*smiles* Thank you! It's alright Aurora. Like I always say, better late than never!
Yesterday was a VERY good day for yours truly. *big grin*
"Why?" You ask? Well, I'll get into that in a second. But first, a little backstory.
Let us hop into the time machine and take a little trip back to January 21st, 2009....
That was the day that ol' dippy here got herself into a car accident. Oh. Don't worry. Nobody was hurt -- thank goodness. But my wonderful little car, a 2003 Hyundai Accent, which I named "The Green Machine", was completely totalled -- with ONE month left on the payments. That's right. One freakin' month. *sigh* But it went out in a blaze of glory, just like it always would've wanted.
Here's a pic so you guys can get a visual. Granted, it's not the same color (mine was a shade of green that was just a smidge darker than the color of Paige's VW):
Cute, huh? Rest In Peace, Green Machine. Thanks for the memories. *wistful smile*
So needless to say, in an instant, I found myself carless. And that was not a great situation, seeing as I needed a way to get back and forth from home to work and school. Thankfully, Mom was kind enough to share her car with me for the time being. Now, I'm not complaining in the slightest -- after all, having "the Mom car" was better than having no vehicle at all. But still...it was the Mom car, and thusly, not cool.
This was a situation that needed to be remedied -- and fast.
After dealing with the insurance company and figuring out my financial situation, I dove into researching to what I could get that wouldn't leave me utterly broke, but that would still look kinda cool in the process. As January turned to February, I had narrowed down things to about 3-4 options and was ready to go out looking.
(Remember, I live in the Midwest, and the months of January and February aren't exactly ideal weather to be walking around outside in a car lot, looking at vehicles.)
On the first Saturday in February (which was in the high 50s / low 60s), Mom and I hopped in her car and set out to check things out -- sorta "kick the tires", so to speak. I didn't plan on buying anything at the moment, just browsing and taking a test drive (or two).
Three dealerships and three test drives later, my 4 orginal options became 2. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted (and the two cars were corporate cousins of each other). Now it was just a matter of which company and which dealers were going to give me the better deal.
I was in no rush, and with the economy being mess that it is, decided to hold off on buying until the dealers got really desperate to move inventory off their lots. This meant that it was comparison shopping time. I hopped from lot to lot to lot getting prices and quotes -- seeing who was offering the best incentives.
That narrowed things down even more. My 2 options now became one. I definitely knew what I wanted -- it was all a matter of playing "Let's Make A Deal", finding the right color, and seeing what incentives I could get. Well, February soon came and went with no such luck. Bummer.
In March, however, I got a welcomed visit from the Incentive Fairy. Manufacturers were really starting to feel the pinch, and it turned out that the car I wanted now had fantastic incentives (Including 0% finanacing
and a $1500 rebate. Not one or the other -- BOTH). For a cash-strapped student like me, 0% financing is a total godsend and a $1500 rebate is icing on the cake. It was time to go looking again.
Last weekend didn't work, as both Mom and I were busy. (You see, Mom is my greatest weapon when it comes to stuff like this. She does international sales for a living, is a hard barginer, and doesn't take "no" for an answer. All in all, the perfect car-shopping partner.) And this past week was just too busy at the start and too darned cold from Wednesday through Friday. So we settled on going out on Saturday the 14th since it was supposed to be decently warm (low 60s and partly sunny).
There were only two dealers that were going to offer me what I wanted so we paid them another visit. However, while the first one had the car with the options that I was looking for and for a good price, they only had one -- in the one color I didn't want.
Sorry. No dice. Next stop.
Jackpot! They not only had a good selection of what I wanted, but in a variety of colors -- including the one I was hoping for. So far, so good.
Now it was time to deal. After showing them what the first place was going to do, they decided to go one step better -- 0% fianacing for 48 months (perfect!)
and a $2000 rebate. Not $1500. $2000. Fan-freakin-tastic. Ladies and Gentlemen -- you have yourselves a deal!
Many hours and a ton of paperwork later, I drove off the lot in a brand-spanking-new (2009) car with a big ol' grin on my face. And it was a steal too, which was even better. All told, I will be only be fianancing $10K with 0% interest on a car that has an MSRP of $17,950. Plus it has a sunroof (which I had in the Green Machine and loved). If I can't have a convertible, I might as well have the next best thing, right?
So without further adeiu, may I introduce you to the newest member of the family....
Her name is (don't laugh -- all my cars have had names) none other than *drumroll* Prudence. Fitting, hmm?
This pic doesn't do her color justice, as she's actually a purply-blue metallic, called "deep ocean blue" -- but it looks like more of a navy blue in the pic.
I count this as my b-day present to myself.