Sunday, February 14, 2010
..and it snowed in Georgia !!
it generally does not snow here not like in the NE of US but then, one fine day, it did snow.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Peachtree City,GA to Americus,GA
I had to relocate base location to client's plant further south of Georgia
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Buying a car- The craigslist experience
The last 2 times I was in US , I was on short term assignment's..
1st one was for 3 months to Philly..Public transport was available for home-office-home..in the evenings, I'd ride in my friends '95 accord. never needed to own a car.
2nd time I was in Birmingham,AL for a month and I did need a car...rented an Altima for a while and then switched to a corolla.
this time, I was gonna be in US long term and knew very well I needed to buy a car..
why buy a car? couldn't I have just rented ? answer is yes and no...
yes I could've rented any car for long term..and I could've got good monthly rates too. but I did not.. I chose to buy. I always travel on L1 visa and my company doesn't provide rental car reimbursement ( thats the way they are...I'd rather not discuss that point). This means that rental car expense are only money outflow..whereas if I buy a car, I can sell it and recover my money..makes sense?
with this logic in place, I started searching...
searching for a used car suddenly became a primary activity for me while still being in India. the online sources I used were :
1. Craigslist - Classifieds site where one can buy anything and everything. not like ebay though.
2. Autotrader - Dedicated automotive classifieds.
3. Carmax - used car dealer who has nationwide presence.
4. kelly blue book - to check for value of car based on the condition of the car.
now this got me excited. very excited. so i start looking for all the cars I always wanted to drive..
my logic was "whoever goes to US ends up buying a jap car..let me be a bit different..I'll buy a car I want to drive..german, american or british "
found quite a lot of 'good looking' cars but I sure knew the good looking cars did come out of a detailing shop where all the blemishes are removed. So, then, I started to look beyond the surface finish. high miles is something I was avoiding. there are very few cars I come across with low miles on them. Americans drive around a lot you see. so my checklist was
1. less owners
2. relatively lower miles.
3. no engine work (done previously or pending in near future)
4. no mods whatsoever.
5. direct seller..I avoid dealers.
6. not repainted.
7. no accidents/dings/dents
8. carfax report.
good..now checklist was in place..and i was still in India at this stage.
started searching Carmax inventory..why carmax when I hated dealers ? coz this is not the typical mexican car dealer..carmax has nationwide presence and the experience ,I'm told, is as good as buying a new car. therefore carmax was an exception. if they've got a car sitting somewhere in NY, they'll ship it to this location if I buy it. so, all this sounds cool and sounded like the place to go to for used cars..but then, who told all this came free? the feel good is obviously a 'purchasable' commodity. prices of all cars were way higher than the norm market price. but this was the only place I could find low miles cars..could I afford it ?
Then came the issue of budget. My pockets were definitely not deep and nor could I get a loan..my credit score in US is not great and without a good credit rating, one cannot get a good loan. that's when carmax went out of the search and so did low miles car.
back to craigslist and autotrader. in both these sites you can find dealers and individual sellers..I chose to look from direct sellers and looked up a long list of 'good' cars.
I started looking for used jap means..read Honda CIVIC/Accord, Toyota Corolla/Camry, Nissan Maxima/Altima.
I had only 1 more weekend before I packed up and left to americus..I had to find a car asap. but which one? jap cars are available but not all are good to buy..civics are notorious..many of them have engine swaps for mods or have very high miles..the ones with low miles needn't have to be so..the ads cleverly word it as "120k on the engine" ..people who just read 120k get fooled coz the ad means that car is way older and has had an engine swap and then run for 120k..now that's a car phaked beyond recognition. I had to filter these out..then there are those who price the cars really low and have genuinely low miles but with salvage title..what it means is that the car has met with an accident and has been declared as 'totalled' but has been repaired to run again. now this is scrap value coz nobody wants to buy these..well, not me atleast. these 'salvage' titled cars are next to impossible to sell.
my new checklist :
1. non smoker car
2. good service history.
3. no pets.
4. genuine miles (car/engine/transmission)
5. no salvage title.
6. less owners (preferably 1 owner)
7. no engine work (done previously or pending in near future)
8. no mods whatsoever.
9. direct seller..I avoid dealers.
10. not repainted.
11. no accidents/dings/dents
12. carfax report.
now you see how I learnt about US used car scene thru the 1 weeks of research.
I started shortlisting cars and then came this majorly attractive ad on craigslist..
'2006 PONTIAC GTO/50k miles/no accident/genuine title/single owner/must sell immediately/$ 6000.'
aah..now I found the next best ad after the Range Rover.
no phone number on the ad so I had to email which I did immediately.
the pontiac GTO is a rebadged LHD Holden Monaro. one of the better known RWD performance car...naaisss..i like i like..and guess what, I even got an immediate response...
craigslist is a a very good classifieds site but then it also hosts a lot of scamsters..
I'll explain.
this Pontiac GTO ad sounded very nice and looked like the deal of the year. But when I got the reply, I smelt something fishy. summary of the lengthy reply - car is in Texas, he 'says' he is a soldier and is deputed to IRAQ and has to sell immediately, I pay via ebay motors and the car with title will be shipped from ebay motors' yard to my location. if i don't like the car, I can return it.
This ad was a carrot for all the stupid folks of US. whats wrong with that ad you say? well, I can't even see the car since it is so far away...so, I'm not even sure if the car in the pic is the car that's for sale..he does give me a VIN and the carfax will be predictably good...but what I could be getting for that money will be a only a title and a heap of metal..yupp..if its met with an accident and had only liability insurance (3rd party) , then all that'll remain will be a heap of metal...and that's what was being sold..you can find an ad like this ever so often and only careful eyes can point them out..
and btw, after making the payment I'm not sure if there is any legal way of tracing the transaction too so all that is a big scam..
the symptoms became more and more predictable as I bumped into more such ads..
so I continued searching...
5 cars shortlisted for shortlisted for inspection for the weekend .
1. 1995 Acura Legend.
2. 1997 Acura Integra.
3. 1997 Nissan Altima.
4. 1996 Civic sedan.
5. 1996 Civic coupe
well, actually shortlisted many more but then I could end up speaking with only 5 of them prospective sellers.
Took a Rental Kia Optima and left on sat morning.
and this is what happened with each of these cars..
1. 1995 Acura Legend.
all the while, I was made to believe that it was being sold by an individual and not a dealer..guess what, rubbish..it was a mexican dealer. when i went there, all he said was " the car just got sold..you were late.." that was non sense..I reached at the time we had decided on..he was in a very far away location too..instead he started selling the mazda's he had..I did not want to heed to anything he said..drove out of there.
1 car down.
2. 1997 Acura Integra.
we had decided to meet at a convenient location coz i did not have a GPS and I could not locate his address..bugger never turned up..after an hours of my waiting , I got a call..
"yo man..I can't be there today..my mechanic is working on the and he has opened up half the engine "
I asked " what's wrong? "
he " the head gasket is gone and I tried to change it myself and it did not work and so , I called my mechanic ..we can meet tomorrow"
this car went to the trash as far as i was concerned..
2nd car down.
3. 1997 Nissan Altima.
this was a car i wasn't really keen on but I wanted to see it anyway coz the miles seemed like genuinely low miles. this time around, this guy said he'd come to the hotel I was in..sounded like he was desperate to sell the car. I had seen the pic of the car. it was rear 3 qtr shot of the car and it looked ok.
he turned up on time...when I saw the car, I really wanted to just walk away and not even tell him that it was me he came to meet. it was a disgusting looker. the rear 3 qtr,which was in the pic , was the only bit that was acceptable..
paint- oxidised beyond recognition.
body- dents all over.
interiors- it was a smokers den, it even had the door pads missing. the speakers were all falling into hands. half the electronics were not working.
suspension & tyres - tyres were all screwed..suspension...god knows..I didn't ride/drive it.
engine - this was the joke..bugger had button start/stop installed and it never worked. so he had to go and bypass it and start it..I cared the least for this car..I said I'll get back to him..we just can't say no easily.
he msg'd me later asking " dude, are you still interested in the car" I replied "did I even have to reply? wasn't it clear when we met? good luck selling it"
3rd car out
4. 1996 Civic sedan
this was being sold by a hyderabadi guy..it had low miles and he said all was fine with the car and that he was buying a newer car and did not need this one..most common reason people give..I went to his apartment complex and walked up to his apartment block..when i reached I got irritated to the core..this guy said he was going to sell it to me but here he was...negotiating with somebody ..in front of me..atleast he could've told me when i called him from the gate of the apartment complex.. i could find sollace in the fact that this car was not even starting..it had a starter motor problem and would've cost me a lot to tow it and get it repaired anyway..
4th car down..this was getting frustrating.
5. 1996 Civic coupe
this was officially my last car on the list and I was in the most frustrated mood..again, the car owner came to a common place to show me his car..it was black coupe..i have a soft corner for coupes..i kinda like them..
the car had bad paint, bad interiors and bad electronics..the power windows and the inside door latches wouldn't work either. was the engine good atleast? well, when i drove it, the engine felt good though..so was the suspension and tyres.. i got back to the spot and popped the hood to see the engine bay..to my horror..the car was red color on the inside !! the reason for the bad paint on the outside was coz this guy had painted his car at home ..
that's it..told him his car was useless and walked off..went back to the hotel with all options gone away with no car shortlisted.
..then, just when I was planning on getting back to peachtree city (from atlanta) , I checked craiglist for updates..amongst all the rubbish cars listed, I found one car which was kinda good but had high miles.
it was a 2000 toyota camry V6 with 187k miles on it. after all the cars I'd seen, I thought i'd give a shot too. quickly called the owner and arranged a meeting spot and went out ..there this was ..
1st one was for 3 months to Philly..Public transport was available for home-office-home..in the evenings, I'd ride in my friends '95 accord. never needed to own a car.
2nd time I was in Birmingham,AL for a month and I did need a car...rented an Altima for a while and then switched to a corolla.
this time, I was gonna be in US long term and knew very well I needed to buy a car..
why buy a car? couldn't I have just rented ? answer is yes and no...
yes I could've rented any car for long term..and I could've got good monthly rates too. but I did not.. I chose to buy. I always travel on L1 visa and my company doesn't provide rental car reimbursement ( thats the way they are...I'd rather not discuss that point). This means that rental car expense are only money outflow..whereas if I buy a car, I can sell it and recover my money..makes sense?
with this logic in place, I started searching...
searching for a used car suddenly became a primary activity for me while still being in India. the online sources I used were :
1. Craigslist - Classifieds site where one can buy anything and everything. not like ebay though.
2. Autotrader - Dedicated automotive classifieds.
3. Carmax - used car dealer who has nationwide presence.
4. kelly blue book - to check for value of car based on the condition of the car.
now this got me excited. very excited. so i start looking for all the cars I always wanted to drive..
my logic was "whoever goes to US ends up buying a jap car..let me be a bit different..I'll buy a car I want to drive..german, american or british "
found quite a lot of 'good looking' cars but I sure knew the good looking cars did come out of a detailing shop where all the blemishes are removed. So, then, I started to look beyond the surface finish. high miles is something I was avoiding. there are very few cars I come across with low miles on them. Americans drive around a lot you see. so my checklist was
1. less owners
2. relatively lower miles.
3. no engine work (done previously or pending in near future)
4. no mods whatsoever.
5. direct seller..I avoid dealers.
6. not repainted.
7. no accidents/dings/dents
8. carfax report.
good..now checklist was in place..and i was still in India at this stage.
started searching Carmax inventory..why carmax when I hated dealers ? coz this is not the typical mexican car dealer..carmax has nationwide presence and the experience ,I'm told, is as good as buying a new car. therefore carmax was an exception. if they've got a car sitting somewhere in NY, they'll ship it to this location if I buy it. so, all this sounds cool and sounded like the place to go to for used cars..but then, who told all this came free? the feel good is obviously a 'purchasable' commodity. prices of all cars were way higher than the norm market price. but this was the only place I could find low miles cars..could I afford it ?
Then came the issue of budget. My pockets were definitely not deep and nor could I get a loan..my credit score in US is not great and without a good credit rating, one cannot get a good loan. that's when carmax went out of the search and so did low miles car.
back to craigslist and autotrader. in both these sites you can find dealers and individual sellers..I chose to look from direct sellers and looked up a long list of 'good' cars.
I started looking for used jap means..read Honda CIVIC/Accord, Toyota Corolla/Camry, Nissan Maxima/Altima.
I had only 1 more weekend before I packed up and left to americus..I had to find a car asap. but which one? jap cars are available but not all are good to buy..civics are notorious..many of them have engine swaps for mods or have very high miles..the ones with low miles needn't have to be so..the ads cleverly word it as "120k on the engine" ..people who just read 120k get fooled coz the ad means that car is way older and has had an engine swap and then run for 120k..now that's a car phaked beyond recognition. I had to filter these out..then there are those who price the cars really low and have genuinely low miles but with salvage title..what it means is that the car has met with an accident and has been declared as 'totalled' but has been repaired to run again. now this is scrap value coz nobody wants to buy these..well, not me atleast. these 'salvage' titled cars are next to impossible to sell.
my new checklist :
1. non smoker car
2. good service history.
3. no pets.
4. genuine miles (car/engine/transmission)
5. no salvage title.
6. less owners (preferably 1 owner)
7. no engine work (done previously or pending in near future)
8. no mods whatsoever.
9. direct seller..I avoid dealers.
10. not repainted.
11. no accidents/dings/dents
12. carfax report.
now you see how I learnt about US used car scene thru the 1 weeks of research.
I started shortlisting cars and then came this majorly attractive ad on craigslist..
'2006 PONTIAC GTO/50k miles/no accident/genuine title/single owner/must sell immediately/$ 6000.'
aah..now I found the next best ad after the Range Rover.
no phone number on the ad so I had to email which I did immediately.
the pontiac GTO is a rebadged LHD Holden Monaro. one of the better known RWD performance car...naaisss..i like i like..and guess what, I even got an immediate response...
craigslist is a a very good classifieds site but then it also hosts a lot of scamsters..
I'll explain.
this Pontiac GTO ad sounded very nice and looked like the deal of the year. But when I got the reply, I smelt something fishy. summary of the lengthy reply - car is in Texas, he 'says' he is a soldier and is deputed to IRAQ and has to sell immediately, I pay via ebay motors and the car with title will be shipped from ebay motors' yard to my location. if i don't like the car, I can return it.
This ad was a carrot for all the stupid folks of US. whats wrong with that ad you say? well, I can't even see the car since it is so far away...so, I'm not even sure if the car in the pic is the car that's for sale..he does give me a VIN and the carfax will be predictably good...but what I could be getting for that money will be a only a title and a heap of metal..yupp..if its met with an accident and had only liability insurance (3rd party) , then all that'll remain will be a heap of metal...and that's what was being sold..you can find an ad like this ever so often and only careful eyes can point them out..
and btw, after making the payment I'm not sure if there is any legal way of tracing the transaction too so all that is a big scam..
the symptoms became more and more predictable as I bumped into more such ads..
so I continued searching...
5 cars shortlisted for shortlisted for inspection for the weekend .
1. 1995 Acura Legend.
2. 1997 Acura Integra.
3. 1997 Nissan Altima.
4. 1996 Civic sedan.
5. 1996 Civic coupe
well, actually shortlisted many more but then I could end up speaking with only 5 of them prospective sellers.
Took a Rental Kia Optima and left on sat morning.
and this is what happened with each of these cars..
1. 1995 Acura Legend.
all the while, I was made to believe that it was being sold by an individual and not a dealer..guess what, rubbish..it was a mexican dealer. when i went there, all he said was " the car just got sold..you were late.." that was non sense..I reached at the time we had decided on..he was in a very far away location too..instead he started selling the mazda's he had..I did not want to heed to anything he said..drove out of there.
1 car down.
2. 1997 Acura Integra.
we had decided to meet at a convenient location coz i did not have a GPS and I could not locate his address..bugger never turned up..after an hours of my waiting , I got a call..
"yo man..I can't be there today..my mechanic is working on the and he has opened up half the engine "
I asked " what's wrong? "
he " the head gasket is gone and I tried to change it myself and it did not work and so , I called my mechanic ..we can meet tomorrow"
this car went to the trash as far as i was concerned..
2nd car down.
3. 1997 Nissan Altima.
this was a car i wasn't really keen on but I wanted to see it anyway coz the miles seemed like genuinely low miles. this time around, this guy said he'd come to the hotel I was in..sounded like he was desperate to sell the car. I had seen the pic of the car. it was rear 3 qtr shot of the car and it looked ok.
he turned up on time...when I saw the car, I really wanted to just walk away and not even tell him that it was me he came to meet. it was a disgusting looker. the rear 3 qtr,which was in the pic , was the only bit that was acceptable..
paint- oxidised beyond recognition.
body- dents all over.
interiors- it was a smokers den, it even had the door pads missing. the speakers were all falling into hands. half the electronics were not working.
suspension & tyres - tyres were all screwed..suspension...god knows..I didn't ride/drive it.
engine - this was the joke..bugger had button start/stop installed and it never worked. so he had to go and bypass it and start it..I cared the least for this car..I said I'll get back to him..we just can't say no easily.
he msg'd me later asking " dude, are you still interested in the car" I replied "did I even have to reply? wasn't it clear when we met? good luck selling it"
3rd car out
4. 1996 Civic sedan
this was being sold by a hyderabadi guy..it had low miles and he said all was fine with the car and that he was buying a newer car and did not need this one..most common reason people give..I went to his apartment complex and walked up to his apartment block..when i reached I got irritated to the core..this guy said he was going to sell it to me but here he was...negotiating with somebody ..in front of me..atleast he could've told me when i called him from the gate of the apartment complex.. i could find sollace in the fact that this car was not even starting..it had a starter motor problem and would've cost me a lot to tow it and get it repaired anyway..
4th car down..this was getting frustrating.
5. 1996 Civic coupe
this was officially my last car on the list and I was in the most frustrated mood..again, the car owner came to a common place to show me his car..it was black coupe..i have a soft corner for coupes..i kinda like them..
the car had bad paint, bad interiors and bad electronics..the power windows and the inside door latches wouldn't work either. was the engine good atleast? well, when i drove it, the engine felt good though..so was the suspension and tyres.. i got back to the spot and popped the hood to see the engine bay..to my horror..the car was red color on the inside !! the reason for the bad paint on the outside was coz this guy had painted his car at home ..
that's it..told him his car was useless and walked off..went back to the hotel with all options gone away with no car shortlisted.
..then, just when I was planning on getting back to peachtree city (from atlanta) , I checked craiglist for updates..amongst all the rubbish cars listed, I found one car which was kinda good but had high miles.
it was a 2000 toyota camry V6 with 187k miles on it. after all the cars I'd seen, I thought i'd give a shot too. quickly called the owner and arranged a meeting spot and went out ..there this was ..
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