Automotive Adventures

[ladysprite]

So I finally got the reimbursement from my insurance company for my poor sad departed little car, and I've been able to back off meds enough to drive a little, so it's time for me to move forward on buying a new car.

And I've done my homework, and narrowed it down to a few candidates, and over the past weekend and few days I've done my test-drives and figured out that, while the Ford Focus is significantly cheaper (mostly due to a current, desperate, end-of-month please get this damn thing off our lot rebate deal), I just like the Honda Civic a lot better in every way.

So now I just need to figure out how to go about buying the darn thing, and getting a decent price. The only problem is that I've never had to do this before.

I haven't bought a car in about 12 years, and I've never bought a car that wasn't a Saturn (not counting the handful of beaters I bought under the table for about $500 apiece when I was in grad school, each of which lasted just long enough until I saved up for the next). And completely aside from being truly awesome cars, Saturn didn't haggle.

I've got a used Civic that I like, certified pre-owned, from a dealer. I've gone to Kelly Blue Book, and so I am at least armed with the fact that the dealer is asking about $2000 more than KBB says the car is worth. And, given the deals that Ford is offering, I've emailed a handful of other Honda dealers in the area for estimates and specials on new Civics, just in case I can start a.... what's the opposite of a bidding war? A discounting war?

Anyway. This is weird, and kind of uncomfortable, and new territory. If there's anything I should be doing that I'm not, let me know? I'd appreciate any advice. And at the end of it, whatever car I wind up with is going to have to forever live in the shadow of its older sister, which is an unfair place to be....

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Another thing to consider, unless you're buying cash up front, is the cost of financing. Is Ford offering any financing deals (i.e. low to zero interest) on loans for new cars? Is Honda? If there isn't a similar deal on the 2nd-hand car, that may change the relative costs, too.

I actually ended up with a new Hyundai instead of a used Honda because, while the Honda was a couple thousand cheaper up front, I got a 0% loan for the Hyundai, but would have had to bank-finance at something like 4.5%, and that would have made the Honda significantly more expensive in the end. (And, with far less factory warranty left, too.)