Posted on 05/09/2005 6:52:14 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
It's a Saturday morning on San Leandro's Marina Boulevard auto row, and the big SUVs have been sitting on the lots, waiting for someone to come in and start that dealer dollar dance that ends up with the customer slightly bewildered but paying a lot less for that vehicle than he thought he was going to.
Once in a while, there are takers, although the dealer has to discount the SUV heavily just to get it moving.
Salvador Sotello, for example, recently paid F.H. Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro $41,000 for a new Chevy Tahoe LT (yes, with leather) SUV that had a sticker price of $58,000. The sale was an anomaly in what is otherwise a pretty dismal selling season. "It's been pretty quiet," saleswoman Crystal Gonzalez said the other day. "Been pretty slow."
At Broadway Ford in Oakland, the grilles of the Mustangs, SUVs and the lone Thunderbird smile at the passing traffic, but the showroom is empty, it appears, of customers; several salesmen are in sight. Up at Albany Ford-Subaru, salesman Myers Howard, sitting a few feet away from a big Ford pickup truck, says things on the Ford side of the showroom "are slow." That might be the understatement of the day.
Just this past week, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. underwent the humiliation of seeing their credit ratings reduced by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to the status of junk. The reasons are becoming clear -- the two big companies can't sell much of what they produce.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
It's not a threat, it's the very definition of why we have governments in the first place.
From what I have heard, the current hybirds are a net zero gain on your wallet and the environment. You replace the cost and polution of burning fuel with a very expensive battery full of toxic waste. On the life of a hybrid car, the expense of replacing batteries eats up all your fuel savings. I don't know this first hand, probably heard it from someone trying to sell an SUV!
Firstly and lastly. I will drive what I want,when I please. You don't make my payments or pay for my insurance.
If you have line of sight issues I suggest you stop tailgating .
My wife has an "03" Limited. We both love it. Unfortunately, it will be a long while before it sees a trail. To pretty to get "Arizona Pinstriping" on it.
I guess that means I should just wait for the six speed CRD Sport to come out. :)
You're probably right. The unfortunate thing is this is not a good time for me to buy a SUV. I'm in the market for a retirement place and I don't need the extra payment. Not that I'd buy a SUV anyway, I'd probably be looking for a used pick-up truck. Mine is a 10 year old S10. Still runs well and looks great. Anyway, my wife lets me borrow her 1500 when I need to pull something really heavy. We're just not a SUV family. 4wd pickups are more our style.
Not a problem. Happens to a lot of folks. I've even had it happen to me a couple of times.
Me and you both podner (one kid and his/her kids moves out of our house and another batch moves in).
Me and mom are seriously thinking bout movin a few miles away. ;o)
Only one batch in our family. Just finished building their new house. Spent last weekend moving them in. Not worried about them moving in to my place. It's much too small compared to what they just built.
We're thinking about moving away from town out where we can afford some land and get some quiet.
God willing, it'll never become an issue.
But, if it should, crampedness will not be an impediment. ;o)
Happy days to you, mom and the batch.
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