Sorry Guys, Not Hatin' On M'new Car Yet. (If These MPG #'s Hold, I Never Will)

General Discussion
21

“maybe you are not as frugal as you think. We use our Discover card for almost all purchases and that gets us cash back.”

Yup!
Last year, I “creamed” over $600 in cash-back rewards.
By contrast, a friend of mine brags about how she–supposedly–saves a lot of money by paying cash for virtually everything. Then, I reminded her about her twice a week drives to the ATM, and how much it was costing her for gas, as well as her time, and she just gave me a blank stare.

“They want folks to be focused on the points they are ‘earning’ instead of the prices of the items they are buying.”

…and if you use those points wisely (and also watch the purchase price of each item), you can save…a heap of money!

Just two examples:
When I had my 60k service done at the Subaru dealership, I paid a total of $50.39, as a result of using Subaru Bucks that I accrued simply by using my Subaru credit card for most purchases, including things like my monthly phone bill, satellite TV bill, and cellphone bill. Do you have any idea how much that extremely comprehensive service would have cost if I hadn’t cashed-in those Subaru Bucks?

Last Thanksgiving, I got my free-range, locally-produced, organic turkey (the best that I ever tasted) from Whole Foods, and it cost me something on the order of $7.50 because I cashed-in the rewards points that had accrued from shopping at Whole Foods–where the prices are frequently cheaper than my local supermarket to begin with.

Win-win for me.
Lose-lose for those who–somehow–believe that they are saving money by paying cash for everything.

;-))

22

Good for you @“Ed Frugal”. When can we go for a ride?

23

Don’t new cars these days have coin holders? That’s something I like about my older Corolla design, plenty of coin holders built into the dash and center console.

24

I haven’t seen many coin holders. I think most places are going with transponders for tolls and cards for parking. I still carry a zip lock with quarters in from the parking meter days but have to confess the only time I used them in the last five years was at the self-service car wash when the line was too long at the automatic one. Oh well.

I just haven’t gotten into using credit cards for benefits. I know some do and are very proud of it but I don’t even collect gas points at the grocery store. We have considered a Delta card for the perks like first checked bag free, but they want $95 a year for the dang privilege. I dunno, there’s Target cards, and Home Depot, and Menards, and Lowes, and GM, and on and on. I just keep saying no thanks. I’ve got a couple debit cards, a couple non gas credit cards, and a couple gas cards and that’s enough complication for me.

25

I have several cards. One gets me 3% on gas and restaurants, no annual charge, points deducted from bill. Similar one gets me 3% on amazon purchases. Another 3% on BJ purchases.

26

We got a gas discount card for Holiday stations when we bought a car. I think I used it twice because I usually don’t buy Holiday gas and I don’t like going inside to pay every time. I was at the farm store today and they give you 4 cents off per gallon when you buy something. So I filled up and went inside to collect my 16 cent discount. I need it after Saturday night but still, 16 cents and if its cold or snowy or rainy?

27

“. . . collect gas points at the grocery store.” I find that usually the stores giving out the gas points usually charge a little more for the groceries. Regarding all these points programs etc. remember they’re in business to make money, they’re not in business to give away free goodies.

" I dunno, there’s Target cards, and Home Depot, and Menards, and Lowes, and GM, and on and on. I just keep saying no thanks." I agree. Like I said, you’d almost have to hire a secretary to keep track of all the rewards points at various merchants. A lot of “BogusPoints” end up going unused, expire, or get lost in the shuffle, and these merchants know it, that’s why they give you ‘points’ instead of an actual discount.

My own view is that if I’m spending enough money to be earning significant rewards, then I’m spending too much money. . . I’m trying to spend less money. . . at any store. Of course if you have a large household your math may be different.

Personally I refuse to use a debit card. My view is, if my credit card info gets compromised, then thieves max out my credit card, and I have to fight over the credit card company’s money. If I had a debit card and it got compromised, thieves would clean out my checking account and I would be fighting the bank over MY money. (Yeah, I know the banks SAY they’ll replace your money in 24 hours, but I don’t place that much trust in the banks.)

Whoops, sorry off topic, but since I started this discussion, I think you should let me slide on this one, ok? :wink: I do have more to say about my car, but right now I’ve got to go to work.

28

“My own view is that if I’m spending enough money to be earning significant rewards, then I’m spending too much money.”

So, you’re telling me that I shouldn’t have filled my gas tank each week, I shouldn’t have replaced my old, broken-down washer and dryer, I shouldn’t have painted my house, I should have kept my uncomfortable 17 year old mattress, I shouldn’t have bought a snow-blower, I shouldn’t have bought any clothing or shoes, I shouldn’t have maintained my car, I shouldn’t have gone to any of my doctors or my dentist, I shouldn’t have gotten veterinary treatment (including emergency surgery) for my Labrador Retriever, I shouldn’t have paid my utility bills, I should have gone without insurance on my home, I shouldn’t have bought any groceries, and I shouldn’t have bought any food for my dog?

Those types of expenditures were the major factors in my accruing of over $600 worth of cash-back rewards, plus bonus points. Are you saying that I shouldn’t have spent money on all of those things, or that I should have paid cash and not earned any cash-back rewards or bonus points?

Do you REALLY think that any of those items were truly…extravagances?

…and before you ask…Yes, I pay all of my credit card bills in full each month, and as a result I pay no interest charges, nor do my credit cards carry an annual fee.

29

Me thinks Ed Frugal cut class the day they had economics 101.

30

Ed Frugal writes …

"[corporations are] in business to make money, they're not in business to give away free goodies"

That sounds exactly the lesson they teach in economics 101. No, Ed didn’t skip Econ 101. I expect he took Econ 102 and Econ 103 too, by his posts above. Maybe even Econ 501.

31

Naw, that’s what money is for but I might have drawn the line on the mattress and the dog. I guess I just don’t like being manipulated by the marketing schemes. According to the marketing folks, I’m supposed to say “oh wow look at the extra $600 I got, I’m so excited”. So I just choose to not be a part of their games. I don’t save coupons either. I will have to admit though that I get Ace Rewards credits from the hardware store and get a $5 gift card in the mail every once in a while. I also rarely return stuff and just throw it away instead. That’s just me and I’m happy for folks that like to save the money. I’m not the authoritarian type to expect others to do as I do. You should do as you please and what makes you happy.

Now my wife has a whole bunch of coupons and rewards cards and loves to use them. She also loves to shop and get bargains. I guess its the hunt. She likes to hunt in the stores and I like to hunt in the woods.

On the other hand, its not free money. Someone pays for the use of the card, like your dentist had to pay the 1% fee. Econ 101 though doesn’t cover consumer spending but in Marketing 101 you learn how to manipulate folks.

32

Four Years ago my wife and I each took a Marriott rewards card that was free for the first year. With the points we got for making one purchase on each card we got 2 nights in the Millennium Arch of Triumph hotel in Paris ($700-$900 a night) , Avery nice hotel north of Dublin and 2 Nights in a nice hotel in Green Bay.
I pay no interest or fees, gather points, get free shipping from Target plus a discount and save a lot of driving by not having to run to banks , atms ,and stores.
The time and gas saved is almost as pleasurable as the money.
All of my income is direct deposited and I go to the bank every couple of months to take out a little spending money.

33

@Bing . . . “in Marketing 101 you learn how to manipulate folks.” Exactly. They want you to focus on the “points” you are earning and not the money you are spending. So if a store has something that isn’t selling, or too much in stock, instead of reducing the price. . . “Triple Double Bonus Gas Rewards On Every Item In This Picture”.

@VDCdriver , I tried to think of a clever response to your statement, but I’m coming up blank. I did include the disclaimer in my earlier post, “. . . Of course if you have a large household your math may be different.”

I suppose I’m the fossil here. But I really miss the days when stuff was either “On Sale” or “Not On Sale”. Now it seems like you can’t so much as purchase a pack of gum without they demand it be inputted into a database for data-mining purposes. I’ll try to say this briefly, but all this data is like pixels on a television screen. Your store purchases, restaurant, gas, purchases, the GPS in your cell phone, that tracking device the car insurance company wants to put on your car for a “discount”, your cable / satellite tv provider tracking everything you watch, your internet habits being tracked, not to mention the info people voluntarily provide on sites like facebook. . . all these pixels mean little by themselves, but when you put them all together it allows big data to build a psychological profile on you such that they know you better than you know yourself. We’re moving into an Orwellian future one rewards card and RFID chip at a time, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care, nobody is outraged.

Yes I do realize I am the odd man out and my complaining incessantly about all of this is akin to urinating in the proverbial ocean, but until and unless the 1st amendment gets repealed, I will continue to speak out. I truly believe that my generation will be the last to really understand the concept of “privacy” and its cousin “freedom”. Doggone shame what this world’s coming to, but I guess it is what it is.

See, this is why we need an “off-topic” discussion category, for stuff like this. I’d love to dive deeper into this kind of thing here. Seems like this is a crowd intelligent enough to grasp what I’m talking about, even if you disagree with my premise.

34

Okay, let me get back on topic before I get reprimanded by the off-topic police again, although I guess I’m not supposed to say “reprimanded” either. What’s a good synonym?

Lookit all the money I saved on “accessories”! Did I really save hundred$ of dollar$ or does Honda just have this stuff overpriced to the point of absurdity?

Wheel Locks: $56 for the Fit, already on the Mirage I bought. All-season floor Mats: $143 for the Fit, included on the Mirage. Cargo Cover: $259 for the Fit, included on the Mirage. Cargo Net, $49 Cargo Tray $114 Cargo tiedown hook $14 for the Fit. All came already on the Mirage as a happy surprise. I couldn’t get the color I wanted, the white one they procured had a cargo net, hooks, and an extra cargo carpet.

Here’s one more: Door Edge Guards: $84 for the Fit. I stopped by an auto parts store and picked up two pairs, clear, for $3.99 each. $8.46 including sales tax. Wow. Just wow. Imagine how angry I’d be right now had I paid $84.

Another thing I like about the Mirage, which reminds me of my old Festiva. There’s a cupholder between the front seats. My Festiva had an ashtray there, I suppose for the use of the rear seat passengers (despite the fact that nobody older than about 8 years old could sit in the back seat of a Festiva :smile: ) With that ashtray removed, the socket made for a nice makeshift cupholder.

Also I notice there’s two little hooks on the floor which hold the floor mat in place so it doesn’t go cockeyed. Again, most of you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking, geez, did this guy Ed Frugal just step off the boat from some third world country flying saucer, or what?

Postscript: Isn’t this the point in the discussion where someone chimes in and tells me my Mirage is tracking all of my movements and wirelessly transmitting this data to Tokyo while I’m in bed asleep? :fearful:

35

“Someone pays for the use of the card, like your dentist had to pay the 1% fee. Econ 101 though doesn’t cover consumer spending but in Marketing 101 you learn how to manipulate folks.”

If my Dentist offered me a discount for paying with cash, I just might take it. After all, the guy whom I call whenever I need to have a tree cut down and hauled away offers a 5% discount for paying with a check, rather than a credit card, so–of course–I take his offer of a discount for not using a credit card.
If I accept the theory that I should avoid using credit cards for cash-back rewards because “somebody is paying for the use of the card”, then I suppose that I should also offer to pay the tree surgeon in cash, but that I should refuse his 5% discount. After all…somebody is paying for that 5% cash discount…

My Dentist, my supermarket, my doctors, my veterinarian–and almost all of the other people whom I pay for services–do not offer any discounts for paying with cash or check, so I use my credit card at those places of business, and reap some very nice rewards as a result. If I didn’t avail myself of the cash-back rewards that are available, then–rather than being “manipulated”–I think that I would be foolish.

As to what I do with the cash-back rewards, I set them aside and when I have accumulated enough, I purchase additional shares of some good dividend-paying stocks. (The federal tax liability on stock dividends is far lower than the tax on bank interest!)

So, it’s actually a win-win-win for me.

" I tried to think of a clever response to your statement, but I’m coming up blank. I did include the disclaimer in my earlier post, . . . Of course if you have a large household your math may be different."

My household consists of me and my Labrador Retriever, but the normal day-to-day expenses for my household do amount to a sometimes substantial sum, and by paying for most of them with cash-back credit cards I help to offset some of these normal expenses. I am not at all an extravagant person, but I also don’t believe in depriving myself unnecessarily. So, when my old mattress no longer allowed me to get a good night’s sleep, I replaced it–and bought the new one with one of my cash-back credit cards. Should I have continued to be uncomfortable, or should I have paid cash for that mattress?

Obviously, everyone has to do what he/she feels is right for his/her own situation, but I am of the firm belief that if you don’t avail yourself of what is offered, then you are just depriving yourself. If the offers disappear, so be it, but as long as they exist, I will avail myself of them–to my financial benefit.

36

@Ed Frugal. I agree with you on debit cards; there is possibility someone could clean out your bank account. We lived in Asia for 5 years, home of the most expert cloners. Every expatriate we know there had at some time their credit cards cloned or copied (not stolen). A simple call to your credit card company will stop the transaction and you are not out any cash.

With respect to the value of bonus cards, I respectfully disagree with you. Loyalty cards are usually a “win/win” deal. We have 240,000 airline points on one card, good for 2 trips to Australia and one to Europe. Costco cards accumulate points which results in a rebate at the end of the year that far exceeds to cost of the membership. And Costco usually has the LOWEST prices on nearly all merchandise.

In my experience socialist thinkers are unable to grasp the concept of win/win deals. The British Labor Party nearly destroyed that country in the early 70s. Bernie Sanders wants to create a Socialist state in the US; God help us if it ever comes to pass.Truly frugal people look at the total effect of a transaction, and shop for VALUE rather than concentrating on cost.

My house has cedar shake shingles on the roof. It was built in 1979. So far we’ve spent $4,600 in maintenance and replacing shakes. The roof has another 20 years of life left. Our neighbor had asphalt shingles and is now on their third set, each one costing $10,000 to install.

With auto repairs we do a cost/benefit analysis, which often sends us to those shops with somewhat higher labor rates, but very competent diagnostic capabilities. I have, however bought a battery at Walmart since they had just the right skills to install one. I would not go there for anything else.

37

@Docnick
"I have, however bought a battery at Walmart since they had just the right skills to install one."

Are you sure about that? What could possibly go wrong, right?
I buy batteries there, also, but I take them home and install them myself.
CSA

38

@csa I’m as sceptical as you are, but several of my friends had shopped there and I talked to the installer and watched him install the unit. If they had told me to stay out of the shop “for insurance reasons”, I would have walked out.

39

Today’s Mitsubishi news on MPG…

Could the biggest sales be coming up soon?
CSA

40

^
Yup!
I heard that news a few minutes ago, on the radio.

Some forum members may recall that, back in the '90s, Japanese courts found Mitsubishi and some of its executives guilty of fraud (or whatever they might call that offense under Japanese law) following disclosure of a systematic denial of valid warranty claims for failed transmissions and for various engine problems. Mitsu had apparently decided to deny a huge percentage of valid warranty claims because the company was already in dire financial straits in the '90s, and this was one of their cost-cutting measures, even though it also wound up cutting their throats.

The Japanese people put a very high priority on being “honorable”, and as a result, after that conviction, the name Mitsubishi became almost as unpopular as cancer in Japan. The company became a true pariah, and their sales–in their home country–cratered.

Around the same time, in the US, Mitsubishis became the ghetto car of choice, simply because their credit division would give car loans to virtually anyone–even if they produced little evidence of sufficient income. Again, this was the result of the company’s dismal balance sheet.

The result was a huge number of repossessions after those very-low income purchasers defaulted on their car loans. And, then there was more fallout because the hapless second owners of those repossessed Mitsus found out–to their dismay–that the prior owners who couldn’t afford to pay their car loans also couldn’t afford to maintain their cars, and the subsequent owners wound up with very bad cars in many cases.

Just how much bad press, how much “dishonorable” behavior, and how many disillusioned customers this company can endure is something about which I wonder. However, the bottom line is that all of their problems are of their own doing.