You can click these links to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
If you don't want to read through those, here's the salient details. B and I look at cars and car shopping differently. He's a Chevy guy. He's own a couple older Monte Carlos, several Impalas, a couple Traverses, and a Chevy Cruze before buying the Buick. If I hadn't stepped in and told him that a Buick was simply a Chevy wearing nicer clothes, he wouldn't have even considered that. In the past, B would have NEVER considered a foreign car. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and others would simply be an N O no. He'd entertain Chrysler and Ford products, but they'd always be last options after any similar GM product was considered.
For example, he likes the Chevy Cruze. He'll look at 7 different Chevy Cruzes all with various features missing before he even considers a Ford Focus that has every option he wants.
Back in 2020 B ended up with that LaCrosse and got it with the warranty. I co-signed the car loan as at that time B had ruined his credit. B made every payment on time and even paid some ahead so that he'd pay it off sooner. His whole life was bad at the time but in the three years since he bought that car, he got it turned around. He changed from working part time to full time so that he didn't have to rely on his wife for income (she's very unreliable in this way). He got a credit card simply so he could make payments every month and up his credit score. He made his car payments on time. And he even bought a house. By the time 2023 came around, his credit was better than mine (mine was tumbling at that time, but that's neither here nor there).
I'd mentioned the warranty because it paid for itself. The dealership sold it to us at $2000 (financed over 66 months). In early 2023, the hybrid engine died. As it was under warranty, B got it replaced. The replacement engine then died and needed to be replaced again. It sucked that the car was off the road for almost a solid month, but this cost B a grand total of $500. I think the replacement engine goes for about $1200. Twice. That's not factoring in labor. Yeah, the warranty paid for itself.
But that experience reminded B that he was driving a high milage car. It still had good value, but like all used cars, that value was dropping quickly. Looking at Kelly Blue Book pricing on trade in value, his Buick was priced at $1000 more than he owed. I actually have no experience with this as I always trade in cars with negative value (I owe more than it's worth). But as he was paying about $250 per month and it was dropping quickly, that might change. So, B decided it was time to get a different car. AND he'd finance it himself this time. Bravo!
B loved the gas milage he was getting in the Buick (remember, it was a mild hybrid). He also had given up on the idea of having a car 'big enough' for his entire family. His kids were grown and it was rare when all five of them would cram into his car. In fact, I don't think they all got into his Buick in those three years more than a handful of times. So, he wanted to get a Chevy Cruze.
Yup, we were back to him picking a car instead of picking features and then picking the best car. Fine. He wanted a 2017 or newer, under 50,000 miles, heated seats, and remote start. I took that and ran.
First, I focused on what he wanted. A Chevy Cruze doesn't have a lot of options as it's one of their 'cheaper' cars. I hate that small cars are considered that way, but all the manufacturers do it that way. Anyway, I found that a Chevy Cruze Premier not only included both needed options, it included heated steering wheel (which I had and LOVE) and a suite of safety features. About the only nice option it doesn't include that I think B would love is adaptive cruise control.
But you know me and there was no way I was going to be satisfied with these options. While B was focused on a Cruze because of gas milage, I knew I could find bigger cars with similar gas mileage. It turns out it's pretty easy to find a Chevy Malibu with those needed options. Buick Veranos, Regals and LaCrosses almost all come with them. Caddy ATS and CTSs all include them. They're easy to find on Ford Fusions and fairly easy to find on Ford Focuses.
When I did my search and presented my findings to B, I had two Chevy Cruze Premiers, a Chevy Malibu at the local dealership, two Ford Fusions, a Buick Regal, and a Caddy ATS. B of course immediately zeroed in on the Chevy Cruze and went to look at it the next day. While I'm happy he took my list, I was shocked that he went after that particular one as it was a hatchback. B hasn't shown any interest in hatchbacks before and I thought it might be a fight. But he went there and.... they low balled his trade in. By like $3000.
I talked in the previous posts about how we don't care what they value a trade in at, so long as we get the 'Out The Door' pricing we want. Well, when they start with a $4000 hole, it's hard to make up the difference in fees and price. B all but gave up on the negotiation and only offered his highest price. They still came in $3000 more so he just walked.
The next day he went to the local dealership to look at the Malibu. I think he was surprised at just how good the gas milage could be. It wasn't as good as a Chevy Cruze or his Buick that had a mild hybrid... but this was only a 1.5L turbo 4 cylinder engine and got over 35 miles per gallon on the highway and almost 30 mpg in the city. He loved the way it looked, he liked the way it drove, and they gave him a BETTER price on his Buick than he though he'd get.
He drove away in June of 2023 with a 2017 Chevy Malibu LT 1.5L with the Leather and Technology packages. It only had 40,000 miles to boot! I don't remember what deal B got exactly, but it was listed at $18,359 and I know he walked away with a monthly payment under what he was initially seeking.
B loved that car. He put almost 15,000 miles on it between June of 2023 and January of 2024. He now drives for Door Dash twice a week for extra cash (basically it pays for all of his gas money!), and he still loved the car. But in January we finally got a decent snow storm. B is a good safe driver, but the 17 year old girl driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee behind him wasn't. I guess she'd never driven on snow before and didn't realize that while her Jeep was great for getting going in the snow (seriously, great 4x4 capabilities), it suffered the same problem as any heavy SUV does on fresh snow. Stopping. She was coming up behind B who was at a stop light, and even with her anti-lock bakes hitting, she started to slide off the road. She didn't want to hit a sign just off the road so she turned the wheel and smacked into B's rear end.
B described it as a 'bump' but that Jeep is a big heavy vehicle and B was driving a Chevy Malibu. Just looking at the photo B sent that morning, he was going to need a new bumper, bumper trim, rear passenger fender, tail light (two different lights on that side), and might even need a trunk lid. All those new pieces would need to be painted and blended in with the rest of his car which would be a LOT of blending.
He got it into a body shop that day and they started the assessment process. Thankfully his insurance covered a rental and B got... wait for it... a Chevy Malibu as a rental.
B's Malibu was currently listed as worth about $12,000 on Kelly Blue Book (yeah, it lost about $6,000 in value in just 8 months!). The body shop told him they gave the insurance a quote of $10,500 for the repairs. Progressive ended up just totaling it out. I'll be honest, I don't get it. Yeah, if it was JUST the $1,500 difference in repair vs value that's one thing. But Progressive was also on the hook for the gap insurance. They wouldn't pay $12,000, they'd pay closer to $18,000. Why not pay $10,500 instead?
But that's their call. B got his stuff out of the car, turned in his rental, and I loaned him Tiffany (hey, I'm not driving her!). I also cracked my knuckles and got into car shopping. As we'd just rode this pony a few months back, I assumed the same things applied. 2017 or newer, heated seats, remote start, good gas milage, under 50,000 miles. Obviously, as this was for B, I would emphasize Chevy Cruzes and Chevy Malibus.
The car market has changed quite a bit. Just nine months ago I kept squeaking by with those needs. This time around I could bump that up to 2018 or newer (with many between 2019 and 2022!). Before I needed to hit low trims with packages to get what he wanted, while this time around I found several fully loaded high trim cars.
I presented B with 12 car. Six Malibus (including two premier trims!), Five Fusions (including two Titanium trims!), and one Cruze Premier. I was surprised by the lack of Cruzes. While I wanted to please B and have the Cruze as a top choice, I had to bump it down. It was the right price, options, and miles, but it's pretty far away (and far away from other cars to look at), and is at a dealership that doesn't seem to know what they have. They list it as an LT with certain packages, when it's clearly a Premier with no options. It has the premier badge on their own photos and a heated steering wheel which the lower trims can't have (even with options). The premier only has a couple options available, and just by looking at the photos I can see it doesn't have those. In other words, I don't know that I'd trust tis dealership as my first stop in car shopping.
A quick word about dealerships. My preference is always going to be a 'new' car dealership even when shopping for used cars. Ideally it would be a new dealership that sells that particular brand of used car (like getting a used Chevy from a Chevy dealership's used lot). They know the car, they can service the car, and have the highest chance of getting cars like that on trade in as opposed to buying them at an auction. Used car lots have a far higher chance to be sleazy. They don't care about after sales care or service as they don't tend to have service departments. My second choice is to buy a used car from a new lot even if it's a different manufacturer. Say a Ford from a Chevy dealership. The dealership still cares about after sales service as its their reputation on the line.
So, that's why I put the Cruze Premier low on the list.
My first choice for B is a 2019 Chevy Malibu Premier. It has higher miles than I want at 63,000 but this car is LOADED. The Premier trim already includes everything B wants and more, but this car has all 4 options available on a Malibu. It would literally be missing nothing. The one downside besides the miles is the mpg. It has the bigger engine so it will drive better but at the cost of gas. It goes from the 30/36 that B's currently getting to 22/32 city/highway milage. But I can't emphasize this enough... it's LOADED!
The second choice would normally be other Malibus. But there was a Fusion that I had to bump up to the second place. If it were me, with B's 'needs' this would be number one. I just know how he feels about Fords. It's a 2018 Ford Fusion Energi SE Luxury with 42,000 miles. The SE is the mid level trim for the Fusion Energis. The Titanium has a couple trim exclusive options, but otherwise this car is loaded as it has every option available on a Fusion Energi SE. It's a certified pre owned vehicle which means it comes with a build in warranty (not a big one, but still) and has the option to buy the Ford extended warranty at reduced prices.
Comparing Chevy Malibus vs Ford Fusions aren't exactly apples to apples, but it's close. They both represent the mid sized sedan, can both be fairly luxurious, and have complicated trims and options. The Ford is a lower trim but they way Ford options them out, it has a few more options than the Chevy does while still missing a few options. They're within a few hundred dollars of each other. The Ford is a year older, but has 20,000 less miles.
The feature that takes the Ford way higher in my estimation is that 'Energi' part. If you don't know what that means, it's a plug in hybrid. If B charges this on a normal outlet overnight it will fully charge the battery and he'll get 22 miles of full electric driving. He could literally do all of his Door Dash driving using no gas whatsoever. His commute to work is about 50 miles (100 miles per day) meaning he could just cut 1/4 of his commute off every day in gas. And when the battery runs out, it still runs like a hybrid. I had a Fusion hybrid and know that the mpg listed are about right. Instead of the 30/36 he's currently getting or the 22/32 he'd get with the Malibu Premier, he'd be getting 43/41 mpg!
Let's talk dealerships. When I first saw the Malibu I noticed it was at a Dodge dealership. Not as good as a Chevy dealership (for a Chevy), but better than a used car lot. The Ford is at a Ford dealership. The Dodge dealership is technically closer, but it's off the main highway. It's smack dab in between 3 major highways meaning about 30 miles of country road driving to get there. The Ford dealership is about 10 miles further away but would normally be faster to get to as it's right off the main highway. I say 'normally' because there's major construction going through a major highway interchange... it's honestly terrible.
The more I looked at the Dodge dealership, however, the more it seemed familiar. It finally hit me. It's the same dealership where I bought mom's 2010 Dodge Caliber back in 2014. At first, the experience we had there wasn't bad. It was the standard car dealership experience of them not wanting to deal and wanting to push extras.... but when they offered a lifetime warranty on the car I was SO excited. It was a good deal. A great deal! But a couple days later, once the paperwork arrived, we realized it was only a so-so deal. It wasn't transferable as most warranties are and it would only cover up to the NADA value of the car. We were already starting at a car worth under $10,000. How long would it take that this 'lifetime' warranty wouldn't cover any major repairs? Their 7 year, 100,000 bumper to bumper warranty would only cost $2000 but they sold me on the 'lifetime' warranty for a grand more.
I might not have minded the warranty and might have even purchased it, if they'd discussed those two issues up front. Non transferable and up to the NADA value. I mean... they make sense, right? But when I called the sales guy up for clarification, he was an immediate asshole about out. I don't remember it exactly but I think he said something along the lines of "Well of course it includes those limitation. Only an idiot would think it didn't."
So, you're calling me an idiot?
I immediately asked for a refund. He tried to backpedal, but was already on my bad side so I was adamant. I wanted my money back. We went back and forth for more than an hour and he finally said he'd talk to the finance guy to see how it'd work and call me back. This was like a half hour before they closed. I figured he'd walk over to the finance guy, talk to him, and then call me back. So I waited. And waited. I saw that they'd closed, but I still waited. When I finally called they actually picked up but the receptionist said the salesman wasn't there. I was fine with that right up until she said he'd left about an hour earlier. That would be right after he got off the phone with me.
When I called the next morning to speak directly to the finance guy, we went another three rounds. He finally admitted I'd have to come in and fill out paperwork, but it would have to be with him directly and he was going on vacation. BULL. SHIT.
I ended up reading through the paperwork again and saw at the end that it could be canceled at any Dodge dealership. That very day I drove over to my local dealership and had them cancel the warranty. They weren't happy about it as it seems it'd go on their credit instead of the dealership I wanted, but I was done with that dealership and wasn't about to drive up there to get it done. I told them exactly what dealership they could blame and exactly what salesman and finance guy they could blame for my dissatisfaction.
So, yeah. That's the dealership with B's #1 car. I wish I could talk him into starting with the #2 car, but I doubt I could make B agree to looking at a Ford that he doesn't know (even though I owned two of them!) over a Chevy that he does know.
I think I'll talk to B tonight about it as he plans to go look at 'both' of these tomorrow. And by 'both' I mean he plans on looking at the Malibu first and only moving on to the Fusion if he can't get the Malibu.
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