That's right... after posting about it in late February, I talked to Mom again about buying her a new car. She of course balked, giving variation on the same reasons to not accept it... she didn't want to rely on me or my brothers, and she didn't want to hurt my finances.
It seems I made a good case against both of those reasons. I simply put it in this way; She wasn't relying on us and the only reason she couldn't afford a new car now was the fact that she had been helping me out so much. As for my finances... I actually broke out my spreadsheet showing what money I have coming in and what money I have going out. It's pretty black and white that I could afford this.
So the first thing we had to do after she accepted the offer was figure out what she wanted. I don't mean what model or make of car... I mean what features would make her enjoy the new car. First and foremost was fuel efficiency. She was sick and tired of putting so much damn gas into the van. She also wanted to retian as much utility as she could. She was used to the versatility of having a mini van. Surprisingly she wasn't all that interested in some of the newest 'toys' that you can get in car. Touch screens, navigation, keyless entry with push button start. In fact her list of wants when it comes to tech is some of the most basic features... cruise control, power windows, air conditioning. That made it simple as every car we would look at would include those 'toys' as standard.
So my brother and I started tossing cars out that met some or all of her wants just to see what she reacted to. I figured her best bet would be a Focus or a Cruze (did I mention that she absolutely refused to consider anything from a foreign auto manufacturer?).
Sadly the town that we live in just doesn't seem to get behind either hatchbacks or fuel sipping vehicles. So none of the local dealership shad anything used in stock. Thankfully we found a dealership 35 miles away that had two in their lot... both of them with the SES trim package. They both included keyless entry (remember, when I'm talking about keyless entry, I mean like I have in Fiona... they key never leaves the pocket/purse. You just touch the door handle and the doors unlock), push button start, bigger wheels (16s in this case), the up level radio including both HD radio and sirius satellite radio.
I hate the idea of driving that far just for a single car (even two similar cars), so I also noted that they had a reasonable Dodge Caliber on their lot, as well as Ford Fusion sedan. I didn't think the sedan would work as it really kills versitility, but I wanted her behind the wheel of a sedan to see if she liked it. If she did, then we could later look at a Chevy Cruze, Chevy Mailbu, Dodge Avenger, and/or Chrysler 200 (I'd also say a Fiesta and/or Focus sedan, but she prefers how each of those look in hatchback form). The first car we took for a test drive was the Caliber. It was nice and roomy and drove acceptably... beyond the rattle/hum/bumps coming from the engine/transmission.
We didn't eliminate the Caliber... we just eliminated THAT Caliber. Next up was the Fiesta. With Mom driving, me riding shotgun and the salesman squeezed into the backseat we must have looked like a clown car. But mom was liking it. The interior of a Fiesta trumps the plain-jane interior of a Caliber every day of the week... it's ride is sporty enough to be fun without being overly agressive. In fact I would say that mom had found her ideal car.... until we got onto the highway.
Now there are jokes aplenty of small cars on the highway. Getting blown around when a truck or large car passes you, not having enough power to merge let alone pass, having the engine reving up at 5000rpm just to keep up... but honestly those weren't a problem. We had a semi pass us as we were merging on and it felt just fine. We later passed the same semi without issue. And when we were cruising at 75mph, the engine was just humming along at 2500rpm. The problem was the wind noise. You see, a small fuel efficient car just lacks the sound deadening material to keep the cabin quiet at those speeds. The wind going over the windshield was deafening. I probably wouldn't let that bother me as I often drive with the radio blaring... but as mom drives with the stereo off most of the time that just wouldn't work.
We did take the Fusion out as well, but mom just wasn't into it at all. She said it felt too big when compared to the previous rides, and she couldn't imagine fitting her shopping trips into the trunk. The salesman tried a hard push for us coming back and testing a Chrysler 200 that he just had gotten (it wasn't even detailed yet), and while I told him to call us when it was in I was fairly certain that no sedan would make it onto mom's list.
While at lunch, Mom admitted being disappointed with the Fiesta... it seems that she had a bit of crush on it and really thought that it would be the car for her. While I don't like the car, I showed her some pics of the Chevy Sonic but she was afraid that it would have the same problem as the Fiesta... nice but too loud on the highway. And honestly, I couldn't disagree with her.
So a couple days later the guy called up and said that the 200 was ready for us to take it out for a drive. I took the call and told him that after some consideration we were no longer interested in any sedans... but that mom didn't hate the Caliber (she just hated THAT Caliber). I told him that if he could find some more of those, that we would come out for another test.
A couple days later when I got home from work Mom showed me some Calibers that he had gotten in. I did quite a bit of research on the car as I honestly don't know much about Dodge cars. The first thing that caught my attention was the milage.... 22/29 city/highway. No where near the Focus/Fiesta/Sonic... but still way better than the Van. I found out that there aren't amny options to be had on Calibers and that we'd either be looking at an SXT trim or a Mainstreet trim (SXT in 2009/2012, Mainstreet in 2010/2011... thanks Dodge for the confusing/changing trim names).
At that point, I now knew more about Calibers than the salesman (he said that the Mainstreet was the upper trim level.... no it's the second lowest trim level). He promised to have the car in on that Thrusday and that we could come in and test it.
Thursday rolls around and I get up (it's a day off for me) and get ready to head back to the car lot whenever he calls and lets us know it's ready. At noon he calls and says its not there yet. It seems that that particular Caliber was at a dealership 45 miles away and that they were having 'trouble' getting it delivered. He promised that he would get his manager on the job and get it there that afternoon.
I find it admierable that he was still trying, but he had two full days to get that car delivered. So while Mom went out shopping, I looked up other Calibers and found quite a few to look at. When she got back at 5pm and we still hadn't heard back from the salesman, I took her to another dealer 40 minutes away to look at one of two Calibers they had on the lot.
The difference in the Caliber we had previously driven and this one was like night and day. The engine and transmission was buttery smooth, the interior was clean and free from any defects, everything worked, it was 'certified' by Chrysler, and it was in a beautiful dark grey color. There was even a difference in the sales approaches... the first salesman was trying to sell features of the car like "Hey look at that huge glove box" and "You can't get better gas milage than this". This salesman let mom do her test drive while he and I chatted about all manner of things. Sports, small cars in general, dodge as a manufacturer, his kids..... we just chatted.
By the time we got back to the dealership, both Mom and I knew we had found her car. It was just a matter of getting the financing set up through the Credit Union and dickering them down on the price. Of course the salesman had a job to do and sat us down to talk about financing. I told him with complete confidence that our Credit Union would beat anything they could offer, but he came back with a better loan offer. My credit union was currently offering (and had pre-approved mom) at 2.9%. The dealership offered 2.25%. While I mulled that over he went into the extended warranties.
A quick word about extended warranties. I don't hate them like some people do... I just have to get the right level of value from them and find that for the most part they under deliver or are priced FAR to high. If I get one, I want it to extend coverage throughout the time I'm paying off the car and more often then not, they don't do that.
It didn't help that with this being a 'certified' by Chrysler vehicle, it included a 3 month 3000 miles bumper to bumper warranty as well as the remainder of the 7 year 100,000 mile power-train warranty. So I balked when his first offer was for a 7 year 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty for $2000. The mileage was fine as I can't imagine Mom driving that much (the car only has 30,000 miles on it now), but as a 2010 the seven years would only cover the car for 4 more years.... 1 year shy of it being paid off. For $2000 I can probably pay for any problem that comes up... after all the powertrain is already covered for the same period at no addtional cost.
I told him that we werent' interested. Instead of giving up he brought out the big gun.
Lifetime Warranty
That's right.... Lifetime. Not the car's lifetime... the lifetime of the current owner. He actually used this as an example... if Mom owned the car in 20 years and had put 1 million miles on the car, it would still be covered. And it's easier to say what ISN'T covered as opposed to listing what IS covered. Tires, belts, hoses, windows, paint, brakes. Those are not covered. Everything else is.
Everything else... for a lifetime.
And if we decide to sell the car? That warranty can be transferred to the next owner (only one transfer, so the new owner couldn't transfer it later) for a $50 fee. How much value could that add to a car? "Oh sure, it has 120,000 miles but it comes with a bumper to bumper warranty for your lifetime!". I bet that's worth several grand when and if we decide to sell it.
That warranty only costs $3000.
Now while I believe that the warranty is completely worth it, I had the car priced for a particular monthly payment. To get the warranty I'd have to extend the loan to 72 months. I could afford the payments that they offered, but I really believe in supporting my credit union. The money I pay them goes into lower interest rates, better interest on my accounts, and in general supports them. And of course there's the fact that they've been there for me and my family for over 40 years... they've never denied a loan request and worked hard to make everything easy on us.
I'm sure the credit union would extend payments to 72 months... I'm just not sure they would incorporate the warranty into the loan. While they're easy to work with and generous, they do have standards. One standard is that a car loan won't exceed the value of the car. Adding a warranty (even one as good as this), doesn't incorporate into quoted value.
So I told the salesman that I was interested in both the car and the loan, but that I had to at least give the credit union a chance to meet or beat their financing. The next morning Mom and I sat down with a loan officer (the same one that got me Fiona's loan), and I spelled out what I wanted. I wanted a loan for the car AND the warranty, and I wanted it at the rate the dealership quoted me... 2.25%.
Without batting an eye or even asking for written proof of an offer she said "Yeah, I can do that". We added in a life insurance policy on the loan (if Mom passes away, so do the payments), and of course Gap insurance (if the car gets totaled and the insurance doesn't pay off the loan, the rest of the loan is forgiven), and I ended up with similar payments to what the dealership offered.
When we got home I called up the dealership and made an offer. I was offering $1000 below their asking price with the hope that they'd meet me half way. Surprisingly though, they came back with no offer. The salesman said he couldn't move at all on the price. Now if my dad was working this deal, he'd say 'thanks but no thanks', and walk away. He'd give it a few days and if he didn't get a call, he'd call them up with the same offer. It's always worked for Dad and he's always gotten the deal he wanted (which of course isn't the same as the offer... you have to give them room to come up from your offer to the deal).
But I'm no Dad. I want this car for Mom. Mom wants this car. We both want the warranty. And at the end of the day I can afford to pay their asking price.
So... long story short (oops... too late for that now!), Mom is now driving a 2010 Dodge Caliber that has a lifetime bumper to bumper warranty. She's been driving it around for about a week now and is still in love with it. We even did one of her gargantuan shopping trips and fit everything in the back.
The best part of all? My actions made Mom happy. I really can't ask for more!
It seems that when something is too good to be true, it often IS too good to be true.
ReplyDeleteWe got the paperwork for the Mopar Lifetime Maximum Care Plan today. It's technically not a warranty, but that's just semantics. There are two issues that were either not made clear, or blatantly not discussed. Both of which significantly reduce the value of this 'plan'. First is the fact that this plan cannot be transferred. When mom is done with the car, the plan will add no value to it. Considering that the car will be 10 years old when we're done paying it off, that really sucks. I imagine the car will only be worth about $1500 or $1000 at that point.
Second the plan will only pay out for repairs so long as the cost of repairs (parts and labor) does not exceed the NADA value of the car. NADA is similar to Kelley Blue Book, but value cars lower. To get an idea of how the car will value as it ages, I looked at the oldest Dodge Calibers out there; 2007. I made sure all the options were the same as Mom's Girlie Girl and added three years of driving to the milage (pricing it out at 64,000 miles). The value of the car was down to about six grand. At that point we'd still have three years of payments.
How long until the car's value is under the warranty?
So I'm giving very careful consideration to the idea of canceling the plan. If we do so within two months of purchase, (so long as we don't 'use' the plan) we would get a full refund (technically the refund would go to the credit union, but that's fine). I'm just upset that the two biggest selling points of the plan were not as advertised. I thought the plan would guarantee the car in running condition for it's lifetime... they even put 999 years and 999,999 miles on the actual paperwork. But what's the chance of the car having any value after 15 years and 100,000+ miles?
Even if we cancel the plan, the car still has a 3 month 3000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, and a 7 year 100,000 mile power train warranty. Those are both true warranties and don't consider the value of the car before paying for repairs.