Are people still ecomodding?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Phase

I’ve been EcoModding my 2019 Hyundai Ioniq. Wheel shirts. Flat covers. Box cavity fins. No side mirrors. Played with wheel deflectors and wheel boat tailing. Need to revise a rear diffuser.

Learned the hard way rhat eco modding destroys a cars trade in value. Went tk Toyota dealer to see about a trade in for a 2024 Prius. They valued my 2019 Ioniq at 500 bucks. The day after dropping 450 bucks on new winter tires. Ignored the 1200 ceramic window tints and 800 dollar led headlight upgrade. Biggest spit in the face ever.

You didn't just get an appraisal on the car with all the mods in place, did you?

Every buyer wants to see a stock example of the car. Heck, I don't even want an upgraded sound system because it probably means the steering wheel controls don't work, or nobody will know how to fix something if it goes wrong.

I've always put the stock radio back in and everything I've modified back to stock when selling a vehicle.

Anyhow, trade-in is the lowest value you can get on a car. Even selling a vehicle for $500 under private party value will result in more cash in your pocket, and it allows you to be a picky seller (don't let people waste your time).

[Phase]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You didn't just get an appraisal on the car with all the mods in place, did you?

Every buyer wants to see a stock example of the car. Heck, I don't even want an upgraded sound system because it probably means the steering wheel controls don't work, or nobody will know how to fix something if it goes wrong.

I've always put the stock radio back in and everything I've modified back to stock when selling a vehicle.

Anyhow, trade-in is the lowest value you can get on a car. Even selling a vehicle for $500 under private party value will result in more cash in your pocket, and it allows you to be a picky seller (don't let people waste your time).

I had the wheel skirts off and the brand new winter tires on. It’s gotta be the mileage or something

I have people on fb market place offering me 10k with the mods included

[Ecky]

Any holes in the unibody is an automatic "no" from me when I'm looking at a new used car - it's a place for rust to start. My rule with Ecomods is that they're entirely reversible, at least until the car reaches zero effective value. No car is forever, so resale is always a factor.

As for why I've (almost) stopped Ecomodding, it's in large part because I've nearly stopped driving. I live a 4 minute walk from work, 5 minutes from a major grocery store, 10 minutes by foot from the beach, 15 minutes to the train station. I'm a 15 minute bus ride away from complete solitude, where I could walk or bike for hours and not see another soul. The airport is 25 minutes away by bus, and I can fly across the country for ~$20 US dollars if I buy tickets in advance.

That, and I've effectively arranged my life such that money has ceased to be an issue. It isn't that I'm wealthy (far from it), but moving overseas increased my salary, slashed my cost of living, and cut my taxes. I have no car insurance, no medical insurance, food costs half as much, and the weather is always mild so even my utilities are cheap - it's rarely below 50F or above 75F. I have essentially zero transport costs, aside from renewing the registration once per year. One of the only expensive things is fuel, which I can use as much or as little of as I want. Kinda takes the pressure off to mod, when I can just drive more or less depending on my savings goals.

I suppose I could install a grille block. Might do that when I get home, if I cba.

[Phase]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Any holes in the unibody is an automatic "no" from me when I'm looking at a new used car - it's a place for rust to start. My rule with Ecomods is that they're entirely reversible, at least until the car reaches zero effective value. No car is forever, so resale is always a factor.

As for why I've (almost) stopped Ecomodding, it's in large part because I've nearly stopped driving. I live a 4 minute walk from work, 5 minutes from a major grocery store, 10 minutes by foot from the beach, 15 minutes to the train station. I'm a 15 minute bus ride away from complete solitude, where I could walk or bike for hours and not see another soul. The airport is 25 minutes away by bus, and I can fly across the country for ~$20 US dollars if I buy tickets in advance.

That, and I've effectively arranged my life such that money has ceased to be an issue. It isn't that I'm wealthy (far from it), but moving overseas increased my salary, slashed my cost of living, and cut my taxes. I have no car insurance, no medical insurance, food costs half as much, and the weather is always mild so even my utilities are cheap - it's rarely below 50F or above 75F. I have essentially zero transport costs, aside from renewing the registration once per year. One of the only expensive things is fuel, which I can use as much or as little of as I want. Kinda takes the pressure off to mod, when I can just drive more or less depending on my savings goals.

I suppose I could install a grille block. Might do that when I get home, if I cba.

no rust with the rivnuts i put in. allows all the mods to screw in and out pretty fast

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Phase

no rust with the rivnuts i put in. allows all the mods to screw in and out pretty fast

I like the idea of rivnuts, but I believe if it's in a non-removable (uni)body panel, it's an automatic fail of an inspection here, meaning the car is removed from the road, permanently. No holes allowed in a unibody.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

That, and I've effectively arranged my life such that money has ceased to be an issue. It isn't that I'm wealthy (far from it), but moving overseas increased my salary, slashed my cost of living, and cut my taxes. I have no car insurance, no medical insurance, food costs half as much

Is food really less expensive in Kiwi country? I'm assuming the bulk of taxation is payroll taxes if you're not paying through the nose for various insurances and you're retired or something?

As much of a fan of efficiency as I am, I might be even more interested in legally gaming a system that has exploitable advantages.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Is food really less expensive in Kiwi country? I'm assuming the bulk of taxation is payroll taxes if you're not paying through the nose for various insurances and you're retired or something?

As much of a fan of efficiency as I am, I might be even more interested in legally gaming a system that has exploitable advantages.

Seasonal vegetables are less expensive. For large parts of the year, for example, avocados are around 30 US cents each, and you can get a large head of lettuce for 75 cents, cauliflower for a dollar, and tomatoes for buck twenty five a pound. When they're out of season they're 3-5x that. Fortunately, the growing season is basically year round on the north island, so the seasons for things are staggered. Meat is generally comparable or a little more than in the US, but I'm near enough to a vegan, and the alternatives (and beans) are very inexpensive. I'm certain one could eat in a way here as to make it more expensive, but it would need to be a predominantly processed food / meat / dairy diet.

Car insurance is unnecessary because medical is universal. A large chunk of US car insurance costs are medical. Liability on my car would be around $8US per month

Payroll taxes are lower than in the US until you get to the very top brackets, at which point they're only (a little) higher than US states without a state income tax. The bottom brackets are around 10%. Making 100,000nzd per year (around 65k US depending on the exchange rate), my effective tax rate is around 24%. There's no separate social security or medicare payment, that's all rolled in to general taxes. With this tax rate, and covering a lot more services than you get in the US, the government runs a large surplus every year, and NZ generally has no national debt - though they will need around 2-3 years to hit a positive balance again after covid borrowing.

I think the biggest thing going on here is wealth distribution. Consider - the average American is twice as wealthy as the average Kiwi, but the median Kiwi is twice as wealthy as the median American.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Seasonal vegetables are less expensive. For large parts of the year, for example, avocados are around 30 US cents each, and you can get a large head of lettuce for 75 cents, cauliflower for a dollar, and tomatoes for buck twenty five a pound.

I think the biggest thing going on here is wealth distribution. Consider - the average American is twice as wealthy as the average Kiwi, but the median Kiwi is twice as wealthy as the median American.

I've always complained about the avocado cartel in the US. Anywhere else in the world and you're paying $5 for a burlap bag full of 'em. Once here, you're paying $5 for an organic avocado at Whole Foods.

You've explained the game. If you're wealthy, live in the US. If you're average, live on the wealth of the wealthy in New Zealand. Very gameable. If I were middling, I'd be looking at Norway or New Zealand. No wonder why innovation comes from the US, the incentive is there.

[freebeard]

Not worth a new thread, 67 in '27:


https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/11/1927-mpg.html

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I think the biggest thing going on here is wealth distribution. Consider - the average American is twice as wealthy as the average Kiwi, but the median Kiwi is twice as wealthy as the median American.

As is the case in most of the rich world. The USA is an incredibly wealthy country but the average US citizens live worse off than their counterparts around the world. The USA is also the most individually focused country. We simply do not work together even when the outcome would be better.

I'd be interested in a "How I moved to New Zealand" thread. I'm sure it isn't as simple as booking a ticket. My wife and I have been looking at early retirement locations and have visited 6 countries to date.