Buying a New Car

[jimhelm]

cool! treat it like a rented mule.

look in the spare tire well to make sure there's no rust. your mechanic will check the undercarriage, seals, CV boots, struts, etc. A car that old with one owner says 'little old lady' . I hope it passes the tests. looks like a nice car. pre-congrats.

[glatt]

Mechanic said it was good.

Brakes are at about 25% and will need new pads and turn the rotors in a few thousand miles. Will pass inspection though.
The spare is flat, but looks brand new (full sized!)
Passenger wiper blade needs to be replaced.
Screw in rear tire tread. Probably can be plugged.

Nothing major wrong.

It's sitting in our driveway right now. Sneaky salesman. Letting us take it home so we'll grow to love it.

So do you want to come down and negotiate for us tomorrow morning? It's totally out of both of our personalities.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that the radio stations were preset to 1-NPR 2- Classical 3-Classical 4-Talk 5-Oldies (80's music) and 6-another 80's station. Would the salesmen go through the trouble of presetting the stations to make it seem like an old lady had this car?

There were two Hershey Kisses under the jack, and some spilled clean kitty litter. I wonder if that was for traction, or spilled groceries.

Our daughter is unimpressed with the car. She liked the minivan.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by glatt

It's sitting in our driveway right now. Sneaky salesman. Letting us take it home so we'll grow to love it.

isn't that called the "pet shop close"?

[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by glatt

Mechanic said it was good.

Brakes are at about 25% and will need new pads and turn the rotors in a few thousand miles. Will pass inspection though.
The spare is flat, but looks brand new (full sized!)
Passenger wiper blade needs to be replaced.
Screw in rear tire tread. Probably can be plugged.

Nothing major wrong.

It's sitting in our driveway right now. Sneaky salesman. Letting us take it home so we'll grow to love it.

So do you want to come down and negotiate for us tomorrow morning? It's totally out of both of our personalities.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that the radio stations were preset to 1-NPR 2- Classical 3-Classical 4-Talk 5-Oldies (80's music) and 6-another 80's station. Would the salesmen go through the trouble of presetting the stations to make it seem like an old lady had this car?

There were two Hershey Kisses under the jack, and some spilled clean kitty litter. I wonder if that was for traction, or spilled groceries.

Our daughter is unimpressed with the car. She liked the minivan.

no, but that's a really good idea!

kitty litter might have been from her 37 cats! is there any pet smell or mildew noticeable?


and, it's ok if you don't negotiate. $7500 is a fair price. There is a certain amount of peer pressure that people apply when they hear that someone bought a car. and a good bit of monday morning quarterbacking goes on too.

If you like the car, buy it. maybe you can use the mechanical issues as negotiating chips. that may be more comfortable for you. the car has to have a working spare to pass inspection. demand a new full spare, a fixed or replaced tire where the screw is, and 2 new wiper blades.

[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by BigV

isn't that called the "pet shop close"?

when there is a trade involved, it's called 'de-horsing' them.

and yes, it's an effective tactic. and it's working right now. glatt is taking mental ownership, or at the very least, he's visualizing it. his neighbors will see it, he has told his friends about it.... these people would be disappointed if he gave it back. 75% of the time, it works every time.

unless there is something really really wrong about the car.

[glatt]

There is a little pet hair here and there in the car, but absolutely no smell of pet, no mildew, and no stains. We showed up unannounced and jumped into the car and closed the doors right away so it wouldn't have a chance to air out. It didn't smell bad at all. And after testing out the windows, we drove around with the windows closed and recirculating the air. No odors.

Most places suggested making appointments, and I could imagine the salesmen opening all the windows of the car you planned to drive and fanning it out to get rid of any smell, so I wanted to always show up unannounced. I've got a very sensitive nose, and it passed muster with me.

[jimhelm]

awesome!

I hope it serves you well!

[monster]

Originally Posted by glatt

.

So do you want to come down and negotiate for us tomorrow morning? It's totally out of both of our personalities.
.

That's our problem too.

Minivan is at the dealer, beest away for the weekend so we'll drive it and do the deal Monday assuming all is well.

[glatt]

I offered $6500.

They countered with my choice of $6900 As Is, or the full $7500 and they fix all my complaints, including the brakes.

I went with the $6900 because I don't want to make another trip down there to pick the car up after the work is done. It's only 10 miles away, but traffic there is a nightmare. It's about an hour's drive.

They filled the spare with air and topped off the gas tank. With tax, tags, etc. it came to around $7400.

Thanks for all your help, Jim! I'm going to hit the Cellar tip jar in your name.

We've got a second car now, with about half the mileage of our first car. Sweet! Already, the kids are asking if it can be our designated road trip car. More spacious and comfy.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by jimhelm

75% of the time, it works every time.

Glatt, I know every time you go somewhere you'll take the car that gets twice the mileage if possible. But instead of thinking half or twice the mileage, work out some numbers.
After you've determined what kind of mileage you're actually getting, figure what the difference between them is in dollars for say, 10 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles. It may not be as big as you think.

There has been an ongoing back and forth on my truck forum. Two engines, the smaller 300hp uses regular gas, the larger 400hp uses premium. These guys will argue the advantage of one or the other ad infinitum.

So I figured a difference between the regular and premium seems to hold at about 25 cents, and both engines are averaging about 20 mpg (yeah, same mileage), so the bottom line for the larger engine is about $12.50 for a thousand fucking miles. They still argue.

Of course these numbers don't pertain to you, but looking at the money puts it in a different perspective.

[Clodfobble]

I feel the same way about gas prices. Drives me crazy when people obsess over a few cents here and there in gas, which adds up to effectively nothing in the long-term, yet can't break themselves of a weekly movie rental or pizza delivery habit that costs 30 times that.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by glatt

We've got a second car now, with about half the mileage of our first car. Sweet! Already, the kids are asking if it can be our designated road trip car. More spacious and comfy.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Glatt, I know every time you go somewhere you'll take the car that gets twice the mileage if possible. But instead of thinking half or twice the mileage, work out some numbers.

I realize I used the wrong word in my post. I said "mileage" but what I meant was the miles on the odometer. I meant to say I'm happy we got a car with really low miles for its age and price.

It's true that the Camry isn't as fuel efficient as the Prizm, but it's not that bad at all. I'm happy with it. It's better than most cars out there. And we'll definitely pay attention to the fuel efficiency for at least the first several tanks. I want to get to know this car. Already, it's the car closest to the street and is getting the most use.

[jimhelm]

A winnar is you.

Conglattulations!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by glatt

I realize I used the wrong word in my post. I said "mileage" but what I meant was the miles on the odometer.

Nevermind.

[glatt]

I never posted a picture. This is what our driveway looks like now. The Geo Prizm is parked in and the "new" Camry is getting all the use now.