ironphoenix (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ironphoenix) wrote2009-03-12 09:24 am
ironphoenix) wrote2009-03-12 09:24 am
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Adios auto!
Step 1 towards a new car happens tomorrow morning: they're coming to pick up the old one at 8 A.M. We'll be $50 richer; yay us. This frees up the spot in the garage so we will then be free to procure a new one, which we want to do sooner than later.
After looking at prices, a new car looks rather more interesting than a used one: the difference in price just doesn't make up for the difference in maintenance and fuel costs on an older car. Subcompacts are probably a bit too small for us, both from a capacity and a safety point of view: if I'm driving to work anything like regularly, that's 50 km per day, most of it highway, and mass matters in a collision. I'm used to driving arefrigerator Volvo station wagon, so I don't really fancy a folded-tinfoil wrapper around a sewing-machine engine. Japanese cars still seem to be the best value for money, in terms of reliability, fuel efficiency, and parts availability and cost, but the Honda Fit seems a bit lightweight.
So here are a couple of questions for those of you who've done this car-buying thing before: where should one end up at the end of negotiations, relative to the MSRP? Also, how much room is there to push back on "shipping and preparation" charges and suchlike? And finally, what "little extras" should I be anticipating being offered, which should I buy, and what should I expect to pay for them?
After looking at prices, a new car looks rather more interesting than a used one: the difference in price just doesn't make up for the difference in maintenance and fuel costs on an older car. Subcompacts are probably a bit too small for us, both from a capacity and a safety point of view: if I'm driving to work anything like regularly, that's 50 km per day, most of it highway, and mass matters in a collision. I'm used to driving a
So here are a couple of questions for those of you who've done this car-buying thing before: where should one end up at the end of negotiations, relative to the MSRP? Also, how much room is there to push back on "shipping and preparation" charges and suchlike? And finally, what "little extras" should I be anticipating being offered, which should I buy, and what should I expect to pay for them?
no subject
* Provided the car is of "average" reliability or better, an extended warranty is almost certainly a waste of money. (Most things will go wrong -- if they go wrong -- in the regular warranty period; if the car proves to be a lemon, you're better off trading it in.)
* The various undercoatings (which were still being pushed fairly hard as recently as 2004/5) are also pretty much a waste. (You'll do just as well with the car as it left the factory.)
I do know that Toyota will offer a form of Scotchguard for the interior fabrics; you can probably do better aftermarket -- or by not being messy. I suspect that other mfrs will have something similar.
Likewise, Toyota has a "roadside assistance" plan they push. I suspect that CAA would suffice, as would knowing how to change a tyre and keeping the gas tank non-empty. (Admittedly, having changed a tyre in -26 degree weather, -34 with the wind (and, yes, those numbers got frozen into my brain), paying someone else to do the job seems a minor luxury that might well be worth the cost.)
no subject
I noticed that the 5-year warranty is an especially bad scam: if you're getting the 5-year, the 6th year is a negligible extra cost. The "protective" options seem to be universally decried as scams, and I'm with ya on the roadside service thing, too.