Dealership Tries to Buy Jeep During State Inspection

[Wolf Island Diver]

Good. Inspections are a joke. The government can't touch anything without screwing it up.

Here’s the thing. For people like us, who have a vehicle we care about and paid a lot of money for, it’s basically pointless. As a functioning adult I’ve never had a failed inspection. I’ve had one vehicle fail inspection when I was like 19. It was my uncle who failed me! The brake pads were too worn on my old 91’ Nissan pickup I had when I was in my late teens and early 20s. In fairness, they worked and they had just squeaked under the wear markers. I replaced the pads the same day and got it reinspected. That’s actually the demo the inspections probably snag most often. Young, broke and stupid or people unaware of an issue at the margins.

The safety inspections aren’t really something the government could screw up. It’s a set of basic things that any reasonably intelligent person would want working on their vehicle.

For context look at a Google maps at Hampton Roads, Southeastern Virginia, etc. Where I live, you can’t drive anywhere without going over a bridge or through a tunnel. This is home to the bulk of the Navy’s Atlantic fleet, Joint Forces, East Coast SEALs, including DEVGRU and Amphibious forces, a major Air Force base, East Coast Naval Air Power, 1/3 of NASA, multiple Coast Guard installations, Merchant Marines, naval weapons, the Army’s transportation division, and two major nuclear shipyards and a whole lot of Marines. Second to DC, we’re a solid 2 or 3 for nuclear attack targets for China or Russia.

All this bridge and tunnel infrastructure constitutes the routes from where most of the military is into and out of the region. To supply the military, to get personnel in and out, for the hundreds of thousands of troops and supporting civil servants and contractors who live here, this infrastructure has to work. If a hurricane, let’s say Lee hits Cat 5 and heads straight for us, we’ve got to have these two bridge-tunnels, two other tunnels and like 6 other bridges working or more than a million people are at risk and can’t evacuate. The southern route off of the Delmarva Peninsula crosses the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel to Virginia Beach. All of this needs to function.

I’m waiting for the day a “self-driving” Tesla crashes, catches fire and destroys 1/3 of the route for the Navy in and out of South Hampton Roads. That company will be liquidated.

For decades transportation in Hampton Roads has been an top strategic concern for local state and federal officials. That’s in part because everyday this infrastructure shuts down multiple times, and people can’t get from the Peninsula to the Southside or vice versa. It’s inevitably because some idiot drives into one of the two tunnels with either no gas or with a barely functioning car that breaks down. It boggles the mind that anyone would risk getting stuck under the water in a broken down car, but they do it every day. If the government didn’t force idiots to ensure their cars had functioning brakes, functioning headlights, indicators, wipers, tires or remove them from the road, you’d never be able to go anywhere. The military, which IS the economy here, threatens to pull chocks over lack of sufficient bridge crossings, traffic problems, quality of life for it’s soldiers, all the time. It would be ten times worse if you could literally drive anything.

So unfortunately the state inspection is like price we pay for having idiots and/or broke people who refuse to or can’t afford to maintain a safe working car. It can’t fix the no gas problem.

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[AyeCantSeeYou]

Oh yeah, every time I've had my Gladiator at the dealer for maintenance, oil changes, and new tires, it never fails that I'll get an email and text within a couple days with them making an offer to buy it back.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Oh yeah, every time I've had my Gladiator at the dealer for maintenance, oil changes, and new tires, it never fails that I'll get an email and text within a couple days with them making an offer to buy it back.

That’s wild. And it’s concerning too. It makes you wonder about what incentives this creates for certain behaviors on the part of the dealership. Around here we’ve had a couple of unscrupulous dealerships that would do self-financing of the vehicles with crazy manipulative terms. They would find a way to repo cars they had just sold, take the buyer to court and resell the car. Effectively they get money and keep the car and keep selling it, repossessing it, and selling it.

This isn’t exactly the same but only in terms of degree. It’s dealerships trying to make money selling the same vehicle over and over again. That’s always been a thing to some degree, because you can buy a car, traded it in later, and they can resell it. That’s nothing new. But I feel like they’re getting more sophisticated and more aggressive when you combine that with a sellers market and manipulate practices on their part. people get manipulated when the purchase cars all the time. Now the same dealership is trying to manipulate You into giving him the car back and terms favorable to them. At what point have even loyal customers been reduced to just marks?

To be clear the unsolicited text conversation I had with the sales person, from my dealership wasn’t friendly. Keep in mind I didn’t buy the truck from them. They have my contact information because I went there for service. The sales department took that contact information and during the repair engaged in this pushy attempt to get me to give them the car. My truck was in for an overdue state inspection so I was in a bind. The service writer acted like they couldn’t guarantee they could even do the work, regardless of state law, because they were backed up for two weeks.

Does the sales motivation create an incentive for them to do inferior repair work so I’m less inclined to keep the vehicle? If you bring your truck in for a serious problem, and they tell you they can’t get to work on it for a month, is some percentage of customers going to cut their losses, if given the opportunity, which magically the dealership is there to provide? Does this create an incentive for them to be less inclined to support the customer or warranty issues with the hope that I just cut my losses and sell them the truck?

 

[Ty01vette]

Well, here is one for you. I'm at the local Sheetz getting gas about a month after I bought my JTR, last month. I'm pumping gas as a really nice Mercedes (I think it was the new 2023 SL43 roadster) pulls in behind me, the guy gets out and starts talking to me about my jeep. I chat with him and then he said, "Do you want to sell it"? I politely say no thank you as I just bought it within the past month. He stated, "I'll make you a great offer as I know what your vehicle is worth". I thanked him and said no thanks. He said "I'm not kidding, I've been looking for a Gladiator just like yours for the past few months and this is exactly what I want, and I'll give you more than you paid for it. I politely said again "No thanks". He walked over handed me card and said if you change your mind, I'll buy it. I laughed and finished pumping the gas.

 

[sharpsicle]

I've had this happen with every single car I've owned. Heck, I still get offers from dealerships to buy my BRZ that I got rid of years ago. I find they aren't doing it because "holy cow wow we want your car now it's the best thing ever please let me buy it", they're just doing it to try and stock the lot. They likely do it to all customers with vehicles that they can sell. It's nothing weird or special. Definitely shouldn't cause concern.

 

[BearFootSam]

Yeah, Virginia Is For Lovers…. of taxes, fees, fines and laws.

Personal property tax, the sales tax you keep on paying year after year.

 

[ZoMojave]

But like personal property taxes (pay the state 4.5% sales tax every year on the current value of your car…forever) every governor talks about getting rid of it, and then it never goes away.

But the PPT must include another year of registration/tags?

 

[Mr._Bill]

But the PPT must include another year of registration/tags?

No, that's a separate fee.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

But the PPT must include another year of registration/tags?

So the whole topic of taxes gets me spun up so I apologize.

TL:DR. The whole thing is a giant joke that’s just one more thing screwing everyone over.

Registration is separate fee every year. I think its $36 now in VA. It keeps going up. but of course, I’m also supposed to register my indoor cat with the city and my box turtle with the state. ?. The personal property taxes, which also includes other items like boats is a state base rate + plus a local rate. In my case it’s 4.5% or $4.50 per every $100 of value. By the way in Virginia, if you put a electric trolling motor on the inflatable kayak, you have to register it and pay personal property tax on it. ?

So every year I get a bill due June 5th and one due Dec 5th (Just in time for Christmas!) each of which is 50% of 4.5% of the current value of the truck from the spring assessment. So far this has worked out to about $1800 a year, every year I pay the state for my vehicle. This year it went up because my Gladiator appreciated in value. by $15000 ?. Now this is technically tax deductible on federal taxes which is an important caveat.

But two things to note here: first, a deduction isn’t a credit. It reduces taxable income it’s not a refund. Second, the Trump tax plan made these deductions much stingier and limited and made the standard deduction more generous. For millions of people in high tax states, this was a defacto tax increase. In my case, I fall into a sweet spot where taking itemized deductions still benefits me. If I go buy a more expensive home, I’ll run into the upper limit imposed by that tax legislation and my taxes will go up (non linearly with the simple increase in home value). In other words my SALT deductions will max out. SALT deductions were one of the things people were screaming about when that tax plan was passed. There’s a legitimate debate about this is good policy or not. There’s a legitimate debate about whether mortgage interest should be deductible. I don’t really want to get into all the ins and outs of tax policy and all the politics of it. I know a lot of people (farmers actually) who got screwed and a lot of people who it didn’t really have much of an effect beyond a slight bump in the standard deduction.

Here’s my take which is inline with most economists and basically transcends the partisan politics of tax policy. This is the system regardless of who controls the executive and legislative branches of government. Any tax on use, property, etc. In other words, anything that’s not capital gains or income is by definition regressive, meaning it affects people lower down the income ladder more than people at the top. This is just math. It’s is a function of the simple reality that there exists minimal unavoidable things people need, like a car, fuel for it, a home, etc that we happen to tax. It makes sense to tax things people have to have rather than things they can avoid buying. Then there are specific tax deductions that exist for rich people and large businesses which make large scale tax avoidance easier the more money you have. Lastly is the core economic concept called the diminishing marginal utility of money which basically says that as money increases by some fixed unit it provides less utility and it therefore of less value. An analogy describes this well. If your lower middle income and someone gives you $1000 you’ll probably notice it. It may be the difference between paying your rent that month or not. It may allow you to make repairs on your house or your car. If you give Bill Gates $1000 he won’t even notice it. In fact, if you give Bill Gates $1 billion, he won’t notice it. He may gain or lose a billionaire more dollars during normal swings of the market.

The net result is an extremely high tax burden on middle income people in the US coupled with very low services for those tax dollars. Meanwhile, wealthy people enjoy a very low tax burden in relative terms to their purchasing power, standard or living, access to services, etc. You hear people say that the wealthy pay most of the taxes which is true in absolute terms. But this is an obvious result when approximately 400 families control 65% of the countries wealth. It also ignores that their tax burden a prior of their purchasing power is far lower. I find it funny that Warren Buffett understands this but most middle class people don’t seem to. Around 62 people control more wealth than the bottom 4 billion people on the planet. This would make the pharaohs blush.

I’d gladly pay higher income taxes and ditch the personal property tax nonsense, and all the fees and stupid tolls, etc. I’d gladly pay along with my employer higher payroll tax contributions and not pay the $13000 a year it takes to insure this middle age person with zero health problems. We have an entirely inefficient goofy way to tax people and pay for services and it’s crystal clear who benefits. Speaking of goofy, I already am exempt from part of my payroll taxes, because I make TOO MUCH money! FICA was never properly indexed to inflation and wage increases, so you only pay into Social Security and Medicare on income below $160K. My checks jump up somewhere in the fall when I’ve reached my tax limit. ?. Any payroll above that isn’t taxed! Of course capital gains tax rates are much lower than income tax rates and those taxes don’t include money for the Medicare and Social Security trust funds. So you don’t even pay into those if you derive income from holding capital.

If people actually dig into the taxes they pay at the state and local level in the form of fees, tolls, usage taxes, communication taxes, real estate, etc., in addition to federal and state income and capital gains and of course don’t forget sales taxes, and then compare that to so called “high tax” countries, like France, Sweden, etc.,Americans pay very similar total levels of tax for far fewer benefits and in many cases Americans actually pay more. We’re getting ripped off.

The whole tax debate is a giant scam designed to distract people. Whenever some cretin politician says “we need to simplify the tax code” or “ you should be able to fit your taxes on a post card” or “we should get rid of the IRS,” They’re full of shit. All the info on a 1040EZ fits on a post card already. It’s all the identifying information like name, address, etc. and instructions that takes up most of the space but it’s still 1 sheet. The tax code is complex for businesses because tax lawyers write the tax code for Congress, and they made it that way so they can maximize loopholes and deductions for corporate clients. For personal tax filings federal taxes are dead simple. Even itemized and small business taxes are simple. I do them for people all the time. Lastly the IRS has zero to do with tax policy. ZERO. The same politicians that attack in the IRS, are the ones writing the tax policy. All the IRS does implement it by congressional mandate. ?. If you get rid of the IRS you’d have to find another agency to do their job. I guess you just stop collecting taxes. But that’s just getting rid of government which no one serious proposes.

Tax filing is a scam too. E-filing is free by federal law. Nobody needs TurboTax or H&R Block. I haven’t paid for taxes in over 20 years. The federal government literally mandates the tax software has to be free but people still pay these assholes for their software, the same software that’s free, or services, where a “tax professional” enters your data in the software that’s federally required to be free and readily available! ?. Does anyone really need to sit in an office where I guy takes 10% of your refund while asking you if you’re a “blind, retired railroad worker”

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Well, here is one for you. I'm at the local Sheetz getting gas about a month after I bought my JTR, last month. I'm pumping gas as a really nice Mercedes (I think it was the new 2023 SL43 roadster) pulls in behind me, the guy gets out and starts talking to me about my jeep. I chat with him and then he said, "Do you want to sell it"? I politely say no thank you as I just bought it within the past month. He stated, "I'll make you a great offer as I know what your vehicle is worth". I thanked him and said no thanks. He said "I'm not kidding, I've been looking for a Gladiator just like yours for the past few months and this is exactly what I want, and I'll give you more than you paid for it. I politely said again "No thanks". He walked over handed me card and said if you change your mind, I'll buy it. I laughed and finished pumping the gas.

Another smiley gladhands. I would have said thanks and then unceremoniously put my gum in the card and tossed it in the trash can by the pump right in front of him.

 

[KevinM60]

He walked over handed me card and said if you change your mind, I'll buy it. I laughed and finished pumping the gas.

You left out the part where you threw his card in the trash.

 

[chesafreak]

H

For decades transportation in Hampton Roads has been an top strategic concern for local state and federal officials. That’s in part because everyday this infrastructure shuts down multiple times, and people can’t get from the Peninsula to the Southside or vice versa. It’s inevitably because some idiot drives into one of the two tunnels with either no gas or with a barely functioning car that breaks down. It boggles the mind that anyone would risk getting stuck under the water in a broken down car, but they do it every day. If the government didn’t force idiots to ensure their cars had functioning brakes, functioning headlights, indicators, wipers, tires or remove them from the road, you’d never be able to go anywhere. The military, which IS the economy here, threatens to pull chocks over lack of sufficient bridge crossings, traffic problems, quality of life for it’s soldiers, all the time. It would be ten times worse if you could literally drive anything.

Funny as I have seen a fair share of Humvees and other military rides broken down on 64 over the years.. Some of their rides are pretty beat.

 

[snowbear]

Not with the truck, but I used to get a diaper-load of calls asking if I wanted to sell the house (it still in probate). My standard answer is $12.6 Million (it’s assessed between $250k and $285k). They hang up and don’t bother to call back.

 

[Gvsukids]

See above under Virginia taxes, fees, fines and laws.

Virginia State Police safety inspection. All cars are inspected once a year. It costs $20. Our last governor tried to get rid of it. But like personal property taxes (pay the state 4.5% sales tax every year on the current value of your car…forever) every governor talks about getting rid of it, and then it never goes away.

Michigan used to have this. We should reinstate it with all the four vehicles that are riding from salt be driven on the road. Also not a lot of well maintained vehicles with people who don't have a lot of money.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

Not with the truck, but I used to get a diaper-load of calls asking if I wanted to sell the house (it still in probate). My standard answer is $12.6 Million (it’s assessed between $250k and $285k). They hang up and don’t bother to call back.

Oh, you do a much higher ratio than me… we’re currently appraised at $750k, bought 2 years ago at $400k… I tell the vultures $1.4M…. (Totally remodeled over $150k invested)

Had one last year that tried to argue with me about the price, and I told them to find another 4000 sqft 4/4.5 on 4 1/2 acres in our neighborhood for less than $1M…

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