A little bit of background, Chris has had issues with his car since he paid it off last year. We had to replace the fuel pump 3 times in a little over a year (thankfully we didn't have to pay for the last replacement because those things are expensive!). We knew we would need to get him a new car, but we were hoping to hold off on that for as long as possible (as in after the house).
Last Wednesday he noticed that his car sounded a little strange, but thought that changing the oil would help out. He backs out of our garage, on his way to class in the morning, and it dies. Kaput. Nothing. I throw him my spare keys and tell him we'll deal with it later. When he gets back it was time for a nice tow over to the closest, trusted repair place.
I'm not going to pretend like I know much of anything about cars (minus the basics to get by, thank you AAA for my added protection on the road), but they originally told us the problem was the starter. I choked down the price and tell them to replace it only to find out later that night that it is in fact the engine. The Engine! I pretty much burst into tears when they told us the price to get a new one, or repaired one. Let's just say it was well over the value of the car.
After I had my moment, we sat down, talked and weighed out our options. Do we shell out a ton of money for a car that we intended to replace in the next year, or do we bite the bullet and move up the purchase time frame for his new truck? Well as you can tell from the post title, we went for option 2.
Saturday morning we headed out with my parents and hit up 3 or 4 different dealerships. We found a very nice pre-owned 2011 Chevy Silverado at the first dealership, but ended up getting a good deal on a 2010 Ford F150 at the same dealership that I purchased my Escape and my dad got his Explorer. My last experience there was actually easy and somewhat enjoyable. Sadly, this experience was not. I hate dealing with a bunch of different people all giving us different prices. Last time we dealt with the one salesman who gave us a price that could not be beat by the other dealerships we checked out and that was it. But its done and over with and hopefully this means we won't have to deal with car salesmen for another 5 or 10+ years!
Have you ever dealt with car salesmen? Did you have a good or bad experience?
I dread the day I have to buy a new car because just the thought of dealing with car salesmen totally freaks me out!! I'm glad you guys found something, and I hope it wasn't TOO horrible dealing with the people!
ReplyDeletecongratulations on the new car! we bought our first car a few months ago and you're right, it's a total game as to the price negotiation.
ReplyDeleteIt really is sad that some salesmen live up to the not so great reputation out there. Thankfully, my dad is an awesome negotiator and made it a little easier to deal with them. Good luck when it comes time for your new car! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!! You're so right, it's a game. The back and forth, and let me get my manager...then let them get their manager... just time consuming and a little frustrating.
ReplyDeleteLove the new truck! Eventually the same thing will happen with my car - it'll nickel and dime me to death until I replace it - but I hope that's not soon!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Chris' car died, but at least it sounds like it wasn't a complete surprise, and he just got his new car early! Congrats on the truck!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the truck! It looks sharp. I haaaate car salesmen too. I made my husband go do all the negotiating when we bought his car in April, and I just came in to sign the papers. Just being forced to wait at the dealership rubs me the wrong way, and they always make you wait for hours.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh yes! And the part that sucked was that Chris had to work, and we ended up being there for almost 4 hours.
ReplyDeleteHA! I feel like that's exactly what his car was doing to us. All those repairs add up, and that last one was just to expensive to be worth it.
ReplyDeletePQ had to buy a new car about a year ago after his jeep (which he had since high school!) finally died. I'm due for one as well but REALLY don't like the idea of taking on a car payment so I just keep rocking the old toyota.
ReplyDeleteThe new truck looks awesome - congrats!!
yay for a new truck, but boo for an awful experience to get it :( We had a similar experience with Jim's truck breaking down multiple times this winter, we paid to have it fixed three times and we almost bought a new one, but luckily he figured out how to fix the last straw thing himself. Jim has experience in the car world, so car experiences are usually good for us. Actually him, since I never go along. I've also never bought my own car though, mine is a handmedown and is pretty old. I'm not looking forward to the time that I need to get a new one.
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