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You are here: Home / All blog posts / A crash course in car shopping
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April 24, 2008 by Tien Chiu

A crash course in car shopping

It’s been a dismal week, from making arrangements for the oil-dripping corpse (I felt like I had just sent my poor horse off to the knackers) to doing frantic research on buying a new car to arranging for a car loan, etc.  All stuff that might normally be fun, but not when crunched into a three-day period.  (Besides, I had planned to drive my poor Esmeralda for at least another 3-5 years.  I liked that truck.  *sigh*)  Also, I hate driving unfamiliar cars, to the prospect of road-testing 5 new (i.e. expensive) cars in a day is giving me the heebie-jeebies.  Not to mention missing AIDS Lifecycle’s Day On the Ride on Saturday, for which I hope the idiot accumulates more bad karma.

Whining aside, I have made good progress.  I have identified four or five models that I want to look at:

  • Toyota Prius
  • Toyota Tacoma
  • Honda Fit
  • Mazda 3 hatchback
  • Nissan Versa
  • and possibly the Subaru Outback/Legacy/Forester, although none of those gets as good mileage as I’m looking for

I have arranged a loan at an attractive interest rate so I don’t have to take what the dealer gives me (paperwork should be arriving today), worked out my budget and what I can afford to pay (something in the 20-25K zone should be all right – hopefully on the lower end of that), read through the complete Consumer Reports book on how to buy a car, talked to an auto mechanic friend about reliability of different models, etc.

Still left to do:

  • Join Costco (today) so I can check out prices in their auto purchase program
  • Test drives (Saturday)
  • Research prices on the top contenders, and decide what model I want based on that
  • Call/fax dealers looking for prices (Sunday/Monday)
  • Sign contract (Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, depending)
  • Take delivery (sometime mid next week)

Needless to say, it’s going to be a busy week.  Hopefully I can get in some time for training.  I’m afraid weaving is right out.

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Previous post: Requiem for a truck
Next post: Priuscilla, Queen of the Desert

Comments

  1. Jill says

    April 24, 2008 at 8:21 am

    Tien, I’ve found Edmunds helpful in finding a fair price, negotiating, and comparing models. (I have no affiliation). I felt it put me back in control of the situation. Good luck. Jill
    http://www.edmunds.com/

  2. Jo says

    April 24, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    Yesh! Just glad you’re ok. That dude’s “carma” is due for a walloping! One of my co-workers has a Prius and he loves it. Good luck!

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