Cars
Buying a car new or old is a real trying experience. I have purchased 9 cars since I started driving. Each time I think it gets a little easier for me to insure I get a good deal. I also think the more pissed off I am when making a deal, the better the deal I come away with.
There are a ton of tricks to getting a good deal at a dealership. The best way I find is to point out when the sales person is throwing you a line and making them eat it. Also physically walking away, especially at the last minute will always put money back in your pocket.
Let me share all of my experiences all the way back to High School:
Car #1: 1984 Nissan 300ZX Cost: $4,250 Relative Value To Me: Best Car Deal Ever
Reason for the car: Typical High School Reasons
Where I Bought it: Private sale. I purchased the car from a father in my town. His daughter moved out of state and gave me a real deal on it.
What Ever Happened To The Car: I used the car for 4 years. I never had any problems except the windows wouldn’t roll down in the rain. At that time power windows were pretty new. I hated to get rid of that car, but I was living in Buffalo at the time when I sold it. Sports + Weather don’t mix.
I sold it for $4,500. I started to think cars were investments as a kid.
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Car #2: 1990 Jeep Wrangler Cost: $7,800 Relative Value To Me: O.K., but I could have gotten screwed
Reason for the car: Weather and I was still young.
Where I Bought it: Private sale. I never saw the car prior to my purchase. I was extremely busy preparing for profession school and I only came up for air once a week. I relied solely on my father’s advice. He found the car and made the purchase for me.
What Ever Happened To The Car: This car could have been the all-time lemon, but I was saved by my neighboors and a warranty on this one. After driving the car for 6 months I noticed an oil leak, so I took it in. It turns out the engine block had a crack in it. The mechnaic said that the previous owner was aware, since there was remanants of engine patch on the crack. The oil leaked into the Tranny, so I need a new engine, transmission, and a whole mess of other stuff.
This is the one time in my life I actually used a warranty. At the time, my next door neighboor worked for GM. He looked up the car and found that it did have a prepurchased extended warranty and that the warranty was transferrible. For $75 (warranty transfer fee) everything was replaced with brand new parts.
I drove the car for another 3 years with minimal costs. I traded the car in for $4,900.
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