Pancakes and Not-Quite New Car Smell

Tim and I bought our first car together on Wednesday! It's a '92 Camry and other than smelling like smoke (hopefully that will come out while they're detailing it today) it's in fantastic condition and runs smoothly. We were planning on going the Craigslist route and had a few cars we were going to check out with a specific price in mind. We ended up, on a whim, going to a dealership. We didn't think they would have anything in our price range but kept an open mind. Immediately a salesman invited us in and talked specifics. He asked what we were looking for, price range, etc. and said that he had a few things in mind but they were at their other lot in Keizer. So he loaded us up, we plugged in Anna's car seat and it was off to Keizer for us. He was of the same mind as I was in that we need something big ENOUGH, but not too big; and it has to be fuel-efficient. I liked him. :)

That morning I had simply prayed that we find somethng that will suit our needs now, something that is reliable and safe and a good value for what we are able to spend. The two cars he had in mind were OK, then he went back in to the office to see what else they had available and came across the Camry. It had just been traded in this weekend and came highly recommended by the manager. It looked great, and we tried to hide our excitement (salesmen can smell enthusiasm like a dog smells fear) After a successful test drive and some back and forth with the salesman and GM we decided to see how much this would set us back (a detail they witheld until we were hooked).

Before that we were looking at safety ratings and such on the Blue Book site and Tim and I had noted the listing price. The dealership was asking for $200 over Blue Book. That just wasn't happening as it was $300 over our limit...and there was no reason to mark it up. Being my father's daughter I know to never accept a first offer. Being Irish, I also don't pay full price for anything unless I have to. I told our salesman that we couldn't pay any more than --- and gave him our price, which was below Bluebook. He came back and said "you must be living a clean life, they'll accept it!" Ah, the power of clean living and Irish shrewdness.

The moral of the story:
*PRAY - It helps to pray with something specific in mind.
*BE OPEN-MINDED - We (mostly Tim) were looking for something bigger and ended up with a mid-size sedan that more than fills our current needs. And it gets crazy great gas mileage.
*NEVER ACCEPT A FIRST OFFER - Settling, especially in a situation like this, is not the answer. People can be more flexible than you give them credit for, and the worst they can say to your counter-offer is "no."
*PAY IN CASH - We were blessed to have a windfall of late financial aid when Blue Steel crapped out and we didn't want to be trapped in a car payment. Dealerships seem to be more amenable to negotiation if you can give them their money right away.

So, YAY!

We also discovered that day that Anna loves peanut butter and pancakes. The night before I gave her PB for the first time and she reacted like so:



All in all, it was a very successful Wednesday.