Saturday, July 04, 2015

Car Shopping In Eureka

Time to buy the wifey a newer car so I've been looking around online. I'm surprised at how big the average car for sale is nowadays. We wanted something smaller than what I've been seeing. Why would someone want a four door sedan that can carry six when most of us don't need to drive around more than two people?

One of my favorites is the Ford Fiesta. You don't see those around very much. But this isn't about me. This is supposed to be for her.

Saw a Fiesta online at Harper Ford, then I saw this Ford Focus. Connie thought the Focus looked acceptable so I kept that in mind. Saw what I thought was a nice Ford Fiesta at a Fortuna dealer, but I am not going to drive all over the county just to buy a car. The wife is a recreational shopper. I am NOT. I had it in mind to just hit Mid- City Motor World. She wanted to go look just about anywhere, including Mckinleyville. Nope, that's not going to happen. 

My reasoning for Mid- City, and more specifically Harper Ford, was they have so many cars, or so I thought- one stop shopping if you will. I've also been partial to larger dealers since I bought my work truck. That thing was immaculate when I bought it. I get the impression larger dealers have more resources to make sure cars are squared away before sale. 

Due to scheduling conflicts, we couldn't go out on Friday and decided to try today, July 4. Connie thought it might be crazy on July 4. We were to find the exact opposite. They were all closed, save one.

I was going to drive straight to Harper Ford, but she said a few things as we started out indicating wanting to at least take a short look at Sole Savers. Ok. We'll go check it out.

We get there and nobody's home- closed for July 4. We still got out and looked around. A couple potential purchases, maybe. The problem was there were no prices listed on some of them. Didn't make me really want to take more than a cursory glance without prices to go by. We left without even taking a note.

As we started up 7th Street, Northwood Chevrolet/Hyundai was just a block away on the corner. Naturally, she suggested we stopped there. Lo and behold, they actually had a sales guy working. He was a across the street, but came over to show us around. They had mostly what I'd consider larger cars. That's when I found out Connie and I have different ideas about car size.

Most of their cars I would consider at best mid- sized. She seemed to be looking at a few of them half- assed seriously. Whatever. The one that caught both our interest was a 2011(?) Ford Focus hatchback. Even that one seemed a bit large to me. Nice car, though, priced down to $12kish. As we got ready to move on, the sales guy said he had plenty of time and we could take a test drive. Nah, but we did take his business card and I was serious when I told him that car was on "our list".

Across the street, out in front of the Hyundai building, was a red Chevy Spark. We'd seen that in the paper some days earlier. No real info in the newspaper ad so I checked online. That was the only Spark they had and, unfortunately, had a four speed transmission. Both of us would prefer an automatic. If that had an auto trans, I was thinking of buying it sight unseen. Cheapest new car I'd seen. 

Off to Mid- City Motor World. They were closed. We parked and looked around. Most of their cars seemed either large, expensive, or both. The Ford Focus hatchback I saw on Craigslist was nowhere to be seen. Nor was the Ford Fiesta I'd seen earlier on CL that morning. About the only one that caught my eye was a Nissan Versa for something like $11k. It was a newer one, too, which made us wonder why so cheap. Then I saw something on a paper laying on its seat saying it was a former rental car. That's why. Still, I don't mind rentals. That one goes somewhere on the list.

Not really a whole lot of choice at any of the places we'd been to, so far. This wasn't looking too good. The Nissan Versa had me thinking Nissan. I really like some of their cars. The Versa being one. Since we're already out and around, I suggested the Nissan dealer.

Nobody home there, either. There was one nice blue Versa, brand new, for about $16.5k. We weren't planning on buying a new car but at that price- and they advertised 0% financing- I wondered how much a monthly payment would be? Nice. There was also a used one at a price we could afford, although I forget how much. We put both of those on our list.

I was thinking of going home but Connie suggested going to Roy's Auto Center. Okaaay, we'll go there.

Nobody home, but I was pleasantly surprised. There was probably six cars, maybe more, along the fifth street side worth looking at. Nissan Versa- two of them- and a few other brands that I can't recall as I write this. Most with automatic transmissions and looking in good shape. Limited warranties and all worth putting on the list. 

We might stop by there tomorrow, assuming they're open. Two or three of their cars seemed worth putting at the top of our list.

We got home and I don't know that it was more than 20 minutes before Connie goes, "Maybe we should try Lithia Dodge". Nope. Nothing against Lithia, but I am NOT a shopper. Enough of this for one day.

11 Comments:

At 2:38 PM, Blogger Julie Timmons said...

I wouldn't buy a car from Harper's or Midcity if they were the last dealers on the planet. I just drove by the shopping center at Myrtle and West and there were FOUR cars lined up on the Myrtle Ave side all with "for sale" signs on them. Is this our new auto row?

 
At 2:48 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Lol. Used to be there'd be all kinds of cars for sale on Harris out in front of Rite Aid. Only see one or two anymore.

I would rather not buy a car from a private party. Maybe it's because I might not trust them as much as a dealer who has something to lose.

I also feel they might wash the car and make it look nice, but that's about it. They might let any other problems go, or try to cover them up, but that's just me.

Kinda of the same with the smaller dealers. They're not going to have the resources to make sure a car is as ready to go as it should be.

I was real happy with the used Ford F150 I bought from Lithia years ago. That's probably why I feel this way. It was like brand new. Everything worked and stayed working for years. Maybe I was just lucky?

 
At 2:49 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Anon commenter: Gratuitous insults not allowed here, towards me or anyone else.

 
At 2:52 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I might add, if I knew someone that had a car for some time and wanted to sell it, I'd be interested. I figure it they had problems with it I'd have known by now.

I'm loosely acquainted with a girl who owns a Honda Fit- another car that interests me. I asked her some time ago how she liked the car. She was quite emphatic in telling me how much she loved it. If she wanted to sell her car for some reason it would be SOLD!

 
At 2:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Try not to get ripped-off too bad.

 
At 3:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Versa, brand new, for about $16.5k. We weren't planning on buying a new car but at that price- and they advertised 0% financing- I wondered how much a monthly payment would be?

Do a Google search for autp payment calculator. You may be surprised how low the monthly payment is. Especially if you stretch it out over 5 or 6 years.

I prefer buying new as new cars come with a bumper to bumper warranty, free towing for a few years and you don't need to worry that the previous owner didnt maintain it properly. A new Nissan will literally last 10-15 years before needing any major work.

 
At 3:23 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

"I prefer buying new as new cars come with a bumper to bumper warranty, free towing for a few years and you don't need to worry that the previous owner didnt maintain it..."

It's tempting, but I can't get over what that financial guru, Charles Givens, would always say: "Never buy a new car.".The reason being it loses a lot of it's value the minute you drive it off the lot. But, at $16.5K, which would likely end up being more like $18k after all is said and done, it's pretty tempting. Even though that's still a bit pricey to me.

Most of the dealer web sites have payment calculators on them.

 
At 3:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why do some of the dealerships not post the prices of the used cars on the car? We stopped by the Nissan dealership at 7th and H today and all of the used cars did not have prices on them. Roy's is different. Most have prices. Roy's only sells used, whereas that Nissan dealership sells both. Maybe it is a new car mixed dealer contractual thing.

 
At 5:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've heard that before, but here are some real world stories....i bought my wife a new car one time and she got in a crash and totalled it within 6 months. I ended up getting a check from the insurance company that paid off the car and gave us 2000 dollars over what we paid.....my daughter bought a brand new car, but then moved to Hawaii shortly after (bad planning on her part). She was able to sell the car for exactly what she paid for it, minus tax. So she did ok, even though she bought a brand new car and sold it fast. The way you can get in trouble is if you have to sell it back to the dealership right away. They will rape you in that case.

 
At 6:22 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

"We stopped by the Nissan dealership at 7th and H today and all of the used cars did not have prices on them. Roy's is different. Most have prices"

Yeah. You'd think they'd do that, although I noticed one car at Nissan that had one of those stand signs above it with the price. Some others did, too. Not the stand prices but somewhere they'd give a ballpark figure.

Roy's was good for giving prices. Maybe that's why we looked so long there. I suspect places like Soul Savers leaves them off so they can set you up for dickering. Doesn't work for me. I want a ballpark figure to consider in the first place.

I noticed some dealers that advertise online don't give prices. That one in Fortuna being one.

 
At 6:26 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

"... I ended up getting a check from the insurance company that paid off the car and gave us 2000 dollars over what we paid...."

I would think that would depend on your insurance policy. I knew a guy- the late Mario Toso- who got in a wreck. He told me his insurance policy claimed it would reimburse him for the new cost of the car, plus inflation. In other words, he'd get a new car of the same quality and value.

He said they wouldn't do it, although I'm not sure how that turned out. He just mentioned it. I never heard the end result.

 

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