Price of New Vehicles

[Qapla]

I drive a 2007 Nissan Titan with 365,000+ miles. Sure, it has some issues, but I can afford a new truck and I only paid $23,000 for it back in 2007.

My oldest daughter recently bought a new GMC with the fancy folding tailgate and 4WD (she really wanted the 4WD) - around $50,000 ... I remember when trucks were cheap - and driven like trucks.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I am proud to say I have the oldest car in town. Well, to be honest, it is a small town with only 2,600 people. My problem is that I am afraid to take it on a road trip. Not because it isn't in perfect running condition. It is in excellent condition with about 93,000 miles. It's the fear of breaking down because at 19 years of age, it is an old car.

93000? I had a car that had a 5 digit odometer, but based on car fax it had been around that thing at least seven times, and I think it had actually hit ten. Anyway it was 25 years old (1976 in 2001) and it was in terrible shape (60mph was all she’d give with a tailwind, and it had the Fred Flintstone option- that is, a gigantic hole in the drivers side floor) and it gave me no problems over six months of ownership. I mean I grant it was a Mercedes with the legendary OM616 Diesel engine, but your car ought ta do long trips just fine.

while I’m at it, I have a 1995 E300 Diesel with 208k miles on it. Granted I wouldn’t take it very far but that’s because 1) it has substantial rust, 2) the front suspension rubber is dry rotted from 8 years of being out of service (it’s back in service now sort of) 3) it has neither a/c or a working blower motor.

 

[Everydaymatters]

If it's in good Mechanical condition Betty, go for it! 93,000 miles is barely broken in for some Vehicles if they've been well maintained and everything works well!

Just have your Mechanic do a complete Check of the Csr before a Road Trip and it's always good to belong to AAA in case something does happen and you need assistance on the road!

I've had vehicles with 200,000 miles on them( Toyota and Nissan) that still ran like a top and ,I Sold them for over Book Value!

Thanks, Jim. Your words are encouraging, but I just don't know....

 

[Everydaymatters]

Betty, several things. 1. Older cars can be worked on by old style mechanics who do not have computers to tell them what is wrong. That makes it easier to get back running on weekends or in small towns without a dealer. Ranch mechanics can do anything. 2. You can pack things in your car so a breakdown is an inconvenience, not an emergency: food and lots of water, travel pillow, blanket or sleeping bag, polymer female urinal, etc. It depends, but generally it is safest to stay in your car with seatbelt on. 3. Be aware of where you are so (if you have cell service) you can tell the operator exactly where you are. Make a game of remembering mileposts and street names in unfamiliar territory. Do not depend on a gps (even satellite ones) to tell you where you are.

That's the practical stuff. An additional consideration is, your car will at some point break down no matter what you do. You take care of it in hopes of postponing the breakdown until after you replace it. But really, it is more convenient to break down on a trip when you have extra time to deal with it; much less stressful than when you have a trunk full of groceries needing to be kept cool, or you are on your way to an important appointment. The attitude adjustment is the bigger deal (and can also be used on loved ones who think you should stay home, "act your age" and behave).

Love ya, Alice! You have been my inspiration to do more than I ever expected I could do. I'm thinking about taking a Mississippi River road trip; following it up the Iowa side and back down the Illinois side.

 

[Asher]

93000? I had a car that had a 5 digit odometer, but based on car fax it had been around that thing at least seven times, and I think it had actually hit ten. Anyway it was 25 years old (1976 in 2001) and it was in terrible shape (60mph was all she’d give with a tailwind, and it had the Fred Flintstone option- that is, a gigantic hole in the drivers side floor) and it gave me no problems over six months of ownership. I mean I grant it was a Mercedes with the legendary OM616 Diesel engine, but your car ought ta do long trips just fine.

while I’m at it, I have a 1995 E300 Diesel with 208k miles on it. Granted I wouldn’t take it very far but that’s because 1) it has substantial rust, 2) the front suspension rubber is dry rotted from 8 years of being out of service (it’s back in service now sort of) 3) it has neither a/c or a working blower motor.

My wife also had a older MB diesel. Looked good, great fuel mileage. But, air conditioning not so good and it loved going to the Mechanic every month or so for various small problems that cost big dollars because of the name. I sold that car on Craigs list in about a half hour one morning. Wife was peaved to say the least. Bought a new 2008 Scion X box that has not stumbled, grumbled or seen a mechanic ever. I always thought if it breaks, just go buy a new car. The prices now have me re- thinking that.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

My brothers mom had an ancient Mercedes from the very early 70's that was in mostly good condition (thanks to winter free weather and a good mechanic) outside of the upholstery. She regretted trading it in on a Lincoln, which was her last car, in like 2006 or so.

I've had mostly older cars (a procession of ancient Volvo's and Honda's - the old Civic rotted away finally, thanks Chicago and our copious salt atmosphere) and my current is a 96' Volvo which is in surprisingly good condition for it's age. No idea what the mileage is, since the odometer is out of service, which is why I got it cheap.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

My wife also had a older MB diesel. Looked good, great fuel mileage. But, air conditioning not so good and it loved going to the Mechanic every month or so for various small problems that cost big dollars because of the name. I sold that car on Craigs list in about a half hour one morning. Wife was peaved to say the least. Bought a new 2008 Scion X box that has not stumbled, grumbled or seen a mechanic ever. I always thought if it breaks, just go buy a new car. The prices now have me re- thinking that.

I bought my first one, a 1976 240D, when I was just barely 17 on the basis of two features: $250 and runs&drives. I hated a lot of it but decided to drive it until it failed so as to save up money to buy something I wanted (Cadillac Brougham, believe it or not). It never did until an accident where a kid t-boned me six months later; I walked away, he left in a body bag (he wasn’t belted).

Since then I have had a succession of MB diesels none of which had even functional a/c except for the E300D which had functional a/c for about a year after I bought it (that was 2005). I think Mercedes makes the best cars in the world. They are absolutely the safest (not to disparage Volvos deserved reputation in that department) and best-engineered in terms of capability of anything out there. I feel that way about my Metris, too.

They are built to be maintained (at immense expense) forever. Whether they are worth that expense is a question somebody has to answer for themselves; but they are very reliable, perpetually making it to the dealer for (needed) repairs under their own power. I have no dispute that Toyota makes the most reliable and low-maintenance cars, however.

Every time I think of another brand, though, I hear squealing tires and the image of a mid-90s Civic barreling towards my passengers door at 45mph and the sudden certainty that this moment would be my last. And then the knowing that if I was in any other car I could have bought for $250 it would have been.

 

[Qapla]

I find it interesting that, when looking up information on safe vs unsafe cars, there never seems to be any mention of Bently or Rolls-Royce

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I find it interesting that, when looking up information on safe vs unsafe cars, there never seems to be any mention of Bently or Rolls-Royce

Probably because there are so few of them?

 

[Asher]

I find it interesting that, when looking up information on safe vs unsafe cars, there never seems to be any mention of Bently or Rolls-Royce

Don’t know about Rolls, no one in my area code drives one. I do feel pretty safe saying I’m not spending $200 to 400,000 for a Bentley.

 

[MARC Rider]

I find it interesting that, when looking up information on safe vs unsafe cars, there never seems to be any mention of Bently or Rolls-Royce

Maybe it's because they're so expensive that buying the number they need to do the crash tests properly would blow out NHTSA's budget.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Watched a Story on the Evening News that said the Median Price for New Vehicles in the US is now $48,000 with the Average Payment over $1,000 a Month!.

The true cost of buying, driving, maintaining, and parking a vehicle that is stationary for most of its life is substantially higher than many of us realize. The following video is just one man's perspective but it does bring up several factors that are rarely discussed in the context of rampant car ownership.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I think somebody on another thread posted that people were paying 27k for Corollas! And wait-lists for Civics - which makes me wonder if there's a bigger market for sedans & hatchbacks than has been met lately?

 

[Bob Dylan]

I think somebody on another thread posted that people were paying 27k for Corollas! And wait-lists for Civics - which makes me wonder if there's a bigger market for sedans & hatchbacks than has been met lately?

Most Dealers are charging OVER MSRP for In Stock Vehicles , and making Customers put down Deposits while their Vehicle is "being Built!"

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Most Dealers are charging OVER MSRP for In Stock Vehicles , and making Customers put down Deposits while their Vehicle is "being Built!"

Deposits on ordered vehicles is a normal thing, actually. When I ordered my Mercedes Metris back when they first opened the order books in May 2015, I had to put down a $500 deposit that the salesman warned me would be non-refundable due to the vans odd specification (generally well equipped but a passenger van missing the lower capacity comfort suspension- it rides like a 3/4 ton pickup because it has over a ton of payload- climate control, interior carpeting, park assist, or power-sliding doors and non-metallic blue paint) despite me getting over $3k off MSRP even though I was the first order placed and third vehicle delivered- meaning nobody really knew how well a mid-size Mercedes’ commercial passenger van would sell. (Apparently not well, it’s being discontinued, which is a shame- if it is the kind of vehicle you need, it’s fantastic and something of a bargain)

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Most Dealers are charging OVER MSRP for In Stock Vehicles , and making Customers put down Deposits while their Vehicle is "being Built!"

I was listening to a report about how there is a prediction that in the future people will be ordering their cars rather than going to the dealer to pick one up (I can't remember if a similar though was mentioned earlier on this thread or on the other one, but it's seeming to permeate thinking these days), so that sort of ties in with that kind of thinking. I've also even heard speculation that dealers will go extinct, but as I understand it that would require a change in laws, both state and federal iirc.

 

[railiner]

I have ordered to spec, my last three cars, as I feel that as costly as they were, I was willing to wait for them to be built, exactly as I wanted them.

 

[MARC Rider]

We had to put down a (refundable) deposit just so that they would hold a car in shipment for us so we could take a test drive.

I think that in an ideal world, dealers would have to keep demo models of every car in the manufacturer's range so that buyers could test drive, check out the seating comfort, etc. And the models available on the lots usually have extra features that many buyers don't need, but get them anyway because they are really discouraged from just ordering a car to spec. Perhaps the sales model for cars will become more transparent -- no attempt to make "deals," just fixed price, order it with the options you want, and have it delivered. But I'm not sure that's to the financial advantage of the car dealers.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I think that in an ideal world, dealers...

I struggle to envision an ideal world with dealerships. They are required by state law because without the law I would buy direct every single time.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I struggle to envision an ideal world with dealerships. They are required by state law because without the law I would buy direct every single time.

Good point Chris!

Even though Tesla builds Vehicles here in Austin, due to the crazy Texas Law, they can't " Sell" them here since they don't have "Dealerships" in Texas!( just Information Locations).

Not sure just how the buying/ Leasing process works, but would think it's done on-line???

Yet Austin is full of Teslas!!

 

[Dakota 400]

I think that in an ideal world, dealers would have to keep demo models of every car in the manufacturer's range so that buyers could test drive, check out the seating comfort, etc

Once upon a time, dealers do that. Not sure that they demos for all of the models of a brand, but, many models were represented.

Once upon a time, dealers supplied cars to high schools for Driver Education. I have heard that some of the cars were sold at the end of a school year to the parents of a student who had driven it.

I have ordered to spec, my last three cars, as I feel that as costly as they were, I was willing to wait for them to be built, exactly as I wanted them.

I have done the same thing. If I am going to pay what the dealer wants for a model, I am going to have it equipped the way I want it. My most recent purchase in November, 2019, that almost didn't happen. What I wanted as a 2020 Buick Envision with all of the options available. (I wanted the benefit of all of the newest safety features and that required the car to be very well equipped.) Because this was the beginning of the 2020 model year, my desired car was not readily available, but fortunately, the car (even with the desired exterior color and interior trim color) was found 325 miles away. If not, I was going to have a long wait because the car was built in China and there was a very long lead time needed to get the car ordered, made, and shipped to my dealer. I am certain equipping a car, particularly with many "bells and whistles" is to the dealer's benefit. More "stuff" on the car, more profit on the sale.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I have ordered to spec, my last three cars, as I feel that as costly as they were, I was willing to wait for them to be built, exactly as I wanted them.

Having only bought one new car and ordered it to spec, and then waited 5 months for delivery, I would never do it any other way. It particularly makes sense if you want to cherry pick your options. Example: I wasn’t sure to what extent this van would be used for cargo so I didn’t want interior carpeting, and I wanted the stiffer suspension and it’s 2100lb payload (vs 1850), but I wanted cruise control, backup camera, power mirrors, comfort seats, heated front seats, and painted bumpers and alloys. I also wanted a color that would stand out but not cost me $1000 for metallic, and given the choice between candy apple red, dark blue, refrigerator white and a misleadingly named pebble grey, I picked blue- pebble grey turned out to be German taxi yellow (creamish), and I would have went with that had I known.

Part of that is that commercial vehicles tend to have long and non-packagy option lists, and what you plan on doing with it Carrie’s. My next car will probably be a cargo electric Sprinter (as I said, discontinued Metris) that I will be ordering for a self build into half office, half cleaning supplies set up with a battery run independent air conditioner. I don’t think I’ll find that on the lot, do you?

 

[railiner]

Once upon a time, you could order what was then the largest selling car, (Chevrolet), and could option it out, line by line, so that there were thousands of possible different configurations. Through the years, most manufacturers took away that freedom, and only had limited choices with “popular” packages of options, to simplify manufacturing and dealer inventories. So now in order to get a particular option you desire, you are forced to get others along with it, that you may not desire.
Only some of the most expensive cars can still be optioned out, line by line…