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Home > 7 hours at the dealer later, I bought my new car!!!!!

7 hours at the dealer later, I bought my new car!!!!!

May 18th, 2013 at 09:49 pm

I am either the biggest fool or got a great deal. Honestly, I’m not sure which it is.

Now most people don’t walk into a car dealership alone, but that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t feel like possibly waiting or coordinating with friends or family, and I was of the mindset of being on a mission to accomplish a car purchase as quickly as possible so I have it to start my new job. I also was hoping to make a deal this weekend and not have it drag into next week.

I did a ton of research online, and I had already decided I wanted a 2013 Ford Fiesta SE, although I was also leaving room for the possibility of test-driving a Prius today. That didn’t actually happen as I bought a NEW 2012 Fiesta SES.

I THOUGHT I knew exactly what I wanted after all that online research and comparing of costs and options, but it’s amazing how quickly you can start waffling, especially when you see how nice these cars are in person. And once you allow yourself to start doing that at the dealership, it quickly becomes very confusing becus you’re wanting to compare apples to apples but there are so many individual numbers to include. On top of that, I’d been feeling like I’ve “deprived” myself of most luxuries, certainly over these last 3.5 years, and overall I lead a very frugal lifestyle.

So I guess that was the perfect segue that helped contribute to my buying beyond what I’d planned when I arrived at the 2nd dealer. (The first dealer guy was a youngish guy and after spending a long time, I balked when he offered just $800 for my Civic, so I left.)

At the 2nd dealer, they had one Fiesta SE on hand, but they also mentioned they had a 2012 Fiesta SES, which is the top end of the Fiesta line. So I said I’d drive the 2012 model first. (Never did get to the 2013 one, but I had already driven that car at the first dealer.) They let me test-drive the car by myself.

OK, so I fell in love: It’s a white car with black leather seats trimmed in contrast piping, a moon roof (this I don’t care about), and FORD Sync/Bluetooth that responds to voice commands and lets you do hands free with your phone and a bunch of other stuff; I think it has built-in navigation. Heated seats, Sirius radio, ambient lighting...Warranty is 3 years/36K and 24/7 roadside assistance. I thought it was so cool that the car has a built-in UBS port in the console so I guess if you want to copy music onto a thumbdrive and then plug it in, you can do that. I’ll have to figure out how. In all honesty, the very basic cell phone I have now will NOT work with the Ford Sync system, altho I can still do hands free. I could upgrade to a better phone. Maybe a little later. The mileage is 39 highway/29 city. It has a very sporty spoiler.

Option-wise, there were some things I liked very much, like the leather seats and the spoiler, but they all come in packages that contained other things I could care less about, like the moon roof.

Do you see where I’m going with this? I bought the car. But since I started out wanting just the base SE model, no frills, I quickly became tripped up with all my calculations since while I had checked Kelly’s blue book and Edmund’s for “fair market price” for the base model, I hadn’t done that with the bells-and-whistles model.

However, I got $1500 in rebates/incentives, which I thought was pretty good. And this is a 2012 model with only 100 miles on it; it was never pre-owned, it was just leftover inventory. I do think they ripped me off some on the trade-in value of my 1999 Honda. According to online sources, I should’ve been able to get $1400 to $1800 for it and I got just $1100.
So, after sales tax, 2 rebates, the trade-in of my Honda and all fees, we settled on….deep breath….$20,000 even. The MSRP on it was $21,780.

I could have gotten more if I tried to sell the car myself, but I didn’t want the hassle or inconvenience, and this way, the dealer handles all the motor vehicle paperwork so I don’t even have to go there.

Months ago, after doing my research, I figured that after getting everything I wanted, I’d spend between $17,000 and $19,000, but that was before taxes ($1100), but also didn’t include my trade-in. Plus, for the first time in my life, I got all the bells and whistles, not the basic model. And I must say, I enjoyed driving the car.

Now if I had bought a 2013 Fiesta SES instead of the 2012 Fiesta SES, I wouldn’t have gotten quite so much in dealer incentives. Also, I’m hoping buying a year old car will mean my car tax will be lower, but I don’t know.

I have to contact my insurance agent Monday and have him fax a temp ID card for me to the dealer and then once my money transfers arrive in my checking account, I can go get a bank check and pick up the car. I’m hoping to do that Tuesday, Wednesday at latest.

Phew. I’m feeling a little unsettled and am hoping I won’t have buyer’s remorse. I’m used to spending the least possible amount, and this time, I allowed myself to spend a few thousand more due partly to being tired of the whole process (7 hours at 2 dealers) and, I admit, excited about things like leather seats.

I know, I know…realtors do that with houses all the time. You go into it saying this is my price range and then they show you homes maybe $40,000 more, hoping you’ll like it so much you’ll go for it. It’s exactly what happened to me today, but I DO like the car and think I’ll enjoy it. What may bother me more is the higher insurance costs and car tax i'll be paying! Plus I will no longer want to haul filthy dirty tree logs and stuff to the dump.

I will post pix when I have it home!

11 Responses to “7 hours at the dealer later, I bought my new car!!!!!”

  1. PNW Mom Says:
    1368913472

    Congratulations! Enjoy Smile

  2. rob62521 Says:
    1368921354

    Sounds like you are happy and that is what matters. Enjoy that new car smell!

  3. starfishy Says:
    1368922007

    congratulations!! enjoy! with your new long commute, you will be so excited to be driving a car that you love and feel safe in. it's totally worth the extra money - i think it's great that you treated yourself to some extras - life is short! Smile

  4. scfr Says:
    1368922594

    One thing to consider is putting part of the purchase on your credit card, as it may result in a nice cash back bonus. Not a problem for you since you are a member of the "pay it off each month" club. The dealer will probably limit the amount that can go on the card. When we bought our last car I think it was $5K.

  5. creditcardfree Says:
    1368924466

    Congrats on your new car! We know you deserve it and can handle the money aspect. Enjoy!!!

  6. snafu Says:
    1368928019

    WoooHooo, how exciting to buy a car you Love! I figure a bit of a learning curve while you get used to operating and
    enjoy all the bells and whistles. look forward to your photos

  7. carol Says:
    1368928411

    Congratulations! Enjoy! If you had planned to possibly spend $19,000, and you ended up spending $20,000, then you did very well. In my state (Ma) the fact that it is a 2012 would save some money on insurance,excise tax etc. so there's some justification if you need it; I don't think you do.

  8. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1368930233

    Sounds like a very nice car! I second the idea of putting some of it on a CC. I did that when I bought my Yaris, which netted me $150 in cash back. Smile (I lucked out on buying my car on a day the card was having a 5% deal.)

  9. LuckyRobin Says:
    1368942754

    Sometimes the bells and whistles are just worth it. The heated seats on our mini-van are worth their weight in gold on cold December mornings. And getting exactly what we wanted, well, we are two years in now and I still don't regret it.

  10. MonkeyMama Says:
    1368976468

    Oh, I despise car dealerships! You must be happy to have that over with!! & will hopefully help to make your commute more bearable.

  11. Looking Forward Says:
    1368979700

    Oohh.. sounds nice! Smile Enjoy!

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