Carmax? Obviously I wouldn't want a car shipped to my area only for me to find that it is a dud.

Thanks for the input!

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2017, 10:52:21 PM »
Sometimes if the car is far enough you would need to pay to transfer it. I think that's all you have to pay, you're not obligated to buy it. But some are free transfers. I guess you could call and ask a lot of questions before transferring? Maybe you could request more pictures too?
When car shopping a while back I saw a super cheap car with low miles on Carmax. Basically too good to be true. Turns out someone transferred it from up north to Florida but the car didn't have AC from factory. And they don't send it back if the buyer doesn't want it.

Dicey

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2017, 01:06:54 AM »
A friend of mine did this because she wanted something very specific. C/M found the car in Texas and shipped it to CA. I'm pretty sure it wasn't overly expensive and came with some sort of satisfaction guarantee. Worth going to the C/M website and doing a little reading.

Otherwise, I have no problem with you delaying the maintenance until turn-in, provided that you are not putting your kid-let in an unsafe vehicle.

HipGnosis

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2017, 12:10:20 PM »
I did read that you are going to 'turn in' the car (ie not sell it to someone), but I didn't remember that when I replied.  I apologize.

Skip the oil change, but check the oil level and add as necessary.
Learn to find and understand date codes on tires. They are:  DOT xxxxxxx wwyy
ww = # of week  (01-52)   yy = year
Don't buy tires that are over 5 yrs old even if they have lots of tread.  They will be 'hard' and give little traction on wet roads.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2017, 02:07:11 PM »
Good tip on the age of the tires.

I did a search on Carmax and was surprised at a couple of things. First, there is no way to specify that I only want to search for manual transmissions. Craigslist has this option. Secondly, there was very little inventory; the site didn't even show the local vehicles that show up on my craiglist. Perhaps it is a hit-or-miss depending on where you are at or what type of car you are looking for? I did go with the default search parameters of an unlimited radius search from my location.

Dicey

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2017, 10:31:19 AM »
What did you end up doing, ysette9?

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2017, 10:56:38 AM »
Well, I checked out one car that was a bust. I was on my way to check out another when I was texted that it was sold earlier in the morning. Since we are all anonymous here online, I'll share that I am newly pregnant and dealing with constant nausea. That has been sapping my will to do anything other than dragging myself out of bed each day. I may actually get the oil change and buy a set of used tires just to buy myself more time to get into a mental and physical state where I can deal with this again.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2017, 11:04:08 AM »
Former TDI owner here... turned ours in valentine's day. Something to note: the buybacks are taking a long time nationally. We turned our paper work in right away, and waited over a month to hear back. Second round of papers, scheduled the appointment which was somewhere 6-8 weeks out from when we scheduled it. And ours is a SMALL dealership, not even the biggest in Oregon, which should tell you something, haha. It's even longer for the big dealerships apparently. (Bright side, the money was in our account 48hrs after we turned the car in).

So I don't have answers to your previous questions- they seems to be well addressed already- but I thought I would address your timeline! And you do realize the buyback is tied to mileage right? Especially for newer models, it has a disproportionate effect. If you drive more than average federal rate (12,600/year) then you lose value on the trade over the quoted amount. For us, the math actually worked out to STOP driving the TDI and buy a new car, and just have both cars until the buyback went through.

Good luck.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2017, 11:33:40 AM »
That is an interesting thing to note. I haven't looked too closely at the mileage and how that impacts the value. Mine is 2012, so not very new, but I can see what impact it has. I had originally planned to turn it in as late as possible, so I didn't look too closely at how long it takes. Thanks for thrvheqds uo. Thankfully I don't need the buyback money to get a different car. MMM for the win.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #14 on: March 09, 2017, 11:38:41 AM »
That is an interesting thing to note. I haven't looked too closely at the mileage and how that impacts the value. Mine is 2012, so not very new, but I can see what impact it has. I had originally planned to turn it in as late as possible, so I didn't look too closely at how long it takes. Thanks for thrvheqds uo. Thankfully I don't need the buyback money to get a different car. MMM for the win.

+1 to that.

Yeah, for a 2012 the mileage won't have a big impact probably. We had a 2015 and DH drives a ton for work, so we were in the 'sweet spot' where it made a huge difference.

There are a couple unofficial calculators you can use to play with how the mileage will effect your buyback money. Example: https://agrahamg.github.io/VWBuybackCalculator/ and http://tdisettlementprogram.com/vw-tdi-buyback-calculator/ Since they're unofficial they're technically estimates, but they can give you info to go on.

researcher1

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2017, 11:55:22 AM »
The TDI needs a little maintenance work. It needs a regular oil change (good for a year), the front wheels are misaligned which is a bit annoying to drive, and more importantly it is very close to needing new tires.

Why would you even think about doing any maintenance to this car?  You will be turning the vehicle in very shortly.  I wouldn't spend a dime on maintenance.  If you are worried about hydroplaning, then just avoid highways in the rain for a few weeks until you ditch the car.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #16 on: March 09, 2017, 12:04:39 PM »
No decisions yet, but I don't want that pressure to find a new car now. Avoiding highways when it rains is not a viable commute solution for me at this time. I'll probably keep pushing it off for now because even getting the oil changed is not how I want to spend my weekends. Ugh. I wish I had just bought the GTI originally when I was debating between the two back in 2012. :-)

chemistk

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #17 on: March 10, 2017, 05:45:20 AM »
No decisions yet, but I don't want that pressure to find a new car now. Avoiding highways when it rains is not a viable commute solution for me at this time. I'll probably keep pushing it off for now because even getting the oil changed is not how I want to spend my weekends. Ugh. I wish I had just bought the GTI originally when I was debating between the two back in 2012. :-)

While I would, as others have, recommend that you avoid doing any maintenance on the car as VW is likely to part it out and scrap it, I would strongly recommend that you consider speeding up your search for a new car or have the tires replaced. Forget the oil change - normally you should follow the maintenance interval, but in your case you'll not run into any trouble (unless you drive 20,000+ miles). You mention that you're newly pregnant - keep in mind that your tires are the most important safety devices on your vehicle. You only have a very small amount of rubber contacting the road at a time, and the poorer condition your tires are in, the greater your chances of having an avoidable accident are.

If I might ask, what is the "one car" that you're looking for? Would you be willing to consider alternatives with similar features?

researcher1

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #18 on: March 10, 2017, 07:16:01 AM »
No decisions yet, but I don't want that pressure to find a new car now. Avoiding highways when it rains is not a viable commute solution for me at this time. I'll probably keep pushing it off for now because even getting the oil changed is not how I want to spend my weekends. Ugh. I wish I had just bought the GTI originally when I was debating between the two back in 2012. :-)

I don't understand what the problem is.

You can give your current car back to VW, at any time for, a good chunk of money.
This car is in need of maintenance and you seem concerned about driving it.
There are tens of thousands of new/used vehicles for sale near you.

How can it be so hard for you to find another vehicle to buy?  Are you looking for some obscure make/model?

If I were you, I'd turn in the VW and go buy a new or used Fit/Civic/Accord, Mazda 3/6, VW Golf/Jetta, Hyundai Elantra/Sonata.  Don't make this harder than it needs to be.


marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #19 on: March 10, 2017, 07:22:25 AM »
No decisions yet, but I don't want that pressure to find a new car now. Avoiding highways when it rains is not a viable commute solution for me at this time. I'll probably keep pushing it off for now because even getting the oil changed is not how I want to spend my weekends. Ugh. I wish I had just bought the GTI originally when I was debating between the two back in 2012. :-)

I don't understand what the problem is.

You can give your current car back to VW, at any time for, a good chunk of money.
This car is in need of maintenance and you seem concerned about driving it.
There are tens of thousands of new/used vehicles for sale near you.

How can it be so hard for you to find another vehicle to buy?  Are you looking for some obscure make/model?

If I were you, I'd turn in the VW and go buy a new or used Fit/Civic/Accord, Mazda 3/6, VW Golf/Jetta, Hyundai Elantra/Sonata.  Don't make this harder than it needs to be.

OP wants a very specific car.

OP, do you have a family member or generous friend to help you look for cars? It's only going to get harder and harder as your due date approaches, I imagine.

researcher1

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #20 on: March 10, 2017, 08:19:37 AM »
OP wants a very specific car.

OP -

Please share with us what make/model of vehicle you are looking for.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #21 on: March 10, 2017, 08:29:12 AM »
I'll admit, I have a difficult time with the "we're still looking" mindset. I mean, we found a house to buy in a small city (large town, really) that we wanted a *specific neighborhood* in 3 days. Much, much lower inventory than cars. The car we found in an afternoon. All this to say- be sure you're not falling into the "paralysis by analysis" hole. If a push is what you need, consider this a push- people generally need a solution, not more data =) Collecting more info is often used as a method of procrastination, dressed up with a pretty bow of productivity.

Clean Shaven

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #22 on: March 10, 2017, 08:37:01 AM »
OP, also search on Autotrader. They have a good search tool that lets you put in all sort of filters to find what you are looking for...

... which you still haven't disclosed. Accordingly, we'll assume it's facepunchy, so I'm gonna go ahead and claim that it's a 2017 Bentley with full cashmere interior and rhino hide air vent trim.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #23 on: March 10, 2017, 08:38:20 AM »
OP, also search on Autotrader. They have a good search tool that lets you put in all sort of filters to find what you are looking for...

... which you still haven't disclosed. Accordingly, we'll assume it's facepunchy, so I'm gonna go ahead and claim that it's a 2017 Bentley with full cashmere interior and rhino hide air vent trim.

I have a new favorite make believe spendy-pants-mobile. Thank you!

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #24 on: March 11, 2017, 04:06:46 PM »
Hi there! Just catching up on the thread now. We are spending a lovely weekend visiting friends.
I thought I had shared what I wanted but apparently not. I love everything about the Golf TDI except it isn't enough fun to drive as I would like. Therefore I want a GTI, four-door, manual. Used but not thrashed. I don't want to spend more than about $15k so I can pocket some cash from the sell back.
I'm sure I'll get some face punches for that but I am at peace with it; I am the one who has to drive the car after all. :)

cchrissyy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #25 on: March 11, 2017, 05:26:15 PM »
hmm, that really doesn't sound like it should be hard to find. but maybe a lot of people like you are trading in their TDIs and want that non-TDI VWs right now? is there a 2nd or 3rd choice car you could pcik?

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #26 on: March 11, 2017, 07:22:51 PM »
Hi there! Just catching up on the thread now. We are spending a lovely weekend visiting friends.
I thought I had shared what I wanted but apparently not. I love everything about the Golf TDI except it isn't enough fun to drive as I would like. Therefore I want a GTI, four-door, manual. Used but not thrashed. I don't want to spend more than about $15k so I can pocket some cash from the sell back.
I'm sure I'll get some face punches for that but I am at peace with it; I am the one who has to drive the car after all. :)

Manuals are SUPER hard to find on the GTIs. We looked in Oregon, Cali, and WA just a couple months ago.

...good luck?

researcher1

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #27 on: March 11, 2017, 09:06:42 PM »
I thought I had shared what I wanted but apparently not. I love everything about the Golf TDI except it isn't enough fun to drive as I would like. Therefore I want a GTI, four-door, manual. Used but not thrashed. I don't want to spend more than about $15k so I can pocket some cash from the sell back.
I'm sure I'll get some face punches for that but I am at peace with it; I am the one who has to drive the car after all. :)

How long do you plan to keep this car?

I know this doesn't follow the MMM philosophy, but I buy my vehicles new, keep them for ~12 years, and repeat.

If you plan to keep this car for 10+ years, just buy a new one.  Aren't you getting $5K+ compensation, plus the resale value from a few years ago, for your VW.  You should be able to get a hell of a deal on a VW, considering the bad position they are in currently.

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #28 on: March 12, 2017, 12:15:39 AM »
There are tons of similar cars that are easier to find. For example, Ford Focus ST. They only come in manual, 4 door, hatchback, and turbo charged stock. Tons of fun to drive at 260+ ft-lb of torque but still great on gas, just as good as the GTI if not better. We could get 35-40mpg on the highway.  And they should be super easy to find. Test drive one, you might fall in love! There are tons of other similar cars but this is the only one I've driven.

If looks are why you chose that car then I don't have any suggestions really. Either way, it can't hurt to drive a couple different cars because you may end up liking them more.

Dicey

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #29 on: March 12, 2017, 01:33:50 AM »
I just love the way mustachians are so willing to offer helpful suggestions! Great stuff here. I hope ysette9 figures out a good solution soon.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #30 on: March 12, 2017, 10:36:17 AM »
There are tons of similar cars that are easier to find. For example, Ford Focus ST. They only come in manual, 4 door, hatchback, and turbo charged stock. Tons of fun to drive at 260+ ft-lb of torque but still great on gas, just as good as the GTI if not better. We could get 35-40mpg on the highway.  And they should be super easy to find. Test drive one, you might fall in love! There are tons of other similar cars but this is the only one I've driven.

If looks are why you chose that car then I don't have any suggestions really. Either way, it can't hurt to drive a couple different cars because you may end up liking them more.

We *nearly* went with an ST. Hot damn are they fun cars. Holy shit. Our friends have a GTI and an ST... they're seriously considering selling the GTI for a second ST. Also, since the parts on the ST are plentiful and domestic, it is SO much easier to work on.

And oh my god, doing the oil changes? Infinitely easier on the ST. For some reason the GTI has a super quirky oil filter placement... okay, that's just German cars. Even our Jetta has a weird filter placement, haha. I think the Germans might get off on difficult routine maintenance or something, that was how our old beamer was too. Both of them. Ahem. We like german cars, please don't take away our mustaches.

But yeah, look into the ST. Same idea as the GTI, and dare I say it, better done.

Car and Driver agrees with me: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/2013-ford-focus-st-vs-2012-volkswagen-gti-comparison-test
« Last Edit: March 12, 2017, 10:38:38 AM by Bracken_Joy »

human

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #31 on: March 12, 2017, 10:58:35 AM »
Holy shmokes it's a damn car that goes putt putt a to b. Get a bloody 5-8 year old civic already. Why do people agonize over such things so much? Seems crazy, plus this could be a good opportunity to put money in your pocket for FIRE, jus sayin ;-)

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #32 on: March 12, 2017, 04:55:27 PM »
That thought was sort of how we ended up with th the Golf TDI. We decided we needed the four-door "family car" and all. After 4-5 years you k ow what? I really miss driving a fun car. It's not bad, but every day I am reminded that I used to drive something so much more fun.

I have driven a Focus as a rental car and was impressed at how not-awful it was for an American car. I realize that Ford is in a different class than all the other American brands, but still.... :-) I'll get looking online again next week once I get home. I got the registration renewal notice in the mail so I have that much more incentive to get this sucker over with.

How funny that someone on this forum would suggest I get a new car. :-)

Dicey

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #33 on: March 12, 2017, 05:53:16 PM »
How funny that someone on this forum would suggest I get a new car. :-)
Hard to believe, but sometimes the new car is the most economical choice. Hmmm, didn't Pete just write about turning over a new Leaf?

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #34 on: March 12, 2017, 05:57:49 PM »
That thought was sort of how we ended up with th the Golf TDI. We decided we needed the four-door "family car" and all. After 4-5 years you k ow what? I really miss driving a fun car. It's not bad, but every day I am reminded that I used to drive something so much more fun.

I have driven a Focus as a rental car and was impressed at how not-awful it was for an American car. I realize that Ford is in a different class than all the other American brands, but still.... :-) I'll get looking online again next week once I get home. I got the registration renewal notice in the mail so I have that much more incentive to get this sucker over with.

How funny that someone on this forum would suggest I get a new car. :-)

It's too bad you weren't in my area and looking for a car a few months ago. My boyfriend ended up selling his 2014 Focus ST to a dealership for $15k. We couldn't find anyone to buy it so he settled for getting a bit less for it. Only had 27k miles.

Make sure it's the ST though! I can't imagine you got one of those as a rental since they're not as plentiful but I guess it's possible.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #35 on: March 13, 2017, 01:31:42 PM »
Yeah, the ST is a class above the standard focus. Not the fit and finish of a German car, sadly, but not too bad on that front. =) If you want small and zippy, the Fiesta STs fit the bill there. A touch *too* small for my taste, but damn if they're not fun for autocross (another friend has the Fiesta ST... we have too many car people in our lives, they're a bad influence! Haha)

MarioMario

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #36 on: March 14, 2017, 01:11:06 AM »
I will echo the sentiment, go test drive a Ford focus ST.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #37 on: March 14, 2017, 09:33:51 AM »
OP, also search on Autotrader. They have a good search tool that lets you put in all sort of filters to find what you are looking for...

I'm searching on Autotrader (never heard of the site before) and it's coming up with great results..... on the other side of the country. Is autotrader able to ship cars to your location like Carmax can do?

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #38 on: March 14, 2017, 09:40:52 AM »
OP, also search on Autotrader. They have a good search tool that lets you put in all sort of filters to find what you are looking for...

I'm searching on Autotrader (never heard of the site before) and it's coming up with great results..... on the other side of the country. Is autotrader able to ship cars to your location like Carmax can do?

I don't know anything about Autotrader, but I see a few GTIs and Focus STs in San Francisco on Carmax. There are also some nearby that have free transfers available.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #39 on: March 25, 2017, 06:58:17 PM »
So I finally solved the problem! A tasty-looking vehicle popped up on Craigslist on Thursday last week and I checked it out this morning. It is newer (fewer miles/more expensive) than the original price point I had been looking at, but it was almost exactly what I wanted and the pre-purchase check came out looking really good. Originally my plan had been to swap my car out for the GTI of the same year, but I was getting burned by the GTIs of that mileage being thrashed. Instead I got a newer car with fewer miles for just under what my buyback value of the TDI will be with VW. It isn't the mustachian thing to do, but at least I won't be out any money in the end.

Interestingly, the dealer guy doing out paperwork mentioned several times about how only 3.6% of buyers buy a car with cash and so there is no all cash purchase form. The sales form had the info on financing and then a separate little box checked stating that this was a cash sale. Thankfully they didn't try to push financing because I just wasn't in the mood to waste my time with that. They have to put new tires on the car and will deliver it at our house sometime next week. I'm really pleased that this chore is over with. On my existing TDI I got the registration renewal in the mail, the tires need replacing, every time I turn it on it pings at me that it needs service, and it doesn't drive straight. Not to mention it has an ant infestation because I made the mistake of letting my toddler eat cheerios in the back. :)

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #40 on: March 31, 2017, 10:34:27 AM »
One last update on this one. We took delivery of the car two nights ago so today was my second day of driving the GTI to work. I LOVE the car. It is an absolute joy to drive; the engine is peppy and the handling is beautiful. It doesn't comply with the MMM credo of an econo car as nothing more than a mode of transportation, but that is fine. It fits me better and I drove to work with a smile on my face.

Happy Friday all!

brian313313

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #41 on: March 31, 2017, 10:42:02 AM »
(Bright side, the money was in our account 48hrs after we turned the car in).
Lucky you. Another former TDI owner here. It took them almost a month to give us the money. I think we did it too early and the computer systems weren't working  yet.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #42 on: March 31, 2017, 11:34:13 AM »
Speaking of which, I need to find a notary so we can get our agreement signed and sent off. The only situation I have ever used a notary in before is signing a house purchase/loan. Is there anything special I should know about finding one, or do I just go on Yelp and find one nearby?

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #43 on: March 31, 2017, 12:29:14 PM »
Speaking of which, I need to find a notary so we can get our agreement signed and sent off. The only situation I have ever used a notary in before is signing a house purchase/loan. Is there anything special I should know about finding one, or do I just go on Yelp and find one nearby?

Our bank has all the tellers as notaries- I think this is pretty common at credit unions. Otherwise, post offices generally have notaries. =) If you're a member of the bank though, they generally don't charge (it's a member benefit many places), whereas I believe other places often charge for the service.

One last update on this one. We took delivery of the car two nights ago so today was my second day of driving the GTI to work. I LOVE the car. It is an absolute joy to drive; the engine is peppy and the handling is beautiful. It doesn't comply with the MMM credo of an econo car as nothing more than a mode of transportation, but that is fine. It fits me better and I drove to work with a smile on my face.

Happy Friday all!

So glad it worked out for you! Yes, I think most of us on this thread aren't picture perfect Honda Fit owners ;) But hey, values based spending, not going into debt for stuff, compromises... for some of us it's worth it!

marielle

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #44 on: March 31, 2017, 12:32:07 PM »
All UPS stores have a notary as well and they have convenient business hours. It costs $5 there. I usually just go to the titling office because they have notaries there and I can title the car at the same time, but I don't know how it works in other states.

ysette9

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Re: Advice sought on temporary car situation
« Reply #45 on: March 31, 2017, 12:54:23 PM »
Good recommendations. Thank you, all!