ALLEN EDMONDS APPRECIATION THREAD 2021: News, pictures, clothing, accessories, etc.

[donkeyhoatie]

Seeing @ae_ashley 's message late last night inspired me to put these on today.

Years ago, I realized I had a chili hole. I know, I know, you should be more aware of a chili hole much earlier than that. What can I say? I'm slow.

Anyway, not long after the appearance of my chili hole, Ashley gave me a call, asking if I'd be interested in a pair of SMU chili MacNeils. Leave it to her to acutely point out that I also had a MacNeil hole at the time.

Needless to say, I was in.

The chili MacNeils showed up a few days later and I realized how empty my life had been to that point with no chili and no MacNeil in my collection. They quickly became one of my favorite colors and my favorite shoe that AE makes/made (RIP MacNeil!). I firmly believe that I could live out the rest of my days in nothing more than MacNeils and Higgins Mills.

When I heard about the Charleston store closing, I looked at the ShoeBank to find out what was there in my size. When my eye landed on a pair of chili Higgins Mills . . . well, I couldn't think of a much more appropriate pair of footwear for my final purchase.

They arrived about 2 weeks ago and I loved them. Part of me wondered if I should keep them, given that I have a pair in both brown and burgundy. Was chili too close? Before I could decide, Phoebe the 80-pound PIbble, made the decision for me. As I was standing in there in them for the first time, she decided to launch herself at me, going from 0-60 in roughly .5 seconds, rope toy in mouth, hoping to engage me in a spirited bout of tug-of-war. As she crashed into me, she landed on the new boots, putting a scratch in the right toe and cementing this pair as all mine, regardless of any color redundancy there might have been. Besides, who could get mad at a face like this?

Oh well, there are worse fates to have than a scratched, beautiful pair of boots and a beautiful, goofy dog to go along with a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter.

Hope you all are gearing up for an awesome 2022 and that we're in store for a lot of awesome things during AE's 100th year in business.

Here are the boots, in the first 10 minutes of wear, right before the scratch.

Happy New Year, fellow barnweasels!

 

[mreams99]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

 

[ProfilaBinding]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

Most of the power in my experience seems to come with how patient you can be. Based off what you said, it sounds like you are not wanting to wait, right? I would think you could get top dollar right now for your trade in, given that inflation is insane and that used cars are in high demand. I sold a car to Carvana in 2020 as they were offering much more than any dealership did. I know it's a hard time to be buying a car, but good luck!

 

[Shoenut]

How am I gonna make it to New Year’s Eve? Already out of bed. Damn!

 

[KarlHungus]

Most of the power in my experience seems to come with how patient you can be. Based off what you said, it sounds like you are not wanting to wait, right? I would think you could get top dollar right now for your trade in, given that inflation is insane and that used cars are in high demand. I sold a car to Carvana in 2020 as they were offering much more than any dealership did. I know it's a hard time to be buying a car, but good luck!

Agree with this. If you can, check your options with some of the online trade in platforms before you talk to the dealership. They are giving good prices and used car values are at an all time high. I would assume the dealers will try to sandbag as they always do, so best to know your alternatives and tell them to match or you will sell elsewhere.

 

[MajorDash]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

Like others have said, get instant quotes from Carmax, Carvana, and Vroom.

See if they will match them, or at least get close. Remember that trading in your car will reduce the tax burden on your new purchase, so you might be getting a better deal with a ‘lower’ trade in due to the taxes.

 

[FatTuesday]

On the seventh day of Christmas...

SHELL DUNDEES

 

[peppercorn78]

Been a minute since I pulled out my Shaker Heights. Would love to see these as a TS/MTO option.

As my pal @peppercorn78 would say, “Shakers rock!”
View attachment 1724040

Yes!! Those are looking great! My own pair desperately needs recrafting.

 

[peppercorn78]

Here is a simple cap-toe boot comparison.

Alden:

Viberg (Service Boot):

Viberg (Halkett):

Grant Stone:

Allen Edmonds (Landon):

Allen Edmonds (First Ave.):

Carmina (Soller):

Crockett & Jones (Coniston):

Crockett & Jones (Harlech):

Oak Street Bootmakers (Lakeshore):

White's Boots (MP):

Admittedly, some of them are slightly cherry-picked for the ones with longer cap toe variants, but I included some shorter options like the C&J Coniston.

I love the sculpted heel on the Carmina

 

[mreams99]

Like others have said, get instant quotes from Carmax, Carvana, and Vroom.

See if they will match them, or at least get close. Remember that trading in your car will reduce the tax burden on your new purchase, so you might be getting a better deal with a ‘lower’ trade in due to the taxes.

A trade-in adds some significant value for me versus a sale to an individual or another dealer.
As you mentioned, it will reduce my sales tax burden. The dealership also has a promotion where the first three years of maintenance are covered on the new car if you trade in another car to buy it.

 

[James1051]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

get a number from carvana

 

[James1051]

On the seventh day of Christmas...

SHELL DUNDEES

View attachment 1728671 View attachment 1728672

Very nice
The Dundee is one of those AE models that a number of people would like to see return, at least for a TS or GMTO.

 

[jet-stream]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

In my view, there are two parts of this: a math problem and an economics problem.

The math problem is fairly straightforward: the dealer trade-in value has additional worth, as you and others have noted. Knowing that value will help in your negotiations (though I would not bring it up unless the dealership does, so you can refute what may be fuzzy math). For instance, the first three years of maintenance are usually pretty cheap in my experience. Costs will vary based on what you’re getting, but figure out the maintenance cost over three years. Maybe $600? As noted, the tax burden is different if you trade in. No idea what the car taxes are, but if they are 8% and you trade-in for $10k, you’re saving $800. In my example, then, the effective value of the trade-in is their quote plus $1400. There’s also “hassle tax” - presumably, your time is worth something, and it’s far easier to hand the keys to the dealer as a trade-in.

The economics problem is more complex, and depends largely upon you. They are incentivized to make a sale, and probably to make one today. However, they will typically have more information than you. This is where making sure you know the math levels the playing field. As Lobster and others have said, knowing how third parties value the car (and knowing the values I noted above) will be very helpful. Bring up the aspects that are good for you (third party value) and be ready to counter their objections on benefits to you with specific numbers (that’s the math part of the problem). Ultimately, the deciding factor is who needs it more. If you’re willing to walk away from the entire sale, you can probably get them to as high a price as they can make. If you are committed to the new car, you’re limited on how far they will go on trade-in price (and very limited if they know you are committed).

Good luck!

 

[Patrick1053]

I have to go to the car dealership tomorrow to negotiate the trade-in value of my car. (I’ve already got a price nailed down for the new vehicle.)
The initial trade-in offer was based on an email exchange with no pictures. It was about 15% lower than what I’d like to get for it. I’m hoping to get a better offer when I go to the dealership tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

We happy if they stick to the email price, because it only gets worse not better

 

[mreams99]

We happy if they stick to the email price, because it only gets worse not better

I sent him the Kelly Blue Book trade-in value that I got online. He knows I’m wanting to get a little more and seemed to indicate that he could give me a better price. I’m going to try to see what I can do.

The bad thing is that I just realized that I have no idea where the title is right now. I can get a duplicate title next week (the office is closed today due to the holiday.)

Is that going to be a problem?