yay new car!!!

GraySaturday

Hey! So I posted last night and then passed out in bed, because I was so tired from the whole day.

But thanks for the positive feed back. It's such a nice car, I love driving it. My poor husband hasn't had a chance to drive it since we test drove it. He did wake me up very early and ask me for a ride to work because he forgot to get something done and had to do it this morning and he couldn't bike to work that late, and I actually bounced right up because I was excited to drive the car again. Haha.

The bluetooth feature it came with is AMAZING for me. I am one of those people that uses my phone constantly in the car, which a non-hands free is illegal in Chicago, and very dangerous. So having the bluetooth will come in extremely handy for me. I just finished putting all my numbers in, so I can just say, "call mom mobile" and it dials her up. I LOVE THAT!

And yes, I was considering the Tiguan. I LOVE that car, its great, it drives really well, its cute, roomy, and I would have totally bought it, but with the options we were looking at, it was over 31,000 dollars. We could pay the payments on that, but we just recently went down to 1 car because we were paying over 700 dollars a month in car payments without insurance or gas factored in with the 2 cars. We figured living in the city, with no parking space it was so hard to have 2 cars and the cost was just dumb. So we sold our more expensive car, the Audi TT (also because it's stick, and I can't drive stick) and we had kept the Jetta. But we were looking for a car that is an SUV type with more room, and more power and just a little safer bigger feel without going huge and out of control. So the Tiguan was nice, but the payments would have been closer to what we used to pay for 2 cars, and we just weren't willing in the end to go that far up. We got below invoice price for the Nissan and they took my Jetta as a trade in, so it was easy and we obviously are paying more monthly for the Nissan then my Jetta, but its a 2008, its got great features, and it will last us a long time. Plus, not going with the Tiguan allows us to keep saving that extra money for a down payment on a condo. So it all works out.

And to answer, I picked Black because it looks the best to me on that car. It looks very sleek. They have a few grays, but the black looked better to me. I know black heats up more with the sun and such, but the sun never shines here

We also test drove the Jeep Compass, and there was NO ONE at the dealership, which was odd to me. The car was a DOG. It was so slow, and had no pick up. And Jeep really cheaped out with the inside details. Its very plastic, and flimsy. They told us they would practically give it to us for whatever we wanted, plus the 2.99 gas that dodge is offering (that dealership is partnered with dodge) and throw in extras. They were obviously trying to get that car OUT of there asap. It was a total red flag to me. Plus I didn't feel like I could merge on a highway because when I floored it, it sorta gradually moved along. They need to re-think the compass's interior, its not in the same league as its competitors.

decides2dream

i cannot even imagine living in a city and having a car. living in the burbs, pretty necessary...but part of the appeal to me anyway, of city living is being car less. when my neon kicks it, as long as we both are still commuting to the city for work, weekends off, i look forward to being a one car household. right now, doesn't make sense to get rid of a perfectly cheap to keep 2nd car....but when the day comes.....:)


and 31K for a car?! :eek:
i know people pay that, and more.....but seriously......i cannot even imagine it. then again, for us, i am not into car payment, period. pay cash and be done with it. altho hell, we have a mortgage, so i really don't want any other debt period!



good luck and enjoy!

GraySaturday

imalive wrote:

Why would they name a car after a type of women's makeup? What's next, the Toyota Mascara? I don't get it.

Anyway, congrats on your new car!

If I could type, maybe I'd get the stupid name right!

That would be Rogue

Drop The Leash 10

GraySaturday wrote:

Yayy!!!!

Okay, so I ended up not going with the Volkwagen Tiguan. But I test drove a few more options, and totally loved the Nissan Rogue.

So after 7 (yes, 7 very long hours) hours of haggling I am the proud owner of a sweet little black Nissan Rouge. Its got keyless entry and keyless start, so if I have the key in my purse it senses it and it unlocks for me and starts up with the turn of a knob. Plus it has a Bose stereo system, and blue tooth for my phone. Its really sleek and super easy to drive, it drives like a sporty car almost. Plus its all wheel drive, I'll no longer slide around in the snow next winter. Love it!

Here's a picture of exactly what mine looks like:

http://blogs.cars.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/24/nissanrogueblack500.jpg

And when we drove it off the lot and away for the very first time, I cranked the radio and Yellow Ledbetter came on the radio. The boys sounded mighty fine on the stereo. It was a good christening for her

awesome! congrats! how long till this one goes on the market?

sponger

Drop The Leash 10 wrote:

awesome! congrats! how long till this one goes on the market?

Lmao. People say, "..and it will last us a really long time," but what they mean is for the few years before they sell it or trade it in.

Indian Summer

Brand new car = Worst financial investment you can make. Two years old minimum people! You could total that thing tomorrow, and your insurance company won't cover your entire bill. You'll be left on average 2 grand less that you paid.

JOEJOEJOE

Indian Summer wrote:

Brand new car = Worst financial investment you can make. Two years old minimum people! You could total that thing tomorrow, and your insurance company won't cover your entire bill. You'll be left on average 2 grand less that you paid.

Thats why it is important to get "gap" coverage so you don't have to pay the difference.

Indian Summer

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

Thats why it is important to get "gap" coverage so you don't have to pay the difference.

money making scheme!

sponger

That whole scenario regarding buying a new car versus a used car really depends on the situation.

Whether the car is used or new, dealerships have to make a profit. And on used cars, there are often up to 2-3 middlemen that profited on that car before it ever made it to the dealership.

I've never seen a used car sticker price that wasn't at least 20% above the car's actual market value.

So, this means that even if you talked them down that 20%, you still instantly lose equity with the tax.

In this case, GraySaturday managed to get the car for below invoice, which means she paid less than the dealership actually paid for it.

The reason why that's possible is because dealerships look at the bottom line at the end of the month with all of the sales put together.

Some people pay above invoice, and others pay below it. It all averages out at the end of the month, and the dealership is more worried about maintaining a certain sales volume more than individual profits on each car because the manufacturer rates the dealerships by how much volume each dealership is moving.

GraySaturday said she sat there for 7 hours making sure that she and her husband paid exactly what they thought was a fair price. That's how it should be done. Most people do not go to that length before signing the dotted line, and those are the people who make it possible for the dealership to sell other cars at a huge discount, such as in the case of GraySaturday and her husband.

I bought a brand new '06 corolla two years ago for $1.5K below invoice. It had 26 miles on it.

At that same dealership I saw the exact same model car with 15K miles from the PREVIOUS YEAR selling for $2K above what I paid for my car! This means that someone came along and probably paid just slightly below that price for that car and thought they were getting a good deal because it was a used car!

So, in summation, it all depends.

GraySaturday

Indian Summer wrote:

Brand new car = Worst financial investment you can make. Two years old minimum people! You could total that thing tomorrow, and your insurance company won't cover your entire bill. You'll be left on average 2 grand less that you paid.

thats why you buy GAP insurance. The difference is fully covered by the GAP insurance. And, I see you responded to that earlier by claiming it was a scam. Well its not a scam, and all insurances are a chance you take. But to me, its worth it to take a chance, since as you said, you can total it. Better to be prepared, right? Thats why I buy my health insurance. I haven't yet ever used it since I bought it. I do have it though, because if I didn't have it thats when I'd a have a medical issue. So scam no, chance, yes.

GraySaturday

sponger wrote:

Lmao. People say, "..and it will last us a really long time," but what they mean is for the few years before they sell it or trade it in.

Its hard to buy a 2003 car in 2007 and say "I'm gonna keep it for 10 years". I recently had to have work done on the Jetta that was a recall. They also found 5 other things that needed to be taken care of. I know dealerships always find something and thats how they make their money, but I'm hesitant to keep a car too long that I have to pour money into because then my return when I do trade it in, is masked by the money I put into it to even get it to that trade in. The Jetta served me well and was a great little car. But it did have 5 years and 66k miles on it. I know 66k isn't really high by used car standards, but everyone once in a while its nice to have a new car, that you know no one owned before you. We found out that the Jetta had bad hood damage that was hidden from us, when we went to trade it in. When it was appraised the dealership found out it had been repainted, and this was the first we heard of it. It wasn't reported on the carfax report either, so we'll never know what happened there. We did buy it from a dealership that "refuses" to sell cars with any body work done to them. So you know, in the end, a used car will always be a gamble. I know new cars lose their value, but there pros and cons to used and new, and new was the right option for us.

(This response sorta responds to various people on here)

my2hands

isnt it a shame america doesnt make cars people want anymore?

i am totally pro american product.. and when i get a new car here soon i am looking at a Nissan Altima

my2hands

there is nothing wrong with buying a new car.

you have it from day 1... you take care of it from day 1... you document all service and work from day 1... and it can last 20 years. there is nothing wrong with that

sponger

my2hands wrote:

isnt it a shame america doesnt make cars people want anymore?

i am totally pro american product.. and when i get a new car here soon i am looking at a Nissan Altima

Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Suzuki all have factories in the US.

No "American" car company actually makes a car that is truly US Made. Most of them are assembled overseas, and the ones that are assembled in the states are made of imported parts.

Strangest Tribe

how do you haggle for 7 hours over a new car?

sponger

Strangest Tribe wrote:

how do you haggle for 7 hours over a new car?

Easy...just say, "No," until they offer what you want. It can take up to 7 hours of them coming at you with every excuse and every bluff they can think of.

They can also have you waiting in the lobby for an hour at a time as they "Talk it over" with the manager.

Sometimes when I'm bored I'll go to dealerships and give them a number that I know they will never accept and see how close to that number I can get them to go.

On average, it takes between 2-3 hours for them to give me their lowest number. And that's with me knowing how to quickly counteract their usual run-arounds.

Edmunds.com is a great place to learn how to spot dealership games.

One thing to keep in mind is that car salesmen are trained and paid to rip you off. If they are not ripping people off, they are replaced with people who do. This is the case with all dealerships.

If you did not spend at least a few hours at the dealership drastically altering their initial offer, you got ripped off.

GraySaturday

Strangest Tribe wrote:

how do you haggle for 7 hours over a new car?

as sponger said, they made us wait forever in between their offers. He's run to the manager, and they sit there and crunch out number and then come back, and we'd be like, uh... thats not what we said, and he's look at the floor and try not to kill us, and then go back.. it felt like eternity. We won the battle though. We would have walked out, and I told him straight on that we didn't want to waste his time, and we weren't playing games, we weren't going to buy something for the wrong price. It took him a few times to get the picture. They pulled money from all sorts of places. I know the dealers get kick backs and stuff, and they can throw all that in. I told him about my knowledge of that too. At the end of the day they were there an hour and 1/2 after it closed because they dragged their feet. We gave them a number, I can't help that it took the 7 hours to get the point. haha.