car update
Oct. 18th, 2004 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanHere's the car story from Saturday. First of all, I found this car (a 1997 Subaru Legacy wagon) via an online ad at craigslist, and sometimes in online ads it's hard to tell whether the seller is a dealer or just an individual owner. I was pretty sure this guy Jerry was a dealer, but not 100%. Anyway, I arranged to meet him with the car at my mechanic's place. And when I say my mechanic, I mean the mechanic my mom and I have been going to since I was a little kid. These guys know me on sight and they're always friendly and stuff. I would trust them completely in all matters automotive.
So Jerry shows up with the car, and immediately he says "I know these guys." It turns out that Jerry has been there before, with other cars he was trying to sell. Which proves nothing except that Jerry has had some customers (or potential customers) with good taste in mechanics. ;) So then he starts showing me these receipts for the work that (he claims) has been done on it recently. According to him, what he does is go to a Subaru dealership, buy parts, then take them to his mechanic to have them put in. So he has all these receipts for parts from the dealership. (Which proves nothing, because he could have those parts still sitting in his living room, or in a different car -- but that didn't occur to me yet at this point.) I wasn't really interested in looking at the receipts, I just wanted to hear what the mechanics had to say.
So the mechanic, Paul, puts the car up on the lift thingie and starts wandering around underneath it, pointing out stuff to Jerry, who's following him around. Stuff like where the tires are cracked (Jerry pokes at the cracks like he's never seen a tire before) and worn down. Paul points out the tire's tread-wear indicator, and Jerry says, "so it's not very worn down, right?" and Paul says "uh, no, it's almost gone." Already we're getting a sense for Jerry's unique perspective on reality.
Anyway, then Paul looks under the hood and then he takes the car out for a spin, during which time Jerry is telling me all about this great mechanic he has who only charges him $30/hour for labor. Whatever.
Paul comes back and says that the clutch is worn out and will need to be replaced. I ask him how much this would probably cost and he says around $700-900 including labor. He also says that the timing belt and water pump need replacing, which would be another couple hundred bucks. Add in the tires, and you're looking at about $2000 worth of work that the car needs. Paul does say that he thinks the clutch can go till spring, it's not like it has to be replaced right away. He also says that it's a good car overall and with the aforementioned work done, it could last a really long time.
So then Jerry, who has heard all of this, tells me he'll sell me the car for $5000. His original asking price was $5500. So two grand worth of work and you knock five hundred off the price? What a deal! *roll eyes* I tell him I'll think about it. He takes his car and leaves.
Then the mechanics start telling me that they do know this guy, he's a little shady, they don't necessarily trust or believe him when he says what work he's had done on a car. (See where I said that the timing belt needs replaced? That's one of the things Jerry had receipts for that he claims to have had done recently.) They tell me that the car is a good car, but for $5000 it isn't worth it, and then they lecture me on how I should buy a car from an individual rather than a dealer. I pay them $85 (which IMO is WELL worth it for their advice overall) and take Isaac off to my mom's place.
A few minutes later the phone rings and it's Jerry calling to tell me that he called a Subaru dealer and asked them how much a replacement clutch would cost. Now, he starts out by saying that he's never taking a car to those guys (my mechanics) again, they are a bunch of hacks, they don't know what they're talking about, etc. -- Yeah, way to ingratiate yourself to me by insulting my mechanic, pal. Anyway, he says that the Subaru dealer told him it would be $830 to replace the clutch. So, somehow in Jerry's mind the situation now is that Paul said it would be $2000 to replace the clutch, so Paul is giving him an estimate that's more than twice as high. Of course, the REAL reality is that Paul's $2000 also included the other repairs and the new tires, which I tried to point out to Jerry, but he was too busy ranting so I just sat there holding the phone away from my ear and making faces at my mom. LOL. Eventually I managed to get a word in edgewise and confirmed that Jerry was still asking $5000 and told him that I would think about it and get back to him.
Whew!
Anyway, so after talking it over with my mom I decided to call Jerry back and offer him $4000 and see what happens. If I got the car for $4000 and had all the work done, it would still cost me less than the $7000 that I've sort of set as my absolute limit. And it *is* a good car. I liked it overall. I have no idea what he'll say, but we'll see. I left him a message this morning.
The short version, in case you don't feel like clicking the link, is that it's a decent car but needs some work and I'm planning to make a lowball offer and see what the guy says.
Meanwhile, I'm off to troll the web for more potential cars. Whee.
So Jerry shows up with the car, and immediately he says "I know these guys." It turns out that Jerry has been there before, with other cars he was trying to sell. Which proves nothing except that Jerry has had some customers (or potential customers) with good taste in mechanics. ;) So then he starts showing me these receipts for the work that (he claims) has been done on it recently. According to him, what he does is go to a Subaru dealership, buy parts, then take them to his mechanic to have them put in. So he has all these receipts for parts from the dealership. (Which proves nothing, because he could have those parts still sitting in his living room, or in a different car -- but that didn't occur to me yet at this point.) I wasn't really interested in looking at the receipts, I just wanted to hear what the mechanics had to say.
So the mechanic, Paul, puts the car up on the lift thingie and starts wandering around underneath it, pointing out stuff to Jerry, who's following him around. Stuff like where the tires are cracked (Jerry pokes at the cracks like he's never seen a tire before) and worn down. Paul points out the tire's tread-wear indicator, and Jerry says, "so it's not very worn down, right?" and Paul says "uh, no, it's almost gone." Already we're getting a sense for Jerry's unique perspective on reality.
Anyway, then Paul looks under the hood and then he takes the car out for a spin, during which time Jerry is telling me all about this great mechanic he has who only charges him $30/hour for labor. Whatever.
Paul comes back and says that the clutch is worn out and will need to be replaced. I ask him how much this would probably cost and he says around $700-900 including labor. He also says that the timing belt and water pump need replacing, which would be another couple hundred bucks. Add in the tires, and you're looking at about $2000 worth of work that the car needs. Paul does say that he thinks the clutch can go till spring, it's not like it has to be replaced right away. He also says that it's a good car overall and with the aforementioned work done, it could last a really long time.
So then Jerry, who has heard all of this, tells me he'll sell me the car for $5000. His original asking price was $5500. So two grand worth of work and you knock five hundred off the price? What a deal! *roll eyes* I tell him I'll think about it. He takes his car and leaves.
Then the mechanics start telling me that they do know this guy, he's a little shady, they don't necessarily trust or believe him when he says what work he's had done on a car. (See where I said that the timing belt needs replaced? That's one of the things Jerry had receipts for that he claims to have had done recently.) They tell me that the car is a good car, but for $5000 it isn't worth it, and then they lecture me on how I should buy a car from an individual rather than a dealer. I pay them $85 (which IMO is WELL worth it for their advice overall) and take Isaac off to my mom's place.
A few minutes later the phone rings and it's Jerry calling to tell me that he called a Subaru dealer and asked them how much a replacement clutch would cost. Now, he starts out by saying that he's never taking a car to those guys (my mechanics) again, they are a bunch of hacks, they don't know what they're talking about, etc. -- Yeah, way to ingratiate yourself to me by insulting my mechanic, pal. Anyway, he says that the Subaru dealer told him it would be $830 to replace the clutch. So, somehow in Jerry's mind the situation now is that Paul said it would be $2000 to replace the clutch, so Paul is giving him an estimate that's more than twice as high. Of course, the REAL reality is that Paul's $2000 also included the other repairs and the new tires, which I tried to point out to Jerry, but he was too busy ranting so I just sat there holding the phone away from my ear and making faces at my mom. LOL. Eventually I managed to get a word in edgewise and confirmed that Jerry was still asking $5000 and told him that I would think about it and get back to him.
Whew!
Anyway, so after talking it over with my mom I decided to call Jerry back and offer him $4000 and see what happens. If I got the car for $4000 and had all the work done, it would still cost me less than the $7000 that I've sort of set as my absolute limit. And it *is* a good car. I liked it overall. I have no idea what he'll say, but we'll see. I left him a message this morning.
The short version, in case you don't feel like clicking the link, is that it's a decent car but needs some work and I'm planning to make a lowball offer and see what the guy says.
Meanwhile, I'm off to troll the web for more potential cars. Whee.
