Sebring RIP

[chaosqueen42]

I have been trying for a long time to follow the advice that you should drive your car until it falls apart before buying a new one, because you'll save tons of money over your lifetime. This has been a bit of a struggle lately, because after 10 years I really was starting to get sick of my car, especially after it picked up some new dings and

Comments

[srotu27]

I bought my car through Budget, which is not a broker, so that doesn't help you. However, I did appreciate getting a low-mileage late model used car in decent condition. Budget was really annoying and I had to get a little bitchy with them, so I'm not endorsing, just saying that my family has bought cars from the rental fleets in the past with success, if you decide to go that route.

That said, I've heard some good things about Automotive Avenues.

[k8cre8]

I really liked Automotive Avenues. Good to work with, the cars were in great shape, and they have lots of connections to get you what you'd like.

I also had a bad experience with Budget, they wouldn't even talk with me until they'd run my credit, and then they tried to sell me the car for about 4-5K more than it was worth.

[srotu27]

They tried to drive the price up on me, too, but not in any sort of unusual way. When I asked to see the Blue Book, they stopped trying to treat me like the "little lady." I had brought my dad with me, with the idea that he'd keep them from going that route, but I nearly had to send him out of the room--- he was such a sweetie that when I had to get nasty with them, they stopped talking to me and started talking to him. I ended up snarling, "He won't be making the payments, you can talk to me or I can leave." I kind of expected the used car thing to be that way, but they hassled me after the fact--- I had to go to another location to get some forms I needed for registration and emissions testing, and I had to go back several times to finish it off.

geeeeez

[boat_of_car]

What a pain. I had heard good things about both those until now: guess I know where not to go.

my last experience was with a dealer: the car was used, and had some specific 'as-is' exceptions, so it was pretty cheap, then when I sat down to sign the paperwork, they had tacked on a bunch of warranty stuff that DOUBLED the price of the car, and the lady gave me a really hard time about turning that offer down. (really, like pouty face and tsk-ing and the whole thing. )

perhaps I'll just get a carraige-and-four next time, and forgo the whole car thing altogether...

[chaosqueen42]

Saw the broker today -- so far, so good. He didn't even ask, "what can I do to get you into this car today?" That's just not how they do things.

Now I have a new dilemma. Just walking around the lot to get an idea of what various makes and models are like, we found a nice Acura that wasn't even in the company inventory yet. It's a beautiful car. It's a really nice car. It has cool bells and whistles. And it's a really good deal. It's probably a nicer car than I need. I could afford it, but I could probably get by with something less fancy, like a Honda Accord. There are probably plenty of perfectly reasonable cars for 3/4 the price of this one. Thrify or splurge? Hm.