Last Wednesday afternoon, Chris and I did something we've never done before nor did we ever think we would do - we LEASED a car. Say hello to Ali. Ali is a 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 with navigation. She is gorgeous inside and out!
Yes, I name my cars. My former car, now in Chris' capable hands, is Harli. Harli is a good girl! She's a 2000 Accord with 147,000+ miles on her. The only thing she's ever asked of us where regular oil changes & tire rotations. On occasion, she would request a new battery or tires. When she turned 105,000, she wanted a new timing belt and water pump. And for that, she started for us each and every time we got in her. We're pretty sure she still has several if not many more years of loyal service left in her, and Chris has vowed to baby her as she deserves in her advancing miles.
Unfortunately, to make room for Ali, Harry had to go. Harry Jr was a 1994 Civic DX with 163,000+ miles. We bought Harry not quite 3 years ago when Harry Sr got rear ended and which bent his frame. (BTW, Harry Sr was a 1988 Accord with 200,000+ miles.) Once we decided to go forward with procuring Ali, we listed Harry for sale on Craig's List not having any idea how long it would take to sell him. Little did we know that less than 24 hours after posting the listing, we would have cash in hand (only $100 less than asking price and that was only because we didn't get around to detailing him like we had planned to do for the new owner) and a buyer would be driving him away. Bye, bye Harry! Apparently we had a very hot commodity - a well cared for used car that gets excellent gas mileage. The freakin' sweet part of it is that we sold him for only $400 less than we paid for him 3 years ago. Unbelievable!
For those of you who think it's a little off to be so attached to cars as to give them a name, I'll say (or show) only one thing in my defense. This is the only car that I never named:
Can you say ouch?
Giving you a historical accounting of the cars that Chris and I have driven (and exposing any psychoses that might go along with them) wasn't necessarily the point to this post. Nor was it to just introduce you to our new car. The better story really is in the days/weeks/months leading up to us finally becoming the proud "owners" of a new Accord. There was an almost insane amount of thought and planning that went into this purchase. Something that does merit noting is that the last time we shopped for a new car was 8+ years ago when we purchased Harli. And, honestly, there wasn't a lot of shopping that went on. We had totaled the nameless, blue Cavalier the Sunday after Thanksgiving in a 9 car pile on 35 in Austin. It was only a matter of days before the insurance company officially "totaled" the car, cut the paltry check for it, and told us we had only another few days to turn in the rental car we had. Having had a very good experience with Harry Sr, we decided to stick with another Accord. That was really the extent of our thought on the matter. We didn't even shop around. Not very smart, but almost necessary at the time. Did I also mention that this accident and subsequent car shopping excursion happened just months before we were getting married? Needless to say, there were lots of other things on our minds. Not that this go 'round was much different in the way of stuff going on, but we're a little better equipped to multitask at 32 than we were at 24. Anyway … here's a little run down of what went into this process:
Why a new car anyway? - Our general philosophy has been to buy a car, take very good care of it, then drive it until the wheels fall off or some other unforeseeable incident renders it undriveable. We are NOT fans of car payments and haven't had to deal with those annoying things in over 4 years. However, 2 things cornered us into the understanding that we might have to voluntarily take on a car payment. (1) It's sad but true - in my industry, image does matter, and a good part of my image is the car I drive. Harli is a good girl, and I usually got to have a great conversation with clients about the joys of a well maintained car and the resulting lack of a car payment. However, that only works for so long. (2) We knew that once we finally settled down to have a family, the concept of getting car seats in/out of a 2 door coupe (Harry) was less than optimal. So, when I got pregnant last fall, we decided to start thinking about a new car.
Picking the car - We were almost 100% certain we were going to stick to another Accord. We toyed with the idea of going for an Acura TSX (Acura is Honda's "luxury" line & the TSX is their sport sedan). I obviously need a 4 door car, but didn't want to suffer the hit on gas mileage to take on an SUV. So, a Pilot or MDX was out. Not to mention, I wasn't quite willing to swallow the larger payment that a SUV meant. When it was all said and done, we settled rather happily back on the Accord. Our original intent was to stick to a 4 cylinder engine, again to conserve gas mileage. However, we learned that Honda finally rolled out their Variable Cylinder Management. This thing is amazingly smart. It fires on as many cylinders as it needs - 3, 4, or 6. The trade off is only 2 mpg but a huge improvement in available horsepower (268 to be exact). Sweet! The navigation was a no brainer for me, and it's only available in the top end trim package (EX-L) which means that I automatically got all the other goodies - leather, moon roof, etc. Again, sweet! Last but not least, the color - Honda actually calls it Basque Pearl Red. But it's a beautiful maroon. Whoop!
LEASING the car - This is the toughest part for us. We basically just signed on for perpetual car payments. Not our usual MO. But, when you're self employed, you do what your accountant tells you to do so that you're liability to Uncle Sam is as minimized as possible. And, the image thing plays in here, as well. It's not a bad thing for me to get a new car every 3 years. Oddly enough that thought would thrill most people, and don't get me wrong - it does tickle a small part of me, but only a small part of me. I'm just not a big fan of that cash out flow every month.
Learning HOW to lease - When all you've ever done is buy a car (and not exactly that often), leasing is a whole other experience. The terms and terminology of the deal are very different. So, there was a significant learning curve to this process for me. Once we decided what we were doing, my assignment was to get quotes from at least 2 dealers and 1 broker (i.e., Autoflex or D&M Leasing). If you've ever tried to comparison shop dealerships, they don't exactly make it easy which did not endear them to me. We had been dealing with a young man at Lute Riley in Richardson and would have gladly given him our business except that when it came to actually closing the deal, he wore me out - he wasn't able to give me any direct answers, it was a constant game of phone tag (which I didn't have time for), and then he tried to bully me into executing the deal before we were ready. Not exactly the best way to handle me. I made 1 call to Autoflex Leasing, talked with Scott Anderson, told him what I wanted and what terms I was looking for that would make me to business with him. I had everything I needed to make a decision by that afternoon. I was grateful and impressed. I hit one more dealership who told me that they couldn't beat what I was getting from Autoflex. So, I called Scott back, filled out the paperwork online, and scheduled the delivery. Easy as pie! He even delivered the car to the house where we signed the papers. (If you're looking to lease, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend talking to Scott!)
Budgeting - This was the most significant part of the whole deal. When you're 100% commission, cash flow is always an issue. The goal is to keep recurring monthly expenses at a minimum and to keep a good amount of untouchable cash reserves to cover months that might not have been as productive as you would have hoped for. That's why we started talking about and planning for this months ago. When we finally did pull the trigger, we were completely able get into the excitement of the new car without the trepidation of the payments starting.
If you're exhausted by just reading this post, can you image how I felt??? But, in the end, the outcome is a sweet new ride! Mission accomplished!
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