Monday, September 04, 2006

Labor Day, Cars, and Selling Online

Happy Labor Day! I hope those of you who are exempt employees are enjoying the day off, and those of you who are non exempt didn't have to be scheduled to work today. Though I would never complain about a paid day off work, you have to appreciate the irony of taking a day off to celebrate labor. That sounds like something that could only have come from our Congress.

My wife and I keep a DVD rack in our family room. It's going to have to be moved eventually. Our children (1 and 2 years old) keep pulling movies down off it. I can't quite figure out why my 1 year old keeps taking Conspiracy Theory down, no matter what position I place it in. It seems that every time I turn around he's holding that particular movie. The jacket isn't very colorful, so I can't imagine why a 1 year old is drawn to it. I hope he isn't trying to tell me something.

I put a dog up for adoption, and I'd like to rant about how much I am starting to hate selling online. When our 1 year old was born last year, my wife and I put a dog and a cat up for adoption because we felt we had too many animals and with 2 children we just couldn't give the animals the time and love they need. I put my dog up on Petfinder, and sure enough guess what happened? Well, when we bought a new bed around Memorial Day, I put our old bedroom furniture up on Craig's List, and got several so called "international buyers" with horrible written English skills telling me that they trust me and will deliver payment and have their shippping agent pick up the merchandise. I told them to get lost, and amended my ads to say "local offers only- I WILL NOT DEAL WITH "INTERNATINAL BUYERS". I know little about export/import, but I fail to see how it could possibly be profitable to ship a $150 waterbed overseas and sell it. I've read too much about these scams. So guess what happened when I listed my dog? Sure enough, I get an email from somebody supposedly in utah (sic) with grammar and spelling that would disqualify "her" for an AOL account. Do people really still fall for these scams? I'm about to just keep my dog.

My wife and I have been looking for a new car. Not a brand new car, but a different used car from what we currently have. I've learned over the years that you can get a lot more car for your money buying used. I can never afford a new Dodge Durango, but some of the 2000-2002 models are getting down to our price range. I discovered the Suzuki XL-7, and found a couple that may be worth looking at when car dealers open back up. I've found that Autotrader is the best car site for searching. It offers the best search tools of any of the other car sites. You can search by price and mileage, so I can search for certain models below $10000 and with less than 60000 miles. I have no idea what the point is to Vehix.com. I'm not convinced that Vehix uses their own website. Sure, you get a lot of returns, but yesterday when I was searching for Suzuki XL-7s, I got several 2005 and 2004 models with no price. Instead, there was a link to "email dealer for quote". I don't want to email the dealer, I want to know if this car is within a price range I can consider or move on. I've found that Cars.com is about as worthless, as is msn.com auto. However, MSN Auto has the best research tools after you've found a model on Autotrader that you would like more information about. I really love the internet. When I go to actually see a car, I already know everything about it except how it feels to drive. I don't have to ask the dealer if the car is reliable because I know most of them lie anyway. "Sure, it's reliable. It's a Pinto!"

Anyway, Happy Labor Day. I just wanted to share a few thoughts. If you're looking for a used car, try Autotrader. It's how we found the Kia Sportage that I'm currently driving. It's still a decent car; we're just looking for a 4x4 that seats more people.

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