Bought a Car (update)

Thanks to all who provided me with excellent advice in this thread:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=196966

I bought a car yesterday, a 2010 Ford Fusion SE. It has more features (and cost a bit more) than I wanted, but they only had two on the lot (and wait time to order was 6-8 weeks). The V4 (which is what I wanted) was black and the V6 (which is what I got) was red. I just didn't like the black color and the red was much nicer.

I got a good price because I discovered that my company participates in the X plan, which means that they had already negotiated a price that was less than $200 over invoice. Didn't have to pay any extra fees like Doc fees, etc. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. All of the people we encountered were very nice, and it was enormously helpful that I didn't have to negotiate.

I also took the advice to pre-qualify on the loan, so I feel I got a pretty good rate as well. I didn't go for the 0% rate, because it would have ended up making my monthly payments higher than I wanted, so I took the $1,000 off instead. We have the option to pay it all off with no penalty, which we just might end up doing somewhere along the line.

So, thanks again to everyone. I am once again mobile!

hey congratulations!!! So glad you are happy with the car. I know you wanted the 4 cylinder but believe me the resale on the model you got will be MUCH better. lots less depreciation than the entry level.

You'll get use to those nifty new features

again, congrats!

Thanks!

I'm already used to the cool new features

I'm just afraid I'm getting too used to the Sirius radio (free for 6 months)

When you've been driving a 1987 Chvey, even the V4 was awesome.

Congrats on buying the Ford product!! I am very familar with X-plan as since I'm no longer with Ford that is the plan I qualify for until by retirement kicks in.

I have the sister car the Milan and I think there is alot of trunk space esp when one fold the seats down. There were a couple options on the car when didn't really want at the time -the heated seats but they are handy in the winter.

It sounds like you got a good deal! Congratulations! I recently bought a Ford also, and the purchase process was pretty much haggle-free. Everybody was nice and I got the price I wanted, so now I'm telling everyone that they ought to buy there too.

Yeah, that's how my experience was, haggle free and very pleasant. It took about 3-4 hours total and we drove out of there with a brand new car. Didn't even have to give them our down payment, we're taking that over tomorrow. Everyone was very nice, and I'd recommend them in a minute. I absolutely love the car so far, no buyer remorse at all.

I have no idea what it would have been like if I didn't have the X-plan, though.