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Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
47839 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 7:10 AM
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Replying to: richard64 (Jan 04, 2009 9:01 am) Probably 60% of my home is new. I got the chance to correct some things I didn't like when I originally had it built, too. Got some new things that were needed (like a new roof that was due to be replaced, anyway). You never come out of these types of rebuilds with no "out of pocket". On the other hand, I was able to kick in some cash to upgrade what was destroyed. Segueing into another sad story regarding the economy (and just the slightest relevance to cars), I don't live in an exclusive neighborhood. But, it's a nice neighborhood....good schools, nice homes, peaceful. No McMansions around here. Anyway, I live in a relatively secluded area (becoming less so all the time). There's only 16 houses on my street. So, we all more or less know each other....all of us have lived here for at least a dozen years. Around the holidays, there are plenty of people in the neighborhood who bring baked goods to each others doors (I'm not one of them, mind you. I don't bake.) during the Holiday Season. So, we usually get the chance to catch up on each others lives in the process since everyone is "around" during this time of year. One neighbor was an EVP for a company who provides peripherals to General Electric. Very successful guy. He never buys new cars, but nice used ones. He's got a 4 year old Lexus LS (which he bought used off lease). His wife has a 5 year old Lexus RX (again, bought used off lease). Not much work being done last week as many people were taking time off. While one neighbor was delivering Christmas cookies to my door, I noticed two tow trucks picking up both vehicles at the Lexus owner's house down the street. Thinking he had bad luck having both cars on the fritz at the same time, I went over to offer them one of my vehicles to use, if they needed it. Come to find out, the guy was let go from his job this past June. The tow trucks were repo-ing both his cars. While I didn't want to get into the gory details with him, he kind of spilled it out. He financed both vehicles via a home equity loan. Investments went south. His employment prospects, even at his level, are very limited (he's in his late 50s). He drained his liquid savings over the past several months trying to stay afloat. He had to make a decision....lose his house, or lose his cars. He chose the latter. The couple's daughter (surprise baby) was going to Loyola in Chicago. They've had to put a halt to her education. Loyola ain't cheap. In short, their lives have turned upside down. Everything they had saved is gone. Again, he's a smart guy. Investments he made, which he thought were good, weren't. The prospect of him losing his house is still very real. I'm sure this isn't an uncommon scene throughout the country right now. Yet, Chrysler just cashed a $4B check from the gov't bailout, to use for what exactly, I'm not certain. Even Cerebus has said they don't know if the $4B will keep them from shutting their doors. Yet, this guy....a good, hard working family person, is about to lose everything he's built, everything he's saved for, over many years.
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Replying to: jipster (Jan 04, 2009 7:50 pm) No argument - but if you're shopping for a new car, don't you want the benefit of the latest safety technology? Stability control is standard equipment in all of the premium brands - AFAIK - & it's now widely available in the popular-priced brands as well. The Merc GM might be the only mid-priced car for which SC isn't available - not even as an option. By contrast, SC is standard equipment on the lower-priced Sable. Note also that the GM lacks side curtain airbags, which are also standard equipment on the Sable. If you were in the market for a new car, wouldn't that omission affect your choice? We keep our cars for 8 to 10 years - sometimes longer - so when we buy, we want state-of-the-art for our price range. |
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Replying to: graphicguy (Jan 05, 2009 7:19 am) Maybe I missed something but if he financed the vehicles via a home equity loan, then how did they get repo'ed? That really stinks for that to happen to him, especially at that point in his life and with one kid still in college. I too worry about that all the time as my two sons are in college, but only 2 more years and they both will be done. They say you are one down sizing away from being homeless. And seeing these bailouts, err, I mean handouts, going on is like rubbing salt in the wound. |
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Replying to: jimbres (Jan 05, 2009 7:35 am) Richard
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 05, 2009 6:02 am) WRONG!! I was not going through an “amber light”. The light was to my left and it was RED to traffic coming through the light. As I pulled out I glanced again and the light had just turned GREEN thereby allowing traffic to go through the intersection towards me. I use this gas station quite a bit and I use the exit that is furthest from the light to allow myself time to pull out. I know that people are just waiting to jump the light when it turns green for them and I pull out with enough speed to allow myself plenty of room if/when the light does turn green to allow traffic to pass through it. This time the road was wet and when I stepped on it a little bit more that’s when the glorious Stability Control took over. I’d like to point out that Mrs. jmonroe wasn’t with me that day or I would have heard from her, but that’s why I pull out of there rather quickly, all the time, because I never know when that light is about to change and I’ve cautioned her about this. In a way I prefer to pull out when the light allows traffic through it; that way I can see the breaks in the traffic and I know what to expect and it isn’t bad at all. Sometimes if there isn’t anyone behind me I’ll wait to do just that. People who don't wear seatbelts often think they can manouver better, or can get out of the car faster..... You don’t have to tell me about the importance of seat belts. I installed them in my 56’Chevy in 61’ when I saw what happen to a US Sailor (separated shoulder) when he was propelled out of his seat and thrown into the baggage rack during a cross-wind landing (on the plane that I was part of the flight crew on) that was transporting him and others to their new duty station when I was in the Navy. I told this old-salt and everyone on that flight that we were going to make a cross-wind landing because the pilot said he was going to try it otherwise we would have had to go somewhere else. Everyone listened except this one sailor. Those guys practice cross-wind landings all the time on pilot training flights (PT’s as we used to call them) and they are damn good at it but they are still harder than normal landings. Like I said I told this sailor several times to keep his belt on but he kept taking it off when I went back to my seat to strap in (this had to happen at least twice). When I saw I didn’t have time to get up and tell him again, I stayed put but he didn’t. Tough lesson to learn and I’m sure he never did that again. That’s when I thought it would be a good idea to have seat belts in my car, installed them that weekend. Now say you’re sorry.  jmonroe
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Replying to: richard64 (Jan 05, 2009 9:09 am) Well, I don't see either side-curtain air bags or stability control listed as features - standard or optional - for the GM on Mercury's own web site, which shows both as standard equipment on the Sable. Does your GSM know something that Mercury's webmaster doesn't?
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Replying to: graphicguy (Jan 05, 2009 7:19 am) It's going on all over. One of my best friends (age 62) three years from his retirement just got terminated from one of the last Hanes plants. His two year old Jag was repo'ed Christmas Eve. On top of that, his pension is no more---according to the Hanes home office. His wife lost her job last June. On Monday after Christmas, she took her SUV to Carmax and got $4,500 for it. So sad. They are driving one of his brother's cars now. They still have three years left on the mortgage. My wife and I held back tears as they related what had happened. As a textile man for 40 years, he knows nothing else. His wife was a bank manager---so much for that. He won't swallow his pride and file for unemployment. I told him not to feel guilty. He paid his taxes for 40 years. He's entitled to it. Each morning I realize how blessed I am. History does repeat itself. In 1929 my mother was called home from her second year at Agnes Scott in Georgia. My grandfather went to the bank to pull out his savings, only to find the doors padlocked. He lost his dairy business. My grandmother took in sewing and my mother got a job at the 5&10 cent store---for those of you who may know what they were. She married my father in 1933 who also had to drop out of school. He found a job hauling produce from Florida to New York. She used to joke about how they spent their honeymoon in New York---sleeping in the truck with the oranges and grapefruit. Still, they lived through it all---and had ME. That alone was worse than the Great Depression! Our friends and neighbors will make it. There is a silver lining out there some where. Richard |
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Replying to: jimbres (Jan 05, 2009 9:38 am) Richard |
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Replying to: bksward (Jan 04, 2009 10:40 am) Richard |
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Do any of you know people struggling to meet their obligations? They may be interested in the new Making Car Payments in Hard Times discussion. tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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