As you might know, I hate cars. The are a necessary evil in my life, but at least I don’t have to hassle long when buying one. I just completed the negotiation to get my next vehicle in about 2 hours. This is how it went.
1) Ring – Hi Rick, I see your lease is up in two months so we can pull you ahead and have GMAC pay your last two payments. Have you considered what you want for your next car?
2) Hi Randy, yes, I want a solid car with good gas mileage and I want it for less than I am paying today for my 2004 Grand Prix. Price me out a G6, a Vibe, and a Grand Prix.
3) Ha, ha, ha. OK, but the requirement for the lower price might be tough unless you are willing to give up the V6 engine, and maybe a comfortable drive, but let me get back to you.
I go over to the local dealer and check out the new G6 since I have not driven one yet. I figured moving to a smaller car was the only way I was going to go down on the monthly payment. What a disappointment. The G6 drives nice enough if you get the V6, but the gas mileage is the same as the bigger Grand Prix. The price difference is $40 a month in favor of the G6. Nuts.
Two hours later…
4) Rick, you are not going to believe this, but GM just came out with an additional rebate on the Grand Prix this afternoon which means your payment is going down by $10 a month as long as you can live with red, white or silver.
5) I wanted blue, but red will do. So I pick the Grand Prix. They both get the same mileage (20 in the city, 30 on the highway), they are within $7 a year overall for insurance, and the now the lease payment is like $5 a month different.
6) Done. When do you want to stop by and pick it up? I assume you still have the FoxPro license plate, right?
7) Of course I still have the FoxPro license plate {g}. How is tomorrow for the pickup?
I really like having a friend who owns a car dealership. I have only purchased/leased one car in the last 15 years or so where I actually went to a dealership before making the purchase and haggled with a salesperson. When he was in Indiana he had drivers drop off the new car where I was working that day. Now I can drive to the other side of Detroit to pick it up. I also know I am not getting shafted, which is something I always felt before my friend owned a dealership.
So I did not intend on getting a new car when I woke up this morning, but the deal is done and I will pick it up tomorrow.
