qdwag -- I know it's possible we'd never have a big problem that was covered by the waranty. It's 'insurance' only against a major failure. jkom -- Oh, if these covered maintenance I wouldn't be asking the question! LOL Both are the same 'limited' coverage that's been on the car since the 4-year manufacturer's waranty expired. The Jaguar we kept for 10 years prior to this one WAS a true Jaguar, an XJR, built prior to Ford owning the brand. Lots of things could go wrong on that one, although not much did, come to think of it. (Unlike the three before it.) Ford brought out the X-Type as a 'entry' to the Jaguar line. I think it was a great product -- they may have dropped it was because it was indeed a 'bargain'. (I think retail was only $36K new.) When we bought it in '06 I couldn't find a car with the same features AND a beautifully finished interior -- no 'plastic'. Perhaps we'll never have a big problem with this car, given its record so far and the few miles we drive. It just seems to me if there's one computer failure, we'll be out a thousand or more -- or we then dump it and have to go out and find a replacement Whatsis -- like WHAT? An Audi, BMW, or whatever else is all-wheel drive w/decent interior. Then we're paying a lot more than the waranties. Thank you both for helping me try to sort this out.

Yes, I've been looking at the colors at ALL times of the day... morning, noon, night, sunny days, cloudy days, lights on, lights off... :-) I went to the paint store today, and they were pretty helpful. They said if too much red is showing to look for a color that has more green. (the green cancels out the red... makes sense now that I think about it...) So the two colors that seem to be standing out are Fresh Butter and Hawthorne Yellow. I'm also debating Barley and Vellum. BTW, they gave me a great tip at the paint store: to grab several of the little paper strips of the color I'm interested in (say, Fresh Butter) and cut out the color I want from all the strips, and then tape the little squares together to make a bigger square. This will give me a chance to see the color in a bigger "swatch" before committing to the little $4 sample pot of paint (yeah, $4 doesn't seem like much, but I've already bought three and the colors, once "big," looked SO different from the little chip that I could probably easily go through 4 or 5 different sample pot colors, and it's going to really add up!) Thanks for all of your help and tips!!!

So, I have read several of the posts and for some unknown reason felt compelled to leave my 5c worth of information. My wife and I joined direct buy in 2005, and we paid about $3000 for our membership. At first, I was afraid we had made a huge mistake, because the savings with our small purchases were not making up for the membership costs. $100 back then was a lot of money for us; $3000 was a fortune! In 2006, we bought a Condo and we re-did one of the bathrooms. Travertine and glass tile, granite countertop, 2 sinks (Kohler), 2 faucets (danze), 2 shower heads and 2 body sprays (Kohler), shower valves and diverters (Danze). I shopped online and found that prices for fixtures were about 40% cheaper at DB, and for granite countertops about 20% cheaper than local quotes. I figured we recouped about $1500 to $2000 that first project. Nevertheless, back then, I often would become frustrated because I would find products which were cheaper or really close to the prices at direct buy elsewhere. After the initial 3 years, we began paying $150 per year to keep our membership. We made several small purchases, which did not amount to a whole lot of savings. Things really changed in August 2011 when we bought a large foreclosed house, a total gut job. This is our dream home. Our new place has about 10K square feet, 5baths, 2 powder rooms, a sauna with a shower. We purchased through direct buy: - all plumbing fixtures (kohler, hansgrohe) - tile / marble (emser) - hardwood floors (indusparquet and homerwood - $7.80 for solid walnut floors vs $16 per sqf locally) - heated floors / heated towel bars (warmly yours / Amba - kitchen cabinets (Omega solid walnut) - vanities, laundry room cabinets (Brookwood) - bar cabinets (Ultracraft) - Fireplaces (Regency) - Sauna (Amerec) - Steam generator (Kohler) - appliances for a second kitchen and bar (kitchen aid, marvel, Perlick kegarator, summit) - all light fixtures, including trims for recessed lights, LED strips, exterior lights (eurofase, Eglo) Direct buy does not offer Thermador, which we bought for our kitchen from Nebraska Furniture Mart. Regarding costs? Our kitchen cabinets were 22K for solid walnut cabinets. 20K local quote for veneer doors; 23K for solid cherry local We used Kingston Peninsula 16x32 for 3.50 per sqf, vs $11.40 per sqf at wayfair / walmart, but I think you can find it for around $8 per sqf. Assuming $4 difference, in 5K sqf we saved about 20 grand. Now, let's say you shop online or somewhere else and you find a product cheaper than DB's price. It actually happened to me. I was looking at the Hansgrohe raindance imperial 600 ( retail $4500, cheapest online $2700). I actually found one at plumber surplus for $1600. I requested a price check at direct buy (sent internet link, showing lower price and item in stock, available for purchased). Direct buy lowered the price to $1150 (all fees included). Is direct buy perfect? Not by a long stretch. As other members pointed out, there is little support in terms of selecting or getting info about products. You have to do the leg work yourself, research products online, etc⦠Not all manufacturers ship to home, but nowadays a large number of them do. Also, as pointed out earlier, items are not available off the shelf. This is a problem if you need something right away. Our washer broke, and we bought a new one from Lowes⦠All and all, I think direct buy is a really good deal if you have a large project (even a total kitchen redo). It is a bad deal if you require a lot of assistance, are not willing to do the research on products yourself, cannot wait 1 month or more for shipment, and if you are not planning to buy a lot in the near future. I hope my experience helps...

@strawchicago z5 Good Morning, Lovely thread Straw! I have bought & sold 8 homes & I‘d be happy to give you a few tips for best timely sales and making a profit. Selling Your Home Tips list: 1. Only add home improvements that ”a typical buyer wouod appreciate & need.“ Additional extravagant improvements that the house doesn’t really require may not raise the price if your home because I buyer doesn’t want or need them such as adding a sky light or an extra marble floor if the house already has good lighting & other marble floors. 2. Be careful about adding unique home improvements that the typical buyer wouodn’t aporeciate. A movie star put stone floors in living room which was very expensive, in a regular neighborhood which wouod need to be removed to sell to an average buyer. 3. Do simple and clean gardening w/ a few flowers near entrance doors to brighten sell appeal. However However, most typical buyers are usually not interested in your personal gardens and will not pay extra for fancy gardens. Typical buyers do all new landscaping. A house is priced to sell on the market by it’s size, it’s rooms, and it’s standard improvements. 4. Clean fresh new paint inside & outside can upgrade the value of your home and sell it instantly. 5. A realtor once said to me that most buyers are women and you need to set the home stage so that when they walk in they ”Fall in love with your house,” aesthetically. Freshly paint all if it! Put new linen out, clean carpets, bake cookies as they walk in the door. 6. Do your own research , too, to price your home. Look at the internet homes for sale in your area yourself after you ask a realtor to price it. Look at square footage to match with yours. Match your home with other homes w/ bathrooms. Match home upgrades with other homes until you find homes that are reasonably oriced that are close to matching/competitively priced similar to your home. Then reasonably price your home. 7. If you buy in popular home neighborhoods, areas that are fast growing, people are buying homes frequently in that area, you can make handsome profits. . 8. If home has some improvements & you want to make a profit, you may need to finish all improvemts so you are selling a fixed up home to make a profit. People orefervit all fixed up or it’s a fixer. If its difficult to determine it’s value because it needs 1/2 or 1/4 fixing and you did a few upgrades the buyer may be confused on whether to take a chance in it or not & what’s it’s value. 9. If owner puts a value too high on a home it can sit for months before they drop price & eventually sell it. This tells the buyer it may be an undesirable home if it sits on market for awhile when it is eventually sold the price may really have to go low. Sometimes one looses more money when this hapoens. 10. Clean it well before the sale process starts. A green well-manicured simple lawn and painted home sells a home! (Keep tye home furniture simple, get rid of all clutter, pack clutter in storage. Make home staging look like a furniture store-very simple, attractive, clean.) It will give your home more spaciousness for buyer to imagine how they will use it. Have only a few decorative pieces out. Turn on lights in each room when showing home. 11. Try not to talk to buyers. Let your realtor do it. You should leave the home when realtor shows it. Best keep transaction totally not personal-keep the selling of home to be polished-professional . Do not appear needy in selling home or anxious.,It will effect the price the buyer may offer. (I’ll offering buying home tips another day.) BEST WISHES!