Oh Henry!

I was terrified to buy a new car, not because I was so attached to the little Saturn, but because I was scared of budgeting a car payment into my very expensive lifestyle (that was a joke). But with the check from the insurance company, due to an unfortunate-for-her-fortunate-for-me rear fender bender and the fact that the little Saturn had a hole in the water pump, I figured it was time. So my search began...

This is what I learned while shopping for the perfect car...

1. Carmax is kind of like Best Buy for cars...you can get a good deal, but if you are wanting information about particular cars, they probably don't have it. Go to the actual dealership of the model you are looking at for specifics.

2. Never bring the car you are intending to trade-in until you have negotiated everything else already. You just might leave with a new car, when you were still planning on shopping some more.

3. Car salesman really want a sale, and they will try to keep you in the building until they wear you down and they get their sale. It's okay to say no and walk away. Don't feel sorry them, it happens all the time.

4. They really don't want you to shop at another dealership....really!

5. After you have negotiated what you think is a good price and they have taken off all of the anti-theft insurance and tire treatments that they automatically add in to the price...it's not quite done because they will try to wear you down again in the financing stage. The financial guy even made an excuse to leave so that his boss could come in and try to wear me down some more. Here's a hint...just say "no!" None of that stuff is worth it, seriously people, what are the odds that your car will be stolen? Slim to none! And Discount Tires is pretty good about getting nails out of tires... Jaime said that she could see the guys computer screen when he was looking up the numbers and if I were to buy all that stuff, for the prices they were quoting me they would have profited by 50%. Shady.....

All in all, I am very pleased with my car! I feel like a got a really good deal and I would buy that car all over again! However, I am very thankful that I will not be in the car market for another 10 years.