I decided early this year that I was going to get a new car. I currently have a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. I’ve had it for almost 9 years (I’d hit 9 in July). I can’t roll down the driver’s side window … the motor is pretty much dead (would cost $300 to fix). The wiper switch is screwed up (has been since last summer). If I hit a bump, it sets off the wipers. And if I do need to turn the wipers on, I have to fiddle with the damn switch to get them to turn back off (and it would be another $300 to fix).

Since I first decided I wanted a new car, I was sure I wanted a Chevy Impala. I think part of it had to do w/ NASCAR (yes, I’m a silly girl). My uncle has 2 Impalas (one personal and one work), and another aunt and uncle have one as well. Both said they loved theirs and that they were good cars. I was also considering a Dodge Stratus. Robin has one, and it’s a nice car (I’ve ridden in it a time or 2 or 3 or 50). The only problem with that choice is that there really aren’t any around the area (and I’ve been looking in Fargo/Moorhead, Grand Forks, Detroit Lakes, and Wahpeton). I recently started to consider the Honda Accord. You just can’t overlook the Honda’s reliability.

I got a subscription for Consumer Reports online for a month to research things. As I said, my search was focused on the Impala, Stratus, and Accord. It was when I looked at the reports that I started to no be sure sure about the Impala anymore and starting considering the Accord a little more. But then again … I had my heart set on an Impala. I was seeing them all over town.

I talked to my bank to see what kind of rate I could get. It turns out they’ve got a special going on right now of 4.49%. I thought that was pretty damn good and didn’t think I could find a better rate at any dealership. The only bad thing about that is that they only financed 80% of the car. The other 20% would have to be a down payment and my trade in. I was planning on doing some sort of down payment, but I didn’t want to take that much out of savings.

I’ve been slowing researching things since the beginning of the month. I finally got down to business (last nite and this morning) with figuring my limit and my down payment limit and searching for a dealership that had the car I wanted on their lot. I was figuring things based on financing through my bank, and I didn’t even take into account any trade in (since I wasn’t sure what I’d get for my car). I put together a spreadsheet to figure out what I could afford. After figuring all that out, I was shopping online. I had already found some cars that I was interested in … mostly Impalas but a couple Accords.

The more that I looked at a 2007 Accord at Muscatell Kia, the more I wanted to at least check it out. I decided at about 4:15pm this afternoon that I would go over and check it out. I was just going to take a peek at it. I didn’t really plan to do much else. I wasn’t even sure I was going to do a test drive today, but I was at least considering doing so. As soon as I drove on the lot and got out of my car by the Accord, a salesman made a beeline for me (not surprising). He went and got the key and I sat down and checked things out … the fit of the driver’s seat, the trunk, the backseat (which folds down).

He then suggested a test drive, so we took it out. I went out on I-94 and then a little around the area of the dealership. The only thing I noticed was that there was a slight vibration at highway speeds. He said they’d check it out. Hopefully it’s just that a tire is out of balance or something simple like that. Otherwise it drove nice. I barely touched the accelerator and the thing took off … not used to that. Just as responsive with the brakes. Of course I had to check out the radio. Good sound. I’m not an audio geek, but it sounded good to me. It doesn’t have an auxiliary jack for my iPod, but it does have a 6 disc changer. I’ll look into some sort of FM transmitter thingy so I can use my iPod, but I having the ability to load 6 CDs should be good enough. The only other thing it’s missing is an auto start, but he said they could put that in and include it in the financed price. Of course he mentioned the ‘top of the line’ one … one that reports back if the car starts or not. I’m not sure I really need that. I might just go with the standard one that doesn’t report back. Either way, adding an auto start will add less than $10 to the monthly payments.

Speaking of the monthly payments … My intention was to go through my bank, but I agreed to let the dealer check things out so I could see what they could offer. It turns out they were actually able to beat my bank. If I went through my bank, the financing would have been for 48 months since it was a 2007. Through the dealer, I could get 60 months. With my bank, it would have been 4.49%, but through the dealer (and since my credit is so good) it was 4.25%. That really surprised me. I didn’t think a dealer would go so low. And they’re gonna give me $1000 for my car. I thought I’d be lucky to get $500 for it, so I was very please to hear them say $1000. The car went from being at the top of my price range, almost out of my comfort zone to being right in the middle of my comfort zone.

I left the dealership without buying it, but I told them that I would be back on Monday during my lunch hour with my decision. I said I was 90% certain I would be buying it. In actuality, I think I made the decision before I left, but I wasn’t gonna buy it today. I need to make sure it’s the right choice. I did a little more looking around tonite and wasn’t able to find another Accord that I liked that was any cheaper. And after taking a peek inside an Impala while I was there, I no longer wanted one of those. It just didn’t look like it fit me. I think I fell in lust with the Accord just by looking at the listing online. Oops.

Tomorrow after the race I’ll clean all my crap out of my Grand Am and get all my papers together. Monday morning I’m going to call my insurance agent to see how much it would cost to insure the Accord. Then on lunch, I’ll go to the dealership (luckily it’s just down the street from work) and finalize everything. I wanna take it out on another test drive if they’ll let me, especially since I wasn’t really ready for the one I took (I didn’t have my notes or checklist from Consumer Reports). I’m hoping that by the end of the day, I’ll have a new car. I’m not sure how long it will take for them to address the vibration, but hopefully it won’t be too long. And I’m sure I can schedule the auto start installation at a later date. I set a goal of having a new car by the end of this month … it looks like I will actually meet that goal.

This is what it looks like. I hope it’s the right one for me.

When I got it, it had around 60,000 miles or so. It now has 113,800 miles. So I’ve put it through its paces. For the most part, it’s been a good car. But for the past couple of years, it’s been slowly driving me crazy, and I call it a POS quite often. The biggest thing has been starting it. Some times it would start great, but when I started driving, it would die. And some times it just didn’t seem to want to start, but once I got it going, it was all fine and dandy. I knew it had to be something with the fuel system, but I just never had the money to get it taken care of.

Now that I have this new (but old) job, I have more money. And I didn’t spend all of my tax refund. So I had a good amount stored up in my checking and a good amount in my savings. Since it’s warmed up again, I decided to take it in (since the shop is within walking distance). I needed an oil change anyways, and the last time I got an oil change, they told me that the transmission fluid needed to be flushed (apparently it was getting pretty icky). I also told them to check things out and figure out what was causing the rough idle (if replacing the spark plugs didn’t take care of it).

The repair shop guy called me mid-morning to let me know what was up. Apparently the fuel pressure regulator was leaking. That’s what was causing the issues I was having. It was kinda spendy, but it needed to be done. And I had the funds to do it. So I told him to go ahead and replace it.

So, all said and done, I had the oil changed, the transmission fluid exchanged (total fluid exchange), spark plugs replaced, fuel filter replaced, and fuel pressure regulator replaced. He said it would cost me $401.08, but since I’ve got AAA (it’s on Dad’s account, but I pay him the dues), I got a 10% discount. All told, it cost me $357.81. So my car should be happy now. It did start really nice when I got in it. I didn’t even have to hit the accelerator to get it started like I’ve had to in the past.

The only thing remaining (well, hopefully the only thing) is the brakes. The repair shop told me that the front brake rotors were warped. So, I need to replace the rotors and pads. He said that would cost around $200, so I didn’t do it right now. But I plan to get that taken care of within the next 2 weeks. I get paid on Thursday, and I should get my rebate next Friday or around that time. So I’ll have the money to get the brakes taken care of. Then all will be happy with my car.

What are my plans with that money? Well, I’m gonna put a chunk of it into savings. I’ll probably open the new savings account I’ve been planning to start earmarked specifically for saving for a house. But I’m not gonna put all of it into savings. I’ve been wanting to get a new camera, so I’ll probably take some of it and do that. I can’t be responsible and save ALL of it. LOL I gotta treat myself every now and then.

I’m hoping that my car won’t cause me to change those plans. I’m taking it in for maintenance on Tuesday. Time for an oil change. And last time they told me the transmission fluid needed to be flushed, so I’m getting a ‘total fluid exchange’. He told me that was the better deal right now … I guess it’s on special. And I also need to have the ‘rough idle’ issue looked at. I don’t plan on getting a new car any time soon, so I wanna make sure mine will last me. It’s got over 113,000 miles on it. So there are things that need to get taken care of. I just hope the rough idle issue can be fixed without costing me an arm and a leg (gas prices are taking those, and I only have 2 of each). And hopefully they don’t find anything else wrong with it.

I’m not sure if it was a random thing or not. None of the other vehicles in the lot appear to be vandalized. But I can’t get a good look at some from my balcony … at least not the backs of them. But this hit WAY to close to home. That’s right next to my garage. What if it had been some crazy person who had managed to break into my garage? My car could have been trashed too (not that it’s the best car, but it’s still getting me where I go … most of the time … LOL). I just don’t know why people do shit like that. But I’m definitely glad that I have a garage.