Cars and Inflation

In case don't read the news plus your staff or private banking family office makes all of your purchases, you may missed that many things are more expensive now than they were in 2019.  Cars are one of these things; not enough supply being chased by increased amounts of money.  Many things are said to be at fault on the supply side, including COVID inspired supply chain problems and chip shortages (blame COVID, a fire in a major chip plant, and our very own snowpocalypse among others for causing the chip issues).  

Where am I going with this?  We bought a car this week and it was already 10% more expensive than if we'd bought the same car at the start of the summer.   I don't see them getting cheaper any time soon.   Furthermore, to get what we wanted we checked the dealer website frequently and were in contact with one of their sales associates for a couple of months (she had the parameters of what we were looking for). So, if you are looking for something new to drive it may take extra effort.  Silver lining, though, is that trade-in values are quite high.  I was pleasantly surprised at the amount they gave us for a 2015 BMW 335i with 80K miles.   My brother had a similar experience earlier in the summer when he sold a Ford F-150 Raptor for almost as much as he'd paid for it 2 years prior.  

Other thoughts: 

• BMW's 335 and 340 cars are fun to drive (as are, I assume, M3's).  You get a plenty of power from the inline 6 (with twin turbo) placed into a relatively small vehicle.  Also, the 3-series is a great size for fitting into the ever-tightening parking of central Austin.  
• Yes, the NXP facility in Oak Hill makes chips for cars and it was knocked offline by power and water shortages during the February 2021 winter storm.   
• If you are in the market for a used car (of the Certified Pre-Owned variety) then you may be impressed by the number of low mileage cars available.  This is because of COVID, of course.  Many leased BMWs, Audis, etc. sat in driveways while people worked from home and/or quarantined.  Now they're being turned in and sold.

[Update:  Here's some advice from Nerdwallet via Market Watch on buying a car these days.]

Winter Storm Follow-Up

 

My Street, About an Hour Before the Blackout

Last Monday I woke up to the realization that the "rolling" blackouts which started at 2a weren't so rolling and that my car was trapped in the driveway.  Today I woke up to sunshine and the news that my part of the neighborhood no longer has to boil water.  That's quite a turnaround.   

Austinites: I hope you have running water back at this point.  If you do not, the Statesman has an ongoing list of places to get water.  Also, check my Twitter as I have been retweeting water related updates (and follow those sources, as I'm not updating all of the time).  

Austin Realtors: ABOR has a winter storm recovery checklist you can reference.  

Trivia Fans: Floyd Real Estate trivia night is still scheduled for 3/4.  Stay tuned to this blog and I'll update on whether The Creative Fund's trivia night will go forth on Thursday or will be postponed.  

Thawed Out in Austin

 Last week was quite unpleasant.  We lost power in the neighborhood for 77.5 hours (so much for the "rolling" blackouts we were told to expect).  My house (a 1950's pier and beam; fortunately re-insulated in May) was down to 41 degrees inside on Thursday morning right before the electricity returned.  At least we had water the whole time (many people I know lost it at some point) as well as natural gas.  We had hot water and could cook on the gas range, but the central heat didn't work without electricity.  Add into this mix the fact that Austin is not equipped to clear icy roads, thus our cars (RWD sedans) were unable to go anywhere until our street was sufficiently melted on Friday.  

Fortunately, I own ski and cold weather camping gear.  I also have a lot of camp lighting.  All of these things made dealing with the blackout better; however, we're buying more equipment to handle the next blackout that occurs (I hope never, but of course I'm sure it will happen again).  I'll probably post about such things here.

Next time I need gas, I'll be filling our cars up at Sonny's market/Exxon at the corner of Lamar and Lamar Square.  They were about the only place open (in walking distance) on Thursday; the snacks I procured from them were a huge morale booster at the house.  Shake Shack and Southside Flying Pizza were up and running Friday, and Maudie's was back in operation yesterday.  They too provided a huge morale booster (especially Maudie's with those tamales smothered in chili con carne).  

It will be interesting (and probably infuriating) to read the post mortems on the power grid failures.  Everything I've read/heard points to the conclusion that the blackouts were - if not completely preventable - at least much worse than they would have been with adequate planning and preparation.  Sadly, none of this information has thus far been surprising.  Good times.  At least it's 75 degrees and sunny today.  

[Note: If you are looking for updates on where to find water, check out my Twitter at @wdfloyd.  I recommend following some of the links I have retweeted, as I'm only retweeting sporadically.  Also, breweries and restaurants have been giving out water, so check the linked article to see if water is available at one of the listed places near you.]