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Readers, what do you think of the new site? Pretty snazzy, huh?
When Ultimate Sportsfan told me that it was time to get a new car, I was resistant. I love my car. I have a red Volkswagen Beetle, and it has been good to me. It did have a season a few years ago where the check engine light came on repeatedly, and we were not the best of friends at that point, but it shaped up and has been a wonderful car ever since.
But USF says we need a bigger car, so the Beetle has to go. Hopefully, another family will love it just as much as I do. The thing is that as much as I hate to give up the Beetle, I hate car shopping even more. Why does it take so long to buy a car? I mean, once you test drive the car and decide on the one you want, why does it take so long for the paperwork to be completed and the car keys to actually make it into your hands?
Whenever I buy a car, it always seems like the sales people have no idea what they’re doing and that this is the first time they’ve ever done this. How can that be since selling cars is all they do all day, every day?
I wonder if it was as difficult for people living in the past to buy carriages? Did they have to sign all these documents to finance it? Did they have to wait for it to be washed and waxed and inspected? I have a feeling my heroes would not have the patience for this. They’d want that carriage, and they’d want it now. Actually, they probably had servants take care of buying the new carriage and trading in the old one. Maybe I need a servant…
So what about you? Love your car? Hate it? Love car shopping? Hate car shopping?
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Sep 14th
2009
7:51 am
Frana Said:
It’s same with me, I just hate buying a new car.
I love the new blog-look
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Sep 14th
2009
7:52 am
Rainy Said:
Wow! Love the new website. Obviously, There’s an organized person lurking around.
Shana, something tells me you like the color red.
This question should be posed to my husband who loves cars and the whole process (except the “let me just run this past the manager”). Last time we got a car, we became convinced that they somehow managed to hear our conversation. Sounds paranoid, I know, but we were convinced and were careful what we said when we were alone at his desk.
I hate the whole process. Love the new car smell though. Since we have our practical, low gas mileage car, our next car purchase will be a fun second car, maybe a used convertible.
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Sep 14th
2009
8:25 am
Shana Said:
Glad everyone likes the new blog look! I do like red, Rainy. In fact our new car, a Kia Sportage, is red!
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Sep 14th
2009
11:18 am
KathrynSmith Said:
Oooh, I love the pic of that little red bug! I’ve always wanted a Volkswagon Beetle. What does that say about me, I wonder? I want one with the flower tail lights. Guess I have to get a license first!
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Sep 14th
2009
8:49 am
EmilyMcKay Said:
Oh, I just love our new blog! It’s so pretty in real life! (If the internet can be called real life.
)
I hate buying new cars too. Now having a new car … that’s different. And y’all need to stop talking about cars, ’cause you’re giving me the new car bug. And as The Geek pointed out the other day, we can’t afford a car payment unless we take one (or both) of the kids out of preschool.
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Sep 14th
2009
9:37 am
RobynDeHart Said:
Guess I’m the weirdo. I LOVE to buy new cars. I love the whole process – the preliminary research which includes Edmunds, Consumer Reports and those insurance people who do the off-set crash testing. I love test driving and being on a car lot and how pretty and shiny they all are. And I’m one hell of a negotiator. So it’s always a win-win for us. We haven’t bought a new car in several years though and we’re not in the market to do so anytime soon.
But the image of our heroes going through the modern-day process did give me a chuckle. I’m with you, Shana, I don’t think my guys would have the patience either. Unless of course the heroine was selling said carriage and he was amused….
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Sep 14th
2009
9:52 am
Margo Maguire Said:
I love my car. It’s a Honda Element, and besides handling well, it’s amazingly versatile. I plan on keeping it for a good 10 years (I’m up to 4 at this point). So no new car shopping for me for awhile. Maybe in 6 years there’ll be a vehicle that doesn’t use fossil fuel!! (One can hope).
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Sep 14th
2009
11:24 am
Kathryn Said:
I drive a Toyota Matrix and I love, love, LOVE my car. I bought it new in 2003 and it now has 335,000 km (201,000 miles) on it… and I’ve done almost nothing on it maintenance-wise… regular oil changes, spark plugs once, brakes twice, one wheel bearing. It’s a Toyota workhorse!
I shopped for this one all by myself and I must admit it was not on my list of cars to buy. I was looking at Hyundai, but I think the two Hyundai dealers I visited did not want to sell cars that day. I was ready to buy, had the car all picked out, and I don’t know, maybe it was against their car sellers creed to sell to a woman by herself. One obstacle after another… they couldn’t give me a ball park figure on what my van’s trade-in value was, didn’t want to brush the snow off the car to take me for a test drive, etc.
I ended up at Toyota next door to one Hyundai dealer just to take a look because I was so frustrated. I had not considered Toyota because I was not aware of the Matrix and thought they didn’t have a hatchback in the size I wanted. The salesman was a gem… he even stayed open a half hour extra to deal with me. And he never asked if my husband was coming in to try the car with me!!!
I’ll have to car shop again in a year or two (I’m hoping to roll over 400,000 km in my Matrix first) and I know I’ll go directly to my Toyota dealer… my husband and daughter have since bought cars from him.
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Sep 14th
2009
12:11 pm
Laura Said:
I HATE car shopping. I usually wait until my current car is on its last leg and then pray that it will start and not catch fire when they do their test drive. And when I bought my current car, they had me write what I wanted to put down, what I was willing to make in car payments and had me sign off on it that if they could come up with that, that I would agree to buy the car. Then what they came back with was no where near what I said I would agree to. After the third time they brought back “suggestions” I flipped the page over and said “What about this down payment and this monthly payment did you not understand???” I agree with you, it’s like they’ve never done it before. It takes forever and I hate it.
Anyway, good luck on the car shopping.
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Sep 14th
2009
12:11 pm
RobynDeHart Said:
Hey Kathryn, we have a Toyota Matrix too and it’s such a great car. I’m such a Toyota fan and this one has been, like you said, a workhorse. It’s our only car so you can imagine it has put in the miles. But she keeps on trucking. We’d definitely buy another one, it’s a great size, gets phenomenal gas mileage and is so comfortable to ride in.
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Sep 14th
2009
4:39 pm
EmilyMcKay Said:
Fun story … back long before I had kids (read: when I had way too much time on my hands) once I was looking for a new car, but I knew I had plenty of time just to look. So planned to go test drive pretty much everything I was interested in. The sale people used to get so frustrated with me. “No, I don’t want to buy a car today. I just want to test drive one. No really. Just the test drive.”
Of course, the process did eliminate several dealerships. Because I felt like, “Hey, if you can’t humor me in the middle of the afternoon when you have no other customers and nothing else to do, then you don’t deserve my money.”
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Sep 14th
2009
4:57 pm
Nancy Robards Thompson Said:
HATE car shopping! That’s why I will drive a car until it quits… or I send my father and/or brother to do the dirty work for me. They’re ruthless. It’s so painful for me to watch, I can’t go with them! I pick out the car and then send them in. They’ve been known to make grown men cry.
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Sep 14th
2009
6:12 pm
Kristan Higgins Said:
Well, I’ve only been car shopping twice, actually, since I buy a car brand new and then drive it for the next decade or so. But I love test driving cars! Does that count?
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Sep 14th
2009
10:58 pm
Janette Kenny Said:
Car shopping is so stressful. I dreaded buying a new car two years ago, and though the whole ordeal turned out to be painless, I dread the thought of having to go through it again one day.
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Sep 14th
2009
11:06 pm
Mitzi Hinkey Said:
I hate car shopping, but my hubby loves it. He likes the games they play…and I have never figured out why???
When I bought my last vehicle (SUV), I spent loads of time researching/comparing all of them online. When I had my top 10 list, I was pretty certain which one I liked the best (most features/least cost), but my hubby insisted that we go to each dealership and test each and every one of them. Yuuuuuk!!!
I had one SUV left on my list and hubby had pretty much decided the one he wanted and tried to talk me out of driving across town to test drive it…But, after he had tortured me for nearly a week…I insisted that we at least go look at my 10th possible choice of a SUV.
Well, when we got to the Infiniti store…My hubby went bonkers. He fell in love with the vehicle (it had lots of extras included in price and was basically a Titan Truck (he loves trucks), But drove like a car, and before I knew it, he was climbing on top of it and crawling under it and kept saying “this is so great”…”Look it has this”…”and Look it has that”.
But I thought it was the UGLIEST car I had ever seen and kept saying…”But it’s so f*cking ugly. It doesn’t look anything like the one online I swear I won’t drive a car that ugly”!!!
(The color was just awful and the interior reminded me of a baby’s soiled diaper.)
Well, my hubby really loved the vehicle (it towed nearly 9000 lbs..meaning it would tow his boat) and asked the salesman if by chance they had the SUV in Black with Black interior…knowing it was my favorite color (can’t see the dirt on the inside at all!).
Just our luck, they got one in that day but had not unwrapped it yet…so I got to see the salesman peel off the white covering and reveal the beautiful vehicle beneath. I must admit, it looked as good as the one on the cover of their pamphlet and online….So we drove home with it the next day.
I will drive this car till it won’t go another mile…unless my hubby decides it’s time to get a new/better/different one. He likes the whole process of buying, selling, trading different vehicles and is always looking for a good excuse to sell/buy new toys.
Just hope he doesn’t decide to trade me in one of these days!!!!
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Sep 15th
2009
10:06 am
Elysabeth Williams Said:
LOVE the process of buying a car, (not new) but hate dealing with the sales people. I’m not a haggler. I’m not nice when it comes to the “what-do-I-have-to-do-to-get-you-in-a-car-raht-naw”-ness of sales. I hate buying cars i general. I like having the car afterward. I like driving them around and doing my research on them but the actual purchasing, I leave up to my husband, honestly. I have been taken for rides (figuratively) by sales*men* on a couple of occasions that make me very wary. We actually bought a new (to us) car in early June, and it took us $600 dollars and 3 months in the shop to get it to pass the state emissions test, because the seller was not honest about its issues. Now, I love my car, (a little Volvo wagon) but I’d like to choke the guy who sold it to us.
And we’ll have to do this all over again here shortly when we buy my husband a new(er) car as well.
Good luck with your venture! I bet there are great deals out there right now for a new or newer car.
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Feb 19th
2010
5:27 am
Alden Mohammad Said:
If only we could find more interesting blogs like this. thank you for this
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Aug 14th
2010
10:28 pm
Camille Flurry Said:
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