I imagine that this is how it would be to go through life named Will Smith. "Are you related to the actor?!"

As I said in another reply I really don't think they did this just with the extras- it's really hard to spend that kind of money on them. My bet is they were upside down on their trade-in toward the Sonic.

I think there's more to this story. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were underwater on the car they traded in towards the Sonic. Yes, dealers do make a ton of profit on warranties and whatnot, but even accounting for about $2000 in taxes and fees that's still about FIVE THOUSAND extra going onto the loan. Even…

The Uno dicycle.

proceed on calling the previous owner a dirty bastard, regardless of how clean it actually is.

You should've done this before you bought it, but if you didn't, take it to a freakin' mechanic and have it inspected. Of if you do your own work, inspect it yourself, but be thorough. If anything is about to self-destruct you'll want to know about it before it actually does.

Your Hemi idea makes me think it'd be fun to make a retro-fied version of this out of it:

On this same vein, when you check the Carfax look at what date the dealership got it in stock- most of the time it'll be listed.

I like to show this example to anyone who thinks book values are the last word in car valuation. Here's a buildout on a base model brand new 2015 Wrangler. This price is full MSRP, zero discount:

With the proliferation of internet shopping many dealers research the price they should sell their car for using actual market conditions instead of the book values. On a car that's plentiful (think something common, a 2012 Ford Focus for example) fair market value for any given city may well be less than book value,…

Most of the former Suzuki dealers are still covering them. Almost all of them were parts of larger dealer groups and still have large service centers.

The Miata from Looper, because Miata is always the answer.

The Lexus from Minority Report.

I really doubt it has anything to do with the bankruptcy or recalls. The hardest-hit cars with both depreciation and recalls, the HHR and Cobalt, were worth miniscule amounts before the shit hit the fan because they're terrible, terrible cars.

Sounds like you know how to buy them/keep them, and that's a good thing.

I've been in the car business for 7 years (not selling anymore thank God) and I can tell you that buying a new car is a horrible financial decision, I tell everyone I know not to do it... but they still do it anyway because new car smell.

At issue right now is a case brought by the owner of 2008 Chevy HHR who says the resale value of his bad PT Cruiser copy is now less than it was and he wants GM to make up the difference. The case is in front of a U.S. Bankruptcy judge who will determine if New GM is responsible for old GM problems.

This is a disaster waiting to happen. Very relevant today given Mr. DeMuro's fine piece yesterday about cheap luxury cars. If you want a Maserati, save your money and buy one that's been taken care of.

Ah, I stand corrected. I was thinking of the models available to the general public.

Nope, the E-series is no more. It's been replaced by the Transit, same as what they sell in Europe.