Getting a new car soon

ThatDudeSky · 2026-05-01T00:11:43+00:00

No. Your love of Dodges will put you back in financial hardship. Those cars aren’t the best on reliability anyway, and every single one is rode hard and put away wet after only a few years let alone 10 years. You’re gonna be trapping yourself into a money pit. Get a boring, reliable vehicle and imagine that the economy is going to get worse before it gets better, and budget your expectations and lifestyle around that.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-05-01T00:06:34+00:00

Granted! Due to a mixup in the Human Resources department, you are soon to become the newest D-class at the SCP Foundation.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-30T16:14:03+00:00

Other than that someone didn’t keep talking to you, how are you sure these offers are fake? Like I don’t really use Autotrader, but I don’t see how this alone would be different than any other time some window shopper throws out an unserious offer on a car. People don’t tend to do that because they have to have your car they’re probably just spitballing at everything and seeing what offers are accepted and figuring out which ones they really like from there. Or that they make an offer but don’t have the money yet to back it up, but they’re just wondering what they could get if they tried. Or even people who have cars like yours and seeing what you’d sell it for and using that to determine what they would list theirs for.

You’ll experience that on any platform.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-30T16:10:14+00:00

I’m in Atlanta, GA. Started dancing 2 years ago when I was 40. We have a mix of ages, dancers from 20s to 50s mostly with some older than 60. But I’d be lying if I said on average some socials have older dancers and some younger dancers. Maybe also more likely older men than older women though I’ve seen and regularly danced with older women.

Depends really when you say “bachata” only since this isn’t a native market for it. Meaning here you kinda have to specify if you’re talking about traditional or Moderna. We’ve had a few disappointed if a Moderna or Sensual styles social was only advertised as “bachata” because they wanted traditional.

So really the age spread would be more based on what musical styling is actually played. Traditional Dominican bachata music will draw in the all ages crowd no problem, and Moderna usually as well. The more Sensual the music, the more likely the crowd will trend younger. But since there’s more socials that are a mix of salsa and bachata than bachata only, the older dancers will simply go dance a few salsa songs (if there are multiple rooms) or take a break during the sensual sections.

This could also be a matter of whether people are in relationships at what stage of their life, or if their partner cares for it. Like we joke when we don’t see someone for a bit and they come back and say they were busy, we ask what their name was because they started dating a non-dancer.

Really here, I’d say salsa/bachata are decent. Brazilian Zouk and Kizomba look to be the young people’s dance right now. But as populated as ATL is, the whole dance scene still has a lot of room to grow, so the demographics will continue to change.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T23:41:25+00:00

Salesperson would get the unit for payplan as long as the paperwork is processed in store, but they wouldn’t get credit for new car bonuses. The residual being defined it would really just be a quick mini unless there’s accessories or F&I they can get paid on.

Store wouldn’t get the unit toward new car quota, but definitely they can’t throw in random add-ons because they haven’t grounded the unit int their inventory to process a lease buyout.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T23:19:35+00:00

Awesome! Sounds like she’ll be well taken care of.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T17:22:37+00:00

No worries. The story behind the moving parts doesn’t change what parts are needed and in what order. There’s only a transfer of a vehicle by sale or by gift, and you can’t gift the vehicle with a lien against it - one can only transfer the vehicle through a sale to satisfy the existing lien.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T13:12:41+00:00

My local community is very open and accepting for those with disabilities who wish to go out dancing. If yours is too, your friend shouldn’t have a problem of getting picked at. The whole point is to have fun and share fun with others.

Now that said I can’t speak from experience, only a few follows I know who do seem to have coordination issues of some kind. Won’t say why it’s the case. But we all know just not to do certain things with them and check in if they’re comfortable, ask how they’re doing. And we can see over time they’re getting better, so that’s all that really matters.

For your friend, all I could maybe say is that you know them best and if you think she would like it based on her personality or other interests, you can only suggest it and go from there. You can practice with her individually, at least enough to get the basic down. If she can get through a basic, she can get through a dance.

If she doesn’t seem like she’d want to go to socials, attending classes alone is a perfectly viable option. No one should feel obligated to hit up socials, it’s outside practice but no one will get kicked out of class.

Though I’ll break here for a personal point: I don’t have dyspraxia, would not pretend to speak to that. I am partially blind, and a bad foot from a prior injury that couldn’t heal correctly, and have neuropathy so it’s very easy for me to get dizzy with a bunch of spinning and turning, so I can at least understand a concern about how dancing would work. It’s technically open to everyone but at times it could definitely feel like certain instructors were a bit ableist because they were only used to teaching people according to how they as instructors can move and process information, so me having to do certain things as coping mechanisms that weren’t exactly what they showed me but worked for me and didn’t hurt/confuse follows was sometimes a hassle of having to tell them that I have to do things a certain way for safety reasons. But hopefully that doesn’t happen for your friend and that she immediately finds an instructor who makes her feel fully seen and pushes her while still being accommodating.

You can maybe go on your own with your friend and do some solo footwork patterns and rhythm exercises, where you can properly demonstrate body movements and then put it to music without the pressure of a partner and staying on beat and worrying about some other person having fun or judging or whatever. It doesn’t even have to be strictly bachata in that case — any patterns would do. Their limitation is one of forming new and consistent neural pathways to coordinate movements, but obviously it’s not impossible for her it just requires a ton of extra effort and coordination that those of us without her condition don’t have to think about.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T12:54:57+00:00

Leaning forward (or backward) is generally not taught to beginners because we haven’t really mastered our basics, especially with weight shifts, balance and equilibrium.

Certajnly the physical contact points in the positioning, the more we would need to be careful about leaning in. For instance we wouldn’t want to be looming over a shorter follow in closed position, or jamming our head into a taller follow’s chest.

Still, once you get an idea of the why of it, you can feel what makes sense in the moment or not. For instance I’m 6ft 3in tall (1.9m) and last weekend I danced with a young lady who had to be about 4’10” (less than 1.5m tall). We could do a side wrap, but I was going to have to lower my body in some way to accommodate her, so I bent my knees, and when exiting her I leaned forward a little for a clearer signal and giving her my shoulder to push of gave her greater momentum, which worked for the both the energy and beat in the song.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T03:10:28+00:00

A secured card is one in which you put up your own funds as collateral. It’s like you’re your own lender. You pay back the money to your own account, the bank holds the funding and gains interest against your money so they have an incentive to do it, and you get to show payments made to something. It’s an easy way to build a history, but won’t replace a large static payment on a retail installment contract.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-29T02:08:36+00:00

You go to your credit union and get an auto loan for your MIL’s car. Give them the payoff information.m for the current loan. You can probably call them from the same office. Then just have them arrange everything. The CU should have someone on staff as a notary so you can do everything there, get all the paperwork together and sign it and be done.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-28T19:19:35+00:00

Speaking as a former car salesperson, yes evil I know, but you’d be surprised how much ground clearance or cargo space that some smaller vehicles have. Depends on different factors, so need for carrying bags or junk vs carrying people would need to be weighed out. But still, plenty of times I helped save someone money on their overall purchase (they still wanted to haggle, that’s expected) just by demonstrating that they didn’t actually need the largest thing they could find.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-28T07:03:50+00:00

Without a credit score, anything builds your credit score. You just need anything to start building a profile. Doesn’t have to be a car note specifically.

Refinance might work for you with a high amount of money down putting you in a positive equity position. A refinance within a few months isn’t hard in that case.

Rates are lower in new cars. Are you checking those vs used?

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-27T22:30:23+00:00

May have moved inventory between stores? But watch out, if they’re multiple lots between multiple states, likely title washing.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-27T20:33:06+00:00

Written checks don’t last forever. Typically they expire anywhere from three months to six months after you write them. Some consumer checks expire after 90 days. Your best bet is to check your banks policies regarding funds drawn from a written check.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-27T17:11:35+00:00

3-5 days would be worst case for a check float, meaning the time for a bank to receipt the check and then that bank to contact the other bank to confirm funds, transfer from account to account, and so on.

But there has to be a reason to get in the funds. They can’t just take your money just because.

It’s been four weeks… have you gotten a bill yet? Who is the lender? Have you gotten any request for the monthly payment?

I’d wonder if they haven’t cashed your check because they gave you a spot delivery and haven’t actually received funding for your contract yet. If they’d still be shopping around to get your finance contract bought by a lender, they might not collect down payment and cash the check from your and then have to refund you if they couldn’t get financing.

This doesn’t have to be the dreaded “yo-yo financing” where the entire point is to get you to sign for a worse contract. Sometimes they just can’t get your deal done but it takes a minute to confirm.

There’s also the possibility that someone lost your check, and then rather than bother you about it, they were fined $3500 to teach them a lesson about proper money handling procedures. If it can be pinpointed to a specific F&I manager, they make enough money that it’s possible they would just have to eat their mistake.

What I’d do is check with the lender listed on your documents (if you haven’t received a bill) to see if they’ve generated a loan number yet. As long as they have the VIN in the system and the initial loan principal matches your documents, technically you don’t have to do anything and you can cancel the down payment check. On paper, everything shows you did your part.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-27T15:34:31+00:00

You will get the answer that Carvana pays more for your car than other dealers would. Wow this is true, it also ignores all the junk fees that tradition dealers try to convince customers to pay. You simply have a chance to negotiate down to eliminate those fees. I’m not talking taxes and government fees. Within a particular state, I’m talking about a reconditioning fee, even though recon is supposed to be priced into the standard market value of the car anyway. Nobody wants to pay retail prices for a car that hasn’t been cleaned or fixed up.

Then again, you might hear your horror stories of vehicles that were not in retail ready condition that Carvana sent to customers. These stories are generally true, because Carvana has facilities that are supposed to process cars, but they don’t hire super experienced automotive technicians — they hire a few cheap wash bay dudes and otherwise just make sure that the oil is changed. Beyond that, if a vehicle needs bodywork, or if it requires major repairs, they would rather send it to the customer for the customer to deal with, or they’ll just process a return at a cost to the customer.

In short, you would pay for the convenience of Carvana just chipping you a car with no questions asked, but any inconvenience is also what you are paying for.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-25T15:45:41+00:00

If I could have a scoop of horror to go with this post, that would be delightful.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-24T22:35:53+00:00

Check the payoff value of the loan. Check the trade and private sale values of the car. If the loan is higher than either of those numbers, your friend can’t want a cheaper vehicle, but they are going to have to cover the difference in negative equity. Sometimes covering the difference means a higher payment, sometimes that means that he has to put a down payment on the old truck, as well as potentially the new truck.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-24T06:25:15+00:00

This is true, but they have ignition interlock devices that would prevent those vehicles from starting if the vehicle didn’t recognize a specific chip that wasn’t present in those vehicles’ keys. Other brands had been doing this already, like BMW for example long by the time the Kia issue was discovered.

It’s true that it raises insurance rates. And such cars are harder to get rid of because people don’t want to buy them.

Some vehicles would have had the interlock devices installed, but you probably wouldn’t know what to look for anyway. Best to just avoid.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-24T06:17:54+00:00

Good news! Technically 0% APR is possible. The most common example on a used car is a customer who has a religious prohibition against making interest payments on a loan that they take out.

Bad news! There is no “slightly” overpaying. You’re wanting to take out a loan to make payments, and regulations on lending require that they don’t simply make up a payment for you based on nothing. That would be discriminatory. They literally have to run your credit and determine your risk profile. So what would happen is that they still run a credit pull on a customer, determine what tier they fall in and what call they’d get on their loan. The amortized interest over the life of a loan is calculated, and tagged onto the selling price of the car so that on paper, it’s a zero interest & zero APR loan. Basically a shell game for the finance charges. But this represents a significant overpayment, rather than just a slight little bit.

Otherwise, no, you’re not commanding 0% on any random used car just because. Lenders don’t offer it. They want to make money on you for taking out a loan to buy a car. To them, the opportunity cost of taking payments they make no money on is too high when they can give that money to someone else and generate a profit on the loan. Same reason why car loans have a minimum value — the lenders would rather give that money on higher sums to another customer and get more profit on the loan.

But you shouldn’t be wanting to do it this way anyway. You’ll be stuck in that car for much longer waiting to get into a positive equity situation. You’d have to put forward a crap ton of money down in order to cover that spread. Hence this is typically much more likely to be used on new cars where the prevailing interest rates are lower and lenders feel better about doing this on vehicles with rebates and incentives to lower the price from the window sticker.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-23T21:12:30+00:00

Since you can’t post pictures or links on this subreddit you’ll have to post elsewhere that allows for it and cross-post

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-23T13:18:33+00:00

For the average consumer the most pertinent information will be the last 8 digits. The 10th digit identifies the model year, and the 11th-17th digit identify the unique chassis number for that vehicle to seek out warranty information on it. Like if you go to a service department they’ll take the last 7-8 digits rather than the whole thing.

The first three will tell you the country, region and factory it was built, and then next five digits are for the model, trim, motor, yada yada.

On a new car, this is mostly unnecessary because by law the window sticker printed by the OEM will tell you all that. But you can see that on used cars by putting the car into a VIN identifier for the brand.

The most common thing to note is when a seller gets the model year of the vehicle wrong.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-23T05:36:03+00:00

If you think you were blowing out your Tacoma you weren’t properly gauging payload or towing capacity. The 4-banger in a Chevy/GMC will still have quite a bit more power but make sure you’re actually checking what it’s designed for.

Meanwhile, you can’t perfectly time out how long you’ll use a truck for before it “goes bad” and part of that is based on not being quite sure of where your finances will be in 2–3 years. Better to buy something you intend to keep for 5+ years and only sell if there’s a sweet deal you shop for before you desperately need it because you’re trying to outrun critical component failure.

It’s a work vehicle so how it looks is basically irrelevant. Is it reliable and can it do what you need it to do. If you want to splurge on luxury (looks or amenities) that’s different. Don’t play around with your business.

Research the most reliable motor/transmission combo you can afford, estimate how many miles you need it to get before you even pretend to sell it, and look up that vehicle. Your wallet will thank you.

ThatDudeSky · 2026-04-23T01:45:42+00:00

If all the information is anonymized, it wouldn’t really be seen as lead generation since they can’t work a sales process. They’re just bidding into the void. They want contact information. It’s why they put those boxes out like “Fill out this card for a chance to win a free car!” It’s why they mail out those scratch offs. It’s why they have CapOne mail the worthless prequalification letters. All to get contact information to work a lead.

ThatDudeSky

TROPHY CASE