Month of June 2023 (Nat’l Avg $3.574)

With the Fit , I learned exactly when to go to cruise throttle after reaching desired speed.


And I will make sure to "get rid of" all that heroin before driving.

Thanks for the good tips.

 

Today , 52 deg F in Naperville , 54 in Elk Grove.

Wind N 10 ( ouch )

33.3 miles, fcd = 52.9

 

The Hyundai dealer says they will honor Carmax's appraisal/offer
for a trade-in value. We shall see. Carmax . without looking at it , gave me
a quote of $17,000 for my Fit.
I believe Carmax ; I've sold a car to them before. But I'm not so sure about the dealership.

Too good to be true ?

 

I sold my Kia in May and checked The Big Three in the "we wanna buy your car" business. Actually four. Carmax, Carvana, Vroom, and also tried Car Gurus. Car Gurus and Carmax, as they are rumored to do, shot high on the offer and the fine print notes that it is contingent on inspection. After "inspection", the number falls off quite a bit. I expected this because the market has softened a lot this year and they can't sell the cars they buy for the record-high numbers they've been commanding over the last year and a half.
Vroom's offer was lowest, and I didn't pursue it. Carvana was the highest offer received, and they paid exactly what they offered. The selling process was effortless. I drove in and walked out, and I don't think it took me ten minutes.

If the Fit went to Carmax and they looked at it and they are ready to honor their quote, you can sell to them and then buy another car. Remember to factor in the sales tax you save when you trade. If the dealer offers a little less than Carmax but you're paying less in the out the door number due to lower sales tax, it's worth doing. Sales tax on $17000 is a little over $1300, so if the dealer says $15700 trade, you're still ahead relative to selling to Carmax at 17 and then buying another vehicle and paying sales tax on the full amount.

If you're planning on swapping out of the Fit and into the HEH, make sure the bicycle can fit in the new car. The Elantra does have that mail-slot trunk - although it's roomy inside. The rear seat folds but it's not a split folding on the Blue.

 

In the Fit , I need to remove the saddle , which is easy. Even if I had to
remove the front wheel . it's easy.
I did not take it to Carmax to get this , I did it from their website.
So yeah , it might be a bit less. I will talk to my salesman at Rosen Hyundai in Algonquin IL
and see what he says. So far , they have been very straightforward and transparent.

Thanks for your help !

 

I went through Carvana and did well. Sight unseen based on my declarations, no haggle. My 3 years with the Crosstrek Hybrid didn't cost me anything other than taxes (added: , insurance), eletricity, gasoline and an oil change, sold with under 10k miles. Doing a trade-in through Tesla would have ended up with a few thousand less even accounting for sales tax.

You could get a Tesla Model 3 RWD for $38030, and if your tax situation qualifies for the $7500 fed tax credit, that's a pretty good deal. I think Illinois' rebates have expired unfortunately, but do check. The above mentioned vehicle is available at Orland Park right now.

6' people have been known to sleep in the back of Model 3s. Don't know how bikes would fit, but you could always do a hitch carrier.

 

You are in the enviable position of not needing a car. If your interactions with the dealer convey this, they know they have a prospect that can simply walk away - and they will work harder to earn your business.
Tell them they can sell the car today, using the price and trade allowance and other parameters you define, and get the "+1" on the big monthly sales board, or they can let it lot rot for another two months while a dozen other nondescripts come slithering in and try to buy it for even less and then fail catastrophically due to their 650 credit score.
Banks have been getting snooty about funding loans the last few months as defaults have been skyrocketing. It's an uphill battle to sell a $26k car when the buyer only has enough to put down to cover the tax and tags. Not only is the interest rate high, but the bank may decide they don't want to fund it unless the buyer puts more down. If I worked at that dealer, I'd be keeping in frequent contact with you and strong-arming the floor manager into agreeing to whatever terms you were offering.

That gives me an idea: Mobile ev-brothel. Charge it up and then charge by the hour for a little boogity-boogity-boogity-shoop. Just put a "B" in front of Uber for a perfect name for the business. Or "Amps & Tramps". Get some red LEDs for the interior lighting and get busy.

 

Don't give me ideas. Nah, the wife would never agree.

I was amazed at the amount of custom fitting bling you can get for the Teslas, but not any more. Rubberized and matching fabric-textured storage add-ons for every nook and corner. Improvements to the Tesla design via little add-ons, e.g. noise reduction, keeping out water, dirt, leaves, etc. from the cabin or trunks. It is a wonderful eco system. Add-on driver displays that are tied in to the specific cpu-type in the vehicle, whatever the year, so either Intel or AMD chip based. And all plug and play. Crazy low prices, too.

 

That's surprising. I never needed to remove wheel or saddle to transport a largish bike in the Mazda GLC or Prius. Front wheels off to carry two bikes and a passenger, though.

 

Public service announcement: Speaking of insurance, please do check whether you may be overpaying for car insurance. Though allegedly state regulated in MA, the rates still vary quite a bit. I found I have probably been overpaying for a very long time, because I've been with the same insurance company since my young engineer days in the early 1980s. I didn't like what they quoted me for the Tesla, so I checked around and wow, have I been stupid all these years. New rate for both cars is about 1/2 what it would have been with the old company, 1: because they put an outrageous fee on the Tesla, and 2: they are still penalizing my wife for an accident over 3 years ago that wasn't actually her fault, but she was deemed 51% at fault by that (out-of-state for us) police officer who sided with the road-raging and abusive "local" truck driver who likely ran into the wife's Prime on purpose.

 

Isn’t FIT smaller than the Mazda or Prius?

 

The Fit is only slightly shorter overall than the old Mazda, and more celebrated for space-saving trickery. It's probably narrower inside, although wider overall.

 

The Fit , at about 161 inches , is considerably smaller than the Prius.
Wjhen I owned my Mazda, I wasn't a cyclist.

Today , 62 deg F in Naperville , 671 in Elk Grove.

Wind N 4

33.3 miles, fcd = 57.1 MPG

 

Oh, then that generation Fit is longer than the Mazda GLC, contrary to what I said above.

 

Coming home on the usual route ( mostly IL 53 and US 34 )
, with one stop at Planet Fitness = 32.6 miles , fcd = 59.5

 

Today , 60 deg F.

Wind N 5

33.3 miles , fcd = 56.3 MPG

 

On schedule, our Pacific Northwest June is having some good wet weather. During nearby travels yesterday, one burst of rain had me set the wipers to maximum.
Increasingly, Global Warming is causing western PNW forests to prematurely dry, causing great increases in forest fires. Extra scores of millions of acres of Forest fires are burning during the last half century(longer?). Hopefully, this rain can buffer & protect the forests from burning. Predictions for later in the day, indicate that wet weather is coming from Canada & should spread to the traditionally very dry eastern Washington. Hopefully, the Canadian rain is extinguishing some of their northern forest fires. Predictions of drying weather for the next week are reported. We’ll see if future drying will be for weeks or unfortunately, for many months.

 

Today , 64 deg F in Naperville , 62 in Elk Grove.

Wind N 5

33.3 miles, fcd = 57.3 MPG.

Carmax made me an offer of $15,500 for the Fit. I'm going
to Rosen Hyundais after work today to ask a few more questions and
confirm some numbers.

 

Check with Carvana and Vroom, too. If they are in the same ballpark as Carmax, you have more leverage to hold out for a proper trade value. If Carmax is $15500, your bottom trade value is $14400 from the dealer because 14400 plus tax in your area (thinking 7.75%) is just over 15500. If they can't offer at least 14400, selling to Carmax saves you money.

Heading in to the office today, 18.2 miles at a cool 63F and wind SSE 6, fcd showed 61.6.