Guys…. so we made the decision this past week to have a little less disposable income. We decided to now have TWO car payments and bought Anthony a new, used car! Hard-core adulting right here!
To some of you, this may be no big deal. Well, we’ve only ever had one car payment at a time, while having two cars! We are in our early-30’s, so we can not complain about our ability to get by with only one car payment during our 5+ years of being together!
When Anthony and I first started dating, I drove a 2005 Ford Focus. It was a beautifully hideous burnt orange color. I loved this car! It was the last major thing my dad helped me do before he passed away in 2007, so it had a special place in my heart. We paid cash on it so I did not have any sort of financing or monthly payment. I had this car for 6.5 years until Ant and I moved in together in October 2013. The Focus was stalling periodically while driving (especially on really hot days) and I drove a good 45 minutes to work daily. I needed to get reliable transportation, that got me to work in the country safely! We got rid of my Focus to get a 2008 Chrysler Sebring in pretty baby blue! This car was a beast! It was a boat that had a DVD player, which only played sound! I remember when I bought this car, the only thing I wanted in it was a spot to plug in an auxiliary cord to listen to music from my phone! (Ahhh, times were much simpler then.)
The Sebring lasted our lifestyle for only 3 years, before we had the big upgrade…. we got a 2013 Ford Edge! A SUV!!!!!! See, we needed the SUV so we can fit more things in it. You know, like our two 70 pound dogs. Funny thing about this… we couldn’t fit more things in our SUV! We still had to rent a truck from Home Depot to bring home a snowblower! We used Anthony’s coupe to bring home landscape timbers… The only thing the SUV allowed us to do was easily transport a collapsible dog crate. But hey, at least I look cool driving a SUV!
Did you notice something about all of these cars? No, not that they are all pretty sweet colors. I mean, come one! Burnt orange! Baby blue! Kodiak Brown! Yes, I know! I have some smooth taste in automobile colors.
Did you notice that all of these cars were MINE!? Yes, I’ve had three cars since Anthony and I first started dating in 2013. What about Anthony? He’s only had ONE car since we started dating… his good ole trusty 2008 Chevy Cobalt that he bought in 2011. The ‘Balt was high class. No power windows. No power locks, No power seats .No cruise control. What it had going for it was air conditioning, heat, and it was an automatic transmission. But I do have to say, it was a trusty, reliable car! We have many memories in the ‘Balt!
- Anthony picked me up for our second date. We were going to the Grand Rapids Griffins’ game (local AHL affiliate of the Detroit Redwings) for $2 beer and $2 hotdog night. I remember when I came out to his car I thought “this is a pretty nice car, it seems newer and is prettier than mine.” I was worried that Anthony wasn’t going to think poorly of me because I drove a 2005 burnt orange Ford Focus that wasn’t as sleek looking as his 2008 Chevy Cobalt.
- We went camping in Traverse City, Michigan and took the Cobalt for the weekend. We stuffed so much stuff in his car! It was packed full! When we got to our site and had to get firewood, we drove with the wood on our lap for the short distance.
- The ‘Balt carried landscape timbers like a champ! We could fit 20 in it!
- Driving down the highway where two highways intersect, our drivers’ side window was shattered! A semi-truck threw a metal piece and it hit the window! Scariest moment of our lives! We were lucky the metal didn’t come in to the car!
Firewood on our laps!
One trip getting landscape timbers!
Shattered drivers’ side window!
The ‘Balt fit so much stuff!The time has come for Anthony to upgrade HIS vehicle! Anthony deserved it. The ‘Balt has served it’s purpose for the past 7 years. It was a great car to us. It’s still in great working shape and i’m sure it will be great to the next person who drives it. But, it’s time. The time to search for an upgrade. The time to become an adult and drive a car with power windows and locks. The time drive a car with 4 doors. The time move on…
We did what any car shopper would at first… looked online at all of the cars available in the area. Our minds went extravagant… large trucks, BMWs, Audis, and Anthony’s favorite, El Caminos. (Yes, he really sent me El Caminos!) After hours of online shopping, we decided to finally talk about what we actually needed and could afford.
We concluded that:
- We wanted a hatchback. Anthony already uses his Cobalt as a hatchback. He always has his backseats down to carry things that you would think are too large to fit in the ‘Balt.
- We wanted something with a back up camera. Ever since I got my Ford Edge with the backup camera, I don’t think I could ever drive something with out it!
- We (Anthony) wanted an USB in it to listen to all of his “music”. Notice the quotes…. “music”
- We wanted a vehicle with less than 55,000 miles on it.
- We could afford a vehicle around $10,000-12,000… Hoping for the lower end to not have to ever worry about monthly payments.
Online shopping part 2 began! We sent each other around 5-10 hatchbacks each. We had it narrowed down to 3 that we were going to look at. A grey Hyundai Accent that had 26,000 miles on it, a white Ford Focus that had 46,000 miles on it, and a black Ford Focus that had 40,000 miles on it. Now I had to do my research. All three vehicles were at different car lots. So we narrowed it down to the black Ford Focus to look at first. Since I worked in the automotive industry, I did all of the gritty research. What are these cars going for at auction, what are other dealers selling them for, what is the Kelly Blue Book Value? I was ready to look at this car!
We went to the dealership after work, so we got there around 5:15pm and the store closes at 6:00pm. As we drove to the dealership, I was prepping Ant on my plan. I wanted to test drive multiple cars so the salesman didn’t think I was set on one vehicle. We got to the lot and looked around. There it was. There was the black Ford Focus we have been eyeing. IT WAS TRAPPED, IN SURROUNDED BY CARS! IT HAD SNOW ON IT! So I immediately knew, this car has not been driven in a while. It was on the lot for longer than 90 days. It was an aged unit. They will go down in price to get it off the lot. CHA-CHING! We took a look at it, walked past a few other cars. We saw a pretty blue 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 41,000 miles. The price point was out of our goal range. Neither of us has ever driven a hybrid before. We asked the sales guy to test drive it out of pure curiosity.
The sales guy kept on asking what time it was “because it was getting close to closing time”. I thought they wanted to sell a car and would stay late just for a test drive! No paperwork or anything. He was worried about going home! Anywho, he decided we had enough time and went inside to get the key and dealer plate. Anthony started to wander and stopped in front of a Camaro.
“Sar…. Sar… look… Sar… Can we test drive it? Sar… Do you see it? Sar…”
Naturally, I ignored it. We were not going to throw off the sales person with a Camaro! He wouldn’t think we were serious since it didn’t fit in with what we told him we were looking for! It didn’t fit the “hatchback” or budget we were looking at. We wouldn’t get the best deal on the Ford Focus we came here to get!
The sales guy came back out and got in the Ford Fusion Hybrid. He kept on telling us what a “rare” car the hybrid was. I kind of rolled my eyes… Sales man pitch right there. He got in the car, got out, and back in. He then smiled and said “I didn’t know it was on, it was so quiet”. We just kind of chuckled. But was it on? We couldn’t hear it either!
Now it’s our turn to drive! We got in to the car and it felt so nice. So smooth. We drove around for 20 minutes. Everything about this car was amazing. The touch screen panel. The seats were neat. The sound was great. The AC and heat worked great. The car even had barely any gas in it and was working solely on battery! Anthony and I just kind of looked at each other, trying not to fall in love with a car that we weren’t going to get. We reminded each other, this car is a decoy for the Ford Focus. We sat in silence on our way back to the dealership.
When we got back, the Ford Focus was moved from being blocked in and the snow was brushed off. It was already a little bit louder, but we told each other it’s because the engine is running, it’s not running on battery like the Fusion.
Off we go in the Ford Focus. It was a little louder. It was a little rougher. We felt like we were sitting a little closer together… we had these thoughts before we got out of the parking lot! When we pulled out of the parking lot, Anthony accelerated (or tried to) and just went “NOPE”. We drove about 100 feet and turned around. This Ford Focus just wasn’t for us. We made this decision within a single minute. One minute! One minute persuaded us to try to get the Ford Fusion Hybrid. A vehicle we did not plan on test driving. A vehicle we did not do any research on. Shit. I can’t buy this car tonight, I don’t know anything about it’s value, how long it’s been on the lot, or what other dealerships are selling it for. I didn’t even look at it’s vehicle history report to see if it’s been in an accident, how many owners have had it, or if it had a clean title!
So we got out of the Focus and the sales guy wasn’t even outside. We had to go inside to find him. He told us that if we wanted the Focus they would knock the price down $250 and the same with the Fusion. I let him know we were going to go with the Fusion. He tried to get us to sign some paperwork that day. I told him we weren’t ready that night, we “still had to get insurance” and it was getting past closing time. We didn’t want him to stay late (this would give me time to do my research). But first, I had to talk him down in price. We ended up going back and fourth and I was able to get him down about $1,500.
Anthony was quiet during the negotiations, besides when he threw in some pretty good dad jokes. He likes to think that he’s the honey to my vinegar. But hey, I get things done. I just saved us $1,500, plus whatever that would be in taxes. I was rightfully proud of myself for the ability to talk him down. I could tell that the sales guy was getting uncomfortable with a strong, knowledgeable woman in front of him.
I got in to work the next day and immediately went to talk to one of my coworkers about the car’s MMR value (what they’re going at auction). Turns out, the Ford Fusion was going for about $3,500 less than what we agreed upon. Holy schnikeys! They had their vehicle waaaaay marked up! My coworked helped me come up with a plan to get “out the door” pricing. I was letting Anthony know of my plan all day at work. He was getting nervous that he wasn’t going to get the car that he fell in love with. But what’s the worst thing the dealer can say? “No”? They want to sell cars so they’ll work with you.
We got to the dealership right when we said we would. I was ready to negotiate again. Ant asked to not be in the room when I did. Our sales guy walked up to us. He tried taking us back to his office, but I had to mention a few things first. We wanted to get a few scratches fixed on the car and then I dropped the bomb “I looked up the vehicle’s MMR value and it is listed $3,500 less than what we agreed upon and it has been running that consistently since beginning of December. Knowing that the vehicles has been online for nearly 90 day, we would like to offer you XX,XXX out the door.” He looked at me blankly. After a few seconds he said “Uh, I don’t know if we can do that. Let me go talk to some people” and he walked away.
After about 10 minutes of us waiting for a response, another gentleman, the Assistant Manager, came up and said “Let me show you something”. This can never be good. I was thinking “Oh, shit… Did I ruin this for Anthony? Are we not getting him the car he has had his mind set on for the past 22 hours?”. We walked in to the office and he said:
Assistant Manager (AM): I just can’t do that. We would be losing money on the car if we did that price out the door.
(What, why are you paying so much for vehicles at auction?)
Me: Ok, what can you do for us?
AM: I can take another $500, but out the door will make us lose money still.
Me: But the car is going for XX,XXX at auction and has been consistently and has been on the lot since December.
AM: I know, but I stock up in December preparing for tax season. So we have a lot of cars.
Me: I thought this car was “rare” that’s what our sales man told us.
AM: Yeah, well I can do another $500, but unfortunately we wouldn’t be making anything off of the vehicle if we did more.
Then I caved. I knew Anthony really wanted the car. He deserves something nice that he is proud of. He does so much around the house and he loves me. I love him. I can’t let this fall through because of me wanting to get the out the door price.
Me: Ok, we’ll take it.
I can’t complain. I was pretty proud of myself. I got him down $2,100 from the asking price.
So there we sat for another 45 minutes. Waiting to do the paperwork. I was nervous. This was a big buy. More than what we agreed we wanted to pay. In my head, i’m figuring out all the ways to make sure we can cut things out. In reality, we don’t need to cut anything out. We can afford it just fine. It’s not that much more than what we wanted to pay. We may just have to do one Vegas trip a year. Not two. That’s fine! Anything for my prince(ss)! (The Room reference if anyone didn’t get it)
We put a down payment on our credit card. Don’t worry. We had the cash for it, we just wanted the points! Ant paid the down payment off of our credit card within a few days! No biggie!
So now, we are officially a Ford Family. I have a 2013 Ford Edge and Anthony is the proud driver of a 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Now, we are 1/2 saving the environment, we have a Hybrid!
No hatchback. No Focus. But hey, this shows that life is not always what you expect. You can plan as much as you can, but something may surprise you and take you off course. We may have to live a little bit tighter and not take as many exotic trips. We deserve to have something nice daily! We work hard and earned it.
Married without Kids 