Do Walmart employees get an employee discount when they shop at Walmart? If so, are there any limitations to it?
The simple high level answer:10% off most items except non-produce groceries, clearance, Rx, Gift Cards, pre-orders, tax exempt items, digital downloads, shipping charges, and so forth.(Walmart.com has further restrictions)Additional notes:* Discount cards are for employees, domestic partner, dependents (till 19 or 22 if in college)* Associates with 20+ years with company are eligible for lifetime discount card* Purchases must be for personal and immediate family* Available while on LOA up to year* No secondary business purchases* No unethical use buy at discount return at full price etc.Note: It's not guaranteed but WM traditionally give 10% on all grocery around Thanksgiving/Christmas and select Stores may give one time 20% off one item or purchase. Again neither of this are guaranteed or policy in any way.
Primewell Tires: What is your opinion?
We just got the Valera Touring put on a 2003 Windstar and they are by far the loudest tires I've ever had. It sounds like 2 helicopters flying 20 ft. above me. You can't hear the person sitting next to you and turning up the radio doesn't even cover it. It's also a very loud white noise which may help kids in the back fall asleep but it will also put the driver to sleep. I haven't had them long enough to say about traction, only that they are better than the previously worn Cooper tires we had on (which also sucked on traction & wear but was much quieter). I want them off or get rid of the van. After not driving the van for a day or two, I'll start to think it can't be that bad but then I start driving it & despite knowing it's loud, I still am amazed and infuriated at just how LOUD. I can't drive the car without feeling like I'm being tortured. They said it will quite down after breaking it in but it's been well over 500 miles and it hasn't changed. The tires are the only point of contact to the ground, I'd say pay the extra money and get ones you know are good or have proven good ratings. There is nothing much out there on these.
What are some lies car mechanics tell?
I’m going out on a limb here and going to answer from my personal experience. I am not a mechanic, but have worked as a service writer in a couple motorcycle dealerships, meaning that I’m the guy who would typically be telling the lie to the customer.The kicker is, every place I worked at has been staffed with honest and upright employees who treat their customers fairly, which is a real bummer because those stories are never as scintillating as the ones where shady crooks rip off innocent people.Seriously though, the worst “lie” I remember telling is when a customer rode in from out of state on his late-model Harley. He was complaining of a noise from the transmission/primary drive area, so we pulled the bike in and started checking some things. We soon discovered that whoever serviced his bike the last time (ended up being his home dealership in Texas) had drained the transmission fluid, but never refilled it.For those not familiar with mechanics, this is a Very Bad Thing, beyond a novice mistake, moving into the realm of serious stupidity and incompetence.We visually inspected the best we could, filled it with oil, test rode it, and found no issues at all, so sent him on his way. Not wanting to throw his home dealership under the bus, we told him the fluid seemed burnt (it did!) but didn’t elaborate on the extent of our findings. As soon as he left, my manager made a call to that dealership and politely suggested they implement some more stringent hiring requirements.Was it dishonest? Maybe. I don’t regret it, but still. Other than that, I never saw anything shady or dishonest. If someone came to a customer saying that brake pads or an air filter needed replaced, then they actually needed replaced.I’ve found that dishonest shops don’t stay open very long. It is far more profitable to cultivate long-term relationships with customers and their families by following the golden rule from day one. Good business managers know this.I’ve also had my fair share of experiences standing on the other side of the counter at various automotive repair shops, and have always been treated with honesty and courtesy. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I personally think that too many people are suspicious and mistrustful of mechanics without just cause.
Where's the best place to get new tires in Seattle, WA?
I have three suggestions for you. Unfortunately, none of them is particularly original. :-) First, if you belong to Costo or Sam's Club, it is pretty hard to beat them on price. However, I have heard a few knowledgeable people say that many of the tires they carry (even in the big brands, like Goodyear and Michelin), their tires are not the same as the ones sold elsewhere. Still, if you are looking for the lowest price on a decent tire, the membership clubs are the place to go. Discount Tire has decent prices and a broad selection. So they are an obvious choice. You can see their tire prices online, which is also helpful for comparison purposes. They have a number of locations in the Seattle/Tacoma area. http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do Finally, don't overlook Sears. They are very competitively priced, and they will meet or beat any advertised price you see, *except* for the membership clubs. There is also some extra value in having nationwide service. If you drive out of the area, that's definitely an advantage. If I were you, I would pick something out from the Discount Tire Web page, then compare that with Sears to find the best price. With that price in mind, I would go to Costco or Sam's Club and see how much the savings there is. If the price difference is small (like $10 a pair, or some such), I would buy at Sears or Discount. If it is substantial, as it could be, I would go with the Costco or Sam's tires. BTW, when you are comparing prices, make sure you have the whole price--the tire, installation, disposal fee if there is one, valve stems, and whatever. Those can be the hidden way by which sale prices suddenly seem more expensive. Good luck, and I hope this helps.
Math problem Percent Increase and Decrease ! Best answer 10 points !?
Use % = Amount of change ----- 100= Original Amount Or % = Part ("is") ---- 100=Whole ("of") 1.The number of students in class increased from 10 to 15. What is the percent increase? 2.A new pair of shoes cost $64.00. The shoe company then decides to run a special. If the sale price is $48.00, what is the price’s percent decrease during the special? 3. The amount of dogs at the local animal shelter has gone up from 15 to 18. What is the percent increase? 4.A pair of Levi 501 Jeans go on sale from $50 to $45. What is the percent decrease? 5.Julie decides to use a new gasoline that should raise her gas mileage 150%. If her original gas mileage was 18 miles per gallon, what should she now be getting with the new gasoline? 6. A discount tire company is having a sale on snow tires. If the price of an individual snow tire was $45.00, what is the new price if you only have to pay 60%? 7. Tickets to The Phantom of the Opera just lowered 15%. If the new price is $51.00, what was the original price? 8. Pop Music’s Greatest Hits just came out through Amazon. Each CD costs $12.00, but the same CD can be found on eBay for 75% of the cost. How much can one buy the CD for through eBay? yes I will give 10 points to best answer !!!!
Is it normal for a set of tires on a Mercedes-Benz GL 350 (2013) to last merely 10,000 miles, or should they be lasting longer?
Mercedes does build their vehicle to handle well at autobahn speeds in spite of the heavy weight and with minimal noise heard by the driver. BMWs are same. They use high performance tires combined with very aggressive alignment to accomplish that. Unfortunately, large high performance tires are EXPENSIVE and don’t last anywhere near as long as your typical $50 all-seasons you’d throw on a typical asian commuter. 10k is low, but that’s similar to what I usually get out of the rears on my 2006 SLK350, though the fronts last a lot longer than that.Drivers new to German car ownership, are shocked when wear items like tires and brakes are a lot more expensive and last less than a third of what they are used to. A lot of new Benz owners get a bit upset when they are told their truck needs four new tires at a cost of around $1000 after all of 10–15k miles.Since very few Benz owners will be driving their GL on an autobahn or around Nurbughring, it’s pretty safe to replace the OEM tires with any budget tires of the same size that are suitable for your driving conditions. OEM tires are $250+ a piece, while discount tires of the same size can be had for a little over $100.
Why do people drop thousands to repair a vehicle that is worth less than $2000 instead of getting a new vehicle?
I normally buy 2nd hand cars in their 7th to 10th year of life. I browse the 2nd hand car sale sites and choose well kept cars with less than 100K km on the log, and I get 7 to 10 more years of use from them. I have been doing this for over 30 years.I typically pay such a car 1000 to 5000 euros; as soon as I have bought one, I take it to my trusted mechanic who changes oils and filters and fixes anything that may be dangerous and/or leave me stranded. I typically pay 250 to 500 euros but I am willing to pay up to 800–1000 euros for this initial checkup without thinking that the car is a “lemon”. Only once I had to pay more than that, but I had paid the car 1000 euros.The items that I found that mosts often need fixing are the brakes. Disc brakes often have rotors worn to the limit, although the pads may have been replaced, drum brakes get no attention at all.Once the car is in my hands, I treat it as if it were a new car: oil and filter changes once a year (I travel about 15–18K km per year) and replacement of anything that breaks down. I don’t care much about the bodywork and go around happily with bumps and dents and a worn paintwork. On the other hand, I am especially fastidious with the brakes and the motor.I keep track of all the maintenance expenses and I found out that they normally sum up to 400 to 800 euros per year. My rule is that if maintenance costs stay high (above 600 euros) for three years in a row, then the car has to be replaced.I now own an 11 years old Nissan Note which I bought two months ago with 86K km on the log. I spent 250 euros for the first check, during which the mechanic found that nothing was wrong. My previous car was a Fiat Brava, which I had bought when it was 7 years old and had a mere 45K km on the log. I paid 4000 euros for it and kept it for 10 years during which I put 130K extra km on its log.In the last three years the car had some expensive breakdowns: first the differential (650 euros to fix) then the fuel pump (300 euros) and finally the air conditioning (150 euros) so I decided it was time to replace it before the “big one”. Surprisingly, I managed to sell it for 500 euros!In the 10 years I have had this car I have spent on average about 600 euros per year of maintenance and 400 euros of depreciation. Had I bought the same car new, it would have cost me less in maintenance but a lot more in depreciation so I calculated that I have saved 300 to 400 euros per year
Store put the wrong size tires on...who's responsible?
Could you be wrong about which size was on your car? Tire size is frequently an option when buying a car. Exactly what was on the car and what did they put on. Did they change the width, the aspect ratio, or both. Certainly they were wrong to replace what was on your car with a different size without discussing it with you. Either they made a mistake or lied because they didn't have the same size in stock and were concerned they might lose the sale. However, ordinarily increasing the tire size by only two sizes will have no effect on the suspension or alignment and in most cases it actually improves traction, braking, and tire life, unless the car had optional oversize tires to begin with. In fact on many cars larger tires is a recommended factory option. I suspect you have been misinformed about the effects of the larger tire but without knowing which car you have, what size was on the car, and what they put on it's impossible to say for sure.
What are things you need to know before you buy a car?
Chances are, unless there are thousands in rebates, you will not save an astronomical amount of money. Most cars have a 4–7% mark up built in. Keep that in mind at all timesA salesman is not your enemy. Most, especially newbies, will spend much more time fighting with their manager rather than fighting with you. He is a middle man trying to get a sale.You should do a decent amount of research on the model you want before you come in. The dealership will happily give you an education on the trim level you want/can afford, but don’t be surprised when you want a left over 2017 Jeep Compass and you get home and realize there’s no Bluetooth/back up camera.Your friend who said he got a $400 lease payment with “nothing out of pocket” when your negotiated offer is $659 per month? He’s probably lying. There’s just not that mobility in price.If you’re financing a car, knowledge of simple math is key. Don’t walk in asking for a $200 payment with $1000 down when you’re looking at $40k cars.Know what you can afford. You’re gonna see a lot of pretty cars with blinking lights out there. When a bar is priced “Starting at $15,495”, it’s going to be the base model.Know your credit situation. No sense wasting your time or theirs if you want something but no bank will lend you the money for itOld advice, but still true: Try not to buy the first model year of a total redesign: especially if they threw in a new motor or transmission. No way to tell what’s gonna happen to that brand new set up when 30,40 or 50k miles end up on it.Make sure you’re going to love that cat forever. It can be very hard to get a loan on a car that will expect any equity in it, especially with nothing out of pocket. Or at least until the car is almost paid off.Talk to friends, get opinions. Chances are they’ve owned a model you’re looking at. Did the love it? Did they hate it? Why? Who did they buy from? Would they ever buy from them again?Take your time and have fun with it, but don’t sit on it: Good deals never last.Good luck!
Is there a car that makes sense to buy brand new instead of used or certified pre-owned?
Yes, there actually is one. Or at least this was true when I was selling cars from 2005 to 2009 — I’ll bet it still is.The Subaru Outback.Virtually every car depreciates tremendously during its first two years. In most cases you’d be foolish, purely in economic terms, to buy something brand-new. Lucky thing the decision to purchase a car is rarely based on economics, or new cars simply wouldn’t be sold.But the Outback was different. It retained an astounding percentage of its sticker price even after several years. You’d have to wait until an Outback had been on the road four or five years to see the kind of depreciation most cars get in the first two. I used to marvel. They’d have 70,000 or 80,000 miles at that point, and still they would be selling for about two-thirds of the sticker price. With that kind of mileage, most other cars would be about half, or even less.How come? Well, they’re well-made, for one thing. Lithe on the road, with superior weight distribution and an all-wheel drive system that performed better than any car in its price class. But I think the real reason is that they lasted unlike any other car. Or at least that’s what people said. You expect most modern cars to be on their last legs somewhere between 180,000 and 200,000 miles — mostly because once cars get past 120,000 miles or so, owners become reluctant to spend on upkeep.But the Subarus had a rep for lasting to 300K and even beyond. The Outback was the most desirable model — especially the totally tricked-out ones with the leather seats and the whole nine yards. The Subaru salespeople at the lot next to mine attributed it to Subaru’s unique “pancake engine,” in which the cylinders lay flat rather than in a “V” configuration. They said that kept the oil from draining out when the car was not in use, so cold starts couldn’t hurt it.Whether that’s true, I can’t say. I just found myself looking at the used Subarus on our lot and theirs and shaking my head at the asking and selling prices. If your pocketbook is your only consideration, you’d be crazy to buy most cars new, and you’d be just as crazy to buy an Outback used.ADDENDUM: I see Kevin Tibbets has noted the same phenomenon with the Subaru WRX STI. Yes, those commanded high prices as used cars as well. But I didn’t see enough of them come back as used cars to generalize. It stands to reason — supply and demand. People came in looking for them all the time, and they simply weren’t to be had.