We went to lunch, formulated a plan, and went to the first dealer. We wanted to test drive the Acadia, Infiniti, and maybe a couple of others. So, we pulled into the GMC/Buick dealer and waited. It only took about 15 seconds before a salesperson found us. We told him we wanted to look at the Acadia and he mentioned that they actually had one 2012 Enclave that he could make us a really good deal on. The Acadia and the Enclave are basically the same car, the Buick is just a bit more high-end because of the finishes and some of the bells and whistles it's supposed to have. There a few things that my Pacifica had that I was not willing to give up--back-up camera, heated leather seats, DVD player, navigation--I don't think I can go back to driving without these things. He said that this Enclave had all of those things as well as remote start, which was something else I wanted. We decided to take a look.
The Enclave was very nice. White with gray interior and everything I wanted included. We test drove it and it was a pretty smooth ride. The salesperson explained that it had extra insulation and suspension that was suppose to make the ride even more stable. We also looked at the Acadia. I actually liked the color better on the Acadia, red with black interior, and they had a wider selection. But they were all 2013s and I knew they were not going to be as desperate to get rid of them as they were this Enclave.
I really wanted to test drive the Infiniti. I went to look at it last weekend and I absolutely love it. It had such nice features and I loved the body style. However, the sticker price on the Infiniti I wanted was about $8000 higher than the Enclave and we knew we could talk them down on the Enclave. Though I really liked the Infiniti more, it just made more sense to see what we could do with the Enclave.
My husband is good at a lot of things, but one of the things he does best is negotiate. I hate bartering with people but he loves it. And, as we kept saying, we didn't need to buy a car that day. So, I let him play his game. He threw out a ridiculously low number and waited for the salesperson to go check with his manager. In the meantime, they were getting an estimate on my car. When he came back, he was pretty far off of what we had said so we pretended to walk. He scurried off to talk to the manager, came back, gave us an insulting quote on my car, I really was offended, so he went off again. Eventually, we said, "thank you for your time," and started to get our stuff together when the manager came over to meet us. He explained why my car was worth what it was (and I honestly don't care what he says it's worth, that doesn't change my number). We went back and forth for a few more minutes and Brian held to his number. He went to go check something else and while we were alone, I said I thought we should buy the car. It was going to be a lot more expensive to buy the other car and it just made sense for us to get this one, even if we ended up paying a little more for it than the number we threw out. He agreed. So, when the manager came back, he had come up on my car about $2000 and down on his about $1000. We were now about $13000 off of the price of the Infiniti so I told him we'd do it. Yes, I told him--I cut off negotiations. Perhaps we could have gotten a better deal by walking out or continuing to negotiate but I really felt like this was a good deal and someone else could swoop in and take this car before we did if we weren't careful. So, the next thing I know, we're signing the papers and moving our stuff from my car to this new car.
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| My new wheels |
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| 2012 Buick Enclave |
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| I really like grill |
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| My first stop? Sonic of course! |
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| How much you wanna bet there's a french fry under that seat within two weeks, regardless of whether or not I buy any? |
I get emotionally attached to objects pretty easily and that's one of the reasons Brian lives in fear that one day I will become a hoarder and I'm only partially joking so it was kind of hard for me to leave my car there yesterday and drive home in the new one, even though it's an amazing vehicle and I really like it a lot. I had visions of my car on the lot crying, wondering where I was. I know that's ridiculous but that's how I felt so it was bittersweet.
It also brought back some memories of when I took my dad with me to buy a car when I was in college. I had picked out an amazing camero. I absolutely loved it. But it was $10,000 and I was going to get next to nothing for my trade-in so I really needed them to come down on the price. I had talked to Dad about playing good-cop/bad-cop. He was suppose to get them to come down because it would be dangerous for his little girl to have such a fast car and my insurance would go up, etc. We walked in and the owner of the used-car lot said, "Well, the asking price is $10,000," and my dad says, "Sounds like a good price to me. Let's do it." I was shocked and tried to switch rolls to "bad-cop" but I also play a lousy "bad-cop" something I apparently inherited from my father. Thus, I ended up paying $10,000 for my car.
It doesn't seem like it's been that long since the last time I bought a car, though it's been about 5 years ago. And I was also thinking I've bought a lot of cars! Time marches on. Before I know it, I'll be going in with Imma to buy her first car and I'll be the one driving her crazy with my negotiating skills.
So, we bought a new car. I love it. I miss my old car. I have to name it still. Yes, all of my cars get named something I consider to be clever. My Pacifica's name? Oceanic. Can you tell what television show I was watching when I bought it? Imma was convinced it was Ms. Meagan's car and I'm not sure she completely understands that mommy has a white car now and not a red one.
How do you determine when it's time to get some new wheels? Do you have trouble trading in your old car or is it just me? How do your children adjust?
We are currently looking for new to me wheels. I will cry when I get rid of it. It was my first new car I purchased all by myself. We need more room though.
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