That Time I Bought a Car

The title gives it all away, but… I BOUGHT A CAR YESTERDAY!!!!!! Isn’t she so beautiful? I am so in love with her. She’s a 2022 Kia Soul and she drives like a dream. It’s amazing to drive a car that’s 17 years older than the one I was driving (a 2005 Scion xB). She’s got so many bells and whistles, and I am so, so happy she’s mine. But let me back up and tell you the story of how she became mine! Yesterday, my mom and I went to our nearby Kia dealership so that I could test drive a Soul. I’ve always been enamored with these cars, ever since an old boss bought a new one (this was in, like, 2012 or 2013). They always give me heart-eyes when I see them on the road, and their build is very similar to my xB—an SUV crossover-type vehicle. As the car salesman was getting the key for the Soul so I could test drive it, my mom turns to me and says, “What if you fall in love with it and want to buy it today?” And I admitted that I was entirely sure that was going to happen. I kind of knew it was, honestly. It’s a car that I’ve always had my eye on, and I just needed to test drive it to make sure I liked the way it drove. Driving the car was so much fun. One of the positives of the pandemic is that now you can test drive a car by yourself—the salesperson doesn’t have to be in the car with you. I really enjoy that because it can be very awkward to drive with a salesperson! It was nice to just take the Soul off the lot with my mom and drive around by ourselves. I was really sad to pull back into the car lot when the test drive was over. I wanted to keep driving it! I didn’t exactly know then that I would be leaving with the car that day, but I knew that I had found the perfect car for me. Whether that day or another day, I would be driving a Kia Soul. After the test drive, we went into the dealership to talk pricing. I wanted a darker-colored car (black preferably, but they had a really beautiful blue/gray car on their lot that I had my eye on) with dark interior. Thankfully, both the black and the blue/gray car fit the bill! The blue/gray car came with a few more safety amenities, like lane assist, rear cross-traffic assist, and forward-collision assist. I really wanted that rear cross-traffic assist safety feature because I have a hard time pulling out of parking spaces sometimes. It’s especially difficult in my apartment complex because I usually can’t see above the cars around me to notice if anybody is driving by as I’m pulling out of a parking space. So I wanted those upgrades. Once the salesperson had pulled all the numbers, the blue/gray car would only be about $11 more per month than the other car. It was a no-brainer. But the monthly price was making me a little anxious. It was going to be $390 and I was really trying to keep my car payment around $350. But I also knew that all of the other cars I was looking at cost more than Kia Souls, so that price was probably the best I was going to get. My mom asked me if I would feel better leaving and thinking about it, and then coming back. And I agreed that I would, so I told the sales guy that I just wanted to think about it for an hour or two. I want to stop here and say: I am not a negotiator. I am an enneagram 9, which means I am someone who hates confrontation and just wants to make everyone around me as happy as possible at all times. I wasn’t even using this as a tactic to negotiate a lower rate. I seriously just wanted to think about it for a little bit. After saying that I wanted to think about it, the sales guy nodded and said, “Okay, let me just get my manager to sign off on this.” Or something like that. I didn’t even know what he was talking about, but it didn’t ring in my head as any sort of sales-y tactic. The manager came over and he essentially wanted to know what they had to do to get me to leave with the car today. And it wasn’t until he said, “A lower price?” that it clicked in my head that this was a negotiation! I had power here. (I’m still shocked that they even cared to negotiate; I found out while I was waiting for all the paperwork to be processed that they only had three Souls total on their whole lot!) But I said if they could lower the monthly payment, I would be more inclined to buy today. And they did! Somehow, I negotiated them down to a $350 monthly payment! WHAT. After that was all over, I turned to my mom and said, “Did I just negotiate with a car salesman???” In the end, I put down a $4,000 down payment and my trade-in car value was $2,000. And my excellent credit score also helped me secure the lowest interest rate for my loan! (This is especially gratifying to me, as the last time I bought a car, I had terrible credit and my mom had to cosign the loan.) All in all, I have to say that buying a car was a supremely satisfying experience. Throughout all of this negotiation stuff, I never felt super pressured to buy. It really felt like they cared about me and knew I really wanted this car, and wanted to do whatever they could to help me get it. Maybe that’s my own naivete, but even my mom agreed with my assessment. So now I have a new car! I am so very happy with my decision. This morning when I woke up, I immediately looked out the window to stare at my new car! I’m glad I don’t feel any sort of regret or panic about buying the car, and I think that’s because a) it’s something I’ve been planning for a really long time and b) I know I have the financial means to handle the car payment without it affecting my budget all that much. I truly wasn’t expecting to leave the dealership with a new car yesterday, but I think it was possibly the best early birthday present I could have given to myself.