Out with the old, in with the new!

Christmas came early for Margaret this year! Of course this "gift" to myself comes with car payments for the next 60 months.



Yesterday I bought a 2006 Honda Civic EX. I've been shopping for this make and model for weeks; scanning the Internet, Craiglist, going to dealers and checking out private party sales. I even made an offer on one at the Honda dealer last week, but I'm a tightwad and my offer was rejected. Well, I found one at a local Chevy dealer and the price was right. They've been advertising it for at least 3 weeks at a very competitive price (like I said, I've been tracking these things for a while), but then yesterday, they dropped the price even lower. Bingo! Priced $2000 less than any comparable I've seen.



The salesman told us that at the listed price the dealership was only making $81 on the deal. That almost made me feel guilty when I pulled out the coupon I had printed from their website that offered "$100 off any used car for Microsoft employees." As you know, I don't work for Microsoft, but my brother works at Microsoft (close enough) and he was with me. Much to my surprise, they agreed to honor the coupon. The only bump in the road was my trade-in 1991 Accord with 270K miles. They would only offer me $100 for my car, which I rejected. Bah Hum-bug.


When all was said and done, the price I paid was below what KBB and NADA list as the trade-in value for the car. My tight-wadyness paid off. I may be one of the few people on the planet who's car appreciated the second I drove it off the lot.


When I got home, I posted an add on Craiglist to sell my old car and by noon today, my car was sold for $1500.

So far, so good. I have high expectations for this car since my Accord was such a good car. In the 10 years I owned the Accord, I put on almost 200K miles, had very few mechanical problems, and no major accidents (I have been rear-ended twice). I can only hope to have as much good luck with the new car. I woud consider that the best Christmas gift.