I bought a car

I bought a car yesterday. I hadn't really intended to. I mean, I fully intended to at some point before the year was out, I just wasn't planning on doing it yesterday.

I'd been half-heartedly looking at car sites online and budgeting things in my head for a while—first after spending $3,500 on repairs to my previous car in February and then with a little more seriousness when I got a warning light on my dash some weeks ago that promised more expense to come a few months down the line—but yesterday's visit to a dealership to check out a particular listing was, I expected, just going to be a test drive and some experience with car salesmen to build upon when I'm really ready to go later on.

I think it's that lack of experience with car dealers that ultimately had me signing papers, and I'm not altogether sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, I got a good deal on the car; all told, out the door including fees, taxes, and the trade-in of my prior 25-year-old jalopy, I got a 2007 Prius with 120k miles on it and a really good 1-owner service history for $8,100. The only Priuses (Prii?) I'd found in my searching that were less expensive had good reason to be so, either with damage histories or much higher mileage. I don't regret the purchase and I'm hopeful it will work out well in the long run.

But I wanted to do things in a certain order and the dealer wasn't cooperating with my more methodical approach. That makes it sound like I was dealing with hardass high-pressure sales dudes, but if so they were really good at it and knew just the right way to charm without overtly charming, if that makes sense. I knew from the time of making the appointment that I had competition, one potential buyer at that location and a few from their primary lot in North Bend, where the car would have been taken early next week if it hadn't sold yet. (Whether the car would really have gone to North Bend in a few days I don't know, I give it a 40-60 chance that was BS, but I was reasonably sure I was competing with three others of indeterminate seriousness of intention.) Also, the dealership was not conveniently located, it was a 45 minute drive from my home; this was a Friday afternoon and anyplace I could get it inspected wouldn't be available until Monday; there was no attempt to upsell or get me to finance with them; and they offered me more than expected for my trade-in.

I just don't make big decisions impulsively. I am the Processing King of Shoreline, after all, I generally have to think things through to an extent that goes beyond usefulness. So I had a bit of anxiety at the dealership. I was about to walk away when the owner of the dealership upped the trade-in offer by $200, making it that much more than what others and websites had led me to believe I would get for trade-in value. He wanted my Subaru. So I asked for another $100 on top of that and he agreed and I felt like, OK, now I have to do it. Also, damn, maybe I should have asked for $200 more.

Still, I did insist on a window in which to get it third-party inspected with a guarantee that if the inspection turned up anything misrepresented or omitted by the dealer the contract would be nullified and I'd get my Subaru back, and they gave that in writing without any hemming and hawing at all.

So in effect I got what I wanted out of my deliberative process, I just had to get there in a more anxious way. Inspection is scheduled for Monday afternoon, I have until Thursday at close of business to exercise my "opt-out," if you will.

If they hadn't pressured me to buy it on the spot, or if they hadn't agreed to my trade-in ask, I'd likely not have gotten to go back for it later and eventually bought something else that would either have cost me more money, been a bit older, and/or been in worse condition. Or maybe not, who knows. My other leading contender had been an ’04 with about the same mileage and a lesser service history and a higher price tag by about $500. Others I was looking at had been in accidents, had been rental cars, or were more than $10k, and beyond that I'd be looking at payments and I have serious debt anxiety. I'd previously made an appointment to see another one today that's listed at $10k+ and that I was hoping I could negotiate down, but I obviously cancelled that.

Despite the residual anxiety, I'm looking at this in a positive light. When I get the inspection report I'll feel better either way—good choice, or CTRL-Z on the whole thing.

For now, though, it's a little weird; I parked it in a lot when I went into a store on the way home yesterday and when I came back out I automatically started heading for the red car parked a few spaces away before realizing that I don't have a red car anymore. Nothing is where I expect it to be on the dashboard. The split-level rear window is a bit strange. It's a little disconcerting when the gas engine stops running at stoplights. The buttons on the key fob are way too sensitive and I inadvertently set off the alarm last night. It'll take a little getting used to.

It's a used car, of course, so it's got some wear on it. The worst is a crack in the plastic bumper cover (I'd guess from backing into a post in a parking garage), which I can fix myself if I want to take the time to do it (thank you, YouTube). There's a tiny bit of paint scratching and a bit of paint wear on the rear spoiler. Again, I can touch that up if I want to, a can of matching paint and one of topcoat would cost less than $40. Even if I screw up the bumper and need a replacement, I can get one for $100 and paint/install it myself.

Now I've just got to figure out the "smart key" and how to pair the car to my phone. Sometimes it's weird, living in the future.