It actually happened
We actually picked up the car last night on the way home from the airport. Off and on throughout the day I was in contact with the salesman trying to line stuff up. He seemed very laid back about it. I was worried about all the pieces being in place (loan, car prep etc.) He assured me it would all be ready and to my surprise it actually was. The car looked beautiful and was right out front when we pulled up. We immediately started unloading the junk in the Sentra. Then we headed inside to start the fun process of signing all the papers.
We got turned over to the finance manager, Aaron. We dealt with the guy before, he was the one guy we didn’t really like. His job was to have us sign all the paperwork and sell us extended warranties. Even before we started the process, we were both very tired, Ali from traveling, me form just not feeling good.
Aaron started out with us signing all the mandatory state MV forms to transfer the Sentra to them and the Camry to us. Then he starts with the extended warranty pitch. They have four different packages adding anywhere from 4 dollars to over 50 to the monthly payment. Of course my initial stance was “Thanks but no thanks.” However he continues the pitch. We ask for him to give Ali and I a few minutes to talk. Ali thinks the plan that extends the bumper to bumper out to 100k miles (as opposed to the 36k standard warranty) is a good idea. The reason for her thinking was unlike the Sentra, we have no plans to dump this car within 2 or 3 years We will drive this for a half decade or more and we drive a lot of miles. As I thought about it it made more sense than nonsense. We called the guy back and tried to negotiate the number on this. He said the prices of the extended warranty is state regulated and can’t be changed. However I know they could throw it in by reducing their profit margin on the car. Well he wasn’t going to throw it in. Just like the rest of the deal, in this case on a car that is in demand, the dealer is very unwilling to do much of anything to give you a deal if the they are able to sell the car to the next guy for full price. We went back and forth about the warranty for awhile and Ali eventually got aggravated and just told me to decide because she was tired of talking about it. So I told him we would add on the warranty. My decision was made for the reasons I mentioned earlier plus the fact that this car has more gadgets than you can shake a stick at. If these gadgets break, they are VERY expensive to repair/replace. The piece of mind was worth the extra few bucks on the payment.
So finally we get down to signing the rest of the paperwork including the bottomline numbers. We were both very tired and just wanted to get the process over with, get us on the road in our new wheels, and get home. Ironically it was almost the exact same state of mind we were in when we bought the 03 Sentra. It is not a good state of mind to be in when finishing a transaction like that.
I looked over the numbers quickly. The deal was finalized based on payment numbers and up front money which are all affected by trade in values. They basically list the full overblown, market adjusted price and then throw some of that bloat on top of your trade value. You never really know exactly how much trade value they are actually giving you versus how much profit they are applying to the value. And to be honest, I didn’t even care at that point. The dealers love payment shoppers. I’m sure the dealer loved us. If I wasn’t tired, if this hadn’t been a month long process of getting the right car in, and if I had the foresight to just pay off the Sentra before starting the new car buying process I would have stopped the signings and done some more negotiating. Looking at the numbers, the dealer is making a very tidy bundle on the car. But I just didn’t feel like fighting more at that point, the numbers worked for our budget, we love the car, let’s get it over with. So we sign our lives away, get a very quick demo of the car features from our sales guy and we are on our way home.
On the drive back Ali was very busy trying out the different features, it is really sweet. It drove smooth and quiet, the fit and finish of the interior and exterior is top notch. It is the first non sub-compact daily driver vehicle I ever owned. I have plenty of room and for once don’t feel cramped driving my car. It’s a “grown up” car. At least my car looks like I am mature, conscientious and have it together, no matter what the reality is. It’s a sweet ride that we hope to enjoy for many years to come. Hopefully we deem it worth the steep sticker price.