New Car

[shipperx]

Picked it up from the dealer today!
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It only struck me the other day that this is the first time I've actually bought a car. I've only leased the last two and the one before that my parents bought. Anyway (giggle) I've got my new car. :)

(Though dealing with car salespeople is hell. They never like to give you the actual damn figures on the car! And they try to confuse you with all the options. (Wait! No. What's this? But you quoted this on the car. How are you coming up with this figure? Grr! It's really not a fair playing field. Just give me the flat cost, damnit! And still, somehow I'm left with the feeling that they slipped something in there at the end when they changed me from 60 month to 63 month financing. It's trying to meet a monthly payment, target thing. They manage to screw you with that. My payments are less... and yet with the extended warrenty it's more and Just give me the flat cost, damnit! [And funny how they could suddenly come up with a better financing rate after I got financing elsewhere. Suddenly, "Oh! Why didn't you let us finance it?" Me: "Because the rates you quoted me over the phone weren't as good." Them: "Oh! Well I was just giving you a generic rate. I bet I can beat it. You have EXCELLENT credit. I didn't know you'd have a credit score that high." ::eyeroll:: And low and behold suddenly he could give me the lower rate.]

Man, I'm sure in Dante's rings of hell there's got to be one for car salesmen. At worst I got screwed only a little bit because I had priced it all before hand, knew exactly what it cost, had more than $3500 off because of my credit card points, then put $1000 down on top of that so as to finance less. Since I had sussed out all the pricing beforehand I knew what the monthly payments should be so it's not like they had much wiggle room. Still, they wouldn't write anything DOWN while they were going through the financing and he wouldn't state flat-out what the price was, just what my payments were (which is a classic move) and at the end -- I really need to go back and re-read the contract-- I just have the feeling that they got the exact same money *back* that I had gotten off in the first place (I HATE finance.)

I probably shouldn't have agreed to the extended warrenty. It makes me suspicious because it took my monthly payment back to where it was before the lower financing and that's with three payments more than what I had calculated before, so... I just have the sense that somehow I got bamboozled during the financing process into paying just a little more than they had quoted beforehand (they always get you in the financing).

Oh well, if anything breaks 4 years from now, I'll be glad of the extended warrenty.

Still, new car. Whee!

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Congrats! And you'll be glad of the extended warranty, imo. I always get them.

I was really lucky when I bought my Vue: 0% financing. Can't beat it with a stick.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Ooh! O% Financing is nice.

Unfortunately because of the GM Discount thing going on the Saturn dealer told me they couldn't even find the car that I wanted. So even he said for me to go ahead and get the Chevy.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Cool. Stopped you having to agonize any more over the decision.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Woohoo!!! New car!!!

Though the whole experience does not sound like it was all fun for you...

Thankfully, we didn't have any problems with salesmen the last time we went out car-shopping. When we bought my previous car, we had salesmen constantly trying to talk us into using part of of the money we had as a downpayment and then financing it... I mean, REALLY putting the pressure on for it, to the point where we ended up walking off several lots. It's the best way to deal with moronic, pushy salesmen. Though, of course, if there's a car you really want and they have it, it doesn't work as well.

Buying Mitch's car was really different, because they couldn't keep MINIs in stock, so they weren't nearly as desperate to sell... they essentially let the cars sell themselves (and, as it was, we had a four month wait). And they didn't bat an eye when we told them we didn't need financing. Come to think of it, neither did the place we eventually bought my previous car or the place where I got my current one. It probably did help, this last time, that we'd gone in with estimates and such from the company website. We *knew* what that car was going for in other areas and what everything was worth.

Have fun with the new car, though!!! They're just about the coolest thing, ever... even when they start to age a bit, it never feels like it, because you're along for the ride, so to speak. The other thing I can recommend is getting the car detailed every year or so (this was our intention, though I've only ever had it done once to my car). It makes it feel like a whole new car again!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think it was mostly just the contrast with last time. Last time I handled the entire thing on the Internet and on the phone. This time I sort of split the difference. Never again. Internet and phone only. It's a power shift. When you aren't in the showroom they can't pressure sell you. So you just to in, lie, tell them you have a lease and that you're just preshopping so they can't pressure sell when you're test driving. Then you get out and do it on the phone.

I don't like going into dealerships to deal. It's far, far less stressful on the phone.

[cy-girl.livejournal.com]

Memphis car dealers are such total jerks that I and most people I know wind up buying their cars out of town. They to things such as tack on $300 for "paperwork" which I think of as "operating their business."

Enjoy your new car!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm still getting used to it being so much higher off the ground than my old car.