Tonight I bought a new car.
That pretty much sums up the day. LOL
All the research had been done. The financing secured. A matrix comparison of other similarly sized, equipped vehicles was done...comparison of insurance costs, fuels costs, warranty coverage...ad naseum! After that weekend in the central coast, it occured to me that the car was not as stable or reliable as I needed it to be. I was hoping it would last for another few months, but that was growing less and less likley everyday. Thoughts of being stranded or the car suffering from some major issue making it unsafe for me and/or my passengers plagued my frontal lobe. Clearly my plan for my car, and my car's plan for were not in sync.
Knowing the car I wanted and FINDING that car was proving to be a challenge. The car only has 4 available options and finding 1 vehicle with that permutation in Southern California was getting to be a pain. And then there was the color...gawd. Expanding the search to Nevada helped, but even then not so much. So then it happened. A dealership in Poway said they had JUST gotten in 2 of the 2009's. What? 09's?? Already?? The car arrived on their lot 2 days before.
Me and Kiki went after work, ostensibly just to take a look. Just in case I pulled my credit reports, printed out 2 independent pricing guides, got a copy of the pre-approved financing and headed out. I could spot the 2 09's a mile away, even thought they were sitting in a see of 08's.
The test drive went wonderfully. The car only had 12 miles on it. We got back to the dealership, and the guy asked me what I thought. Clearly I liked the car, but we needed to talk numbers. Most dealers were offering this car at sticker or $3,000 above. I told him I know what this car invoices and MSRP's for, and I don't want to sit here for 4 hours haggling over minor points. I made what I thought was a good offer. He countered with a couple hundred more...and we were done. Then following a friend of mine's advice I told him I had a trade - treating each thing like a seperate deal. Given the condition my old car was in, I was very happy with what I got for it.
::drum roll::
I am the proud owner of a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT in Panther Black Metallic with black/onyx red leather trim.
::exhale::
Posted by tony at June 25, 2008 9:15 PM | TrackBack