Haggling for cars

I've driven a lot of cars in the 7.5 years since I got my license (dear god, I'm getting old). When I say "a lot", I mean 6 (or 7, depending on how you look at it...but I'll get back to that). Most have been junk....some were not. And there's a reason why I'm bringing all of this up...but for now I'll do some free typing.

Like most people, I got my license at 17. It was one of the greatest days of my life. That little piece of plastic was my ticket to freedom and independence....or so I thought. For, you see, my first car was a 1978 Buick Century. It was huge, slow, clunky, yellow, and it hardly worked. So how did we fix these problems? We pimped it out. oh yes. The cloth ceiling was hanging down, so we removed it and glued a blue carpet up there instead. We replaced the stone-age radio system with a nice head unit and speakers. To match the ceiling, we covered my steering wheel and seats in blue (a non-matching blue). Then, to top it all off, we painted the car blue (my dad did it himself, in his motorcycle repair shop). Now, as strange as all that sounds, I liked it. I've always believed that everyone should start with an old car. It gives you a chance to learn how to make your own minor repairs and improvements...PLUS, you can get into an accident and you've only lost a few hundred dollars.

But, alas, the blue car began leaking different liquids (after I was hit 3 times in 1 week by different cars)...and so we parked it on the side of the driveway and bought a new car. (Don't worry, Old Blue will be back later in the story)

So we replaced it with a 1985 Buick. There was nothing special about this car. I drove it for 8 months and the internal computer died....and so did the car. So I found myself without a car...still only 17...and no income. What did I do? I resurrected Old Blue.

We patched the holes. Banged out the dents. Placed a coat hanger around the muffler to make it quieter, and off I went....for about a month. What was I thinking? That car sucked....I needed something better.

For my 18th birthday, my father did something unbelievable. He took me to a car dealership! Well, to the back lot of one, where they keep the cheaper cars. We went home that night with a 1993 Mustang. It was pretty sweet. I drove this car for almost 3 years before someone hit me in Delaware and the car was totaled.

Then, on September 11th, 2001, I bought a newer car. I was driving to NJ from DE when I heard the radio reports about the Twin Towers. Howard Stern was actually cracking jokes about it. Anyway, I bought a 1993 Ford Taurus. We still haven't gotten to a car that is new enough to have a warranty or anything....but this was the first car I ever had that seemed in perfect condition (aside from the fact that people called me a soccer mom for driving it). This car was great. I had it for 2 years before it fell apart. You see, it was leaking anti-freeze...Some where. It never seemed to leak out onto the ground...but it was going somewhere....because I had to refill it every few days.

Well, we had the bright idea that maybe we should trade this car in before it totally died. And so we did. In February of 2003, we bought a 1999 Saturn. It even had a warranty!! But there was a catch. Manual Transmission. And I had no idea how to drive one. So I learned that night and drove back to UD (I only stalled out once). The Saturn was a legitimate new car, in my book. I still have it today....but not for long.

The reason I'm typing all of this is because I bought my first brand new car last night. It's a 2005 Saturn ION Redline. 4 cylinder turbo charged engine. 5-speed manual. It's pretty freakin sweet.

So let me get to the point. Buying a new car. This is what I've learned:

1. Research. I read online forums and consumer reports for 2 months before I even went to look at cars in person. I wanted to know everything about them so that the dealer couldn't lie to me.

2. Don't make it a 1 day process when you do go to look at the cars. Let the dealer know that you're going to go see other cars. This way, you can walk out with his initial offer.

3. When you are ready to buy, go on the last day of the month, because dealers get bonuses when they sell a certain amount of cars in a month so they might be desperate to sell you something.

3. Price wars. In the end, narrow your search to 2 cars. Find out the initial offers on both of them. Then, go to the dealer of the more expensive car. Sit down and start haggling. I went to look at a Mazda 6. The dealer didn't let me leave for 3 hours. He just kept giving me different offers, because he wanted me to sign papers instead of leaving to look at the Saturn again. At one point I had the Saturn dealer on the phone giving me his offers, while the Mazda dealer sat next to me.

4. Have someone else with you. This way you have someone to talk to. You can play Good Cop/Bad Cop. The other person will make you feel more comfortable and less likely to make a hasty decision.

5. My last point is: Buy the car you like better. In the end, both dealers had matched each other at their absolute low price. The Mazda was worth a LOT more than the Saturn and it had many more features...but I just liked the Saturn better. I'm ok with the fact that I would have gotten a better deal with Mazda. I went home that night with no buyer's remorse.


So that's it. I didn't trade in my current Saturn because my little sister is graduating from Shawnee High School in 2 weeks and I'm giving my car to her as a graduation present. She's driving something that is likely to fall apart at any moment.

So yeah, I'm pretty excited. I'll post a picture when I pick the car up later today.