Guys I could use the help here in New York. Bought a 2013 Honda Accord and in need of Hand Controls put in due to a disability I have. My prior car, (Honda 2002), gave out. The Hand Controls from that doesn’t fit the 2013 Honda that I’m sitting with. Not too many government funded organization in my area that’s up for funding equipping my car. And though Honda has the mobility program that ‘refunds’ the cost of installing Hand Controls, I don’t have the upfront funding of almost $2000 to cover the cost myself. I asked them to rework the financing to incorporate said installation cost but with my name on the dotted line already, I’m sitting handicapped ontop of being physically challenge. I’d appreciate any ideas or insight on funding you may know of that can assist me. Thanks
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Kevron–You will likely get more helpful responses if you create your own thread, with a relevant title. Tagging onto an existing thread about somebody’s new Mitsubishi Mirage is not likely to get your question the attention that it deserves.
Look for the rectangular red button toward the upper right area of your screen, marked “New Discussion”. If you click on that, it will enable you to create your own–appropriate–thread.
@“Kevron The American” , you should start a new thread to ask your question. You will bet the best chance for response that way. There is a big red button on the top right titled New Discussion. Press it and rewrite your post. I’m not sure of anything, but others might be. Good luck.
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I couldn’t have said it better myself, @jtsanders.
Oh…never mind…I already did…
;-))
As you might have guessed @VDCdriver, we were both composing the same Excellent Advice at the same time. Your post is exceptionally thoughtful and informative!
Glad you bought the car! I have been happy with mine as has my GF with her car. The mileage is great and I find it plenty peppy for what I need. I am sure the car will last you a long time. Yes, the dealer I went to was also very low pressure and agree that this is a great way to sell cars.
I went to the Kia dealer here locally and was so turned off by their tactics that I didn’t even consider those cars. They are fine cars with a good warranty but they were so high pressure. They tried playing all their games and I just asked them what the out the door price would be. There were all these “incentives” where you had to buy the car that day or you wouldn’t get them. We walked out.
What was really funny was that there was a deal on the Kia Rio from this same dealer that arrived in the mail the same day my GF bought her car. It was like $12,700 or so out the door. The dealer called me that next week and asked what we thought. I told them she had bought a car and that the game playing really turned us off. To top it off, I mentioned the flyer in the mail with the bottom dollar price clearly listed. They responded that this was the most basic model with the manual transmission, like no one would actually want that model. I told them that was the one we wanted and in case he didn’t remember, they had to go pull one like this out of the back lot for us to test drive!
Yes, it is nice having everything work. My Geo is a lot like your Festiva. The windows don’t like to roll up, and the door locks are quirky. Yes, the thing still runs well but all the little stuff is going wrong.
The manual transmission will break in and get smoother with use. I remember you mentioning this about your test drive. Mine has about 1100 miles and my GF’s about 3500 miles or so. Her transmission is smoother than mine although mine is smoother than when I first got it. That being said, I plan to change the fluid in another couple thousand after it is mostly broken in. The Mirage Forum suggests using Redline MTL fluid.
Congrats and good luck on getting this car!
@cwatkin
"Yes, the dealer I went to was also very low pressure and agree that this is a great way to sell cars."
“What was really funny was that there was a deal on the Kia Rio from this same dealer…”
“To top it off, I mentioned the flyer in the mail with the bottom dollar price clearly listed. They responded that this was the most basic model with the manual transmission, like no one would actually want that model.”
I wonder if the reason the sales people at the dealer are so “very low pressure” is because there’s such little profit to be made on such a basic, inexpensive car? Could it be that if a customer won’t bite on a more profitable sale, (higher profit margin model or upselling to more creature features) that they really aren’t interested in wasting the time and would rather turn attention to where the money is? If you buy one, fine. If you don’t buy one, fine. They have a limited supply and they’ll get sold regardless.
CSA
I just found all the discussion about credit cards, etc.
I personally use them for the rewards. Discover is my favorite.
Yes, someone DOES pay for those rewards. Rewards cards usually have a higher interest rate so if you don’t pay them off, a rewards card is a bad idea. Also, the merchant fees pay for some too.
Here is the deal with the merchant fees from what I can tell. It is not illegal to offer a discount for check/cash. Lowes had a deal where you got a 10% discount for not using credit cards for a while. I don’t remember the terms or if this was only on large purchases but obviously they do it.
You cannot explicitly charge extra for the use of a credit card as a business. You can charge a “convenience fee” for the use of a credit card which I do in my small business. I am not sure if it is law not to charge for credit card use or the terms of the credit card processor but I know this is a no-no. The base price is when people use checks. The higher price includes the percentage fee the credit card processor charges.
I have found that offering too many discounts/coupons is pretty counterproductive in my business and have quit doing so. I used to have more discounts but now consider my deal the free recycling of unwanted electronics. The problem with offering too many discounts is that this will attract people who want to nickel and dime you to death. These people want to spend no money and end up being the most demanding customers. Basically, they have “Champagne tastes on a beer (Natural Light) budget.” “Champagne tastes on a Dom Perignon budget” is great but you don’t get many of those people, especially with coupons/discounts.
I would be very leery of offering a cash/check discount for fear of attracting these types of people. It is better to charge a base price and add on a percentage fee when they use cards. This way they will say, “OK, I will just write a check.” Sometimes they tell me to hold the check for a few days until they get paid which is fine with me.
Basically offering the discounts isn’t bad because you make 5-10% less money. The bigger issue is the quality of the clientele it attracts. I have gotten out of focusing on the low end market for this reason. I know there is money to be made there but you are basically selling a substandard product/service that you know won’t leave people satisfied. I more focus on business customers and custom jobs. Low-end customers are the ones who end up getting threatening, etc. They are too used to getting something for nothing.
The attitude of “something for nothing” is exactly the reason I am very against certain presidential candidates. Those who work for a living and know the value of a job are much better customers than those who do not. For example, my show up fee for a job is $35, excluding drive time. I had someone on a “fixed income” the other day wanting me to show up at their house 75 miles away for the $35 fee.
I wonder if the reason the sales people at the dealer are so "very low pressure" is because there's such little profit to made on such a basic, inexpensive car?
There are couple Nissan dealers near me…One is very high pressure…and the other is very low pressure. To me - High Pressure = *sshole. I refuse to deal with them.
Well, I had occasion to drive my old Festiva yesterday after driving my new Mirage for 3 weeks. Briefly, I had to go to a meeting wherein I didn’t want everybody attending to know I had bought a new car (some people there I only rarely see). GOOD GRIEF! That old Festiva handled like an old World War II World War I farm truck. Not that I’ve ever driven such a truck, but I think you all get my point. I’d maybe compare it to one of the 1970’s vintage Postal Jeeps I used to own.
Funny, going from the Festiva to the Mirage I didn’t notice any difference in the clutch and brake pedals. Going back to the Festiva it almost seemed like I’d have to use both feet to make the pedal go down. Yeah, the Mirage drives like a Cadillac compared to a '93 Festiva, not that I’ve ever ridden in a Cadillac (except during my father’s funeral procession). Heck, I can’t even spell ‘Cadallac’ without using spell-check. Imagine my reaction if I ever go buy a so-called “real” car!
Ed Frugal
"Imagine my reaction if I ever go buy a so-called “real” car!"
Ha, ha… Come on Ed! What’s the chances of that happening? 
Some of us were thinking you’d never buy any car! :neutral:
CSA
Regarding @“common sense answer” 's most recent post the one before the most recent post: I would think that if you work in commission sales, a sale is a sale. You’ve already invested an hour or two talking to me, sent me on the test drive. . . . would you rather sit there and play ‘angry birds’ on your phone or make a sale. . . even if you only make $50 on that sale? With that being said. . . .
The Mitsubishi salesman told me he’d “starve to death” if all he sold were Mitsubishis. He sells “new” Mitsubishis and used cars for the dealership; his bread-and-butter comes from selling the used cars. I think I mentioned before the dealer is a large Chevrolet dealership with Mitsubishi carved out of a little section at the end. He told me he can sell a “new” Chevrolet if someone comes in and asks for him specifically, but he doesn’t work in the “New Chevrolet” section, if I’m explaining this clearly. I felt comfortable enough with him I told him about my plans to buy a “good workhorse pickup-truck” in a few years, so I told him I’d call on him first when the time came… .
Regarding @cwatkin 's post about the credit cards, coupons & discounts, etc.: I seem to recall Suze Orman saying on her show before she ended it that the laws had been changed at the federal level regarding having a minimum purchase to use a credit card, surcharges for using credit cards / discounts for cash, etc . After the financial collapse in 2008/9, they changed the laws to allow all of this, to make it easier to conduct business and shift power just a little bit towards the consumer.
I see your point about coupons / discounts bringing out the ‘something-for-nothing’ customers. Probably putting out a lot of coupons & discounts in advertising is something one would do when starting up a new business. . . . you need to let people know you’re out there conducting business, need to build up a clientele. After one has an established customer base, it may not be necessary to put out so many coupons. . .
I kindasorta know a guy who works at a local pizza place that has a loyalty/rewards program. He said that when a regular customer hasn’t ordered anything for 60 days they mail out coupons to him/her. If you want the REALLY GOOD coupons, hold out for 90 days, that’s when the deep discount coupons get mailed. . .
If the Mitsubishi place knew they could sell a cheap car low pressure, then why did the Kia dealer not sell an even cheaper car (at the time my GF bought) without all the pressure. I think it is just a difference in how they do things.
I figured that the Mirage would be a luxury car compared to an old Festiva. I actually find the sound system pretty decent for such a cheap car. I assume it also has more power with the variable valve timing. It is definitely more powerful than my Metro. I assume the same it true compared to the Festiva. We are comparing 4 cylinders for the Festiva vs. 3 for my Metro (they came in 4’s too).
I did the first oil change on my GF’s car at 3100 miles. The drain plug is right on the bottom of the pan and easy to access. The filter is in a similar location on the front of the engine but not quite as nice as the setup on the Metro. The Metro was much more exposed plus angled down. You could partly fill it during the change. The Mirage is more recessed and tilted upwards so you can’t fill it with much oil at all. I put some in but just to get the filter media wet. You will want a filter wrench of some type to access it. I have one of those that looks like channel locks and it worked well. It would be very hard to get off without a wrench of some type.
The intake side is on the front in the Mirage while the exhaust was on the front on the Metro. The “rear” and “front” ends are in the same position though with the transmission on the driver side. I found that interesting that the intake and exhaust have been swapped.
Huh, pizza coupons? I haven’t been to the old place in over a year and haven’t gotten a thing. I moved my pizza business when the owner moved someplace else and just followed him.
Back to your previous post though, it reminds me of “how are they gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they’ve seen St. Pete?”. Now that you stepped up to a new car, we’ll be trying to gradually poke you to upgrade and we’ll finally get you in that Caddy or something. Next step, automatic.
@cwatkin , you’ve stated on this forum several times that Mitsubishi has the highest owner loyalty rates, if your buying experience and my buying experience is typical of how they train their dealers to sell Mitsubishis, they should be around in the USA for many years to come, outdated vehicles or not. That ‘no hassle’ factor goes a long, long way.
I actually had gone to a second Honda dealership - - that salesman was pretty much the opposite of the first Honda salesman, to the point he seemed almost indifferent to me. Perhaps he sized me up as not being serious based on how I was dressed - sweatpants and t-shirt - I was on my way home from work (where I wear an insulated oversuit). I could start another thread about that guy, but its all water under the bridge now. . .
Truthfully, I don’t find the Mirage more powerful than the Festiva. It feels startlingly about the same amount of power. HowEVER; when you consider the Mirage is a much more substantial car, with the ABS, ESC, A/C, a plethora of airbags, side impact protection and so on; AND a 1.2L 3 cylinder engine vs. a 1.3L 4 cylinder engine on the old Festiva. Preliminary indications are I’m getting about 6 - 10 mpg MORE on the Mirage than I did / do on the Festiva, although its too soon to draw any conclusions. Running the a/c doesn’t seem to take away much power at all, don’t yet know how much mpg’s running the a/c will take away.
ACTUALLY, the Mirage has more features than my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the only thing I’ve found the Jeep had that the Mirage doesn’t is an outside temperature indicator. And the Grand Cherokee was a luxury vehicle in its day!
The Mirage has more features than the Fit had, I get the “ECO” coaching light, the manual trans Fit doesn’t come with that. Not sure how useful that coaching light is though, it pretty much stays on all the time except under hard acceleration and sitting at red lights.
One downside, the Mirage doesn’t have any temperature gauge. It has a little light which glows green when the engine is cold, and red if the engine gets too hot. On the other hand, in 21 years of driving the Festiva, the temperature gauge indicator has never come into play as necessary. In 7 years of driving the Jeep, the temperature HAS come into play TWICE.
@“common sense answer” said, “Some of us were thinking you’d never buy any car! :neutral:” I’ve really come to the point where its cheaper to buy a new car than to try to keep repairing my old ones! Plus I get the advantages of working a/c, working everything else, and my maintenance expenses for the next several years should consist only of fluid and filter changes! 
AND I shouldn’t have to run to the mechanic every other month. I think I was putting my mechanic’s kid through college trying to keep my old cars going.
@Bing “Next step, automatic.” Yeah, I’ve already stated when I get my “good workhorse pickup-truck” its going to be an automatic, primarily because I intend to use it to tow a boat and /or a camper well maybe not a camper.
I figured you would like the features of the Mirage. It may not be a luxury car but I find the basic feature set nice. The only thing I miss vs. the ES model is the cruise control but there are many people who have added this themselves without too much effort. I guess everything is wired for this with it being available so all you need to do is connect some controls.
I also don’t like the lack of the temp gauge but that is normal these days.
This has a tire pressure indicator as do all new cars. I guess this is a good thing overall in case you get a leak and don’t know. I know some don’t like these but I can’t really see any major problems except maybe the cost when one needs replacement.
cwatkin- It looks to me like you don;t want customers that expect the same kind of deals from you in your business that you want from car dealers.
@Ed Frugal
"…if your buying experience and my buying experience is typical of how they train their dealers to sell Mitsubishis, they should be around in the USA for many years to come, outdated vehicles or not. That ‘no hassle’ factor goes a long, long way."
You could be correct. I’m not into selling, but I know others who are and they would no doubt disagree with your assumption.
The first car brand that I recall using this “no hassle” take-it-or-leave-it sales strategy was Saturn. It was also the last car brand that I recall doing that.
I think there’s quite a bit of room between too aggressive salesmanship and no salesmanship, it doesn’t need to be an “either or” situation. Good sale people know how to work it by being considerate, informative, and helpful, but still make many additional sales.
CSA
One thing we noticed the other day when we drove past the dealer is the similar styling of the Mirage and the Outlander. This seems to be the biggest seller for them here with the Mirage being second. The styling of each is similar when you see them parked next to each other. The Outlander is quite a bit larger of course.
This actually got a favorable review here. It is a basic vehicle but has an excellent safety rating and such for a low price. http://bestride.com/blog/review-2016-mitsubishi-outlander-shows-off-an-improved-interior/24230/
I have no idea if Mitsubishi will stick around in the US but if they continue to make steps forward and their vehicles remain affordable, I agree with Ed that they will stay around based on their overall value.
It is too bad they falsified fuel economy data a few years ago and opened themselves up to sub-prime loans. The issue of getting neglected economy cars is a common one. People who buy them barely have enough money to purchase them, much less do the basic maintenance. This is one reason they have poor resale. Kia and Hyundai used to be this way even after they had made great strides forward. Those who have owned many Geo Metros know all too well the neglect economy cars experience! I am sure the Festiva is much the same.
For example, I think the guy who sold both myself and my GF the Mirage was a good balance. I had been looking at these cars for a while as the replacement for my Geos so when my GF needed a new car, she wanted to look into something smaller and more efficient than her old car. She liked the car as it reminded her of the Festiva so she jumped. She also had a car that was still running well with a blown head gasket and I had informed her that this could change anytime and that time was important.
I had really been eyeing up the 2017 models because of some improvements to the engine, braking, handling, etc. and told him to call me when the 2017 models arrived. Well he called me when this super deal came up on the 2015 model. I guess he realized any reasonable person would gladly sacrifice a few improvements for such a huge sale on the old model. I might have jumped on this on my own as I was made aware of the deal by viewing the Mirage Forum for some answers on the GF’s car. I was thinking about it but he called me later that day, sealing the deal. I would have probably sat around until only automatics in white were left.
I also thought I would have preferred that “Red Wine” or “Wine Red” color but saw it the other day at the dealer and still prefer the color I bought. This color is better than the “Plasma Purple” option it replaced but still not my favorite.
I then posted the deal on the Geo Metro Forum and like 10-12 members there also jumped on the deal and bought a Mirage in one weekend. Several members there were already Mirage owners but that sale increased the number quite a bit. This ticked off some of the die-hard Metro people.