Tag automobiles

The Car We Bought At An Auction

drstaceynaito 1 Comment

162721051 123rf.com Stock Photo

I am wary of purchasing a vehicle at an auction, primarily because of the experience I had back in early 2002, when I was married. My husband approached me, insisting on attending a car auction. His contention was that it would be good to have a third car which we could use if either of our primary rides ever ran into mechanical issues. I didn’t have a problem with the logic, but I feared that we would get stuck with a car which would only add to our expenses and also collect dust.

We attended a car auction on a very hot Saturday, set our budget, and settled in for the experience. A BMW was the first auto up, and I was stunned when my husband Pete placed a bid on it. I tapped him on the arm and told him that the BMW wasn’t even in our budget, but he told me that he didn’t think he’d win the auction anyway, which actually turned out to be the case. A succession of halfway decent cars followed the BMW in the auction lineup, but we sat back and just observed the activity.

Then a green Ford Fiesta was driven to the auction block. Pete leaned towards me and said, “Babe, I wanna bid on this car, it’s definitely in our price range”, and seemed not to notice how old and dingy it was, with dulled paint and mismatched tires. My gut was telling me that bidding on the Fiesta was a bad idea, so I told him that. He brushed me off, and said he was bidding anyway. Long story short, he won the auction, and we had this crappy, ugly Ford Fiesta in our possession.

Since we had taken Pete’s car over to the auction, he suggested that I drive the Fiesta back to our residence. I will never forget how miserable the experience was, of driving that car home, because the engine had very little power, and the interior was filthy. Once we arrived home, I told Pete that I would never willingly drive the Fiesta, upon which he went ballistic and started yelling at me about how I had to use the car. In order to keep the peace, I drove the car to work twice, then never did it again.

Pete and I separated in May of 2002, and he found another place to live. What he failed to do was to take the Fiesta, so the car sat in a parking spot at our apartment complex. He told me that it was my responsibility to move the car every few days so as not to upset the apartment manager, but I refused to do so. I kept pleading with him to take the car to his place, but he stubbornly ignored my requests.

A couple of months later, I received a call from the Upland Police Department, asking me if my husband was available to verify ownership of a Ford Fiesta. When I replied that my husband was not available at the residence, the police officer informed me that the vehicle had been stolen, then recovered in a parking lot at a local park. I hadn’t even noticed that the car was missing! The officer stated that I needed to come to the park to pick up the vehicle, so I complied.

When I saw the car in the parking lot, I noticed that there were a bunch of deep gouges along the front hood and roof. I asked the officer what the gouges were from, and he told me that they were from skateboard wheels. Evidently, some skateboarders thought it would be cool to launch off the hood, causing considerable cosmetic damage to a vehicle I hated. I drove the heap back to the apartment complex, called Pete, and said, “Get your car. I’m not babysitting this thing any longer.”

Pete picked up the Fiesta and ended up giving it to his parents as an extra car. I felt so bad for my in-laws!

Hold Onto Your Car!

drstaceynaito Leave a comment
Copyright: stanciuc

The pandemic has created many shortages and supply chain issues, among them toilet paper, disinfecting supplies, and workout equipment. But did you know that there is also a shortage of used automobiles? Two major factors which have caused so many people to turn towards used cars are decreased new automobile production, and budget concerns which have resulted from decreases in income. If you have an extra used car sitting around that’s not being used, it may be a small gold mine for you if you sell it right now, because the demand is so high. But if your used vehicle is one you actually need in order to get around, and it’s in good mechanical shape, you’re better off holding onto it until the surge in demand simmers down.

Even my car, which is a 6 year old economy car, is now worth about $1,400 more this year than it was at the beginning of 2020. Strange, but it’s true. Prior to the pandemic, I had actually considered selling my car and getting a newer model, but I am definitely pushing my plans back by about 3 years or more. I truly hope that when I am ready to get a different car, the supply chain issues with new automobile production will not be an issue like they are right now.

If you are in the market to buy a used car, you already know how difficult it is to actually locate one. It took one of my dear friends four months before she was able to find a used car to purchase. She looked everywhere, and kept responding to listings which turned out to be sleazy dealers instead of the private parties they claimed to be. The vehicles were not in good mechanical condition, so they never passed mechanical inspection. The only reason why she was finally able to find a decent car to buy was because a friend of hers whose mother was going to buy one from a family member changed her mind, and offered to sell the car to my friend. Had that not occurred, my friend would likely still be on the hunt for a set of wheels.

If you can purchase a new car instead of struggling to find a used one, be prepared to pay about 5% more than before March of 2020.

The Men Who Built America – Financial Titans

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

When I was a child, American history was taught in a very static manner.  We were expected to memorize important dates and factoids, to the point where epic points in history like the Industrial Revolution, though pivotal and vital to the development of America, seemed dull and uninteresting.  It took imaginative historical books which I have read over recent years, and shows such as “The Men Who Built America”, for a keen interest in American history to ignite within me.

Most recently, I stumbled upon “The Men Who Built America” right around Halloween when I was searching on Amazon Prime Video for an entertaining show to watch. What caught my eye was the fact that the television series was described on IMDB as a miniseries which “shines a spotlight on the influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States, a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen. The Men Who Built America is the story of a nation at the crossroads and of the people who catapulted it to prosperity.”  Those words were enough to draw me in.

The focus of this series centers around the lives of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, and Henry Ford.

Check out these descriptions of the episodes:

1 “A New War Begins” Ruán Magan David C. White, Keith Palmer October 16, 2012
Cornelius Vanderbilt grows from a steamboat entrepreneur to the head of a railroad empire, and gets into a heated rivalry with James Fisk and Jay Gould; the up and coming John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil. Many business owners lay their own rail lines which leads to the Panic of 1873. Later, Rockefeller starts to expand his wealth by diverting his business from the railroads to a new innovation, oil pipelines.
2 “Bloody Battles” Patrick Reams David C. White, Keith Palmer October 23, 2012
Andrew Carnegie builds an empire around steel, but finds himself struggling to save face after the ruthless tactics of his business partner, Henry Clay Frick, result in both the Johnstown Flood as well as the bloody 1892 strike at the Homestead Steel Works.
3 “Changing the Game” Patrick Reams David C. White, Patrick Reams, Keith Palmer October 30, 2012
J. P. Morgan proceeds to banish the dark with the direct current electric light of Thomas Edison, but the two soon face serious competition from the alternating current of George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla. As the 19th century comes to a close, the titans of industry must try to work together to stop a new threat in budding politician William Jennings Bryan, who threatens to dissolve monopolies in America.
4 “When One Ends, Another Begins” Patrick Reams David C. White, Keith Palmer November 11, 2012
Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan team up to help elect William McKinley to the U.S. presidency by paying for his 1896 campaign, to avoid a possible attack on monopolies. However, fate intervenes when McKinley is suddenly assassinated, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency and promptly begins dissolving monopolies and trusts in America. Meanwhile, Morgan buys out Carnegie Steel to make Carnegie the richest man in the world, and Henry Ford designs an affordable automobile with his Model T and starts his own business, Ford Motor Company, which sets a new business model for companies to follow.

It was mostly my interest in finance which locked me into this series, but I also truly enjoyed learning about the historical impact which these great men had on a sophomore nation.  If you’re looking for a great series which is relatively short (you could binge watch this over a weekend), then this is for you.