CNN just published an article about my car search experience

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The car market is gonzo. Here’s what to do if you have to buy one anyway

CNN business writer: Peter Valdes Dapena interviewed me after hearing of my frustration looking for a car from another forum…

Interesting he got most of the interview on the article and used other sources to agree.

The reporter had never heard of the typical practice of upcharging a used car by thousands over the listed price (dealer add ons) and surprised him hearing that CA dealers do this but has not heard of this in the east coast.

For those outside CA, do used car dealers up-charge / add on accessories that are mandatory (alarms, paint protection, plastic door edge guards, clear door handle protectors, etc) ???

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From the article, how is any of the below good advice or accurate? The inflated pricing doesn’t matter as between financing or leasing. What BMWs/Mercedes are only leasing for slightly more than a “mainstream model”? Is this ignoring putting 5k DAS?

"Consider leasing instead of buying

Shozo thinks he might just lease a car for himself and his wife and let his son drive one of their current cars.

That’s probably a good idea, said Drury. Luxury automakers, especially, are still offering leasing incentives, he said, making it possible to get a BMW or Mercedes for only a little more than you might pay to lease a mainstream model. And leasing could allow him to ride out the currently inflated car market."

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There are so many weasel-words and qualifiers, this sentence shouldn’t really exist…must be paid by the word.

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When you keep reading articles where its obvious that you know more about the subject then the writer makes you question everything else that’s published by the media.

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Cnn living up to its reputation of talking out their ass with clueless reporting.

Where are their precious fact checkers on this one?

Go buy a 3 or 5 series right now and see how underwater you are in 3 years.

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Oh it’s bad with any kind of reporting. There is a site, help a reporter, where you can sign up and act as an expert on pretty much anything you want as long as you convince the reporter of it.

Considering that modern standard of verifying reporting consists of “I don’t give a shit I get paid by the word”, we get garbage articles on every subject under the sun. At this point I don’t even read pieces where the news source tells me what I should do. I honestly wish there was still a news organization that “reported” instead of “editorialize” everything, but that’s a different conversation for a different forum.