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NBR: Do any of you know about buying/selling cars?
Okay, if you want to one star me for this, yeah I deserve it but I'm going to ask anyway. After my car accident, I had very little time to car shop. I basically got railroaded into buying a car that I'm not in love with by DH. It is okay, but not great. It is practical but not comfortable. Some of my gripes are lack of power, tons of blind spots, lack of stability, lack of acceleration, lack of gas mileage and the kids hit their heads on the door when trying to get in. There is one car that I test drove that I was absolutely in love with in every way, practical, etc but DH would have rather had me spend that kind of money on a brand new car with no miles rather than one with 50K miles on it. In hindsight, I wish I had stuck to my guns and gotten the used car because it had everything that I needed without the gripes. I would have been much happier.
So here's my question...
The used car that I wanted is now reduced in price to less than what I paid for my new car and I realize that driving a new car off the lot depreciated its value. I only have 1K miles on the new car. Is it worth my time to call the used car lot and offer to do a straight trade between the two vehicles? Am I out of my mind for even considering doing this?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: NBR: Do any of you know about buying/selling cars?
Do you know the Kelly Blue Book values of both cars? That might help your case, and you may even be better off privately selling your "new" car before going back to buy the dream car.
This is going to make me sound bad, cause saying it out loud sounds bad to me but I'll be honest. Keep in mind that any car that I have ever owned, (up until I got into my first car accident) I have literally run into the ground. I drive them until they are at least up around 200K miles. So when I sound like a brat, it is because I want a long term car that is going to meet my family's needs now and into the future (which will include commuting in traffic).
In haste to buy a car before our rental car contract was up, we bought a 2011 Kia Sorento. The extra features that I wanted, DH talked me out of. Okay, if you are going to go new, get the color you want, right? Well, I wanted white and DH kept yelling, "Soccer mom!" at me until I went with the color that HE wanted. He wasn't even going to drive this car. Then I was wondering about a leather interior (because of kids and my kids are extremely messy) and he wanted to be frugal so we went with cloth. It has been a nightmare to maintain. I'm going to be spending more cleaning this interior at the car wash than it would have cost to just have upgraded the car in the first place. It is getting old fast. But as far as SUV's went, it was the best deal for the money. It has front wheel drive which is better for bad weather/snow driving conditions than some of the other SUVs that were rear wheel. I drive a lot through the mountains so that point is important. The gas mileage is better than other SUVs at 29 mpg (freeway) but not what I use to get with my other wagon of 31mpg. Even then, I find myself filling up this SUV more often than I would have expected for 29 mpg. I don't think that it is living up to it's EPA estimation. This is also my first brand new car. I don't like buying new cars because I stress out about them more. Break in period, first scratch, etc. I'd rather have a used car. But again, for the price and the miles, this was the best option on paper. I'm okay with it but not in love with it.
The used car (dream car) that I found was another station wagon. It was an Audi. Most reviews said that this car was like a bad boyfriend. It gives you it's share of trouble but drives like a dream. Hahaha! After test driving, I'd agree. It was smooth as butter. Fun to drive, felt safe, easy for a short person like me to get in and out of (and the kids in and out of), agile, fuel efficient (36mpg freeway) and okay, it is a total chick car. DH isn't comfortable in it but that's why we have his truck (can seat 6 people comfortably in his truck!). Plus this would be my mom car/commuter car. And even though it isn't "soccer mom" white, the light gray color is so light that it might as well have been white. I realize that it also would have cost more than a Kia to maintain. That's why I didn't tell DH to shove it and just buy the car. Oh yeah, and it comes with leather seats so no more getting upset that someone stuck dirty feet or food on the upholstery. On one hand, my kids shouldn't have to be yelled at all of the time for not being sticky and messy but on the other hand they need to learn how to behave. I just feel like being outnumbered, this is a battle that I don't want to fight right now but I also don't feel like having a trashed car. My last car had leather and was so easy to clean because any mess never permeated past the surface.
Since it is a 2011 model, there is no KBB value listed yet. So this is going to be tricky.
You don't sound like a brat to me at all. I've definitely had cars that just didn't work for me, and it's awful!
I hope you can come to a resolution. I know there's some formula out there for how much a new car depreciates when it's driven off the lot - here is a calculator:
https://www.money-zine.com/Calculators/Auto-Loan-Calculators/Car-Depreciation-Calculator/
Good luck!
If it were me, I would keep looking. The Kia makes your DH happy because it is cheap, but the Audi would make him want to poke out his eyes because every service is at least $200-300 (there is always something.)
I totally agree with the importance of good power, decent gas mileage and must have leather, but I also find longevity and low maintenance important.
Talk to your DH and tell him you are not at all happy with the car and while you love the Audi you are willing to look at others (that are the same price or lower than the value of the new car) and take into consideration his concerns. Sometimes buying a car is like buying a house...when it is the right one you both will know it