First, you have to come to the decision that you need a new car. This means that you have to have an influencing factor. In our case, our Saturn was starting to act up. Out of fear of being nickle and dimed to death, we decided to trade in the Saturn for something new. With the possibility of children in the future, we would need a better designed car anyway. Our Saturn had less than 92,000 miles and wasn't paid off, but it had begun exhibiting problems with the shifting. The check engine light, which we diagnosed and fixed, came on a week later, displaying the same message. We were either looking at a problem with the computer or transmission. Either way, it would have been a dealer issue, which would have been a couple thousand dollars most likely.
So, after you come to the decision that you must get a new car, you have to decide how new. You can get a used car or a brand new one. If you get a brand new one, you have to decide whether to lease or buy. For us, we've had many used cars, and we usually put a great deal of money into them, as random parts will cease to function at the worst times. Buying a brand new car didn't work out very well this last time, so we decided we wanted to lease something. As my car fixing family is in Pennsylvania, Mark and I had to rely on mechanics to fix any problems. By leasing, we get a new car every three years. If something breaks, it is likely under warranty. I'm not excited about always having a car payment, but we can always change our minds. We can buy it when the lease is up, or we can just switch to another car and buy it. For now, we've decided to lease. Trust me, if you struggle with this decision, everyone has an opinion that they would LOVE to give you. Leasing is largely considered to be bad, from what I read, but it looks like it may work out for us.
At this point, you've decided you need a car. You've decided you want to lease. Good luck figuring out which car to get. There are a bunch of dealerships, and they all have different cars. We decided to go with a mid-size car. We didn't want the smallest one, but we didn't need the huge luxury sedan. In one day, Mark went to three dealers and drove seven different cars. He liked the Mazda 3 until he drove it. We were initially leaning towards a Honda Civic because it had really impressive technology in it. Mark even wanted to check out the Kia Soul; I think he was just hoping to see giant dancing hamsters. In the end, the Ford Focus was very comfortable, super techie, and smexy.*
After making all those decisions, it's time to haggle. I'm sure bargaining is an art form, but as far as I'm concerned, it is a lost art form. I'm as good at haggling as I am at brain surgery.** Online, they tell you not to pay sticker price...ask for free oil changes....request free upgrades. Do you know what happened when I did that? They guy just said no. The only thing they capitulated on was the free tank of gas and car wash. I'm pretty sure they would have done that anyway. Our haggling over price was cut short because we had a pin code for the X Plan. It's some fancy plan that has a set price. Frankly, we were just happy Ford offered us $5000 for our car; Honda only offered $2000.
In summation, buying a car is a stressful and scary task. If you're me, you worry over every aspect of it. There are a lot of decisions to be made, and you're signing up for a lot of debt that will be with you for years. If you're Mark, you just worry about which car interacts best with your phone.
The only really fun part about buying a car was naming it. We're currently entertaining the following names:
- The Batman - It's all black with tinted windows.
- Edward or Twilight - The car is black, but when the light hits it, it's all sparkly!
- Some Game of Thrones related name
I'm looking forward to not having to make car decisions for the next three years. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play with the ambient lighting in the car. I can make it different colors!!!
* I choose to believe that smexy is a word; deal with it. Just trying saying it; you'll like it.
**That is to say, I am not good at it. I was taking a test I missed on the day we dissected the cat's brain, so I wouldn't even know what stuff was.
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