New Car! (Added Pictures)

My Dad & I went to Peruzzi Nissan on Saturday for my appointment. We arrived around 12:30pm and looked at some of the 2009 Nissan Versa Sedans on the lot. I got to test drive one that was in my price range and then we went to discuss numbers and do a credit check.

When the dealer showed me my credit report he seemed very impressed. I had a 700+ credit score with 15 revolving accounts and all 1's. I'm obsessive compulsive when it comes to my credit accounts. I always pay more than the minimum and I try to have the balances paid off by the time my 0% introductory rates are up. I mainly use my credit cards for purchasing my plane tickets every year and I'm always looking for a nice 0% APR offer.

The first monthly payment the dealership came up with was $280 a month and that was way out of my price range. I was looking at just under $200 a month. The insurance State Farm had quoted for me was $119 a month and on top of bills, rent, paying off Philippine plane tickets I can't afford that. So the manager came to speak with me and said they would try to crunch numbers and aim for a monthly payment I was comfortable with- they did not try to pressure me or sell me features I did not need. It took 3 of the people at the dealership to find a monthly payment and loan for me. They came up with $217 monthly which was only $30 more than what my highest monthly payment range would be so we settled on that. There was a 3 year road side assistance, etc included already but for adding $6 more to my monthly payment I will be covered for 6 years now- the term of my loan. So that brings my monthly payment to about $223 a month, though I can always pay more than that whenever I have extra. But now I can call them if I have a flat tire or break down, etc. And I need that!

They also took off some of the price of the car to include a CD/Stereo for me. And I didn't want power locks so that wasn't an issue. All together the car came to around $12,000. Of course with taxes and fees it was just over $13,000. My loan is for 6 years and I have to make 72 payments on it. My APR rate is very very low though! (Just 5.34%!) I was happy with that. By the time the car is finally paid off I'll have paid $2,000 in interest... but I'm glad the rate is low.

Never having bought a new car before though- and always having used I didn't think about having the money for inspection/registration, etc, oops! My down payment was only going to be $1,200 but in order to get the monthly payment I wanted they needed a $1,500 deposit and the inspection/resigration, etc was $200. So I had to to write a check for $1,700. My Dad had to actually loan me $400.00 which I have to pay him back this month. My next paycheck isn't until the 9th.

My insurance from State Farm turned out to be lower. It will be $105.00 monthly. That was the other thing we hadn't thought about- when opening a new insurance account they always want the 1st & last months payment. So it was $210.00 to open the account. Ouch. I had to put that on my credit card. If I had thought about those things in advance, I would have waited until the end of the month when I had more money together... but it's okay. I've never owned a new car and my dad has always bought used being a mechanic/auto body and owning a scrap & parts auto lot.

So... I signed my life away (Lol!) today on a 2009 Nissan Versa Sedan! It's black with a black interior and incredibly roomy inside. Much bigger than my 1993 Chevrolet Geo Prizm. They actually said I would have to come back up to the dealership next week to get the stereo installed but by the time all of the paperwork was finished and the car detailed, etc- they had installed the stereo as a surprise, which was very nice! They also included a full tank of gas! I will add some pictures I took of the new car tomorrow. It was dark by the time we arrived home tonight and then I took my parents and brother's out for dinner.


Tomorrow I have to run the $400.00 loan my dad gave me and deposit it in the bank. The dealership said they would cash the check Wednesday. I also have to fax a pay stub over to them and drop off a proof of purchase to my insurance office next week. Oh... and I have to call State Farm too... when they faxed over my temporary insurance card they spelled my first name as Sara on the policy... it's Sarah. I will have to get that corrected before they send out my actual insurance card!

When we left the dealership with my new car it was already around 4:30pm. 4 hours spent looking at the car, settling on a price and finishing all of the paperwork! I was exhausted. We stopped at Circuit City (Which is going out of business, I'm am so upset!) And I picked up an ipod radio transmitter. My 15 year old car had a cassette player so I always used my ipod with a car kit. My new car has a CD player and radio so I got a wireless ipod transmitter. It doesn't work as nicely as I would like it but it was only $11.00. (40% off) I will probably look for a nicer one sometime soon and just burn some of the albums I'm listening onto Cd's for now.

I'm really happy to have the new car, not so excited to start making the payments, lol. But I'm glad I probably won't have as many issues with it as my 15 year old Geo. Thursday morning on my way to work the car was making a thumping noise and I had to pull over in a parking lot. My front tire was completely FLAT! I think I punctured it during the snow/ice storm we had this past Wednesday. We had so much ice, there is still alot in our driveway that hasn't melted yet. We have a very steep winding driveway and it is impossible to get up it when it's covered in ice or snow.

Cell phone pic from Wednesday's snow storm- going down my driveway:


We started having overtime at work this past Saturday. I really hope they will have it again this Saturday. I cannot play around this year, I will have to work overtime on Saturday's when it is offered. I have new car payments, credit card to pay off, new plane ticket to buy, getting married in December... too much to do this year!

I forgot to mention, when I was at the dealership and it was just as I was signing some paperwork they had the radio on and it started playing that 80's song "Sarah". That goes, "Sar-rah... Sarah!" I said to my dad, "Do you hear what they are playing?" Haha, I thought it was pretty weird.

Also when we were waiting for the credit check the salesman, my dad and I were talking and the salesman noticed my engagement ring and congratulated me. He asked if my fiance and father got along and I said, "Well he hasn't met him yet." And went into how F.B. is from the Philippines and how I travel there yearly. Turns out the salesman actually has a girlfriend in Cebu in the Philippines and he will be traveling there in September. They are actually planning to get married. I told him about how F.B. & I will be working with our immigration lawyer early next year and he asked me for our lawyers name. I gave him one of the business cards our lawyer had sent me. He said he will be contacting our lawyer and mentioning my name.

He has never been to the Philippines yet. He met his girlfriend online like F.B. & I met. A friend of his had been to the Philippines and was telling him "horror" stories about their trip. I told him about my experiences in the Philippines and he asked me alot of questions. I really love the Philippines and I miss being there with F.B. Such a small world though... hehe. It made it really feel like this was the car dealership I was supposed to buy a car at. Everything happens for a reason.

I got Hoobastank's new album For(N)ever last week. I loved their past 3 albums. They are one of my favorite bands but I am just not loving this new one. It seems so mediocre to me. The only songs off the albums I really like are, 'The Letter' & 'You're the one'. (I changed my mind, lol. I now like a bunch of songs off this album.)

Update 2-2-09:

Pictures of the car finally!




More Photos Here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v211/christianchickslc/2009%20Nissan%20Versa/