Yeah, so I've got a new car!!! It kind of freaks me out too, so don't worry if you're a little shocke
d. But I've been smart about all of this. At the beginning of the summer Dad told me that now is the perfect time to get a new car because dealers are trying to get rid of the cars on their lot. And, I bought my car old, and I've had it for three years, so it's time to move on, it's seen some good times. So, since May or so I've been researching cars. I wanted one that was reliable that would hold up so that I could drive it for years. For reliability and price sake, I was looking at the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, and luckily the cute, sporty Mazda 3s are turning out to be pretty reliable too.
I did more research and joked about the idea of getting a Mazda Miata. Ha. In the search, I ruled out the Toyota because they're not as well built as the Honda or the Mazda 3 and is about the same price, so scratch off the not so cute car as long as it got one bad review :o) Then I started looking more into the Miata. I even test drove one when I was down in Escondido. I decided that if I could find a 2008, with less than 30,000 miles on it, for $17,000 I would get it. I figured I was safe, because I was sure that I wouldn't find one.
Li
ke I said, all summer I've been researching. Well, on and off, of course I've also been traveling a lot and been in my classroom a lot too. I finally went car shopping in Utah on Wednesday. There are only 3 Mazda dealerships in Utah. One's in Murray, one's in Bountiful, and the other's in Ogden. I had called the Murray and Bountiful shops that morning and neither of them had new Mazdas, but they had used ones and they both said they could find me one if I came in. I drove up to Murray (about 40 minutes away) and was there around 10:30am (remember that time). The only Miata they had was a 2007 with 33,000 miles with a price tag of $17,700. Already, that's three strikes against it (not a three strikes you're out though, because they were all close- it was kind of like three balls, sticking with the baseball analogy). I test drove it, and it felt nice, but it was white with a brown top and brown leather interior. I tried to get over it, but I couldn't help but think of it as an old man's car instead of a cute 22 year old's car. So, the color was actually ball 4 which is an out. It took forever to get to that decision. Before test driving it, they had run a search of new Miatas and there were none in all of Utah and if I wanted on, it would have been the same color, but more expensive. So we looked at used ones in Bountiful. They had two. One was a stick (no go) and the other one was an automatic, but they sold it the day before. I asked them to check the Ogden one. I mean, I could always just visit Grandma and Grandpa, especially seeing as I haven't yet all summer (oops). Nope, they had one, but it was a stick.
W
hat to do now? Utah has no Miatas. I asked them several times how that could be possible. Freaking gracious. From there we moved to looking at Mazda 3s. I test drove 4 of them. The two different engines in a 2009, and the two different engines in the 2010 models. All of them drove fine, so then it was about price. Well, the dumb dealers (I don't mean it, they were really nice) don't order Mazdas stripped down, they order them fully loaded. It turns out that the one I wanted was going to be over $20,000. Well that's not in my budget, that wasn't even in my Miata budget, let alone my Mazda 3 budget. So we looked online at the other dealer ships and they didn't have any because they had all just been sold. And the 2010s that were stripped were still going to be $18,000. I told the dealers (two were helping me out) that I would have to go home and think about it. Yeah, they weren't too happy about that, but I wasn't going to buy a Mazda 3 for $20,000, especially since it was loaded with crap I couldn't or wouldn't use. For example, it has homelinks so I can open my garage door and turn on the house lights from my car. Oh, not too helpful when you live in an apartment complex and don't have a garage and can never park close enough to your house to turn on the lights from your car. And I don't talk on the phone and won't be in my car enough for the blue-tooth to matter to me. So, by 
the time I decided that I couldn't buy a car that day and it was time to leave, it was 3:00pm. Count that up, I spent 4 1/2 hours at the Mazda dealership, just to walk away disappointed and frustrated.
I went home and Dad told me just to find some other cheap car. Not what I wanted to hear. Instead, I looked up CarMax and found that they had one Miata. It was white, but it had a black top and black interior. It was a 2007 and had 42,000 miles, but it's price was only $15,599. But, just in case, I also called places around Escondido to get the year, color, mileage, and price of their used Miatas. Of course California had tons of Miatas (new and used). I was willing to fly to California, buy a car, and drive it back to Utah in one weekend. Of course Mom was all for it. I think that's just because she didn't realize how short of a trip it would have been for me. It would have been strictly business- with a few dinners thrown in.
It turns o
ut that I didn't have to go to those extremes though. I went to CarMax on Thursday. I was bound and determined not to waste my or the dealer's time. I walked in and asked them to show me the Miata. The guy said they didn't have one and I informed him that they did (nicer than that of course). It had apparently just come in and he had been off for a couple days. We went out, I test drove it right away (I got to look around at the inside as I waited for him to clear me for driving). He asked if I was interested in it, I said yes, and then we started all the paper work. A $15,599 car went to an $18,852.16 car really fast. Between all the taxes, fees, and extended warrantee (alright, that affected it the most), the price changed more than I had anticipated and more than I wanted. But I got it. As I drove home, I couldn't believe that I had actually bought a car. I kept shaking my head and giggling to myself.
I left my Sable at CarMax and so as soon as I got back I ate dinner and drove Alysha up to South Jordan so she could drive my car back for me. She wasn't as excited about my new car as I had expected, but I was excited enough for the both of us. And, although I'm officially impractical (the whole 2 seater, tiny trunk thing), I'm trying to still be responsible. I've already talked to my insurance agent and I've canceled the coverage on the Sable and have coverage for the Miata. And although I financed with CarMax, their 11.45% interest rate is steep and so they gave me 3 days to find a lower one. I've found a bank that estimated they could give me a 5.6% interest rate and I'll have to call back tomorrow to make sure that that's valid.
When I drove my new car to my meeting this morning, I got much better reactions about it from my team then I got when Alysha saw it. They think it's so cute and that I'm the "cool teacher" now. But it's still so weird, but exciting to me :o) Yay!!!
d. But I've been smart about all of this. At the beginning of the summer Dad told me that now is the perfect time to get a new car because dealers are trying to get rid of the cars on their lot. And, I bought my car old, and I've had it for three years, so it's time to move on, it's seen some good times. So, since May or so I've been researching cars. I wanted one that was reliable that would hold up so that I could drive it for years. For reliability and price sake, I was looking at the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, and luckily the cute, sporty Mazda 3s are turning out to be pretty reliable too.I did more research and joked about the idea of getting a Mazda Miata. Ha. In the search, I ruled out the Toyota because they're not as well built as the Honda or the Mazda 3 and is about the same price, so scratch off the not so cute car as long as it got one bad review :o) Then I started looking more into the Miata. I even test drove one when I was down in Escondido. I decided that if I could find a 2008, with less than 30,000 miles on it, for $17,000 I would get it. I figured I was safe, because I was sure that I wouldn't find one.
Li
ke I said, all summer I've been researching. Well, on and off, of course I've also been traveling a lot and been in my classroom a lot too. I finally went car shopping in Utah on Wednesday. There are only 3 Mazda dealerships in Utah. One's in Murray, one's in Bountiful, and the other's in Ogden. I had called the Murray and Bountiful shops that morning and neither of them had new Mazdas, but they had used ones and they both said they could find me one if I came in. I drove up to Murray (about 40 minutes away) and was there around 10:30am (remember that time). The only Miata they had was a 2007 with 33,000 miles with a price tag of $17,700. Already, that's three strikes against it (not a three strikes you're out though, because they were all close- it was kind of like three balls, sticking with the baseball analogy). I test drove it, and it felt nice, but it was white with a brown top and brown leather interior. I tried to get over it, but I couldn't help but think of it as an old man's car instead of a cute 22 year old's car. So, the color was actually ball 4 which is an out. It took forever to get to that decision. Before test driving it, they had run a search of new Miatas and there were none in all of Utah and if I wanted on, it would have been the same color, but more expensive. So we looked at used ones in Bountiful. They had two. One was a stick (no go) and the other one was an automatic, but they sold it the day before. I asked them to check the Ogden one. I mean, I could always just visit Grandma and Grandpa, especially seeing as I haven't yet all summer (oops). Nope, they had one, but it was a stick.W
hat to do now? Utah has no Miatas. I asked them several times how that could be possible. Freaking gracious. From there we moved to looking at Mazda 3s. I test drove 4 of them. The two different engines in a 2009, and the two different engines in the 2010 models. All of them drove fine, so then it was about price. Well, the dumb dealers (I don't mean it, they were really nice) don't order Mazdas stripped down, they order them fully loaded. It turns out that the one I wanted was going to be over $20,000. Well that's not in my budget, that wasn't even in my Miata budget, let alone my Mazda 3 budget. So we looked online at the other dealer ships and they didn't have any because they had all just been sold. And the 2010s that were stripped were still going to be $18,000. I told the dealers (two were helping me out) that I would have to go home and think about it. Yeah, they weren't too happy about that, but I wasn't going to buy a Mazda 3 for $20,000, especially since it was loaded with crap I couldn't or wouldn't use. For example, it has homelinks so I can open my garage door and turn on the house lights from my car. Oh, not too helpful when you live in an apartment complex and don't have a garage and can never park close enough to your house to turn on the lights from your car. And I don't talk on the phone and won't be in my car enough for the blue-tooth to matter to me. So, by 
the time I decided that I couldn't buy a car that day and it was time to leave, it was 3:00pm. Count that up, I spent 4 1/2 hours at the Mazda dealership, just to walk away disappointed and frustrated.I went home and Dad told me just to find some other cheap car. Not what I wanted to hear. Instead, I looked up CarMax and found that they had one Miata. It was white, but it had a black top and black interior. It was a 2007 and had 42,000 miles, but it's price was only $15,599. But, just in case, I also called places around Escondido to get the year, color, mileage, and price of their used Miatas. Of course California had tons of Miatas (new and used). I was willing to fly to California, buy a car, and drive it back to Utah in one weekend. Of course Mom was all for it. I think that's just because she didn't realize how short of a trip it would have been for me. It would have been strictly business- with a few dinners thrown in.
It turns o
ut that I didn't have to go to those extremes though. I went to CarMax on Thursday. I was bound and determined not to waste my or the dealer's time. I walked in and asked them to show me the Miata. The guy said they didn't have one and I informed him that they did (nicer than that of course). It had apparently just come in and he had been off for a couple days. We went out, I test drove it right away (I got to look around at the inside as I waited for him to clear me for driving). He asked if I was interested in it, I said yes, and then we started all the paper work. A $15,599 car went to an $18,852.16 car really fast. Between all the taxes, fees, and extended warrantee (alright, that affected it the most), the price changed more than I had anticipated and more than I wanted. But I got it. As I drove home, I couldn't believe that I had actually bought a car. I kept shaking my head and giggling to myself.
I left my Sable at CarMax and so as soon as I got back I ate dinner and drove Alysha up to South Jordan so she could drive my car back for me. She wasn't as excited about my new car as I had expected, but I was excited enough for the both of us. And, although I'm officially impractical (the whole 2 seater, tiny trunk thing), I'm trying to still be responsible. I've already talked to my insurance agent and I've canceled the coverage on the Sable and have coverage for the Miata. And although I financed with CarMax, their 11.45% interest rate is steep and so they gave me 3 days to find a lower one. I've found a bank that estimated they could give me a 5.6% interest rate and I'll have to call back tomorrow to make sure that that's valid.When I drove my new car to my meeting this morning, I got much better reactions about it from my team then I got when Alysha saw it. They think it's so cute and that I'm the "cool teacher" now. But it's still so weird, but exciting to me :o) Yay!!!
Well it is ridiculous....jk. HEY why did u use the goof up pic. shame on u, I shall no longer take good pictures of u.
ReplyDeleteYou still have to have insurance on the sable, unless you sold it. Even parked on the street it has to have insurance. BTW, I saw the ONLY other white Sable still in running order. It was in RB, and I thought of you. TTFN. KIT. RIP. JK.
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