Out with the old, in with the new.

In my personal attempt to stimulate the economy I have purchased a new car. Not just new to me, but "new, new." Though the experience was miserable and I hope not to do it again for at least ten years, I am very happy with my decision.

My old steed was really quite an impressive car. I bought it over 5 years ago from a woman who I used to work with who had bought it from a woman she used to work with who was the original owner. The car came with all of it's receipts, including the original purchase paperwork. I purchased the car for $800 which was below the Blue Book value even though it had low miles on it. Becky, the woman I bought it from, had just graduated from Naturopathic college and was moving to the East coast and it didn't make sense for her to take the car with her. I hadn't owned a car in several years prior to that and had recently bought a house further out than allowed for Tri-Met commuting multiple trips a day and I had a significant back injury that made walking difficult and biking out of the question.

Over the years I put very little money into the car and it never broke down on me. It always ran, sometimes noisily but it served it's purpose. In just under 7 hours on Craigslist, my 1986 Honda Civic was gone. Just like that. I sold it for $400 to a young guy who was a student teacher and drove up in a Honda Prelude the same color as mine but in much worse condition. He had gotten that car for free a few years prior by hauling it out of the back yard of a house that one of his coworkers had just purchased. It didn't have a title and the Washington plates were several years expired. The car had a shattered windshield (somehow still in place) and this nasty habit of not shutting off when the key was removed. Needless to say the guy was thrilled with my car. I know it went to a good home but I couldn't help but be a bit sad to look outside and see an empty driveway.

After an awful last minute attempt to buy a pick up from a dealership in Hillsboro I had a very intense conversation with my friend Greg who has known me for a long time and who I have had many car conversations with. The thing that I both love and hate about Greg is that he always tells you exactly what he thinks. Even if it makes you mad or hurts your feelings. The good thing about that trait however is that I tend to listen to what he says. He is my own personal Dr. Phil (Greg, I mean that in a good way...you don't have a mustache and you have way more hair but you do have his candor). Well I called Greg after the pick up deal fell through and I asked him why he seemed so against me buying the truck in the first place. For the next 20 minutes or so Greg called me on all of the decisions I was making regarding buying a car. Since I first saw one in the parking lot of New Season's I had decided to buy a Toyota Yaris. Yet for some reason I was being reluctant to do so. I thought it was maybe because it seemed practical but I wasn't excited about it. Greg knew my long standing love for Mini Cooper's (in fact he gave me my first toy Mini which has been followed up by half a dozen more). I told him that I didn't think I should be paying that much for a car. Greg told me that I should go for it, it would be a fantastic 40th birthday gift to myself (yes, this is the big year), that it would be reward for living frugally for so many years and reward for finding and tolerating a job in a corporate environment which would allow me to make such a purchase. After getting off the phone with Greg, I called a dealership that had a used Mini with low miles and the exact colorings that I wanted, and scheduled a test drive.
A funny thing happened when I test drove the Mini Cooper, something that was very hard for me to admit. It turns out that I like looking at Minis from the outside more than I like being on the inside. A lot more. The inside is very cramped (yes, it's a small car but is needlessly cramped) and feels much like the cockpit of an airplane. It was hard to admit that I didn't like it though as I had fantasized about it for so long. Similar to having a crush on a boy for years only to date him years later and realize he wasn't as great as you thought he was (I had this experience with the valedictorian of my high school). I placed a deposit on the Cooper before I had fully realized my feelings. I had always loved Coopers and here was one that I could more less afford so of course I wanted it, right?

From the Mini dealership I went to the Toyota dealership that had the Yaris I had been negotiating for on the internet. I hadn't actually driven one so decided I needed to before I made any decision. After all, if I didn't like driving a Cooper maybe I wouldn't like driving the Yaris either. I was wrong. Pretty much immediately I knew this was the car for me. I liked driving it, loved how roomy it felt even though it was a hatchback. Finally, I was excited by this little car that is so economical and sensible and from a company that is known for manufacturing such reliable cars.
The actual process of buying (or selling a car) is not one made for somebody like me. I'm not found of purchasing new things in general, especially not one for thousands of dollars, I don't like hanging out in dealerships with a bunch of smarmy guys (I used to be the only female employee at a Carpeteria filled with salesmen and installers so I know what smarmy men they can be), I don't know a whole lot about cars (I just know what I like and what I don't) and in this environment it is very hard to know what is a good price and what isn't which drives a bargain hunter like me nuts.

My approach was to do most of my shopping by internet. I know from past history that dealerships make a lot of profit in their financing and by all the little add ons such as undercoating and service packages so I wanted to steer clear of those. I applied online to my credit union for a loan and got a call back in 20 minutes approving me for a loan. That took a lot of the pressure off because that meant wherever I found the car I wanted to purchase the bank would pay them which essentially meant I was bargaining for a cash purchase.

The next step came in emailing all the local Toyota dealerships to see who would give me the best price. I got a huge range in offers, with as much as $1,500 difference. One dealership stood out as the guy was very pleasant and attentive (some were downright rude and condescending). When one dealership would offer me a better deal I kept going back to the first guy who was the easiest to deal with and tell him that I had received a better offer. Every time he matched or beat the price that I asked for. In the end we agreed on a price that was only $100 more than what I had initially offered and it was for a car with additional features that I hadn't realized were mandatory for West Coast vehicles. One of the best decisions I think I made though was sticking to what I really wanted. I wanted the car in black. They had the same model on the lot but in grey which I didn't like. They did have a black one but it was a model with more bonus features and a price that was $1,000 higher than I had planned on paying. I told them I wanted a black base model and that I would wait until they found me one. It only took them a day and a half. There aren't many Yaris around (Toyota marketed them heavily before they were even done with manufacturing which created a glut) so the pickings are skim but my dealership was motivated enough to have another new car sale to report to Toyota that they actually went to Eugene to get my car.

Yaris are inexpensive, especially the super duper base model that I got. Way more bells and whistles than I am used to so it feels like I'm driving a Lexus but basic nonetheless. However, the base Yaris lift back (hatchback apparently is considered derogatory in the car world) is one of the most inexpensive new cars you can buy (it sells for less than $12K). The mileage is great (it ties with the Civic and Mini for 8th best mileage of any U.S. sold vehicle. It is cute (I read one review suggesting it looked like a car that would happen if a Scion xA and a Beetle had a baby). It is fun to drive. It will last me 20 years if I want it to. I've found that there are people who buy "new" cars and people who don't. I come from the camp of people who do. My very first car when I was freshly 16 years old was new. That was the car that got me voted "Senior Girl with Best Car" my graduating year in high school and I've never lost my appreciation for being the first person to break in a car. I've only personally purchased one new car myself, a Toyota 2WD pick up in my early twenties that I eventually sold to a friend's dad because I had so many tickets I couldn't afford the insurance (oops). Buying new cars doesn't make financial sense if you are going to sell it in five years or so but even Clark Howard (a millionaire consumer advocate tight wad) supports buying a new car if you plan on keeping it a long time. And I do. I love my Yaris and it loves me.

The night I bought my car I had a lot of time to talk with my sales guy as I had to wait for the "finance" person to sign the papers and give them the money, etc. I asked him a bunch of questions that I had always wondered about the car selling business. The guys who work on the front line get minimum wage plus commission. My guy was the "internet manager" so he only deals with the inquiries that come in online. This is the preferred position. The most cars he has ever sold in a month is 31. The fewest was 13 which was February, the month in which I was buying mine, which perhaps helped me get a good deal. 65% of the inquires he gets over the internet are from women (no big surprise, what woman likes going to a dealership?). People who buy Yaris cars came to the lot specifically to buy that particular car. Toyota is one of very few car manufacturers that are actually growing. That I am a high maintenance purchaser but way more enjoyable to deal with than most.