After figuring out that Alexis was due here any time now, I thought I'd get up the strength to go buy a new car. After hearing on the radio all week long that Phil Long was doing the "buy one used car, get the other for a buck" deal, I told Jackie and we went up this past weekend.
Sure enough, the whole "get another car for a buck" was total bullshit. You had to buy a car from a list of 10 or so cars and you got a list of 10 or so crappy cars. The dollar cars left when we got there was a '92 Dodge Neon and a old '87 Misubishi Montero (I wouldn't have really minded thrashing this one - reliving my teenage days or something). The other catch was that you had to pay full price for the car on the first list.
Ok...I know this happens every single day, but why in the hell would you pay the sticker price for a car? We took a quick look at Saturns and the comment was made that they don't bargain on their prices...zzzzip, I'm outta there. I find that I've really gotten good deals ($130 insurance for $3 the prior car buying) when I can bargain. I'm straightforward, I don't care if I "insult" someone, and it 90% of the time works. Shit it's even fun, and I feel worlds better about making a big purchase when I'm happy about the price.
So automatically I knew that we wouldn't be going home in two cars that day (if any). We test drove 4-5 cars, each one getting a little better in quality, yet increasing in price. The sales guy kept asking with each car we drove about what type of payments we'd want, and each time I said, "The lowest possible". We finally drove a '03 Passat station wagon with 22K miles. Now, before you get all "you're old!" on me, this sucker had heater leather seats, moon roof, 6 disc changer, turbo engine, etc. All younger cool stuff. Sure there was side air bags, the latch system for baby seats, front air bags, abs, and all that as well. So we'd be old cool people at least. I said I was interested.
The guy said, well we can probably get a good deal for you around $17,000 (without a $1 car mind ya - it was stickered for $22k). I said, "Well, I want to stay under $15k." The dude says this ain't gonna happen. He then asks us to sit at a table. I comply, and then I get the manager guy coming over to talk with me. He asks me if I like the car - "Yep". He then asks me if I'd like to buy it. "Yep, how about $14,500?". He laughs and says something about I could have the car that I like if I make a "reasonable offer". He writes down some figures on a page telling me how much money I can pay a month. Let me give the person reading this some advice: Don't ever be fooled by this tactic. Sure, you're payment is $100/month, but you're paying it out over 20 years (I'm being facetious)? You're only paying what, 30 bajillion bucks for a car? I'm just not playing into this guys crap. I say, "Well, it's cool dude. I don't have to buy it. It's OK." I actually give him the same sympathetic tone that he's giving me since he thinks I won't be able to have the car. I'm say, "Well I guess that's it. Thanks for your time", and I get up. We go out to our car and try to start it: the battery is dead. I then run back in to ask someone to jump our car.
We had driven in our oldest car, the Honda. I loved it, it got us through some trips and I'd buy one again. It just worked. Well today was different. The battery had died. Well in the meantime, the boss's boss come over and offers $15,500. I'm holding firm. I say I have a lovely Honda to trade. The car is probably worth $20 bucks, and I even told the prior guy that, but hey, it's a car that they can sell for a few thousand right? He says, well I'll do 14 five if you trade it in.
This is when I go for a few extra bucks. I say, I'll have to talk with my wife. She's sitting in the Honda keeping the thing going. I tell Jackie about it, she says I'm "crazy". I then tell her that I'm going to ask for $14,000, I mean an extra $500 bucks right? She says, "Willie you wanted 14 five, I'm going to be angry if we don't get this car now." I notice that all three of the guys are waiting for my answer. I get out of our stinky piece of shit and walk up to the guy. I have to almost contain my laughter because, well, this is funny shit. I say, "that's workable. Can you go any lower if we trade in this car?" He comes back with $14,250. Not to bore you with further detail, we have a new car.
We looked up the selling and trade in value when we got home. Even I was mildly happy (remember I hate buying cars) when the figures spewed back. The value if we sold it to someone else was around $20k. The trade-in value (the value a DEALER would give us) was above $15,500. I remember seeing the suprise on our test drive guy's face when I told him the value that we were buying the car for. Jackie later told me that the guy mentioned that the dealership actually lost 2k selling us the car. Not bad. We have our new car, for what I think is a fair price, and it's something I hope I don't have to do again for at least 5 years!