Randomopolis

[Pantone287]

My only advice is to find a mechanic that seems trustworthy, find a car being sold directly by the owner (craigslist, etc.), and figure out a way to take it to the mechanic to check everything before committing to buy.

So many benefits to doing this - it makes direct buying just as safe (or safer) than Carmax without the 25% markup, and if there are things that need to be fixed, it gives you a lot of leverage to negotiate. That's what I did when buying my last car and essentially upgraded from Camry to Lexus of the same year without paying extra. Which may not have been the smartest use of my extra budget, as I now have a 12 year-old luxury car, but the point remains.

 

[rome8180]

Someone else suggested the take-it-to-a-mechanic approach. But I have no idea how to go about that. I mean, what do you tell the person you're trying to buy it from? BRB...and show up two days later?

As for the age vs. mileage thing, I had a 15-year-old Volkswagen and it only had 112K but broke down constantly. Granted, that's Volkswagen. But I do feel like if something sits undriven for too long it can start to have weird shit with the belts, etc.

 

[ZackM]

Don't even worry about how old it is, as long as it's got reasonably low mileage.

If you're buying a car in the north, you need to pay attention to how old it is. Older car = more rust.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Don't even worry about how old it is, as long as it's got reasonably low mileage.

If you're buying a car in the north, you need to pay attention to how old it is. Older car = more rust.

Good point. (But the rust would probably be easy to spot at that point.)


Which brings up another thought - rome, if at all possible you should have someone with some knowledge of automobiles looks the car over before you hand them the money.

 

[physicsfactor]

Someone else suggested the take-it-to-a-mechanic approach. But I have no idea how to go about that. I mean, what do you tell the person you're trying to buy it from? BRB...and show up two days later?

Tell the owner exactly what you would like to do and prearrange a time with him/her and the mechanic.

Here's a quick read about what they should check (link suggests inspection price should run around $100):
http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/inspect-that-used-car-before-buying.html

 

[CK86]

Snow sucks.

 

[deepdarkblue]

I do believe!

 

[torontoduke]

This time Canada will be a part of the Coalition of the Willing

http://www.avclub.com/article/30-percent-gop-voters-recent-poll-support-bombing--230049

 

[torontoduke]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/stoner-sloth-marijuana-ad-1.3374925

 

[ZackM]

I hit the first 3 numbers of the Powerball drawing. Almost started crying. Ended up winning 7 dollars.

 

[physicsfactor]

Assuming you bought just one ticket, that's quite the return on investment! I won $28 with Powerball a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I should never bother again because I'm sure I'll never win that much again. I probably buy a ticket a month and of course almost never win anything. I'm stupid enough to buy one now that it's at a record high. It's fun to dream for a day or two even though I know it's not going to happen.

 

[ZackM]

Assuming you bought just one ticket, that's quite the return on investment! I won $28 with Powerball a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I should never bother again because I'm sure I'll never win that much again. I probably buy a ticket a month and of course almost never win anything. I'm stupid enough to buy one now that it's at a record high. It's fun to dream for a day or two even though I know it's not going to happen.

Yeah, this is the first time I've purchased a ticket in probably 5 years. I stopped into a 7/11 to get a Root Beer and there was a line to get Powerball tickets. I saw the jackpot and figured I'd grab a ticket just for the hell of it.

 

[rhfarmer]

For any homeowners out there.

I installed mini splits in my beach box last month. They are awesome. 3.5 ton system for about 3k, and about 1k to have it installed. Each room has it's own remote controlled unit. Dope.

 

[ZackM]

For any homeowners out there.

I installed mini splits in my beach box last month. They are awesome. 3.5 ton system for about 3k, and about 1k to have it installed. Each room has it's own remote controlled unit. Dope.

Just AC or heat too? I would love to get rid of all the ductwork in my basement.

And how many square feet?

 

[deepdarkblue]

For any homeowners out there.

I installed mini splits in my beach box last month. They are awesome. 3.5 ton system for about 3k, and about 1k to have it installed. Each room has it's own remote controlled unit. Dope.

I've been looking at these myself. The only knock I've seen on them is they can't dehumidify quite as well as a traditional central A/C. Have you been through a full cooling season with yours yet to test this?

 

[ZackM]

I've been looking into high velocity systems. Not a ton of info out there, though.

 

[rhfarmer]

For any homeowners out there.

I installed mini splits in my beach box last month. They are awesome. 3.5 ton system for about 3k, and about 1k to have it installed. Each room has it's own remote controlled unit. Dope.

Just AC or heat too? I would love to get rid of all the ductwork in my basement.

And how many square feet?

Both. I am heating and cooling 1500 sq feet, so my system is overkill. Also, it has a dehumidifier setting, deepdark, so it can run as a straight dehumidifier. Not having any ducting is sweet, and it's so quiet you can barely tell it's on.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Nice. I hate having duct work in general, since in my opinion it's just a place for dust, debris, mold, and other disgusting crap to collect while the system isn't running, only to be blown all over the room when it's turned on.
The other thing I like about the mini splits is the ability to only super cool the room I'm in while normal-people cooling the rooms I'm not in.

Farmer, did you have central air before? If so, what did you do about the register holes all over the place?

 

[rhfarmer]

No, my house was built in a boom for cheap beach boxes in the late 70's so there was no HVAC. Just electric baseboard heat and no AC.

Mini splits are all over the world, and barely even used in the US in new construction. I don't understand it. Why force hot and cold air to all the rooms in your house if you are only using two or three? Why run hundreds of feet of ducts which, besides all of the things you mentioned, are losing themperature en route to the room you want to heat or cool? Plus, the noise of an air handler in your house sucks ass.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Someone told me that existing HVAC contractors don't like doing them simply because the contractors already have so much money tied up in all the equipment and training to fab and install duct work. They don't like the idea of a world where that's all obsolete.