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!
7 hours at the dealer later, I bought my new car!!!!!
May 18th, 2013 at 09:49 pm
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enjoy all the bells and whistles. look forward to your photos
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