I was NOT going to buy a car yesterday. I was just checking them out, seeing how I liked the salesperson, laying the groundwork, etc. In fact, I took a friend with me, and we went in HER car, so I couldn't be talked into doing an immediate trade.
Then I stopped at a dealership on the way home from her place, that's maybe 2 miles from my house, just to see what they had (I'd not found their inventory online)
They didn't have what I wanted on their front lot (silver PT Cruiser Touring Edition with moonroof), so we went and looked at their backlot.
And there it was. My "silver ghost"... 6 miles on her odometer, moonroof group, power height adjuster for the driver's seat, cruise control, and an in-dash 6CD changer (anyone wanna buy an in-dash MP3 player?). It has everything I wanted, nothing I didn't want, and one extra (the cd-changer)
I told the salesman I wasn't gonna buy today, but we went ahead and test-drove it, so I could confirm that I liked it (I did). It was already 730pm, and they close at 6 on Saturdays, but they were still there.
We went inside to do the preliminary paperwork, and I repeated that I wasn't going to buy it today. So the sales mgr came out, and we chatted about life in general, and then he asked me what they'd have to do for me to buy it today. So I told him they'd have to give me what I owed on my trade (I had a little bit of negative equity). I told him the number I'd seen on Edmunds.com. Oh, and Chrysler will have to finance it, because my credit union wouldn't finance it until I had another paystub to prove I was making the salary I said I was.
He went and looked it up, and came back and asked me where I'd seen the trade-in value. The best number he could find was about $500 less. Then I remembered I always estimated the car in Excellent condition (cause it is). So I said ok, never mind. I have to wait for Payday.
Why?
Cause I have negative equity on the truck.
So?
So I can't afford to pay that down today. I"ll have to wait for payday.
Why should you have to pay it down? Your rebates will cover it.
So we rolled it into the loan. It was only around $1000, and I was getting the car for 2K less than the MSRP, thanks to the discounts because of my new job (we get 1% below invoice).
I walked out of there about 2 hours after I wandered in, cleaned out the truck, and drove my new baby home.. :)
I think I'm still in shock.
But you know what? It's really nice to look out my library window and see that silver ghost sitting down there, just waiting to take me wherever I want to go. Today it's going to take me over to get the dogs from the dog-sitter. And for the first time since Casey joined us, I'll be able to do that in one trip, instead of two. Hurray! I'll be refinancing it through my credit union, as soon as I get another paycheck or 2 under my belt - credit union has a *much* better interest rate.
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