Sunday, March 15, 2009

New Car

We got a new car. It was quite a good deal. The term for deals like this is "loss lead." Grocery and retail stores are notorious for this sort of thing. They put an item on sale at below what they paid for it, in hopes that once you get into the store, you will spend more on other purchases (especially impulse purchases on other overpriced items). This car was definitely a loss lead, as it was being sold for a couple hundred less than what the dealer paid, and that's not including the package that came with it or the rebate that Hyundai gives as well.

If you didn't know what "Loss Lead" was before this entry, google the term and learn up on it. Items that are "loss leads" are what thrifty and frugal people look for. (A little pricing around will definitely help you figure out what is and isn't a "loss lead" or even a decent deal.)

I'm cringing at the thought of a new car, to be honest, but my old car was in shambles and is no longer safe to drive. I mean that even the odometer stopped working and apparently my brakes are nearly shot. Not good! But we got an amazing deal. Research pays off, and so does the ability to haggle and keep the salespeople off kilter. We got a very high rated, very reliable car that goes for about $18,000+ (before tax) for about $12,260 (before downpayment and taxes). It took a lot of research, a lot of looking, and a lot of haggling (4 hours to finalize things). It also helps when you have strict criteria of what kind of salesperson you will work with and you let them know. No funny business, mister. :-)

All in all, we did very well. It's painful though. If there's one thing we didn't need, it was another car payment, but we can't fully trust the one car we have that is in decent condition. This sort of deal might not come again and was definitely one to jump on. (Like I said, do research. That's how I knew this deal was one I could not beat especially for such a highly rated vehicle.)

No comments:

Post a Comment