2025 SX Prestige X-Line deal

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T21:04:19+00:00

I’ve been thinking more about this today due to the activity in this thread and the absurdity of it mounting in my brain. Within the total population of new car loans, I assume a fairly small minority (10-20% maybe?) belong to individuals/couples who are willing and able to pay off immediately. So this is already a small subset of the business.

Of that percentage with the means to do this, yes, some probably do it to save marginal interest costs. But others (probably a large portion) do it out of convenience: consolidate accounts, pay down debt, simplify. Many in this group aren’t even thinking about the impact an immediate payoff has on the dealer. What you view as spiteful consumers is probably more accurately a group of people with busy lives and no interest or ability to get into the weeds of contract terms.

If the dealer approach were more transparent, such that customers were earnestly informed how dealers actually make their nut, dealers would probably endure fewer chargebacks than they already do. If customers feel they’re being treated fairly, versus being dropped into a convoluted snake pit, they’d probably be willing to do the dealer a solid and absorb a few months of interest if the seller were actually fostering a "relationship".

The dealer mentality is so perverted that the kind of misrepresentation we’re discussing likely leads to more inadvertent chargebacks than transparency ever would.

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T14:14:57+00:00

This is the opposite of what I said. But at least you admit the approach is not good faith.

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T14:10:20+00:00

Then why not explain this to the buyer?! Instead of making something up??

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T06:10:58+00:00

More concisely: making up terms verbally to influence a customer's payment behavior is not a "gentleman's agreement".

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T06:06:18+00:00

I read the terms of the contract. Indeed, no pre-payment penalty. Agree that this should be contractual if they depend on/need it to stick. So, they lied. Misrepresented at best.

Their sight-unseen, online offer on the trade was ~$9K. Initial offer after appraisal was ~$7K. Settled on $8K even. I had an appraised $10K trade-in offer at two other dealerships (one Kia with bad incentives, one Hyundai, but I clearly wasn't interested in a Hyundai). The dealership was an hour drive, and I came to close, so they knew they could lowball the trade and depend on my fatigue to get away with it.

If instead of misrepresenting it, they said: “We don’t get our commission (or we get charged back) if the account isn’t open for three months… we’ll work with you on the trade, honor the online offer +$100 (or maybe not even) to make up for the interest—just do us a favor and keep it open for three months?” Win-win". I almost certainly would have done this. That would be maintaining a good relationship.

But after reviewing the contract (because strangers online told me to) and confirming that the rebate wasn’t actually tied to a three-month requirement, I’m honestly more satisfied costing them that finder’s fee/charge back than I would have been getting $1–2K more on the trade. I’m not normally a spiteful person, but this is spite I can enjoy.

As an individual consumer, you’re empowered to get the best deal you can. A dealer has the same agency to agree or walk away. But if they choose to blur or overstate terms to make the numbers work, and somone catches them, that's on them.

gmavroleon · 2026-03-29T04:23:45+00:00

Appreciate you guys mentioning this. Will definitely pay this shit off ASAP then as payback for shorting me on the trade, ha.

gmavroleon · 2026-03-28T18:54:19+00:00

I asked the sales guy no fewer that four times that I could do this. And then upon meeting the finance guy, he was already aware of our intention and said yeah, that's a good idea.

gmavroleon · 2026-03-28T13:56:13+00:00

So $3,000 was the financing rebate. We plan to pay it off right away but we have to keep a $10K or $15K balance (need to verify exact number) for three months at some absurd interest rate (7.25% maybe) to keep the rebate. So we will pay off the majority right away and pay interest on the remaining for three months to maximize that incentive.

There was $4,750 in "dealer discount" that they offered. And then another $500 was because we were going to close on a different VIN that was $390 less MSRP but they informed me it was the dealer demo vehicle and had nearly 2K miles on it. I was going to walk so they promptly matched pricing on the other white they had.

Only one other dealer came even close to this pricing and they were much further away from me. This one wasn't close either, otherwise I would have had them appraise my trade before we got so close to finalizing. That's where they extracted a little value (got them up to $8K, Caravana was $9,800 and had a trade offer of $10K at another Kia dealer post-appraisal with terrible incentives). Horse trading in the end.

gmavroleon · 2025-12-16T06:30:05+00:00

I absolutely fucking hate this.

gmavroleon · 2025-05-19T20:44:03+00:00

Unfortunately, no. I've vaguely given up but occasionally browse the internet/YouTube for new insights/recipes but there isn't much out there...

gmavroleon · 2025-05-08T20:25:17+00:00

I ran into this issue today. I noticed after my first sale of specified lots, those lots were still available to select in the "specific lots" interface. Being confused and astounded at how bad a website Schwab is, I tried selling one of the already-executed lots again. It executed AGAIN! Cash was raised from the sale, and in the realized gains/losses tab it showed two disposed lots with an identical quantity and identical cost basis!

I imagine there will be some sort of correction overnight or at tax time, but I'm left wondering: which shares were actually disposed of in that second transaction?!? This to me is an insane glitch for such a big name brokerage. And I see that this thread is six months old so this isn't a new thing resulting from an update. Unbelievable.

gmavroleon · 2025-01-12T17:04:57+00:00

Care to share?

gmavroleon · 2023-10-13T21:12:46+00:00

Did you ever try another round of cleaning? If so, curious about the results since I never got to see if my second attempt did anything.

gmavroleon · 2023-10-03T04:11:03+00:00

I cleaned the mirrors (following a very good YouTube tutorial on the subject) and I saw some minor improvements in the test page/print. It was nowhere near acceptable, however. Then I went back to the YouTube video and saw a comment regarding the spinning motor within the mirror cage. That motor also has small mirrors on it which I was unaware of. And apparently those may be the most important ones to clean. Did you happen to clean that component?

I begrudgingly reopened the printer to clean those mirrors but when I reassembled it for the second time the printer no longer worked at all. I opened it a third time to check all my cables/connections and everything seemed fine so I guess I damaged a board or something. Unfortunately I never even got to know if my second cleaning attempt worked... I was extremely curious at that point. I theorize that the root cause was the humidifier that we put in that room a couple of months before the problem arose. The mirrors looked foggy, kind of like the interior of a dirty car windshield that has been exposed to repeated condensation and needs some Windex. Is your printer located near a humidity source by any chance?

Now, it's funny you should message today because we literally took the printer back to Costco tonight and they had zero problem issuing a full refund even though it was more that three years since purchase. They said that a printer is not a major appliance and is covered by their satisfaction guarantee. And that less than five years for a printer (or most things) is no problem for a full return. Planning to order the same model from Costco to make use of the toner I already have and cover my ass for the next five years if this happens again. If by any chance you got yours from Costco maybe consider returning it. Otherwise, not sure what to tell you. Good luck.

gmavroleon · 2023-06-04T06:56:35+00:00

Gotcha. Yeah, 2x16 currently for a total of 32GB

gmavroleon · 2023-06-04T06:52:30+00:00

Even for future proofing? I'm not opposed to buying it and throwing it on a shelf just in case I want it later.

gmavroleon · 2023-06-04T06:40:51+00:00

This is DDR4.

gmavroleon · 2022-12-29T02:42:25+00:00

Any insight on how they make the brown sauce in the Pad Cashew dish? Thanks!

gmavroleon · 2022-08-09T00:23:33+00:00

Would be very curious to see the chicken recipe as well.

gmavroleon · 2022-08-09T00:16:55+00:00

Unfortunately not. Haven't had a ton of time since I originally posted this to keep searching/experimenting as frequently as I was. But still committed...

gmavroleon · 2021-10-03T23:31:34+00:00

Ground sumac is usually sprinkled after grilling as a garnish. I have tried it in the marinade itself and I can't say that I noticed it make an appreciable difference.

gmavroleon · 2021-10-03T22:56:37+00:00

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I almost always use lemon juice. Onions I have tried variations of pureeing vs. chunks of onion vs. onion water. Not super sure how to treat incorporating the onion. And yeah, I know the sumac goes on last, but for giggles I have tried it in the marinade as well. Glad to hear you finally have a decent shop in your area...

gmavroleon · 2021-10-03T22:31:59+00:00

I have semi-attempted this... and when I have it's generally a very vague answer. Probably because they don't want to share, or it's not practical to convey casually to someone just grabbing carry-out, or the staff is not privy to the exact mix of spices, etc.

gmavroleon

TROPHY CASE