Our 1999 Chevy Cavalier kicked the bucket. Again. For the third time this year. Enough already! It was time to buy a replacement. We discussed buying another putt-putt car for The Husband, we discussed buying used, but ultimately decided that we should get a van and make it a new one since we keep cars forever (or at least until it breaks 3 times in 4 months after 16 years of faithful service and oh by the way doesn't fit your whole family anymore).
So... buying a new car. Filled me with dread. Negotiating. Sitting across a desk from a salesperson, knowing you are probably getting hosed but not being able to do anything about it. Ugh. Makes my IBS act up just thinking about it.
How the hell was I going to buy a car if I'd be in the dealership bathroom during the entire negotiation process?
Now, I suppose I could simply pay full price for a car. Then there wouldn't be any negotiations. Simple. I'd gladly pay full sticker price if I knew everyone else did. But they don't, so I didn't want to either. I had to find a way to buy a car without having to actually step into a dealership.
I wondered if I could buy a car by email. It's my favourite method of communication, after all. I figured if I could deal with a bank by phone and email, I might be able to buy a car that way, too.
I did a bit of googling and found out that using email to get price quotes is actually a thing now. And it's a thing that can save you a pile of dough. I was inspired by this link and this one and a little bit of this one. I was willing to give it a shot, because what did I have to lose? If it didn't work, then I could switch to more difficult approaches. You know, like those ones involving actually leaving your house (drastic, I know!).
We test drove vans, researched online, and narrowed our choices to a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. I stopped in at dealerships to play in vans with the kids, to better understand the logistics of three kids in a van. My kids loved this part. They climbed in and out of the seats, pressed buttons, opened the sliding doors, closed the sliding doors, put up the window shades, put down the window shades, pretended to drive the van.
Meanwhile I was concerned with details like access to the third row for kid 1. Where were the buttons for things? How did the middle seat in the middle row work? Did we really need that seat? How easy was it to fold down the back row? How did the middle seats move forward?
For me it was more about features than the driving experience. Online reviews complained that the Sienna was a boring drive. Honestly, my definition of a boring drive is one where no one is screaming, no one is kicking someone else in the face, and no one throws up. Boring drives are what I live for!
This is getting long, so stay tuned for part 2, coming soon!
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