How Patience can Save you BIG Money

Some of you may know my story, some of you may not. I really do not shy about sharing, because I want people to be able to from my mistakes. Recently, I realized that I would like to share with you I want with my three children have the same thing. If I can teach you some things happen, I will avoid the same pain and frustration I went through you. For the year and a half years, I have been driving around a real nice little Camry. Yes, I have three boys and three car seats to this little Toyota Camry in the past 20 months back extrusion. I like this car, it does not really been a cup of tea. Let me go back and explain the cliff notes version of my story.
In June of 2004, I had a little Honda Accord very similar to my Camry in the picture. I gave birth to my second son that same month. I quickly realized (like on the way home from the hospital) that a 2 year old and a newborn with a rear facing car seat do not fit well in a Honda Accord. My husband and I went out and purchased a used Ford Expedition. While it served us well in size for three years, being raised with Honda’s I was disappointed in the repairs I had to perform in those three years with such low miles on the Ford. In August of 2007 I had had it with the Ford and its repair costs so I went and bought a fully loaded 2007 Toyota Sequoia Limited brand new…for $55,000. What was I thinking? Don’t ask me because I don’t know. I went home so excited that night. However, the proof is in the pudding (as they say). I was up all night that night, sick to my stomach trying to figure out how I was going to pay the $726 a month car payments for the next five years.
Long story short, this was the same time the gas prices decided to jump up over $4 per gallon. I was spending about $1,000 per month on my car alone. Holy cow! I started to panic in August of 2008, the economy was starting to go down and my husband’s electrical work was starting to slow down significantly. I called my friend who is an auto broker and she found me this beautiful Toyota Camry for a great price…but it was still brand new. I was $7,000 upside down in my Sequoia and I had to fully finance the Camry. My kids barely fit in the back seat, but I had to make it work because we were going to sink if we kept the Sequoia. So, I have been driving around this cute, sporty and fun Camry for the last 20 months. However, when my children were in the car, I was pulling my hair out.
“Mom, Shawn keeps looking at me!”
“Mom, Nathan is touching me!”
“Mom, Derek is punching me!”
“Mom, he is breathing in my space!”
I can not stand it! To my kids and my reason my husband's safety, I started looking around for the full-size SUV. My instinct is to make a decision and make it happen … soon. However, when I mentioned that this is Lindsay, my tax and accounting manager, she told me her father was a car broker, but also living it. She and her father, who gave me some crazy on the good advice to buy a car. The following is information gold saved me some of these past few weeks.
1. Patience, Patience, Patience – Wait for the right car to come to you. Take your time, there is absolutely no need to rush this. You are going to be driving this car for years. Be patient and everything will fall into place.
2. Do your homework – look around on the Internet, go to Carmax, look at other dealers exactly what you want. Test drive the car, even you are considering buying. You can find all the different and trucks, resale value, maintenance and repair records, Carfax report, Consumer Reports. This is the biggest purchasing decisions you will make one in your life, not take it lightly.
3. Used to purchase new – except I have been buying expedition (new car), but honestly, I learned a lot, which makes more sense to buy things with. You lose a lot of valuable time you drive a new car has the lot. Even though it has 10,000 miles, you can use a second-hand car trading a scream, you will not take away a lot of such attacks.
4. Know your price point – Figure out what your budget is and don‘t let someone persuade you to go over that. You have to stand firm. On the other side, don’t set it too low and then jump all over the place. Do your homework up front and stick to it.
5. When you begin to feel the desire to find, do not wait until it is needed – I know to wait too long to start looking for a new car. I am worried that I tore up my own in the car every time I had my boy. Once you start to feel the need a new car, start your patience and clarity of the search.
Finally, I have a 2007 Toyota Sequoia to use a great weekend. Last year almost half the price with the same options. This is my picture of my little Camry dealer in before we left. I am very sorry to see her go. She is a beautiful and fun car to drive, not with three little boys in the back seat. : 0)