Ben Bleikamp's blog about technology and college

The new car

My first goal this summer was to buy my dream computer setup. Done. My second goal was to buy myself a car. And now, I can happily say, done. Work has treated me very well this summer, for a few weeks at the beginning I was starting to get a bit frusrtated with the small amount of freelance work I was getting.

About 3 or 4 days later I started getting leads. A few good guys have hooked me up with some great gigs. Doing freelance work without knowing people is damn near impossible.

I had been thinking I wanted a new car, but looking at depreciation and thinking about insurance I realized that used was the way to go. If you’re going to go with a used car, just about everyone says go with Honda or Toyota. The first car I test drove was a 2003 Honda Accord EX with all the bells and whistles.

I test drove a few GM cars, looked at a few Toyotas, and put up with a lot of annoying salesmen. I finally decided that I wanted an Accord. It was the smoothest, the quietest, and the V6 has plenty of power for me. It even gets decent gas mileage, not that I drive enough to worry about gas, but it’s nice to know. I was interested in any of the cheaper sports cars like Mustangs or late 90’s Camaros - if I buy a sportscar it’s going to be European and expensive, so we’ll wait a few years on that.

I learned quickly that car dealerships employ annoying and/or insulting salesmen. Dealing with car dealers creates a bit of a tense atmosphere because while they’re trying to stay friendly and develop an accord (no pun intended) with you, they are trying pretty hard to screw you. I know they’re trying to screw me. They know they’re trying to screw me. The problem for them is that it takes me 5 minutes to find out what people are actually paying for the car I want (thanks Google!).

Actually negotiating a price is torture. They tell you their price. You say “I want it to be closer to $________.” They say “Oh, no way, impossible. Let me talk to my sales manager to see if we can come down at all.” So they wander around the show room for a while, who knows whether or not they really talk to a sales manager. Then they come back. At this point they’ve probably knocked $100 off their first offer.

This game goes on for a long time, each time they come back with an offer they’ve knocked about $100 off the price. In my case, it went on for 3 hours (or was it 4?). The salesman, Ross, told me “This is the absolute lowest I can go,” 90 minutes into the process. He was still $1,000 away from what I wanted. Too far. My dad and I walked out, Ross didn’t seem to mind.

Before I even get to my driveway, a 2 minute drive (5 if there’s traffic), Ross (the salesman I’m “working with”) has called and left a message. What? Ross, buddy, I though the price you gave me was as low as you could go? Turns out Ross and his imaginary sales manager have agreed to a new low price! What’s even more amazing is it’s almost exactly what I was asking for. Man, Ross sure does know how to work some magic.

So finally, after sitting around for 3 hours waiting for Ross to talk to this sales manager (I never even met the sales manager, which is disconcerting since he seems to be the one with the final say on prices) I get the price I want. Now we have an hour of paperwork to do. After that I finally get to drive home in my shiny, black 2003 Accord.

I got a price I was happy with. It’s got all the bells and whistles. It’s got the V6. It has the premium stereo. It has everything I could ever need in a car. Hell, I even have a valet key. I’ve used valet once in my life, I think. They did a good job, I’d trust them with the real key.

Pictures are forthcoming - but if you’ve ever driven anywhere in America I’m guessing you know what an Accord looks like. Mine looks like those, but cooler (since it’s mine).