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I knew the day was coming soon. My car since college was starting to show her age in the worst way. Expensive service bills had become the norm, and I could feel the engine struggling to maintain every time I went over 65 mph. At my last maintenance check, I was informed the old girl was deemed unsafe for the road without extensive work that would cost way more than the value of the car. She’d had a good run. With almost 200,000 miles and a permanent hint of citrus from a spilled Chick-Fil-a Lemonade, it did seem like the time for a retirement.
I researched cars online to find my best replacement options. After a stint on the forum SwedeSpeed, and a pre-established brand bias, I decided to stay in the Volvo family. I found a few used cars I liked at the local dealership and set up test drive appointments. My brother begrudgingly agreed to go along for support and advice.
I’ve never pretended to know anything about cars. I was selecting vehicles based on interior design/comfort, and exterior color scheme. I’d read a couple online articles about what you should know before buying a car, but a lot of it was forgotten immediately. While my brother asked about a common transmission issue in a specific model, I asked the salesman if the car had heated seats.
I ended up driving one car and falling in love with it. I conveyed my enthusiasm to the sales rep (which was apparently a rookie mistake) and set a date and time for the next day to fill out all the paperwork. My brother let me know he would not be accompanying me since he had plans for Chinese New Year (???). Whatever, I could do this myself.
The day of actual purchasing, I became hyper-aware of my inability to bargain or create sentences while stressed. The phrase so many of you love on this site, “Dealer closer?” Yeah, that is the exact opposite of what I am. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Um, you know I’m pretty young so that means I don’t have a ton of money. I umm, spend a lot of money in your service department, and yeah… um, it’s just nice when things are cheaper you know. I’m brand loyal, so like…
Sales Rep: I’m sorry, I don’t follow.
Me: Could you maybe go a little lower on the price? If not I TOTALLY understand, it’s just, like, super helpful if you can. It’s just like… yeah.
Sales Rep: Oh, sorry no I can’t.
Me: Okay.
I fumbled through the rest of the process. When I was asked to produce the vehicle title, I had to run out to my old car and pull my pile of important papers out of the glove box. A Christmas ornament had shattered in there unbeknownst to me, and my registration, title, user manual, and a mish-mash of other papers had been covered in glitter. The look of pure disgust on the sales rep’s face when I handed over my now festive document will forever be engrained in my memory.
After he relaxed some, we continued with the monotony. I signed an endless flow of papers and ran train on the Volvo lounge mini water bottles and granola bars. Finally, after over an hour, I was officially the owner of a new (used) car!
I left in a rush, excited to be whipping out of the parking lot on my fresh wheels. I got a couple miles down the road before I had to turn around. I realized in a panic that I’d left my Vampire Weekend CD in the older car’s stereo.
The last few days have been great. I’m loving that new car smell, and I have so much storage space since my trunk and back seat have yet to fill up with shoes, sweatshirts, and other junk that finds its way into my moving storage unit. I feel spoiled every time I hop into the driver’s seat and my Bluetooth automatically connects. My aux cord days are officially over — I’m moving up in the world. I will be revealing in the enjoyment as long as I can before the misery of my first car payment comes next month.
One million years from now when I have to enter the car market again, hopefully I’ll have gained some new haggling skills and can walk away feeling more accomplished. Or I’ll just be sure to avoid buying around Lunar New Year since that’s a hot weekend for plans apparently..
Image via Shutterstock
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Kell
future soccer mom of America (AKA I drive a Volvo.) Miracle is my favorite movie and it should be yours too.
@backpackfanclub
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I impulsively bought a Lexus the day after a breakup. Despite having what I like to think are superb negotiating skills at work, I paid sticker price. That decision has haunted me on the 24th of every month since.
One day I aspire to have “impulse buy a Lexus” money.
My wife and I bought a used Lexus CT 200 H after I got into an accident that wasn’t my fault and her Prius got totaled. We drove in intending to look at a few different models and we fell in love with the CT and drove it home the same day. Having been to a few different dealerships before to look at cars I had the response down when it came to the old “so what can I do to get you into this car today?” I said let me have a few minutes to talk to my wife and I took her to the back of the lounge area and said are you ready to do this? She said yes and like I said we drove out the same day. This was a used car with 75k but The insurance payout has been helpful in keeping us not worry about car payments.
wow
that was alot to take in
Wow indeed.
Going with a hybrid with that many miles on it is a bold move.
Her previous car had 118,000 miles on it (She bought it new in 2008) when it got totaled and the only thing that really needed outside of routine stuff like tires and brakes was a water pump on the hybrid system. The Lexus has got 90,000 miles on it now and it runs like a champ. We plan on keeping it for at least 10 more years but she wants a Prius prime or a full on electric.
That’s quite the case of retail therapy.
As long as they didn’t talk you into buying a brand new car I think your did just fine.
Did you get heated seats? I mean you mentioned you wanted them but it wasn’t confirmed. Because they are magical pieces of technology.
Love heated seats. One of the reasons I want my next car to be a Subaru is because they come with heated cloth seats. My wife’s car has heated seats and they are awesome but the best thing is heated and cooled seats which my mom’s Buick has.
Subarus also rattle like they’re going to fall apart.
None that I’ve driven rattle.
So, that would be zero then, they all rattle.
I don’t know what to tell you then. I’ve driven brand new ones, 2006 models with 120k miles on them and they all feel solid.
I got a heated steering wheel (in addition to the seats obviously). Game. Changer. I thought it sounded completely unnecessary but it’s amazing. I’m also Canadian so factor in that my winters are legit.
I drive a subie with heated seats. It turns 10 years old next month and I’ve had no problem with it. No rattling either.
Congrats! But even with Bluetooth, you can pry the Aux cord from my cold, dead hands
As long as you don’t have to pay for a mechanic to install expensive Swedish replacement parts anytime soon, I think you made off pretty well.
Find a good foreign auto parts place near you. Even if you don’t need it now… this girl who owns a Volkswagen can tell you you’ll be grateful to know it.
Shoutout ‘vo gang
The one Volvo I would aspire to own would be a C30. Love the looks of it! Drives nice too,
Those are sweet. Ended production way too soon.
Agreed.
I bought a certified pre owned Volkswagen GTI in November. I thought I really knew what I was doing before making my way to the dealerships. Was very quickly proven wrong, amazed that I came out of it with a car I love.