u/ConcernedCitizen585

How do you do it if you need to take it to the beach or a trail? I don't have a truck to just load it into the bed. I just have a thule bike rack and that won't work. Is getting a trailer my only option?

Hello there fellow NRIs. If your family (mainly parents) back in India doesn't have a car, how do you manage to get around when you visit? I know most people do rideshare but that is not always convenient or doesn't fit my needs. Every time I visit India with my family, it is a struggle. I am planning to take my family (wife + 2 kids) to India every year. We will stay for 1 to 1.5 months. Also planning to do atleast one long drive per visit to explore India. I am pondering the below options.

1. Buy a car and leave it with my parents. Mostly a well rounded basic SUV (e.g. Brezza). Upside is, we have a car of our own and have the freedom to just go anywhere on a whim. Just very convenient. Downside is my parents cannot drive and they usually don't need a car to get around to where they want to go. So outside of my usage, it will just be sitting there for the rest of the year. Also, for my specific purpose, I am not sure whether to buy a new or used one and have no clue about the used car market in India from a reliability/value/maintenance perspective.

2. Rent a car for the 1 to 1.5 months that I am in India. Upside is, we still have a car of our own. Downside is, I have no clue about rentals in India. Basic google search doesn't give me a lot of options. Especially do not see any options to just rent at the airport (HYD) when we land and then return it when we fly back. Also not sure how reliable rental companies are and given the state of traffic, it seems almost inevitable to have small damages like scratches etc. and how the rental companies handle such things.

3. Continue to rideshare. Upside is, don't have to worry about owning/renting/maintaining a car. Downside is, cannot go on long trips on a whim. I know there are other options like hiring a car and driver in advance etc. but then there is a stranger in your car all the time. Just can't enjoy the trip the same. Also, most of the times the cars are just disgusting and a lot of other issues too.

Would appreciate some insights from people in the same boat on all the above options. Also, any other options I am not thinking of?

I have a Dell XPS 15 9510 from 2021. Was functioning well but suddenly stopped turning on. Started throwing the led light pattern of 1 amber and 6 white. I did some basic troubleshooting - battery replacement, RAM reset etc. Nothing worked.

Took it to local pc repair shop. They tried to flash the bios as a last ditch. That did not work either. They said I need a motherboard replacement. Cost for parts + labor + 6 month warranty is $500. It is going to be a used motherboard pulled from another computer.

My question is, should I approve this or do I have any other options. I am pondering something along the lines of buying the motherboard and replacing myself or buying a used laptop (same or later model) or buy a beatup same model laptop and pull the motherboard myself or just ditch it all and buy a new laptop (if this is the option, is there anything I can do with the old laptop? Like sell parts etc, if so, what parts can and sell and how?

Motherboard part number: P6DRN

I leased a 2024 Lyriq for 24 months. However, I used up the mileage by 21 months. I called the dealership asking if I could just return the vehicle earlier but still pay whatever I still owe on the lease. And they said yes, I can return at any time. They said GM would just send me a bill for whatever I owe for the lease balance + the disposition fees + any damages.

So I scheduled an inspection and got everything done. I went to the dealership and returned the car and was waiting for GM to send me a bill of lump sum amount I owe.

Fast forward to today, I receive a notice in the mail that I have chosen to do an early termination of the lease and that there is a gross early termination total on the car, let's call it $XXX which is nothing but the residual that was on the lease agreement + the remaining months of lease payments + disposition fees. And that I would end up owing whatever is the difference between $XXX and whatever they could sell the vehicle for.

There is simply no way the car will sell for anywhere close to $XXX. The residuals were very inflated at the time I leased it. Am I screwed? If this is the case I will end up owing 10s of thousands. I never intended to early terminate the lease. I could've just kept the car and let it sit for 3 months if I had known this. I just went by what the dealership told me.

UPDATE:

Called Cadillac Financial first thing in the morning today and they confirmed that I will only be paying the lump sum amount of remaining payments + disposition + excess wear. Here are my learnings from this whole ordeal:

1. Always call the lessor for everything related to a lease. Once you pickup the car from the dealer, they are out of the picture from a contract perspective. Although in this case, the dealer did not necessarily give me wrong information, they also did not give me the complete information which lead to confusion.
2. It is always better to fully payoff the lease before you return the vehicle even if returning early. Something I did not do.
3. Kudos to "ohh_My-Science" who dug up their contract and provided valuable information. Cadillac confirmed that, even if you return the lease early, the amount you owe will be the lesser of remaining payments + disposition + excess wear OR the difference between the gross total on the notice and the selling price. Almost always, the former will be lower but it just sucks that you have to wait for them to sell the vehicle and provide you an invoice within 60-90 days instead of paying what you owe, get done with it and close the account. BS process IMO.

A lot of missteps on my part but hope this helps some people out there in similar situation. Thanks all for taking the time to comment on this post.