joebiz

I see very little safe above 6%, and I see zilch that beats real inflation on a basket of goods - unless you're liquid 8 figures. What Lambofan said, you need to make sure that you have the right to sell it. And, buyer beware there's a lot of scoundrels in that market. I have ~50 notes out right now that I get propositioned on frequently (I own the note, no maturity and the holder wants out) but the only reason I'm thinking about selling is because it's getting VERY difficult to collect on a judgment in Texas. Extremely difficult to collect on a judgment.

Lotso' love in this one. Amazing volume of hours, blood sweat and tears into this bike. Nuts and bolts restore. Astonishingly light. Humms like a sewing machine.

I tried to buy that car but they think it's forged from solid 24K. Love it. Someone will eventually pay that kind of premium, but you have to assume that it's after inflation starts to kick into 6th gear.

yep.

I'll let the community decide. 2008 LP640. Same equipment. Same condition. Same Miles. What's a fair trade delta for both parties?

Well the first time I bought it I traded for the Bentley Flying Spur, which was worth $175 retail and sold it for $210. Second time, I bought it back for $170 and sold it for $200. Third time I'm buying it back for $180 so I can sell it for anything that's reasonable, at this point. I think $170ish is fair to buy and fair to sell amongst friends. At $169K the car should fly out the door. It's a lot of car for the money, but it's not for the superstitious buyer that's for sure. Too busy to focus right now, hopefully wintertime comes early and I can sit and play with cars a little more. :-)

Yes, I just sold it about 6 weeks ago. First time I bought it, was for a specific friend who got cold feet. Second time I bought it, was a health issue. Third, an unexpected divorce.

LOL. This car just won't go away. I'm at least fairly certain it's cursed. I'm not afraid of it, mind you. I just think it's funny. Third time to buy this car now. Thank goodness I'm not paying sales tax every time-that would have set me back about ~$35K! (I'm a dealer, so don't pay sales tax except to collect and remit when it sells @ retail) Each time is a unique situation, as to why I get it back (it's a great car, far as I can tell) but I wonder how many times I'll flip this thing?

Did. This was a few weeks ago.

Took a long road trip to clear my head and cure my ADD for a few hours. For no particular reason, decided to go visit my first "home" haven't been there in 25 years, I just assumed a hurricane or tornado took it away a long time ago. Lone Tree Road, in Victoria. House was still there, and in fact my neighbor (who was already old as hell, when I was a baby) still lived there. HE said he remembered me, but I dunno. Was a great trip, cracked open the gas on the LP and saw some old friends. It's the little things in life, guys. Love on those babies, hug the little lady, call your momma- life is short and sweet.

LOL. How'd you do that? Seriously?

Let's not get into WHY I got stranded in New Orleans in front of a Hurricane, but I went out there to buy a white LP640 Roadster. Didn't work out. More on that, later. I was in the Bentley GT, in the far left hand lane. Morons were driving on the wrong side of the road, up the center divider, mattresses taped to the roofs of cars. Insanity. Oh, by the way, it was perfectly sunny and the Hurricane was still 12+ hours out. People getting into fist fights at the gas pumps (even though there was no shortage of fuel) Anyway. I'm in the left hand lane and I see a car creeping up on the shoulder- which as I said wasn't that uncommon. But he was driving a bit slower and I could see them pointing at the cars. I'm watching him in the mirror, and this gangly skinny arm unrolls out of the window holding what I can only make out as a small caliber handgun. What? THE... I didn't even get the "F" out and I ducked down to hear CRACK CRACK. These fking a-holes just shot at me! So I grabbed by LC9 and tried to stay low. When I hear the car accelerate off, I jump up to get the plates but they were gone. Small bullet hole in the driver door. Called the cops, but they said that unless there was "significant" property damage or physical injury, that I should just go to their website to file a report. I asked dispatch why there was 15 cops sitting on the highway picking their nose directing traffic and she said "Why don't you just go aks them and find out what they think about that 'kweshun'." Anyway, this is why all the turds in New Orleans must be flushed down the Pontchartrain before any real change is going to come to this city. Never going back.

Fairly consistently I find redline (or just about) shift (I give it my best shot, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't) and try to spin the tires to the best of my ability in every gear. Last night in San Antonio, a verde Ithaca LP640 passed me going south on I35 around 80MPH, all calm and sedate in the middle lane. Seemed like a tragic waste of petroleum to me. If I'm in anything with more than 8 cylinders, I'm doing my damndest to drive it like 99.99% of the population never will and never could. That is the essence of exotic driving. The cars are an appendage.

turned out pretty nice!

Even flipping Hondas with a $200K ball of cash it would be hard to make $120K. You're dealing with selling Hondas at invoice, pretty much all dealers are near invoice or at cost (including pac) I haven't paid over invoice for a Honda in years. Last one was 2001 S2000 I paid $500 over invoice I think and that was "a deal."

I don't know any retired car salesmen. I know a lot of retired car dealers. As far as being pretty good goes, I would say that within about 12 hours you know if you're going to sink or swim. $300-$500 PAC is a normal amount, and 25% of gross is normal.

Me? I was pretty content around 60 units a month. 30 was too skinny. 100+ was too stressful. I had a small staff and direct manufacturer support. I would always know about 2 weeks in advance what the rebates and interest rates were going to be for the next 6 weeks, so I could build an inventory strategy and unload stuff or stack up on heavy rebate items, just slightly ahead of my competitors. Having just that small of an inside line made all the difference in the world. I remember when Land Cruisers were selling at sticker price and I traded 100 Corollas for 32 Land Cruisers. My General Manager almost had a heart attack but then Toyota came out with a $10,000 rebate and $1000 direct salesman spiff in December and we sold all 15 of them in 2 days before they ever made it to the lot. Nice little Christmas bonus that year. I think everybody should suffer through a year of selling cars. It's such a humbling experience where you can witness first-hand the psychology of buying decisions. Nothing like selling 4 cars on a Saturday, and making $50 a piece on commissions. Hard living that forces you to work smart. I owe a debt of gratitude to Brandt Geyser for firing me, forcing me to rebuild a strategy and hiring me against his better judgment. He retired in two years due to that decision he made to bring me back under his wings.

I was at a Toyota dealership in Dallas. I'd fluctuate between $150 and $250K. Very much a function of how many hours you want to work. I negotiated a special pay plan, where I would absorb my operating costs but share the staff expense with the people who worked with me. Commission for sales was this: Sales Price === front end profit. I made 25% of the first $1000 per unit and 35% on every dollar over $1000. Average profit was around $825 and I sold 120 units a month. I had one full time girl and a sales assistant for the 15 minutes a week I wasn't chained down to the office. Commission for finance was this: Contract Rate (what the consumer paid) + 10% of the flat fee contracts (credit unions, drafts, etc) ===back end profit My average finance commission was about $25 per car sold. The F&I guys were so snakey, I know they skated my F&I customers about 50% of the time. Biggest commission ever was a 1999 Land Cruiser. Total front end profit was $28,000. Total back end profit was $11,000. Dennis Rodman looked good a motherfucker driving around that Crusher with black and white rabbit fur interior.

I don't think it is yet, so maybe I should retract my statement... :-/ Sorry.

Yeah I'm really torn between Joe Zs (which is, I admit, a somewhat better "deal" given the trade) but Rob's is perfect in terms of mileage, year etc. I drive the daylights out of my cars and I know this one has been pushed hard, driven correctly and maintained appropriately. I am a bit concerned about the bulk mileage on the 05, hoping that a piston/top end isn't on the horizon any time soon. I'm not leaning substantially either way yet. Mostly, I'm just glad the LP640 is gone. That car is really tough to drive every day. Looking forward to getting back in a G.

I'm not so good with the stringing of messages and what not- but yes whoever put this in front of so many people, I do appreciate it! Seriously that could have gotten ugly! We broke the Shank curse, the mechanical issues have been foiled!

Thanks again Mr. Ed you pulled my ass out of the fire on that one! :-) She's gone, and the buyer is just delighted. I really appreciate it!

All- thank you SO MUCH- I pulled it off and got the CEL reset and it was running perfectly. I did the 75% throttle routine and it completely reset the lights and it was delivered with no problems at all. New owner was pleased as a peach. You guys are an amazing resource, thank you so much! Now, one more to sell and I'm getting that TT G. As soon as I have a free day, that is. Which should be this next week coming up, I hope.

I'm going from an LP640 to a Gallardo myself, for a daily driver.

great advice- I'll give all of that a try. I'm sort of running on empty here! :-D