This & That...My Silly Life

So the weekend is here and usually that would make me so happy. However the weather is yucky for the 2nd weekend in a row. It's been raining and cloudy out all day, it just makes me in a blah mood :(

Last night I sat down and made my grocery list and the errands I needed to run today. I planned to get up early and get everything done and back home to clean. That didn't happen! I woke up late. Not complaining cause I seriously needed some rest. I walked outside to a cloudy day...boo! So once I got home I turned into a couch potato and have remained on the couch catching up on my TV shows ALL DAY!!!

So now it's 3:00 and I really need to find some motivation. I need to get the house cleaned up, think about dinner and get some stuff done. It makes me ill that it rains every weekend and the weather sucks, it makes me want to nap and sit on my but and I dislike that very much.

I need some sunshine to get me out of this funky mood, is that too much to ask? GEEEEZ!!!!!

This is a show stopper!!! so my last post was about my car situation. Well a lot has changed in the past few days. This story is so shocking I still don't know what to think. Lets get it started...

I was planning to bring home a nice new car this weekend until my socks were knocked off. So this is how it goes. I had priced a car at several dealerships and one dealership was extremely lower than the rest. We are talking anywhere from $1,800 to almost $3,000 difference. I thought I was getting the BEST deal. After e mailing the price back to some other dealerships to try to get an even better deal I received an e mail from one dealer saying there was no way they could sell the car for that price.

Hmmm, two things go through my mind. 1) This dealership was upset about the price and wanted to freak me out or 2) maybe something IS wrong. Either way this required some extra research on my end just to be sure. I contacted the dealer I had been working with and asked for the service record on the car. Oh course they wanted to know why I wanted it which was my first sign something might be off. On a side note it is a good idea to ask for the service record on a new car because you can find out if anything had to be fixed after the car was shipped to the dealer and you will see any recalls the dealer has fixed prior to it being sold. So I used that as an excuse. It was late and they said they would e mail it to me the following day (today).

Still not satisfied I keep researching. I noticed on the way to the dealership I passed some type of storm damage to buildings in the area and also some damage on the dealership. I just assumed it was wind damage from the recent hurricane and didn't really think much of it at the time. Now I am thinking about it! So I start searching for storm damage in the area and up pops a u tube video. You will not believe what the video was from... TORNADO damage and the owner of the dealership had posted it after they were hit with a tornado earlier in the year. WHAT!?! So I proceed to watch the video. There are several cars that are severely damaged, windows blown out major body work and low and behold there is a car remarkably similar to the car I am buying right there on a u tube video. I am NOT kidding!!!

I can't even believe this is happening as I watched the video for a second time. Of course I don't want the salesman to know that I know this information, I wanted to see if anything was said when they sent over the service information. I can't be sure this is the actual car I mean all new cars look similar. I have a very bad feeling either way.

I was surprised to find out in the state of North Carolina a dealer doesn't have to disclose damage in certain instances. If your wondering these are the details to what does or does not have to be disclosed here...(this is from our department of justice website)

New Cars
•Dealers are required to disclose in writing any damage and repair that exceeds five percent of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price before you enter into a contract.
•Dealers are not required to disclose any damage to glass, tires or bumpers if the damaged item has been replaced with original or comparable equipment.
•If a new car has been repaired for damages that do not exceed five percent of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, then the dealer does not have to tell you about the damage unless you ask.
•If a new car has been damaged more than the five percent threshold, the North Carolina Automobile Dealer’s Association recommends that its dealers disclose it in writing on company letterhead. A copy of this disclosure should be submitted along with the title to the Division of Motor Vehicles.


So to finish the story... This morning the salesman e mails me the service record. There is not much on it besides the date the car arrived where the car was checked in and inspected and one recall that was fixed. What caught my eye??? The date the SUV was checked in. The received the car in March and the Tornado was in April. At this point I am pretty sure that the car I was planning to purchase was the car in the video. Even if it wasn't it was still on the lot during the tornado. If your wondering they still didn't say anything about the damage.

I will say the dealer did not do anything wrong in the eyes of the law here in North Carolina. However, as a consumer I was shocked to think I would have to do all of this to make sure a brand NEW car had not been damaged in any way....it's mind boggling!

So I e mail the salesman back and tell him that I know the SUV was on the lot at the time of the tornado and I wanted to know if the SUV suffered damage. Keep in mind if you ask them to disclose they must do so or they are breaking the law.

Low and behold it did suffer damage during the tornado. Windows were broken out and there was body damage which I was told was "mostly" fixed. I have no clue what that means. I was then told that was the reason for the low price and that they would advise me to come back look at the SUV and see that there was no noticeable damage at least not to him (the salesman).

I am floored at this point! Who would have thought something like this could happen with a new car? I never could have imagined this in a million years. Even though it is within the law for them not to disclose this information I still feel deceived.

I couldn't help but think back to Saturday. My husband was going to finance the car and when he asked about going with me I told him I wanted to go alone. The main reason was I wanted to be able to go and look at and drive the car and leave, with no pressure from the salesman to buy that day. I wanted to come home and seriously think about the decision to buy and not bring a SUV home on impulse. Even though I went alone they still tried to get me to purchase the car that day. Of course I told them I had to talk with my husband first! Thank goodness I went alone and things worked to my favor. Sunday we had decided to go purchase the SUV this weekend. Mark even thought I was upset that he didn't go Saturday which I wasn't.

Lesson learned! Even though you think you are getting a perfect new car things are not always what they seem. I am very disappointed that this wasn't brought to my attention from the beginning but I am glad a e mail from another dealership made me think about doing some extra research. I did e mail that guy back today to thank him for his e mail and told him the situation. So buyer BEWARE even when something is new. Always ask if the car has had any type of damage and always check the service record you can even ask for a Car Fax on a new car. I am still blindsided by this whole situation, luckily for me several things fell into place to give me a chance to get the whole story!!!

I am a negotiator when it comes to buying anything new. Even the simplest things I will spend hours or days price comparing, reading reviews and looking at each item. Who does this??? I do! I do it because I work hard for my money and I want to get what I pay for. I am not an impulse shopper. I have had my mind made up, gone to the store to buy the item only to walk away empty handed....craziness!

I have been shopping cars for the past 3 years. Each year I decide it's not the right time or conditions to buy a new car. This year has been different for a few reasons... 1) My Honda has given me a good amount of trouble this year and I have put about 2,000 in that car and yet again I have something else that needs to be fixed (ugh) 2) I have noticed that the 0% financing is not being offered as much as the past few years (guess the banks want to start making more money) 3) pricing...believe it or not car prices have actually increased each year. I know this because I have 3 years worth of quotes saved on my computer!

I always start my search this time of year. It really is the best time to buy a car. Dealers have the new year models coming in and they need to get this years cars off the lot as soon as possible. Yes, you could wait a little longer and maybe get a little extra off but them you usually only have the most equipped models to choose from which cost a lot more money!!!

So to show my insane way of trying to purchase something I will take you on my little journey so far :) We know we want an SUV. So we start looking at prices. I really wanted something with a 3rd row but with all of those having a 30,000 price tag I decided those were out of my price range. So my search starts with the Honda CRV and Toyota Rav 4. I am not a Toyota fan at all! Both quotes on these models that had what I wanted was around 24,000 out the door. I find out the CRV is redesigned for 2012 and I hate the wheel on the back of the Rav 4, I don't want to make a car payment for 5 years for either one of these!!!

I take my chances and get some quotes on the bigger SUV's with 3rd rows and I was pretty surprised to find it wasn't much difference in pricing. Actually I was VERY surprised because I rather pay the extra money for the bigger SUV. So now we are on Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Chevy Traverse, Ford Flex, and Mazda CX-9.

and here's the story...

Highlander fell out fast because they didn't want to budge on pricing. Seriously it's a car not gold!

Ford Flex... I loved this car! My Husband said it looked like a hurst and he wouldn't ride in it :( I was really sad to take that one off my list but Mark's opinion counts too!

Honda Pilot an interesting story... The dealer begged us to come look the same weekend we had the hurricane (poring rain and windy) we went and I got ugly!!! The guy didn't even pull the car under their awning we walked out in the poring rain only for him not to have the key to get in the car. He then proceeded to leave us out there to go get the key. He comes back and said they had just got the car in and they didn't have the key because it had to go to service department first. So basically we stood in the poring rain and got soaking wet for NO REASON!!! I did see the inside of the car and I hated it (I am very picky about the inside of car). The salesman proceeded to try to sell me a car after we came back in soaked from head to toe. I had to get a little ugly...and then I walked out :) Mark said I embarrassed him LOL!

Chevy Traverse...I am not a fan of the outside of this SUV, the back of it just don't fit the rest of the body. The inside is nice and meets my picky standards. I also thought the dealers would be extremely motivated to sell this car. I picked out two dealerships that had over 20 of the 2011 models. The 2012's are already on the lot and that should equal a good deal. Not the case at all. All the SUV's I picked had around the same MSRP. The quotes from both dealerships were 2,000 higher than the Pilot and the CX-9. I tried to get them to come down to the pricing the other two were at but they didn't seem interested. Bye Bye Traverse you have the ugliest body style I ever seen!!!

Then you have the Mazda CX-9...this car has won me over all around. The body style is visually appealing and the inside is beautiful! Mark also approved on the look of this one :) You get the most for your money with this car. Alot of the standard equipment on this car is optional on the other models. So for the same price you get a lot of extras.

So after 2 months of pricing and looking I finally went to drive the Mazda yesterday. I really loved it :) I drives like a car. I sat in all 3 rows and we test drove the car for about 15 miles down all different kinds of roads. I was really surprised how well this car drove to be a SUV with 3 rows. Now we have to make a decision...

So I have priced the Mazda at 6 dealerships within a 150 mile radius of us. The dealership I have been dealing with has the lowest price by 3,000....crazy huh? I don't think I can negotiate this price any lower. I know I am getting a great deal on this car but I still want them to take off some more money (go figure) I have checked what people are paying and I would be getting it a LOT cheaper!!! I feel like we need to run to buy this car, but I struggle with the 5 years of payments and additional insurance cost. Oh man....what to do? I really think this is the year to buy a car, but making a decision that affects you for 5 years is tough!!!

I have done all my research on this car. I have went to every forum to see if I could find complaints or things customers didn't like after buying the car. I have read a ton of customer reviews and car reports. I can't find anything bad. It seems like the people who have them love the CX-9...can a car really be this great?

So we shall see what happens. Either I am going to bring the car home or wait it out. Problem is if I wait it out too long someone could buy the car and then I will have lost out. I will keep you posted on my struggle!!!