Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

If I buy another BMW I will do this. Combine it with a vacation in Bavaria and Austria... if you're not doing that, yeh, it's a waste of time.

But I'm hoping my nearly 20 year old BMW is going to last a while yet!

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

It's due to all that extra cake you carry around in the trunk

I always buy AAA rated tires, I like my tires to stick to the road.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

What does "extra cake" even mean? :confused:
That sounds inconvenient. I prefer mine to roll along the road. :)

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Thank you. Had me confused as well.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

You have to have tread to pass the inspection!!!!!!!?

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

2/32" ..... I am not sure why it isn't expressed as 1/16". :unsure:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Oregon only has an emissions test, but only in the Portland and Medford areas. Rest of the State has nothing.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Every motor vehicle registered in NC gets an annual mechanical test, starting 12 months after it was registered, but only some counties get an emissions test, around the big cities.

Bizarrely cars older than about 1996 (IIRC) are exempt from the emissions test, so old clunkers can go around belching clouds of smoke without breaking any law .... and new cars, which have exhaust that may be cleaner than the air they draw in, have to have an emissions test. :rolleyes:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

That is half the recommended safe tread depth, no wonder your tires last longer. I put safety before cost for myself and my family, but everyone is entitled to their own level of safety.

Remaining Tread Depth

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Er, that's hardly objective data. Tyre manufacturers have a vested interest in selling more tyres!

Same for the data you cited the other day, on tyre age. It used to be said that tyres were good for ten years, now mysteriously that has dropped to six years! :rolleyes:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Being a little pedantic, the European delivery is possible with a BMW car, but they don’t have the same for motorbikes. A beemer is a BMW motorbike, and a bimmer is a BMW car. I know how people like to make sure things are correct on here ;)

With the bimmers the purchase price of the car is less, you do have to pay your flights there yourself. People I know who have done it did it for the experience and loved it, but didn’t save any money, unless of course you were doing a holiday in Europe anyway.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

That's news to me/ I don't agree.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I gave up my highly modified Toyota supra to come to the US.

Now I don’t even have a car 🤔

I have not worked out what to replace that with yet, if we moved out of the city a bit.

But it appears in or near a city everything is more expensive, except fuel...

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Quite often, good cars can be obtained under manufacturer "certification" programs of cars coming off-lease. These are low milage, have been maintained. There is a premium to be paid compared to other used cars, but it will be "like new."

Also, there has been a huge shift in consumer preferences from sedans towards "crossover" SUV. As a result, sedans have depreciated more. (We purchased a certified 2013 Toyota RAV4 earlier this year with the VW diesel class action settlement).

BMW's tend to take a large depreciation hit. That said, I've been driving a 2004 525i since new. When it needs parts, I cry but it has actually been fairly reliable. I just wish it had features like bluetooth, back up camera, and blind spot monitor like the Toyota.

Also, "premium" gasoline in the US is the octane as "regular" in Europe. So the fuel for many European cars is more expensive than US/Japanese. (Most Japanese branded cars are manufactured in the US these days.)

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Agreed I just call them BMWs but bike or car they have both been called Beemers by most people.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Never heard of this ever (having ridden / driven both for many years).

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I must have been running into a rare collection of folks as I was corrected multiple times over the years by BMW owners and provided with the evidence in the names of multiple forums and other sites that all use bimmer and not beamer
www.bimmerforums.com
www.bimmerfest.com
www.bimmerpost.com
www.bimmeramerica.com who also have a section on bimmer vs beamer and to bring it back to the relevance of this forum, had something to do with BSAs being called Beezers.

I felt duty bound to share this nugget after being so corrected myself, but I'm beginning to feel like I will stop ;-)

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Don't do that. This is exactly the sort of important issues we should argue about. Lines have to be drawn... sides taken... grudges formed...

;)

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

So far as I can tell all your supporting sources are US-based, which explains why (i) I haven't heard the bimmer-beemer thing, and (ii) I don't give a crap. This site is British Expats so I'm sticking with Beemer. :)

Next you'll be telling us that a "Merc" is a Mercury! :rolleyes:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Who the hell says bimmer?!


What is wrong with people :lol::rofl:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Obviously, one incident doesn't prove anything but...

I had a travel trailer for 8 years. During year 7, I had 2 blowouts during one trip. I replaced all 4 tyres ASAP. The OEM tyres weren't from leading manufacturers.

On the RV forums, 7 years is the generally accepted rule where most RVs will never wear out their tyres before they age out.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Don't they call it a "Benz"?

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

When I had my dear old 1968 200 with the baby fins, that's what my USC OH's friends called it, while to me it was a Merc!

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

All I'm thinking of now is Alan Partridge...


"Aha! A fellow Lex-eye driver"


"Well you know, they do say Lexus is the Japanese Mercedes"


:lol:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I would prefer an Infiniti to a Lexus, if I had to choose.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I had an Infiniti as a rental once, wasn't bad at all.


They're owned by Nissan I believe?

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Yup. Each of the big three Japanese manufacturers have a premium brand:

Honda > Acura
Toyota > Lexus
Nissan > Infiniti

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Interesting to know, it certainly wasn't a bad car.


Cockpit felt like a nice place to be and it had some go.


Significantly nicer than the Cadillac they gave me last time.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I always thought Lexus > Toyota

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

The arrows should point the other way :thumbup:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Yeah, my girlfriend's mum has an older E-Class that we were discussing yesterday, and her aunt just bought a new one ... it was always 'Benz' where I was talking about 'Merc'.

So how are newbies to the US buying these things? Plenty of cash down?

My understanding was that with zero credit history, I'd get laughed out of town. I did contact a BMW dealer in Oyster Bay on Long Island (inadvertently) and they didn't seem so concerned about my lack of credit, more that any lease deal would run longer than the visa I was here on ...

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

That sounds correct, they'll just want a letter of employment showing you earn enough.
I suspect people on visa's are low risk for them, as we'll likely be higher-than-average earners, and expected to follow the letter of the law in fear of our residency status.

Unlike a repayment loan, it's not recommended to put money down on a lease, it will give the monthly payments a nicer headline figure for the manufacturer to sell to you, but my understanding is the downpayment isn't "insured" due to the way leases are structured, should you total the vehicle. (if anybody has specific knowledge to confirm or disprove my understanding, please do)

i.e. compare two scenarios of a 36 month lease costing $12,600, where you total the car in month 3.

1) $9k down, $100/month - month 3 you have paid out $9,300. Insurance pays out the remaining $3,300 to end the lease (+FMV) to finance company
2) zero down, $350/month - month 3 you have paid out $1,050. Insurance pays out the remaining $11,550 to end the lease (+FMV) to finance company

The end result, is you're insured, everything is paid off, settled with the finance company etc, so "all is well", but the amount you've lost is very different.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Interesting, thanks for the info!
I am champing at the bit to get into a car - not only because I'm a petrolhead and love to drive, but for the freedom it offers. My girlfriend works six days a week and is also studying for the bar exam, so the next few months she's going to be crazy busy.

Getting insured on her car is a complicated matter (family matters) so just having my own would free me up on the days she's not around, and allow me to go run errands on the days she's just too busy otherwise.

I'm still trying to decide between getting a lump sum and getting a cheaper second hand car, or leasing for that sweet hassle-free motoring (even though it's another monthly cost).

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

FWIW department

Writing is "BMW" with "beemer" used in spoken reference. The cars are plentiful, the bikes are not. Unless noted otherwise, reference to the BMW brand will be to the car. The "bimmer" "beemer" dichotomy strikes me as an affectation.

I drive a 2004 525i since new. Now the second car.

"Mercedes" is the spoken and written reference (occasionally "Benz.) "Merc" is not commonly used at all. If I heard it being used I would think of a vintage Mercury (a name now retired by Ford).

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Yeah.. No.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Obviously we still have some work to do. :nod:

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

Allegedly it originates from Boston. ‘Nuff said.

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

In the UK under either scenario the insurance would pay out the value of the vehicle. (the cost of supplying a vehicle of similar age and condition)

In scenario 1, the vehicles value would (should!) be well above the $3,300 termination fee and you would get the difference, giving you some of the $9000 back.

In scenario 2, it should match the termination fee and you would get nothing (maybe a small + or -).

Doesn't insurance work the same way in the US?

Re: Car Ownership cost USA v UK
 

I don't know TBH. But I did happen to come across this thread from LeeseHackr from a dealer that sums up the risks of paying a lease upfront;

"In essence, when a car is totaled, the depreciation risk of a one-pay lease is similar to that of a conventionally financed vehicle. The risk tends to be greatest during the first few months into a lease, when depreciation is steepest.

Say the car has a selling price of $40,000, a residual of $25,000, and a one-pay lease of $15,000. The car is totaled 2 months into the lease and insurance pays the market value of $36,000. You get the difference between the market value and residual ($11,000), which means you’ve paid $4,000 to drive the car for 2 months.

With a monthly lease, depreciation is divided evenly into monthly payments, and you can simply walk away from the lease if the car is a total loss.

Also, Honda is generally quite good with estimating residuals. The risks of a one-pay lease are higher on a car with inflated residuals. I’ve seen BMWs and Benzes where the market value equaled the residual value with months left on the lease – which would be bad if a one-pay lease car were totaled.

Hope this helps!"

Source: LeeseHackr : Chevy Bolt $150/month $0/down (CA)