Car Buying: Will The "New Normal" Be "Normal" Forever?

https://arstechnica.com/information...2-day-shutdown-of-toyotas-japanese-factories/

 

Nope... sold it to my friend last year, and he just did the job.
And yeah, it's a non-interference engine, so after a while it sorta became a science experiment to see what would happen.
Here's a picture of the belt... probably could have done 400,000 more miles.

 

Buddy of mine just got a 2010 Oddity with 260k in the shop. Belt shredded and 90% of it was wound up on the crank gear.

Idler exploded. Tensioner fell apart.

Even if the belt holds up, there’s plenty of other things that can go kaboom and take it out.

BTW - motor is trashed.

 

UPDATE:

I ~will~ sell the Avalon. No need to keep it. I'll spend a few dollars and get the Camry detailed, and buy an Android sound system head unit. I've been researching them for a while now, and the feature set on some is quite impressive.

A few more $$ will go towards my 96 Exploder to make it look very nice again. It should not take much. But it will remain offline, so to speak.

A significant amount will go to the home renovation project I've already started. But now I can update the kitchen and bathrooms a bit more than originally planned.

As far as my "utility" vehicle is concerned, I forgot about my 2002 Voyager mini van. It was my dad's daily driver until he passed in 2005. I drove it for a bit, got into a wreck (not my fault), then parked it behind a friend's barn. I will get it fixed, clean it up and re-tag it. The fuel mileage is much better than the Exploder; I think the insurance cost will be lower as well. With the bench seats removed, you can get quite a bit of stuff in it (just can't be heavy). If I go crazy, I might get it wrapped with the old school Yamaha livery, and have a huge "YAMAHAULER" logo on each side of it. You know, to carry my Zuma to places. ;-))





A friend from the UK's scooter:

 

Best idea I've heard yet.

 

I'm all for it, my only hesitancy on this plan is the age of the replacement vehicles. Vehicles over the last 10 years, heck 15 years are so much more safer than the older stuff. Heck I went into a tire wall at like 60-70 sideways, and the entire passenger compartment was untouched. Not that you are taking those on track, but just saying there's something to having a safer vehicle out there on the streets.

if it was me: I would keep the Avalon or trade it for something cheaper, and something newer than 10 years old.

 

I still plan to sell the Avalon.

Recently, Toyota Parts had a great sale. Somehow, I came across the part # for a PPF kit (paint protection film) for the car - only $190.00. Much less than the dealer add on when the car was new. I went ahead and included it with my order of parts for my Camry. I received an update a few days later, saying there was a long wait for the PPF kit, did I really want it? I elected to delete that item. The remainder of my order was received two days later.

I received another message today saying that, for some reason, a kit arrived at their location today. Do I still want it?

If I am selling the car, should I get the PPF kit installed? Would it add more resale value than the cost of the kit and the install?

TIA.

 

Have you ever installed film on a car?
Wait, I see you are saying have it installed, not installing yourself.

And no.

 

DO NOT get in an accident in a newish automobile. My accident occurred on August 22nd. The first decent body shop couldn't see me until last Thursday. Today they tell me that the main parts needed, front and rear bumper, are on back-order indefinitely. But, if they take off the rear quarter and find frame damage the vehicle is totaled. But once they take the rear quarter off, the car is stuck in their shop. So if there isn't frame damage it will sit there for months which means months of rental car that I don't want to pay. So I drive a new car that looks like shit until...

 

ChemGuy comes down and give you tree fiddy for it. And then you can go get something nice. Like a Silver-A-Doh.

 

yes. this has been the case for a while now.

it's also one of the many reasons insurance premiums have risen about 30% over the last 2 years. The insurance company ends up totaling out many cars instead of fixing them. Body shops have gotten very expensive to do work.

 

Definitely getting the idea of selling the Avalon is a good idea.

I rarely drive it, as it is hard to get into an accident being parked in my driveway.

 

$350?

 

@ChemGuy , with an equal bid that was submitted earlier than yours, is the current leader. You must outbid him.

 

Sorry. I am only ever allowed to bid tree fiddy.

 

I saw a video saying this strike is going to make oem parts availability worse because of the ripple effect out to the parts suppliers. They're having to shut down so there's nothing in the pipeline.

 

it'll be interesting to see how this plays out since most of the Foreign cars built here are not union, and they are starting to get inventory built up.

 

Yep, somebody ran into my friends Durango, repairs 4-6 months.
He couldn't wait that long, went and bought a new Durango.
It's nice to have money

 

Forget the last 2 years. I think I'm paying $200 a year more for my car now than when it was brand new 9 years ago. I asked today what it would be if I get the same car but a 2023. An extra $400 a year over current. This sucks. Screw you old guys who got to enjoy insurance being cheaper the older you and the vehicle got.

 

Here in Michigan my daughter had a car accident and the front end of a KIA Forte was damaged pretty badly (Oct '22)

The insurance company sent a guy out, gave an estimate and then wrote me a check for about $3k. I called the insurance company and asked them who would do the work for that amount. We went back and forth a while and I asked them, "don't you guys have preferred shops that you work with?". They answered yes, they do. They gave me the name, "Gerber Collision & Glass". I called probably 6 locations before I found one who would even look at it in less than 3 months. The guy fit me in and they completed the work in about 6 weeks. And the guy texted me twice per week with very detailed updates.

I was happy with the work they did and the excellent communication.

Oh, and it ended up being about $12k, which insurance covered.