Wheels and Deals

This is a photo of the car we purchased this evening: the Kia Sedona LX. My wife and I had discussed getting a minivan for some time. We were motivated by all of the scrunching and squeezing that went into getting Stella and her implements into the Dodge Intrepid.

I figured that it would be best to act before school started and my reservoirs of time were depleted by the arduous task of educating the young. The owner of an Odyssey made mention of a contented Kia owner and I was on the trail. We looked online, I placed a call, and we went down. In the end I was at the dealership three times today, twice with family and once solo.

This was the second car purchase in which I've been an actual player (NB I like the feel of the word "player" in this context; it captures something of the sleaze and joi d'vivre of buying an automobile from a salesman). I was much more prepared on this trip. I felt a real pleasure when I was able to predict to my wife: "That guy is going to go into that room and some other guy is going to come and talk to us before we can leave."

I have two bits of concrete advice that I'll pass on to you. One, take advantage of Consumer Reports. I paid 14 dollars for info on the Sedona and wasn't sorry. I knew what the dealer paid for the car and what I could get away with. I knew that I was working them and that's priceless. Two, go car shopping on the last day of the month. Evidently there are quotas that need to be met and they're eager to meet them on the last day of the month.

A third bit of advice I'll offer (at the risk of an overlong blog): adopt a persona. I wasn't just Johnny Consumer of Billy Carloan. I was Iacobus, slightly aggressive Latin teacher with a wife and child to worry about.

Veni, vidi, autoraedam emi.