New Car

The salesman from the Acura dealership in Redwood City called on Monday and said they were able to find a better price on the Mazda from another wholesaler. It was significantly better than their original offer, but still not quite the amount we were hoping for.

Marc and I thought about it for a bit, and decided to go for it. The deal was that they were selling us the TL-S at invoice, and they were also allowing us an additional two weeks to try to get a better price for the Mazda. If we couldn't, then they would buy the car from us at the agreed price.

I think we initially were overvaluing the Mazda a bit, because we went by the Kelley Blue Book values - but in checking Edmunds.com TMV (true market value) and some other sites, it looks like the KBB value is a bit high. The Edmunds TMV price actually comes out just a tad lower than what Acura is giving us on the trade. Considering that the car needs a new set of tires, it doesn't seem like as bad a deal after all.

We're still going to take the two weeks to try to sell it privately, but part of me would rather avoid the hassle of dealing with buyers (although when I sold my Mustang, it had to be the easiest sale ever - the guy called me the morning after I listed it, didn't haggle me on price at all, didn't ask to test drive it or have it taken to a mechanic. He just showed up with the check, we did the paperwork, and he drove off).

Also, you get inquiries like this:

"hi. Your car looks cool to me. favorite color. can you provide me VIN? do u have more pics, including interior? r u fine with $10000? as I'm studding and working together, can't afford too much for car along with my fees. so if its ok then let me know. have a wonderful year ahead."

And yes, that did come in my e-mail today. Oy.

Anyways, I did discover that shopping for a new car via the Internet was significantly less painful than going in person to a dealership. I spent about 15 minutes filling out online forms and sending them to each dealer's Internet department, and basically asked them what their best price was (Lexus makes it even easier, as the form autofills with what you had before, so you just go down the list of dealers and hit "send").

Marc's phone literally rang a minute after I sent off the forms. When Hopkins Acura called, the sales guy asked Marc what sort of numbers we were looking for. Marc told him we wanted the new car at invoice, and what we wanted on the trade. When we got to the dealership, we didn't have to haggle at all on the price, they gave us invoice right away.

We did get a couple of quotes from other Acura dealers too. Most were $800-$1000 under MSRP. When Marc told them that we were getting quoted at invoice, two of them actually said, "Wow, congratulations!" and didn't even try to match. I'm actually surprised it's not easier to get a TL at invoice, given that this particular generation has been out a while.

So last night we went to do all the paperwork, and we're picking up the car tomorrow! I am very much looking forward to having navigation and not getting lost and subsequently pissed off anymore. :) All in all, it was a pretty pleasant buying experience, as both the sales people we dealt with were very nice, and not pushy.

(BTW, if you're ever in the market for a Ford, don't go to the dealership in Redwood City. They have markups on ALL their cars, including $1000 on a V6 Mustang! Ridiculous.)

Alright, enough blathering on for me!

Oh, one last thing - I'm disappointed that no one likes my blonde naso! Everyone likes the flashy powder blue! Well, Dory just broke out in ich yesterday (she hasn't had it for like 2 years, but it must be that her immune system was good enough to not let them really show - the stress of the move must be triggering it). That probably means I'll need to hold off on another tang, although it's never going to be gone from the tank, so there really isn't a great time. The powder blues are just so delicate, it makes me a bit nervous. We'll see!