And Then There Were Two

Cars. Yep, that is right this week we purchased our second car. We have been pondering on this together for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I say together because I had been thinking about wanting another car for awhile, but was having a really hard time convincing myself that I 'needed' a car. Gaupo had also been thinking about it, but said he didn't know how to bring it up and if it was really a good idea. Well one day I don't quite remember how it came about, but we both started talking about maybe needing another car. As Gaupo and I should know by now, we need to be absolutely sure when we start talking about big things because they usually happen quite fast, sometimes faster than I am ready for. Anyway, Gaupo did his typical thing which is find something to buy ASAP before Adventure Girl changes her mind. I on the other hand did my typical thing...nothing. So, before long Gaupo found something. It was a 2006 White Honda Civic Hybrid going for about $8,500. Well, he started asking questions, I started freaking out (that is what I do before ALL large purchases). So, to comfort me about what we were doing we decided to make a list of what we wanted and needed in the new car. This is what we came up with (these are in no particular order)

• Gas mileage has be be greater than or equal to 26mpg
• 4 doors, I said this because moving a carseat back and forth out of a 2 door, way bad.
• 2000 or newer ( I just realized that this is what we wrote, I thought we wrote 2004 or newer)
• Automatic (I can't drive a stick. I hate that, but there is not much I can do about it yet.)
• Not a Ford or a Saturn
• Max Price: $9,000 off the lot
• Mileage: 120,000 or less ideal 100,000
• Not white, brown, or a bright color (I said the first two but Gaupo said the last one)
• Not smoked in
• No boxes or bubbles (referring to shape)
• CD deck (our impala only has a tape)
• Good cargo space

After we made this list, I gave the go ahead to Gaupo to look into this car. Well, it turns out this car got sold the morning before we could get there, and we thought we had another chance at it, but the people that bought it decided to keep it. We were kind of bummed, but kept looking. Everything we looked at, mainly Honda Civic Hybrids, were too expensive and no one was willing to cut their prices. However, from one negotiation round I learned a lot about negotiating.

• Dealers ALWAYS think their car is top notch when it isn't even close.
• Though your salesman seems willing to work with you his MANAGER is usually not.
• Salesman want to sell you anything they can even if you don't want it.
• Walking away from something you like is hard, but usually after you walk away you don't regret it because you can see more clearly.

There are other things I learned, but they aren't really explainable, so that list will have to do. Anyway, on Saturday during what was suppose to be a HUGE snow storm we looked at cars at dealerships around here. We found what we thought we be perfect--a 2011 Hyundai Accent. Well we couldn't look at it that day because it was in Denver, so we waited till Tuesday. Tuesday Jason test drove it two our house and it had no power anything, not locks, not windows, nothing. Anyway, we thought it might still be a good idea but I was SUPER nervous about the no power thing. So, when I need advice I call my parents. Mainly my mom, but my dad has great advice too. I talked to her and she made some really good recommendations. They were as follows...

• Maybe you should think about spending considerably less, that way when you need to buy a family car you are more ahead than if you spent a lot of money now. You don't need a car that get to here at back you only need it for around town, or at least that's what you said. Also, maybe look for an older Honda or Toyota they were meant to go 200,000 miles with no problems. If the car is older it will be better for insurance and for licensing. 

So, I said to myself, self she makes some good points you should at least think about them. So, I called Gaupo and told him to not lock us into anything till I told him about my mom's suggestions. He said okay. Later we talked about these suggestions and Gaupo said, I think she's right. What do you have in mind? I said I think we need to look for an older Toyota or Honda. We left it at that till after work.

I went to pick up Guapo from work because I had to run some errands that day. When I arrived he hoped in and said you want to see what I found. I tried to ask him questions about it, but he just said let me take you. I said yes and off we went to what I found out was Longmont Auto Brokers. Guapo had found a 2000 Honda Civic on their site and wanted to show me. While we were there, the gentleman helped us make a list of every car he had in the lot that he said was a good car in our price range. We took the choice we had and narrowed it down to a 2002 Cheve Malibu and the Civic that Guapo had seen. I test drove them both, and the Malibu had cool features like a sunroof, leather seats, buttons all over, and handled just like the Impala. I drove the Civic, and it handled different, it didn't have as many gadgets, but it drove smooth and easy had a super tight turn radius, was clean, and looked pretty nice. I came back, and Guapo had been talking prices with Donnie, our sales guy. I said that Guapo needed to drive the Civic before we talked anything about prices. He drove it and said, 'handles just like I thought it would.' So, Donnie gave us his reduced prices due to Guapo and his prior negotiations. Guapo and I went outside and talked it over a looked at them, and talked about the cars and what we thought. We decided that if he could get the price off the lot below 5k we wanted the Civic. We chose this because though features are great they were out, and sunroof seals leak, and its a Cheve it would have worn out sooner. So, we go back in and Guapo said can you get below 5. Donnie, messed with the numbers and got it below, so we bought a car. 

Well after we decided to buy I went to get the check to give him a deposit and realized I didn't have the checkbook. Realize this guy had already negotiated with us, and it was after hours, he wasn't supposed to even still be there, and we had like 60 bucks. Needless to say, that wasn't enough to continue, but he said him and Guapo could work on the paper work while I was gone to get the checkbook. I drove home with expert abilities and got back. We signed the papers, and wrote out the check and I drove home it our new to us 2000 Honda Civic. This is it...

Me showing off the front view and the fact that it needs a wash.

So, happy to have our new car.

So, just to some it up and compare the lists we only gave up one thing we needed and that was no more miles that 120,000. This little car had 140,000. Anyway this is what we got.

• Gas Mileage: estimated to be 28 to 34 or so
• 4 door
• Year 2000
• Automatic
• Honda
• Price: you can ask me the specific but less than 5k
• Mileage: 140,000
• Color: Dark Green
• Not smoked in
• Its not a bubble, or box
• It has a CD deck
• It has pretty good cargo space

Anyway, we are pleased as punch about it and are loving it all the time. Also, when we bought this I wasn't nervous at all I was so excited at what we had found. So, if its not a good enough deal for you don't tell me, because I am at peace with what we did.

p.s if you made it this far congrats this was a SUPER long post, but I don't want to forget everything.