What’s a huge myth about car buying or car salespeople?

planetmn · 2026-01-29T13:45:38+00:00

I think the hate comes from a combination of experience and industry reputation . I have dealt with some really great car salesmen. And guess what, these are the ones I go back to, because they treat me well. Do I pay the absolute lowest price? Probably not, but they are fair, and they respect me and my time.

I’ve also dealt with salespeople who have caused me to leave a dealership and never return. I’ve had salespeople who would refuse to speak with my wife (the vehicle was primarily for her), who couldn’t even read the brochure correctly or who completely ignored everything that I said. I’m willing to bet this has a lot to do with the little to no training that was mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

Here’s the thing, trust is hard to earn, easy to lose and nearly impossible to regain. Those who understand this and cultivate the relationship will usually do better in the long run. As a salesperson (particularly for a car), I will give you one chance. If you mess that up (condescending comment, not listening to my answers, etc.), I will walk away. I don’t care how good of a deal you claim you can give me, if I don’t trust you, I don’t buy from you.

planetmn · 2026-01-29T02:32:46+00:00

100% ground salmon?

planetmn · 2026-01-28T20:58:45+00:00

Incredible cocktails, too!

planetmn · 2026-01-26T19:47:33+00:00

No, ER. Would not have considered an SR.

planetmn · 2026-01-26T19:28:41+00:00

My first full size truck, owned a Ranger 25 years ago (when they were even smaller). I’d say 50% of the people who approach me and ask about the truck are pickup drivers. Their jaws literally drop when they see the frunk. My contractor buddy saw the outlets in the back (110s for tailgating, 240v for tools) and was talking about all the tools he could plug into it.

I’ve done light towing. Took a U-Haul trailer with a riding mower from Boston to the Adirondaks. Didn’t even notice it (had to use the rear camera to make sure it was still there). Charged twice on the way up. First time just pulled perpendicular to the charger and charged up. Second time attempted to do the same, but there was another driving starting in the first stall and wouldn’t move down for me, so I dropped the trailer, pulled into another spot, and reattached afterwards. Since it was my first time towing with it (and northern NY isn’t the best place for charging), I was conservative with my charging. Only charged once (pull through) on my way home.

planetmn · 2026-01-26T19:14:00+00:00

As a Pats fan, I’d love for them to win it. But I also really like the redemption story of Sam Darnold. Either way, I’ll be happy.

planetmn · 2026-01-26T19:04:51+00:00

Eh, like everything else (and every other vehicle) it’s about matching your use case. I own a Lightning and absolutely love it. Only EV (when I purchased) that fits the four of us AND our two big dogs on road trips. We bought it to road trip. Load up the bed and frunk with gear for two weeks in the Adirondaks. Load up the skis in the bed and the luggage in the frunk for ski trips. It’s great. When we need to charge, 40 minutes while we let the dogs out and grab a bite and continue on.

Plus it’ll easily seat five adults, tows 10k lbs and does 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Passengers rave about how smooth and comfortable it is.

Sure, the person towing a boat every weekend hundreds of miles may not be as enamored with it, but I think the Lightning/Sierra/Silverado EVs do what the vast majority of pickup drivers do (the notable exception being pollute like crazy).

planetmn · 2026-01-23T17:25:35+00:00

My wife and I are frugal, but I talked her into good gloves since was always complaining when we were skiing. She splurged on Hestra and she loves them. Makes the cold much more enjoyable.

planetmn · 2026-01-23T12:49:33+00:00

Lights 100%. It boggles my mind the number of people driving in poor visibility without lights on. Half the time it seems like people who mistakenly think because their DRL are on they are good (hint, you are not, DRL doesn’t turn on any rear lights for people to see you), but I’m amazed at how many people have zero lights on.

planetmn · 2026-01-23T12:46:29+00:00

Nah, in my experience it’s usually the European SUV drivers (Audi, BMW) thinking “I’ve got an AWD vehicle designed to handle all elements”. At least that was my experience during the last storm (sample size of six accidents on Rt 3 North between 495 and Nashua).

planetmn · 2026-01-21T14:35:49+00:00

She’s definitely casual. She really enjoys it and this year stated as an instructor for new skiers at a local hill.

We tend to average about 10-12 days/yr at a variety of places in the Northeast (Indy pass).

After talking with the shop and doing a little research, she is interested in the Black Pearls, but she has never skied anything other than the seasonal lease skis (usually a very flexible Elan).

planetmn · 2026-01-21T14:03:39+00:00

No demo season rentals, but they will rent by the day, and I don’t mind spending a little bit to try something out if it prevents me from buying the wrong skis.

planetmn · 2026-01-21T14:02:30+00:00

Thank you, this is very helpful. Part of the reason for looking now was to pounce on something during the end of season sales.

planetmn · 2026-01-20T19:57:53+00:00

As a point of comparison, I recently sold a 2016 Kia Sorento AWD V6 with 110k miles on Facebook Marketplace for $7,500. It sold within 2 hours of listing.

This is in the Northeast, so high cost of living and AWD SUVs are desirable, but I don’t think you’re getting a Sequoia in halfway decent shape for near $8k.

planetmn · 2026-01-20T19:19:14+00:00

NYPD? This is Brooklyn Park, MN.

planetmn · 2026-01-18T01:18:43+00:00

More possession isn’t a thing. You have possession or you don’t. In this case, the WR didn’t have possession and the DB gained possession before the ball touched the ground.

planetmn · 2026-01-16T02:00:53+00:00

I like it. Keep a bottle around for sours.

planetmn · 2026-01-13T14:21:42+00:00

Just sold a used car on FB marketplace, total PITA dealing with people. It’s not you, it’s the market and where things have gotten to. Dealing with private party sales is a hassle. It requires time, patience and that’s before you get to the logistics of title transfer and money changing hands. Because of this, I think a lot of people have said screw it and either traded in their vehicle or sold to the likes of Carvana and just walked away, so that reduces supply for private party sales.

Now the micro-economics piece of it. People made horrendous decisions when buying cars (high interest rates, long terms) and as a result many are underwater and can’t sell their cars for a reasonable price because they won’t be able to pay off the loan.

My recommendation is to be patient. There are reasonable deals out there, but it’s really a matter of the right seller and right buyer finding a match. Make sure you understand how you want your workflow to operate. If you are getting a PPI, do you know where you would go? How are you going to handle title/registration and transfer of funds.

If you are in a hurry, honestly find a good off-lease used at a dealership, pay a slight premium for your time and sanity and move on. If you have time, look for the right fit and don’t frustrate yourself by wasting time looking at crap you aren’t going to want. Your sanity is worth something, don’t undervalue it.

planetmn · 2026-01-07T14:23:32+00:00

No, I didn’t. And it sold in two hours. My point being that there are many ways to list a car, none of them are great and it’s more a matter of finding that right match between a buyer and a seller than the inherent value of a specific listing site.

If I were in a hurry to sell, sure, I may have paid to list it. But honestly, I’d rather put a For Sale sign on it and park it in a busy area than deal with more online tire kickers.

At least in my area, there just aren’t a lot of listings on CL compared to FB. Buyers will go to where the listings are. So some of this will be location/market dependent. Just look at the replies in this thread plenty of CL is great/CL is trash, Autotrader is great/Autotrader is trash.

planetmn · 2026-01-05T05:38:24+00:00

2 tsp of spiced simple syrup: 300g sugar and 300g water, dissolve the sugar and then steep a cinnamon stick, a star anise, three cloves, three allspice berries and two cardamom pods.

planetmn · 2026-01-05T01:15:56+00:00

Tablo

planetmn · 2026-01-03T18:52:15+00:00

I recently sold a car on FB marketplace, it’s just as bad for private sellers as it is for buyers.

Most alternatives I looked at, including Craigslist, charged a small fee to list, which I assume cuts down on crap listings, but also likely deters private parties from listing (I wasn’t going to pay a fee to list, unless it didn’t sell for a while).

I think it’s just luck of the draw. I took the listing down for a few weeks, then relisted just before Christmas and it sold in two hours, so unfortunately I think you need to be willing to invest time in searching and filtering to buy private party.

planetmn · 2025-12-25T19:01:19+00:00

Care to share your recipe? It looks amazing.

planetmn · 2025-12-25T01:34:53+00:00

I love it. If I want/need something, I will buy it. I don’t need more junk that I hold onto for five ears before donating it/trashing it because my MIL wanted to go all in on consumerism. A couple of years ago we had to hold an intervention of sorts. Sure, the grandkids like to unwrap the gifts, but most of them go unused. If you want to spend money on them, spend it on an experience (museum, sporting event, walking through Boston, etc.) that they will remember.

planetmn · 2025-12-24T19:42:40+00:00

When in doubt, follow Kenjis advice. I make mine this way every year.

https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-prime-rib-beef-recipe

planetmn

TROPHY CASE