My bet is, if we had to do it again, we could probably have paid about $500 less, if we'd really pushed. [snip] I wish people could just be totally honest and we wouldn't have to play these games. Good ol' hindsight -- always 20/20! :-) Seriously, yes, you probably could have done better. But that likely would have taken far more time and information than you could spend. I know the insides don't really matter.......but this thing was like new inside. I hope the engine, etc. is the same way! The insides do matter. First, it's most of what you see when you're in the car. Second, if the inside was well-cared-for, the rest of the car should have been, too. But, in the future, you really should have a prospective used car examined by a mechanic you trust to make sure you're getting the deal you think you are. I have another question for you. I'm seeing some really low-priced cars that only have something like 25,000 miles on them. Can we read anything into that? Why so cheap?? The market for most used cars has softened considerably. Incentives on new cars (0% financing, rebates) and cheap leases made the price differences between used and new cars marginal and so people bought or leased new cars. With the continual incentives for new vehicls, used cars flooded the market. Speaking of flooding, there undoubtedly will be a bunch of cars from Katrina-stricken areas which some unscrupulous people will attempt to fix and sell off with a -- er, washed -- title. Those cars will be cheap to keep them moving. Also, most of these cars had a big yellow sign on them that said "No hassle pricing". To me, that means they just don't want to deal. What does it usually mean?? I think that statement is just plain silly. Are we stupid or what?? Are we supposed to think "Oh, how nice! We can just pay the asking price and have no hassles!" hahaha (We're stupid, but not that stupid) Lots of people enjoy haggling for a car as much as they enjoy getting root canal. Personally, I would venture that most of Saturn's success comes from their no-hassle, we're-all-friends-here demeanor, because it certainly isn't the cars or the great deals that keep people coming back. "No hassle" is an attempt to bring the price down some from full list to let buyers think they're getting a deal -- which they are, without the usual confrontational aspects of negotiationg; just not as much as possible. It should also be a little cheaper for the dealership because they don't have to burden their sales reps with so much dead time spent "speaking to the manager" -- they can be out selling cars. You'll notice that no one offers "no hassle" trade-ins (not even Saturn). Besides, how many things do you buy for which you actually negotiate? Groceries? Patio furniture? Insurance? Mortgages? In a way, "no-hassle" puts car-buying on the order of buying something in a department store. Don't like the price? Don't buy. I guess I was naive in thinking that it was safer to buy a used car from a reputable dealer. Am I totally wrong on that? The dealer has been nothing but honest and above-board with me on a regular basis. I've even taken my Odyssey in for weird things I've noticed, and they've checked it, and said nothing was wrong, when they could have ripped me off (like the volvo dealer used to). Maybe I should only feel good about buying their used cars, if they are precertified? Some manufacturers put limits on the cars they will sell "precertified" -- like how old the car is, how many miles it has,.... Just because a car is not certified does not mean it's bad -- though I would think less of a two- or three-year-old Civic sold by a Honda dealer that wasn't certified because that certification is worth more to the dealer. And the salesman said he couldn't do any dealing at all on the warranty....when we asked it to be included in our price. Of course, we just lowered what we wanted to give for the car, but have you heard of that before....that they don't include those in "the deal"? Well, maybe he couldn't deal on the warranty. But I'll bet someone at the dealership could. I've done it (and still refused the warranty). And I could see why the dealer would not be tripping over himself to swallow the cost of a "$1200" warranty in the price of an $8,000 car. I hate buying cars.......new or used. The reality of everything is just so variable! You've just provided Reason #16 why people like "no-hassle" pricing. :-) Buying a car anymore is a considerable investment. We all want to make sure we get it right. Having to haggle over the price when you don't know the real cost makes it that much more difficult.

Hi Gary. I am back for a bit, got sick of the spammers. Been so long I had to use a new login, the old one wouldn't work. The dimmer control for your cluster works like this. Brown wire pin 6 of connector "C" (a 16 pin) brings the parking light signal to the cluster to tell it to turn off full brightness and follow the dimmer control. Grey wire pin 9, same connector "C" comes from the dimmer through fuse 15. You can quickly check that operation by simply watching some of the other components that controls such as the shifter console, climate console, radio illumination, etc. If those inputs work correctly, then the cluster itself is at fault. The photocell in the cluster only tweeks the backlight setting. The actual dimming is done with an operational amplifier circuit on the computer (instrument cluster) motherboard. I worked on a lot of those clusters through the years. You should see what we deal with today in comparison.

nosoccermom, Did you ever find the elusive farm table? I got one from CL in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, after on and off searching for years. I don't know what made me go to the NH Craigslist, but am I glad I did. I'm in Maine. This was the picture I saw in the ad - Hand scraped pine, 3' x 6'. I asked for and got better pictures and for $200, it's now in my dining room - I want to refinish the top to get a less pumpkin pine look. It even has a drawer! The drawer pull was an old brass cup pull that I didn't care for. I took that off, and stained one of the chunky English style knobs I have for projects, after beating it up a bit and put that on. Much better! I purposely stained it a bit darker than the table, but there isn't as much contrast IRL than the pic shows. It has beautiful legs, and this is very embarrassing, but it's what my DR looks like now. After my kitchen refresh, everything was piled in there. The table got put there when we got home. Look back up at the 6 chairs around the table in the first pic. She said if I wanted those, they'd be $100 for all. A friend in NH loves pink and she wanted the Parsons chairs, and I guess I'm keeping the rush seat ladderback arm chairs. That works out to $16.67 per chair! The piece de resistance is the last pic below. This wasn't shown in the ad, but when I told her that I liked pine, she sent me this photo. OMG! 5' long x 32" high x 16" deep. It's upside down against the wall in the pic above. It was $75, and I could NOT resist. Now I need to find a place for it. :-)

Darenka-- You have received a lot of accurate information in the responses to your question. My favorite dog is the Labrador but I have adopted four Sibes. I didn't plan to do that but after I rescued my first one from a hideous life of neglect (his owner bought him for his looks but soon decided the dog was too much trouble) I became active in Siberian rescue and quickly found three more who "needed" me. Siberian huskies are extremely difficult dogs to own responsibly. Successful Sibe owners are a dedicated group of people. Sibes do all the things you complained about in your post as long as their very special and demanding needs aren't met. Sibe owners say a good Sibe is a tired Sibe. They have incredible energy and stamina, are too damn smart, blow their coats twice a year, and behave nothing like Labs or Goldens. We who are happy owning Sibes have a specially developed respect, awe and love of their intelligence. There are huge numbers of Sibes who are given up or abandoned because they turn out not to be a good "fit" with their owners. Anyone considering getting a Sibe needs to do hours of careful research prior to making a commitment to the breed, or else they will find owning these fabulous dogs a chore. I hope the dog you are sitting for has the right kind of person as an owner. I love my dogs and am dedicated to providing them with a proper "Sibe" home. I moved to the country and bought enough land that I could fence an entire acre for them. A quarter of my garage has been converted to a kennel and that room has a doggie door in it that allows the pack to have 24/7 access to the acre. The acre is fenced with 6 foot chain link and there is a "hot wire" at the bottom of the fence to prevent the dogs from climbing or digging out. Some Sibes can even jump a 6 foot fence--fortunately mine can't or don't realize they can. My cats and dogs NEVER see each other because I know at least two of my four have killed cats. I could go on for several pages listing all the things I have done in order to keep my Sibes in a suitable environment. Thank you for your interest in this fabulous breed. I hope you will join the Sibe owners who have responded here in spreading the word that potential Sibe owners really need to carefully research the breed before getting one of these very challenging dogs. Nancy in New York's Finger Lakes Rescued Siberian huskies Zeke, Vixen, Duke and Moxie Rescued DSH cats Timmy, Toby and Madeline-Rose Volunteer transporter of rescued/adopted pets Please Google to learn about prosopagnosia, a neurological condition also called faceblindness.