COAL Series by Tom Halter
- COAL: Cars Of My Father, Part 1
- COAL: Cars Of My Father, Part 2
- COAL: Cars Of My Father, Part 3 – The Mopar Era
- COAL: 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 – A Good Start
- COAL: 1981 Pontiac Bonneville Diesel – Smoke ’em If You Got ’em
- COAL: 1981 Plymouth Reliant Sedan – Old Reliable
- COAL: 1971 Buick LeSabre Convertible – A Breath of Fresh Air
- COAL: 1985 Chrysler LeBaron GTS – The College Years
- COAL: 1991 Acura Integra GS – Entering the Real World
- COAL: 1994 Acura Integra GS-R – Picking Up Speed
- MOAL: 1992 Honda CBR600F2 – The One with the Time Machine
- COAL: 1996 Nissan Maxima – No, I Haven’t Driven a Ford Lately
- COAL: 1998 Audi A4 Quattro – Mission Accomplished
- COAL: 1998 Plymouth Neon – The Accidental COAL
- COAL: 2002 VW Jetta GLI – The Doppelgänger
- COAL: 2003 Honda Accord EX-L V6 – Too Perfect?
- COAL: 2006 Chrysler Pacifica – Crossing Over
- COAL: 2006 Mazda 3 – It’s Complicated
- COAL: 2008 Lexus IS 250 – Hitting The Big Time
- COAL: 2009 Acura MDX – The Goldilocks Car
- COAL: 2011 Buick Lacrosse – The Punching Bag
- COAL: 2014 Lincoln MKZ – Redemption
- COAL: 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III – The Plot Twist
- COAL: 2002 Audi TT Quattro Roadster -The Impulse Purchase
- COAL: 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLK 280 – The Keeper
- COAL: 2005 Acura TSX – The Low Spark of High Mileage Cars
- Tom Halter COAL Series: Odds and Ends
- COAL: 2017 Ford Fusion Platinum – The Car of a Lifetime
- COAL: 2015 Q3 and 2009 TT – Audi Duty Time
- COAL Long Term Followup: 40,000 Miles with a 2017 Ford Fusion Platinum
- COAL: 2017 Audi A3 – Oops I Did It Again
- COAL: 2005 Chrysler Crossfire – The Undercover German
- COAL: 2016 Mercedes Benz SLK 300 – The Upgrade
My guess is that you lost a bundle $$$$ buying selling and trading over the years.
I always come out better advertising and selling myself.
Presumably he can well afford it. Good for him. I assume it’s a passion of his, he enjoys switching cars relatively often and possibly leaving some money on the table while completely avoiding dealing with random strangers directly himself is probably a worthwhile trade-off. Then again, I don’t think he ever stated one way or the other whether he just trades in or actually sells privately. Many states also offer a sales tax benefit that does not occur when trading privately that helps to even things up a little bit more. Not everyone has the time or patience to hang around and wait for respondents to Craigslist ads or whatever to actually show up, let along have money or be qualified to purchase the vehicle. That time is worth money too.
I used to sell all of mine privately too, these days as my cars are skewing newer and generally worth more I’m less and less inclined to want to deal with the general public.
If it were all about having the minimum cost we’d probably all be well advised to buy a new Corolla (or now Prius) when we receive our licenses and then drive it for the rest of our lives, certainly not sell it… 🙂 But that wouldn’t be as much fun.
Good job, Tom, a very enjoyable series. You’re catching up to me.
+1
+2 A good series, Tom does it completely different than I have which makes it interesting alright.
If you’re a busy person selling vehicles online can be a frustrating waste of time. Our vehicles aren’t worth much when we’re done with them so we try find someone to give it to rather than do 50 hours of leg work for $500
+3 A great series and a whole lot of other interesting technical CC related write ups.
When I was young I sold some of my cars, but those days are long gone.
Time is money, and even if it was not, I prefer to not deal with the tire kickers and test drivers and hagglers of used car buyers. And I would not want to sell to some cash strapped commuting college student a trouble prone Sable wagon, an Eagle Vision TSi with reliability issues, or (heaven forbid), a Passat V6 (had it survived).
Some people say that a clear conscience is a sign of a bad memory, but I try.
Most of the cars I get rid of are either used up or trouble prone, so I prefer to let the pros handle them.
I also have noticed that some local (NJ) home owners try to save the real estate commission with hand drawn For-Sale-By-Owner signs. These signs stay up for a few weeks or a month or two, and then they are replaced by local realtor signs. Usually, these signs are topped with “under contract” add-on plackets shortly thereafter.
But of course, that’s not applicable to everybody, and I applaud anyone’s efforts to do-it-yourself.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing them with us! The’ve all been well written, enjoyable reads.
*VERY* nice ! .
Lots of good reading there .
I fondly remember the 1967 Hot Rod Lincoln we had briefly in 1972, a Coupe with mag wheels, free breathing dual exhaust and a slippy tranny until it hit third gear ~ then it was a rocketship . good times .
-Nate
A most enjoyable and extremely well written series of article.
Thanks, Tom!
I have enjoyed this COAL series and regularly hit the ‘refresh’ button around 10:20 AM on Sundays.
But in the list, I can’t see a link for a report on Acura MDX. It certainly deserves to be there 🙂