Buying New Car in 72 Hours

Did the dealer take a loss on our new car transaction? I guess there may be an element of truth as the price (before taxes) was below invoice and according to some claims out there (http://blog.truecar.com/?p=107).

While sitting at the Berkeley library waiting for the car brakes to be checked for the nth time (the stubborn high pitch noise just would not go away) last Sunday (2/21), J and I chatted on Skype and realized that at the rate I'm driving, I'm super accelerating the repairs/maintenance schedule for the car. We decided to buy a new car at that moment, and agreed to do it fast. It's last week of Feb, so there's got to be some promotion going on. After some web research on Edmunds.com, kbb.com and test driving at a dealership that very night, we were down to a couple of models, with the occasional light hearted comment of "should we consider xyz model as well?"

By Wednesday early morning, I was half heartedly trying to convince J to consider mini cooper while we were looking at accessories we'd like on a Honda Insight. By 3pm, we had an offer accepted and were ready to get on our way to pick the car up. Note all this was done via the phone and web, during breaks/evenings while not missing a beat at work and school!

Come to think of it, our house buying processes were just as fast and efficient, though there were more elements outside of our control in that case. The learning from these: decide whether to buy, perform focused research, talk self out of regretting later by understanding how prepared I am financially for this decision, and the conditions that would not be acceptable (and be willing to walk away from something) and go at it.

In the mean time, I'm off enjoying my Insight!