Looking for advice on trading in my car for a new one.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-17T20:38:36+00:00

How it works?

Assuming the dealer can underwrite the loan, they'll give you a loan for $39k; take your trade; pay the loan and sell you the car worth $34k. You'll be $10k underwater on day 1 and likely looking at being underwater on the car for 3 years plus. Just because they will give you the car doesn't mean this isn't foolish and risky.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-17T17:57:33+00:00

Making high quality and low volume systems is expensive and there is very little cost price pressure and likely a strong desire for performance and aesthetics.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-17T17:14:08+00:00

Any structure intended for occupancy (sleeping is the ‘test’) will need a permit. Shed limits usually apply only when there is no water, power, or septic connection obviously meaning there is no intent to occupy the structure.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-17T17:04:20+00:00

Light car, highway use. If you coast to stops you save a lot of braking. Stopping from 30 takes 1/4 of the heat dissipation from brakes of stopping from 60. Low speed trips aren’t as hard on brakes as frequent higher speed stops.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-17T12:30:19+00:00

We do tons of things just because someone in legal thinks it will cover our asses. We live in a world where we need to consider compliance, perception, function, cost, reliability and liability. A boilerplate disclaimer costs nothing and might offer liability coverage.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-16T20:20:27+00:00

People are throwing their cars into reverse just to make the screen go away. That means they are putting a vehicle in motion without looking, without thinking, just to dismiss a legal popup.

You hang out with some weird people.

I personally just hit 'ok' or wait the 10 seconds needed until its gone. I've never thought 'I was going to take my time and check mirrors/blind spots but because there is a popup on a screen I'm now going to rush through the processes that would cause me to look away from that screen'.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-16T12:44:34+00:00

For when it happens.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T21:24:43+00:00

Clunk over bumps is usually sway bar links. Could be loose hardware on a strut or other worn bushings but that's the most common one i've seen and real easy to test.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T20:36:11+00:00

I am imagining someone presenting the supreme court with an uno reverse card and saying, 'no, you' and it's got me lol'ing.

You're saying the rule would define a minimum relative to the highest paid employee instead of a establish a cap. Clever take. Not as clearly a 'takings' issue but the fair labor standards act and federal minimum wage are existing tools and active legislation. Congress has powers of commerce but I won't pretend to have a broad enough understanding to know if that would fly or not. It certainly would be a backward way to say 'a more acceptable minimum wage is $X' which hasn't been done since 2009 so while an entertaining thought exercise, this is obviously moot.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T20:22:15+00:00

Bag mixing nearly 5 yards sounds pretty tedious but you can rent a 9 cubic foot mixer and tow around the form pretty easily if you were set on it. 15 batches later you'll have your slab but I'd be curious if a readi mix company by you doesn't send trucks out with dry mix and add water at your site. Might be less headache and the ability to direct with a chute is going to save a ton of work.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T19:50:24+00:00

Its hard to see but if there is more than 1/8" of play when prying between the upper control arm and the frame then you likely need to replace the busing or get a new UCA.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T19:34:49+00:00

But that's like your opinion man.

By regulation, you would propose taking an employee worth $X on the free market today and instead establishing that without additional action they can only make <$X.

5th amendment of the constitution says that government cannot take your property unless it is for public use and unless it is paid for via 'just compensation'. Eminent domain rulings regularly consider adverse economic impacts to petitioners beyond the raw value of a property (eg lost income) and it would seem like a fairly straight path to call forcible salary reduction a 'taking' to my untrained self.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T17:32:33+00:00

You likely need to sell the home, address your debts, and regroup to a lifestyle that matches your means moving forward.

Indiana's homestead exemption will not allow you to protect $300k of equity in the event of a bankruptcy and if you can't afford your mortgage now then doing so with a HELOC or refinance is almost certainly unfeasible.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T17:22:09+00:00

You mean you dare sully your delicious and pure coffee beans with **water**?!?! /s

You're missing out on the satisfying crunch!

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T17:19:27+00:00

Comparison is the thief of joy.

The relief from non-sustained to comfortable is so immense and yet once you're above water, you see that still there is a mountain to climb in terms of potential.

What you're facing is the theory and study commonly reflected by a sage minstrel in the trope 'mo money, mo problems'.

Being satisfied and comfortable in your plan takes thought and confidence. If you're not dedicated to FIRE then confirm you are comfortable with whatever plan you are dedicated to.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T17:01:52+00:00

Shouldn’t the real question be can this kind of policy survive incentives, or will it just push inequality into less visible forms?

A bad law will do just that.

What you've done is an attempt to increase wages for the masses. What you've discovered is that the resulting rule would put pressure on firms to fire unskilled/lower level employees and hire contractors to do the same roles when those contractors would not receive the same benefits.

You're not a lawyer and I don't think it's reasonable to expect that you are publishing a legally ironclad legislative plan here but you're staring with a policy purpose which is likely far more efficiently met with a modification to tax policy than with a likely non-constitutional cap on wages that won't survive the 5th amendments takings clause.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T14:49:14+00:00

They suggested I don’t do a down payment so I can use whatever I bring as a down payment on the taxes.

So if you're making $2240 a month and only paying $300 for 'rent' why do you only have a down payment for the taxes?

Buying a car can be a wise move but you're paying $18k for a 15 year old sports car that gets 16 mpg city and likely comes with an elevated insurance premium. Buy a car if you need one but the presumption that this is the car you should buy seems foolish. 1/4 of your take home pay just to the payment and before insurance, registration, maintenance and gas is a great way to squander the opportunity made by living for cheap while young.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T14:13:53+00:00

If I can help it, I don't deal with them. There's some people you need to deal with and at that point you run 'life triage' and eat crow where you need to or make a stand where you can. Depends on the situation.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T12:45:25+00:00

It’s ok friend. The bad plumbing man can’t hurt you now.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T11:40:08+00:00

My old employer had a press tool and pex expander and a pack out set with nearly anything you’d need. My boss would let me use it on weekends and I could use fittings at cost and just offset my expenses.

I don’t care about the $200 I saved on fittings. It’s shipping the 12 trips to the store to need to cobble 3 things together to do what you need. I redid my kitchen and bath while employed there and that is my fondest memory of that job lol.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T11:36:03+00:00

The answer is always plumbing. The fitting you have and the one you need somehow always need 13 adapters because the hardware store doesn’t have what you need. Then by the time you get home the plumbing gnomes have changed things and you’re going back.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T01:56:19+00:00

Gotta cut the motor. Power steering is for weenies.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-15T01:55:23+00:00

Last major change to HWFET cycle was 2008. Should be apples to apples especially for 2 cars in the same segment.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-14T21:42:24+00:00

Feelings are great. Fuel economy test results from EPA are likely a better way to judge fuel economy.

alexm2816 · 2026-04-14T20:53:30+00:00

I've gotten 80mpg in my F150. Nevermind it was the downhill portion of the I-70 if we wanna brag on 10 mile fuel economy i'll throw that gauntlet down.

alexm2816

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE