There were a few very important priorities we had in looking for our new car. First of all, we had a strategy of using the fed's CARS program, so we were looking at new vehicles having a higher combined mpg than the 18 mpg the Jaguar currently gets. Secondly, we needed a vehicle that would accommodate both our dog and our baby on-the-way. Many of you already know that our dog, Clyde, goes to work with Tyler on a daily basis, so finding a car that would offer separate spaces for both the baby and the dog was important. (Having Clyde and the baby share a backseat and training Clyde not to lick the baby's face was immediately ruled out. Clyde is a dog, after all.) Furthermore, babies come with lots of gear so we new that some type of wagon or small SUV would be in order. Another consideration for us was the overall size of the vehicle, which is also related to fuel economy. While a small SUV would serve all our needs, we were hung up with the fuel inefficiency these vehicles still get (although, it has been slowly improving in recent years) and we needed a vehicle that would fit in our driveway. Our downtown home has a driveway that measures 9'-9", requiring us to park vehicles biased to one side in order to comfortably open the car door and walk past the car with gear. I think a small SUV would fit, but a more narrow wagon would fit better. All of these priorities considered, we formed a "short" list of cars: Toyota Prius, Toyota Matrix, Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI, Hyundai Elantra Touring, Mazda 5, just to name the top few. These cars not only beat the 18 mpg, they are all fairly fuel efficient and are about the size of car we need now.
I'll insert here that we would have also considered used cars, but our attempt at cashing in on the CARS credit set that effort aside, as the program applied only to new vehicles. Furthermore, we realize that our longer term car plan will eventually include a small or medium size SUV or perhaps even a minivan (gasp!), but we decided that for now, the smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle was the way to go. Tyler will primarily be driving this car (since between the two of us, he does the most driving), so it made sense to have a more fuel efficient vehicle first, then upgrade later as necessary.
A couple of things fell into place to make our car deal a good and affordable one. The dealer offered us a $3,500 trade-in credit for the Jag, and a $3,000 manufacturer's rebate was currently being offered by Pontiac. Both add up to some serious change, taking $6,500 off the sticker price before haggling. Now, the manufacturer's rebate was the type of deal that Pontiac offered as a promotion, in order to forego any type of haggling on the part of the buyer. Their basic attitude was, okay - here is the price, we've slashed it, come buy the car for this sale price, no negotiations necessary. Thus, it became clear that this rebate lowered the sticker price to x amount, and the dealer was not inclined to lower x amount any more. So, in our first round of negotiations, we set our bottom line at x amount minus $2,000, but then had to walk away since the dealer wasn't even going to entertain moving his bottom line.
I was a little annoyed that the dealer wouldn't even make a move toward our price. But then we came around to understanding the purpose of the manufacturer's rebate, so Tyler called the dealer the next morning to talk/negotiate again. This time, I sat out of the haggling, since sometimes, as the female in the relationship, I admit that I can be the "softie." Some of you will know what I mean. Good cop - bad cop. Tyler went back to the dealer to play hardball. (I also remembered as a kid hanging out for what seemed like hours in the car dealership when I went with Dad a couple of times when he made his deals. Most dealerships, I noticed, have playrooms for the little nuggets. Good idea.)
So, sticker price minus manufacturer's rebate, minus trade-in value brought us to x value. Then, Tyler decided to take $700 off that price AND ALSO ask for 3 years of oil changes. (Remember the lessons we learned from Dad? Oil changes = sweetener.) The dealer first scoffed, and started talking about how sales and services departments are different, blah blah blah, not sure he could work it out due to accounting issues, blah blah blah. Tyler held firm and the dealer came back with x price and 3 oil changes. (Three oil changes does not equal 3 years of oil changes.) Tyler still wasn't really inclined to budge, so he walked away. Again. We decided to try the Pontiac dealership a little further north on the highway.
We spent most of the afternoon trying to work a deal with dealer #2. We test drove a Matrix that had a smaller engine than the Vibe we were looking for (1.8L vs. 2.4L), which pretty much confirmed that we preferred to have the Vibe 2.4L model, even though it was slightly less fuel efficient than the 1.8L. The power and pick-up was noticeable different, and we preferred to have the power. (I drove a Mustang for 12 years...power and pick-up is pretty important to me.) I personally liked dealer #2. He was not the typical swarmy sales guy - he was our age, has three kids, was really straightforward. A nice fellow. One hang up with him, however, was that he didn't have the model of the car we wanted on the lot, meaning, he would have to bring it in from another dealer. So, that added a little to his bottom line. I very much appreciated however, that he was willing to work with us. He was really trying to earn our business. Amusingly enough, while we were closing in on a deal with this guy, dealer #1 calls Tyler and offers: x price and 5 oil changes. I just laughed. And dealer #1 had the car on his lot that we wanted. We decided then and there that if dealer #2 couldn't meet our x price (which also included service sweeteners), we would walk. We came within $500 of making a deal with him. We decided to walk.
So, we ended up accepting dealer #1's offer for our x price and 5 oil changes. Tyler started to feel a little badly, thinking we were slightly too firm or were even asking too much by sticking to our x price. But I didn't feel badly at all. Buying a car is a purely monetary transaction. It isn't about personality or even loyalty, I think. It is all about the numbers. Those things, like customer service and loyalty can influence a bottom line, but in the end, it is about the cash on the table. One of the important things I learned in this experience.
Another important lesson we learned was that you can't be afraid to walk away from a deal. I think that is a hard thing to learn but I suppose it becomes easier as you age. Having the confidence to walk away from a deal, I think, is strengthened by research. Tyler had done tons of research on cars and while we had never bought new or dealt with a car salesmen, he was willing to walk away when our bottom line was not met. (Hearing Dad's car buying accounts also helped tremendously, of course.)
One last lesson I think actually helps in negotiations is taking into account the current stock of the car model, especially at the local dealers. This makes sense, right? If you are interested in buying a particular model and the dealer has several models available, he may be more willing to move down in price in order to decrease his inventory. This is ultimately why we ruled the Prius out early. One local Toyota dealer was having a hard time keeping them on his lot. He told us that he sold his shipment of 8 Priuses last month right off the container. (He was unimpressive by the way, trying to sell us on all wheel drive when we know we don't need it around here "...it is great in rainstorms...", blah blah blah.)
So finally, I should get around to mentioning something about the title of this particular post. (I don't intend for every blog to be this long!) The Pontiac Vibe has the same engine and transmission as the Toyota Matrix. They are both built on the same platform as the Toyota Corolla, and only the skins of the Matrix and the Vibe differ. Fit and finish is the same. So, knowing that Pontiac, a GM brand, will be dropped later this year certainly raises suspicions - should we buy a car of a brand that will cease to exist? What about future trade-in value and maintenance issues and finding replacement parts? Since the Vibe is a twin to the Matrix, we are willing to hedge this particular risk. Toyota makes a good car, a reliable one, and fact of the matter is, Toyota has surpassed American cars in quality. We are betting that this Vibe, a Matrix in disguise, will hold up for several years and be a good car to have. In the end, we are actually feeling a little better about having purchased an American car. I mean, okay, so the heart of the Vibe is Japanese (thankfully), but some of our dollars somehow will go to GM. We, as taxpayers, own GM anyway, right? Might as well drive a car we've already paid for.
Happy driving and don't forget to buckle up!
