Tiffany - My Forever Car?

Her name is Tiffany!

I left off the last post down to five vehicles.  That was almost two weeks ago.  I floundered between those choices for a few days without making any headroom.  I finally, instead of picking the one I want, started eliminating the ones I don't want.  The first to go was the Ford Explorer.  Once my eyes were open to those, I found that they're everywhere.  I mean... wow.  Worse, you really can't tell the slightly older one from the newer ones unless the running lamps are on.  So... no.  Explorer is out.    

The Lincoln was the next to fall.  I've been on a serious run of late of having good new cars.  Fiona, the 2013 Ford Focus I got, was the last used car I had.  Sure, she worked out fine, but do I want to roll those dice again?  I can get a Ford Edge, with everything I want, brand new, and even add a new experience to my car shopping life... ordering a new car.  

You see, finding the right Edge wasn't easy.  There are plenty of lower trims or higher trims without all the options, but for what I want it aint easy.  

First I should go over what I want specifically.  First in line is the lane centering.  It's a newer feature that gets us closer to autonomous driving.  that's only available on the SEL or Titanium trims.  The better radio is only available on the Titanium, so we're down to Titanium trim.  The lane centering comes with the 301a package along with some other goodies.  And really, at that point the car is loaded.  But to make it even better... to push it over the... ahem... edge into premium special territory, there's the Titanium Elite package.  It adds some posh to the exterior but honestly it adds a nice interior touch.  Black interior with a brick red accent on the seats, door trims, and floor mats.  It looks good.  Sadly, it does limit the exterior colors, and since I don't want grey or silver or dark grey, I decided I'd go with my first black car in decades.  

I double checked around and couldn't find another one within 200 miles, so I readied myself to go to the dealer and order it.  Nina had a blue book trade in of $36,000 and I figured I'd lose a few thousand of that with all the paint chips and the smoked-in interior.  My sales guy was happy to see me tried to sell me on an Edge they had on order.  It was already being built so it would only be a month or two until it was on the lot and I could lock it in now with a refundable $500 deposit.  It was a Titanium with the 301a package, but not the Elite.  And it was silver (gag).  I hate silver cars.  

That was an easy no.  Going into an order was a magnitude more difficult.  It could take a month.  It could take 4 months.  I'd have to put a $1000 deposit down and the deposit would be un-refundable.  And while they could talk about interest rates, nothing would be locked in until the car was on the lot.  So if rates went up, I'd be screwed.  But still... I'd done the research and was ready to go.  

My sales guy is good and he already had the team inspecting Nina to get a rough trade in value.  We both knew it would have to be done again as car values are fluctuating so much but it would still work as a starting point.  We chatted a bit until he went off to get the mock order ready.  When he came back I had a sinking feeling and it was confirmed when he put the sheet down, waved his hand over it, and said that the deal just wouldn't work.  They valued Nina at $26,000.  That means I'd have to take into any deal $12,000 in debt.  I was hoping to carry $2,000 and as high as $5,000 but $12,000 was indeed a deal breaker.  At their current rates my monthly payment would have been over $900 a month.  I was targeting, on an Edge, $750 a month.  There's just no way negotiation would get me that low.  

He explained that the market was just so weird right now.  There aren't many trades between dealers because no one has enough stock on their lot.  The offer they made wasn't for it to go to auction or hope someone would snag it up from a bigger market... it was to sell in my smaller market.  And why do you get a Mustang?  Cheap speed.  What did I get on my Mustang?  Every expensive option besides the ones involving speed.  Their team figured at a reduced sales price, it would probably still sit on their lot for months and they honestly didn't want it or the hassle hence the lowball bid.  

I get it, and I still like my sales guy.  He was honest and up front and didn't try to walk me into a deal that would just screw me over.  He even mentioned that I could try the online car buyers as they almost always sell nationwide and could move the car to a market that would buy it.  I'm fairly sure he didn't know he just introduced me to the way to get to the car I wanted.  

Anyway, I took his advice and looked at online car buyers.  Kelly Blue Book, Car Max, Vroom, Carvana.  Unfortunately, that means going to a used car.  It means I absolutely won't get Sync 4 as that's only available on 2021 models.  BUT, it does mean I could reach higher than a Ford Edge.  I can get it's Lincoln cousin, the Lincoln Nautilus.  As I said in my last post the Lincoln MKX became the Lincoln Nautilus in 2019 so I could look up ANY Nautilus and not worry about the year.  It had to be a Reserve trim and it had to have the drivers assistance package.  But where it was hard to find a Ford with the 301a package, it was hard to find a Nautilus without the drivers assistance package.  

First up was CarMax.  They have one about 2 hours from me.  Further than I wanted to go, but it's an actual dealership.  There's a lot where I can see the local cars and I can go online and see cars around the country.  If I find one in say Texas that I like, I pay a small fee and it's carted up here to my local store where I can buy it.  And one great thing about them is it's a no hassle, no negotiation place.  The sticker price is the sticker price and that's that.  

So that I can use the shorthand later, I should go over the different package for the Lincoln.  The Reserve trim is the equivalent to the Titanium on the Edge.  The drivers assistance is the equivalent of the 301a in that it has all the rest of the safety features like the adaptive cruise with the lane centering.  There's the tech package that includes a 360 camera, park assist, and the front parking sensors.  And finally there's the ultimate package that includes the 21" wheels, the full LED projector headlamps that turn when the wheel is turned, and the Revel Ultima audio system.  And from online reviews, the Ultima audio is VERY nice and not just the "Boom goes loud" B&O system that Nina has.  Stand alone upgrades include AWD (which I'm only looking at AWD versions), the Ultra Comfort 22 way adjustable seats, the tow package, a cargo package, the 21" wheels alone (the same ones in the Ultimate package), and the backseat entertainment system.  

I'd like the 360 camera and I'd  like the projector LED headlamps and I'd REALLY like the ultra comfort seats, but so long as it was an AWD Lincoln Nautilus Reserve with the drivers assistance package, it was good enough for me.  CarMax had 3.  Vroom had 1.  Carvana had one "incoming", but not yet available.  And KBB doesn't directly sell cars.  

My first real stop was CarMax.  I went through their car assessment to see what they'd give me for Nina as I didn't want another surprise.  I was very harsh on it, admitting to the two curbed wheels, saying that the front needed paint, and admitting it was a smoking car.  They offered me 32,400.  From what I saw in several online reviews, so long as you were honest they stood by their online appraisals.  Therefore I'm starting six grand ahead of my local dealership.  Their first Nautilus came up wrong in the search as it said it had the drivers assistance package, but it had a photo of the steering wheel and it only had the standard cruise.  The second one was silver (gag).  The third one was... beautiful.  It was a blue called Rhapsody Blue.  It was the color that they came out with in 2017 when they re-introduced the Continental and it really looks good.  It had adaptive cruise with lane centering, a 360 camera, and the 22 way seats.  BUT, I'm not sure if it really had those packages.  You see, as it's from Car Max, they don't have they window stickers that actually list all of that out.  But it was close enough and at a list price of $46,998, I could easily do it.  

I should add that because the prices on the Nautiluses were higher, I just admited that I couldn't do it with a $800 monthly payment and allowed myself to go up to $850.  This CarMax Nautilus would be $844 a month.  

I was also pricing out warranties with all the vehicles.  There's a massive dealership near me that sells them nationwide.  These aren't third party warranties, they're the Ford/Lincoln warranties that you can use at any dealership.  Its the same thing as if the car was under the Lincoln warranty.  They sell a little funny as the duration of the warranty starts at the beginning of the car's manufacturer's warranty.  So for me to get a 2019 car under warranty out as long as I'll be paying on it, I need to warranty it for 8 years and not just 6.  They also go all the way up to 150,000 miles.  With me putting on 25,000 a year, I'll need an 8 year, 150,000 mile warranty.  Zeigler has the retail price of that warranty on this Nautilus at $5,000.  They'll sell it for $3,515.  While I couldn't put that into the car payment... and likely couldn't afford it in the car payment anyway... I can put it on the credit card and basically have a used Lincoln with it's bumper to bumper warranty until its paid off.  

So I saved that back and figured it was the one to start with.  The only thing stopping me for making exact plans on it was the fact that they wanted $299 to haul it up here.  

Vroom and Carvana were actually more difficult to dive down in and I had to look through all of their Nautiluses individually to see if they'd match my requirements.  None of them did and their online appraisals were both lower than CarMaxs.  Last on the list, just to see what the value of Nina 'should' be at most places, was KBB's instant offer.  I forget how I got there initially as it was through either Autotrader or Edmunds, but regardless I went through their process and an "Instant Cash Offer" of $32,800.  $400 more than CarMax.  Yeah yeah, its only $400 when we're talking about $45,000 SUVs, but more is more and more is better.  

At the end of the KBB system, it asks what you're looking for and since they listed it as an option I put down that I wanted a certified pre-owned Lincoln.  My main reason for choosing the certified pre-owned (CPO) was that it had to be from a Lincoln dealership (or at least a Ford dealership like my local one that also sold brand new Lincolns).  It directed me to a dealership about 2 hours away from me... 2 hours in the opposite direction as CarMax.  

But when I clicked over... they'd already sent my info to the dealership so I knew I was going to get a call... I saw a Nautilus that I'd seen before.  It was actually the one that I fell in love with and that I thought of as THE example of a Nautilus.  It was a 2019 AWD Lincoln Nautilus Reserve with the drivers assistance package, the tech package, the ultimate package, the cargo package, and the rear entertainment system.  It had all of 8,240 miles on it!  I hadn't pursued that one because at the time I was still focused on staying under $800 a month and the price was just too high.  I had also wanted Sync 4 and obviously this had the same Sync 3 as in Nina (the Lincoln version, but it's the same thing with a different background).  But now that I had accepted Sync 4 wasn't going to happen and had upped my expectations of price.... yeah, I could do this!  

And checking further on it, I found out that being a Lincoln CPO meant it came with a 6 year, 100,000 mile 'bumper to bumper' warranty.  That meant that Zeigler offered the extension to 8 years/140,000 miles (they only go to 140,000 on CPOs for some reason) for only $1870!  

I wanted to make sure this was the Nautilus to see so I looked thorugh Lincolns own website for CPOs in my area and found about a dozen... but at the end of the day between the color, the miles, and the packages this was the one to see.  

I did my math, knowing that this isn't a car buyers market.  I'm not going to get the 'deal' I normally start off with and whittle down from.  I normally look at the price listed and my goal is to get it for that price out the door.  They eat the taxes, the title transfer, the dealer costs.... all of that.  And so far, I've been pretty successful.  Even Nina was close to that deal.  Now?  Now the best I was hoping for was the full price of the vehicle AND the tax.  6% above where I normally start.  They'd still have to take the dealer costs and fees, but whatever.  We can negotiate at least a little.  

My local credit union is good.  They've helped me buy several cars and always ALWAYS have the best rate.  The only time I haven't used them is when I get a special manufacturer rate.   Ginger and Nina were both financed at 0% and Isabella was a lease.  But the dealership couldn't beat the credit union when I bought Fiona and I figured the same would hold true now.  Most places were starting by offering 4% and going for "low" rates at 3.5%.  My credit union pre-approved me for 2.24%.  

So at the sticker price, plus tax, plus the difference between what I owed on Nina and the trade in value KBB had just quoted me, financed over 72 months, my monthly payment should come in at $851.  I wasn't going to be a stickler over the $1 a month, but I would be a stickler for the $851.  Not $852... $851.  

I got everything ready, called the dealership and made an appointment, cleaned out Nina (I think I heard her cry a little), packed her winter floor mats in, and drove it down to the dealership the next day (well, two days later, but that doesn't roll off the tongue).  The sales guy I spoke with on the phone met me and started right in.  We'll call him D (and while it might apply, it doesn't not stand for Dickhead).  D grabbed my license and my keys and put a license plate on the Nautilus and let me take her out.  He even directed me to an empty road between a few closed factories so I could "do whatever I want."  

It didn't take long to realize this is what I wanted.  You've probably heard the joke that Caddy's and Lincolns of old are nothing but couches on wheels... well, after driving a sports car and making my back ache like no one's business, I wanted a couch on wheels.  And when all the comfort modes are on, this Nautilus is just that.  Smooooooooth.  I even got to play with some of the features like the auto hold. The auto hold is something that when you come to a full stop, it will flash on the screen that it's in that mode.   It will hold the brakes, keep the brake lights lit, and let you take your foot off the pedal.  It won't release the brakes until you hit the gas.  That's a LOT nicer than it sounds and I'm in love with it.  

Anyway, I returned about 10 minutes later and was sold.  D took me in and started all the work of a sale.  Their official offer on Nina was $33,100.  Again, even more than what KBB said.  He had me fill out a credit app.  He grabbed my registration and had me call the insurance agency for proof of insurance on the Nautilus.  And that's when it hit me... we hadn't discussed price.  Just the price on MY car.  Which he also knew was negative equity as I owed over $38,000 on it.  I probably could have stopped his process and made him straight up negotiate... but again this was something that would work in my favor.  And if they thought they were dealing with a rube who would just go along because he's being lead along... I could teach them something.  

I might not look like I belong in a Lincoln dealership, but a Lincoln dealership is just another used car dealer when the skin is peeled back at all.  So I let him go.  Then he made me wait.  I honestly have no idea what he was doing.  I felt my phone buzz and saw that they'd hit my credit (I have several monitoring agencies), and knew that they now had their interest rate.  I'd told him about the credit union's 2.24 percent as my credit didn't get hit again I was ready for them to offer me something close to that.  So I waited.

And waited. 

And waited. 

An hour and a half later he came back and offered me something to drink.  I was polite and just agreed.  I guess they don't keep anything in their used... sorry, pre-owned... sales office, so he had to go outside and get me something from somewhere else.  It was one of those tiny two gulp water bottles.  But hey, I was thirsty and he'd at least made the effort.  As he started to talk I leaned forward and said, in a polite tone, that I'd been waiting a long time.  If he didn't mind I wanted to use the restroom and have a smoke.  He was a little surprised, but directed me to where I wanted to go.  

When I got back he was all smiles.  "Great news, we got you financed at 3.3%!"  

What the actual fuck?

He tried to keep going, but I stopped him cold and said that the rate was unacceptable as I'd told him before that I could get financed at 2.24%.  IF they couldn't beat that offer, I'd just use my own credit union.  

So I waited another hour.  They hit my credit about 10 minutes into that wait, but it still took the full hour for him to come back.  He didn't even mention the rate, so I figured they'd beat it.  If they didn't, then I'd have to another round with the finance guy (I know how this dance goes, and the sales guy is just step one).  We STILL hadn't talked about price or fees or anything.  I knew that I was expecting just over $57,000 with everything.  If they went up to $57,500, I figured I'd roll with it.  Anything more and the finance guy was going to have a bad day.  

D eventually took me to the finance guy, who turned out to be a finance gal, and dropped me off.  Finance gal, let's call her T, went through the whole shabang.  She started with the wheel package.  I won't go through her entire process, but I did as I wanted her to get into her rhythm.  For $900 it would cover my wheels for 5 years including cosmetic damage.   Considering I curbed two of my $1000 wheels on Nina and that the wheels on a Nautilus cost $1500 (I looked it up) I figured it was worth it.  Plus it would include glass replacement and paintless dent removal.  I could drop my glass coverage from my insurance as I pay $100 a pop to use it.  So I told her I was interested.  She tried to sell the equivalent of a ceramic coating and I told her that I wasn't interested.  She tried again to sell me (who can blame her as she got me quick on the first one) but I pointed to the part that you should only use brushless car washes and told her I used a car wash with brushes about twice a week.  Thankfully she was persistant but not stupid and moved on.  Next up was gap and I just straight interrupted her to tell her yes.  I mean, I'd be stupid not to.  If the car is totaled out I'm not only trying to get a depreciated car at full retail value paid off, I'm trying to pay off a bunch of previous debt that I rolled in.  Gap coverage pays off the remainder of the loan if the car is totaled out.  It was $895 for the gap coverage.  She had a few other things but admitted they weren't worth going through.... which I really appreciated.  She wasn't about wasting my time to "go through it all" or try to make a sale on stuff I wasn't interested (I saw one was a leather conditioning and  another was glass treatment).  I told her that the price of the Nautilus was right up against my monthly budget (and remember, I still hadn't been told what the price is!) and that I'd be paying for the wheel and gap coverages out of pocket and asked her what the total was.  She did her calculation and got the exact price of $1790.  I smiled, nodded, and said with confidence "So $1600 sounds good, right?"  She hesitated but nodded and accepted it.  

The penultimate moment was the warranty.  I'd read up on it, I was ready for it, and I wanted it.  I just wanted it for Zeigler's price.  She started to sell me on it and was going for the 6 years, 100,000 miles.  When she paused after explaining the coverage I nodded, agreed that I wanted the Lincoln Premier Care Extended Service Plan, but since it started at the beginning of the factory warranty and I wanted it to cover me while I was paying for it, I'd need it to be 8 years and 150,000 miles.  She opened her mouth to speak and I interrupted with a smile "Yeah, I know as a  CPO it can only go to 140,000 miles and that will be close enough."  

I could see on her face at that point she understood I not only knew what I wanted, I probably knew more than her.  She checked her book and came up to the same conclusion and told me it was $3300.  I chuckled as Zeigler had the retail price of it at $3020.  I slyly asked if she'd ever heard of Zeigler auto group.  Honestly, I wanted to know as I've later found out they are HUGE.  They have 33 dealerships, cover most manufacturers and have 77 locations.  She said she hadn't heard of them before so I pulled my phone out, explained how they sold Lincoln Premier Care Extended Service Plans at ridiculously low prices, and showed her the quote on that very vehicle for $1870.  I said I'd be happy to buy it from her, but I'd be stupid to pay $3000 for something I could get for less than 2/3 the price.  She got flustered and went through two of her binders and finally admitted she could only take the price down to $3000.  

I kindly thanked her for the offer and told her I'd be investigating Zeigler further and likely buying it from them unless I found out that they were a scam.  If they turned out to be bad business, I'd be happy to come back and get it from her directly.  That seemed to make her feel better.  

Then the final move.  Signing all the damned paperwork.  I haven't bought a house and I've heard they have a lot more papers to sign, but I swear to the Goddess, there's so much to sign for a car that my hand starts to cramp up.  The last piece was the purchase agreement.  To that point I was quickly glancing over everything and quickly signing.  But when that came up I put the  pen down and started to read it carefully.  They listed the price of the vehicle lower than what they had it online for, but also included several of their fees.  But at the bottom was the total and it was $57,382.  Right where I needed it to be.  And the interest rate?  

2.99%

I turned the purchase agreement around to face her and told her we had a problem.  I asked her if D had told her about the interest rate I could get from my credit union and she said no.  She was lying.  She then went into a sales pitch on the rate telling me it was from Lincoln Financial themselves and that it was a rate specifically for their new cars.  She went on, telling me she had to wrangle with them to get it under the 3.3% she'd previously quoted me.  By the way, Lincoln listed 2.99% on their website for used cars financed over 72 months.  This wasn't anything special.  I shook my head, now letting my frustration out, and explained that I was already pre-approved from my credit union at 2.24% and that if she couldn't beat it, I'd just use them. 

She didn't say anything for a moment so I stood up to walk away.  She asked me what I was doing, and said that I'd need to contact my credit union and get the payment ready.  She tried to get me with "I'll check other banks" but quickly admitted that she wasn't going to beat that rate with any bank she did business with.  That she might be able to get me 2.7%.  She then had the balls to ask me if I was really "going to hold up the deal over $20 a month."  

The monthly price at the bottom of the purchase agreement was $899 a month.  This wasn't $20 a month, it was almost $50.  And even if I could stomach the difference, why the hell would I pay another bank some money, any money, when I could pay my own credit union less money and get it back in higher interest rates paid on my checking, savings, and reduced interest on my credit cards (and obviously... CAR LOANS!).  She didn't have an answer.  So, I made her print out a new purchase agreement without the gap insurance (that goes with the financial institution and not the car sales location, so now it would go to my credit union) that I could take a picture of.  She said she'd work with another customer and I was fine with that as I knew it would take a bit to get everything hammered out.  

Once outside and with another cigarette hanging from my lips, I called my insurance agent and got a rider attached to the insurance saying that my credit union has a lien on the car (its a requirement for the loan).  I then forwarded that and the purchase agreement photo to my loan officer.  I'd worked with her in the past and she is good people.  I also know she's very busy.  So after I emailed the documents, I gave her a call.  It rang twice and then I was sent to voicemail.  I took that to mean that she was with another credit union member and that she'd be awhile.  So I wandered around the lot and looked at the other cars.  It's sad, but being a Lincoln dealer they really only have Lincolns on their lot.  There's not a lot of variety to look at so I was quickly growing bored again, which gave me time to get upset at both D and T.  

At that point, D walked up holding out the keys, giving me his best smile, and told me congratulations.  I growled out that I hadn't bought the car yet because the interest rate was wrong.  I point blank asked him if he had told T about my rate and he said he'd told her I had a very good rate and that she'd have to do her best to beat it.  In other words, he lied.  He asked what I was doing and I told him I'd forwarded on my information to the credit union and was waiting to hear back from them so I could get the dealership their money.  

A quick aside here... I've learned from several finance guys and one great salesman that one of the many ways a dealership makes money is through financing.  Sometimes, espeically if you have bad credit, they can make a LOT of money.  But even when you have good credit, they can make deals with certain lending institutions.  Say Bank and Trust of Metropolis offers their customers 3% on used cars.  Well, the dealership can take a kickback for sending the bank the business.  The dealer ends up with 2% of the loan back and the bank only gets 2.8%... but that's a (in my case) $57,000 loan at 2.8% they otherwise weren't going to get.  So that's why most dealerships don't want you to use your own financing.  Lincoln will help their dealerships out and I'm sure she had a handful of banks that would get her decent rates with a kickback.  They knew I was financing and I'd bet dollars to donuts that that's why they gave me a better deal... if I balked they could tell me about the deal they'd already made.  And oh by the way, we finance at 2.99%.  Well... I let them walk me through the entire process, got them to quote me the price I wanted, and then balked at ONLY the financing.  

D was obviously frustrated and said asked if I was "going to hold up the deal over $20 a month."  Come on guys... at least use different language.  Not only had he talked to T, she likely sent him out and had him try to get me to sign with their rate.  So when he came with the keys in his hand and his big smile telling me congratulations, he knew damned well that I hadn't signed yet.  

Fuck you D.  Fuck you T. 

I told him that yes, I would not only hold up the deal, I'd walk away from it.  That got him to back off and I finally got ahold of my loan officer.  She walked me thorugh their process and of course there was more signing of documents.  The nice thing is that by adding the gap insurance through them, it allows me to extend the loan by 3 months.  Not a big deal, but it reduces the monthly payment to $836.  I got the price I wanted (well.. the price I expected) AND a better monthly payment.  We talked about how I'd get the payment to the dealership and we finally settled on a wire transfer.  

I could have driven back to the credit union, picked up a check, driven it back to the dealership, and finished up that way, but understand they'd already taken Nina (I heard the service guy take her down the street and roar the engine while burning the tires... damn Nina can sing!) and I certainly wasn't going to get D or T to help me.  Sure, I could get Nina back, but what if they were in the middle of detailing her and the seats were all wet.  Anyway, they'd wasted so much time that I don't know if I'd have had enough time.  I'd gotten to the dealership at 0915 and it was now 1400.  Five hours to make a deal happen WITHOUT negotiating!  

My loan officer called the dealership to get their bank's information so she could wire the money.  I learned about wire transfers and realized they're like a cash transaction over the phone.  Once the money is gone, it's gone.  If the information isn't just right, the credit union is out the money (the money I'd just signed for and was responsible for), the dealership hasn't been paid, and I'm on the hook for almost sixty grand without a car.  At the time when my loan officer called back I chalked this up to incompetency as she said they didn't have ALL the information she needed.  If she's not comfortable, then I'm certainly not comfortable, but I asked her to call back and see if she could GET comfortable as it would save me a second day at the dealership.  

D came back out and talked to me, letting me know he'd spoken to my loan officer (see why I thought it was incompetence?) and knew that we were working on a wire transfer.  He just wanted to let me know that while those CAN take a few hours, they can also take several days.  He, out of the kindness of his heart, reminded me it was only a few dollars more a month to just get financed through them.  Yeah, this wasn't incompetence, it was a way to try and force me back into their financing.  

I finished up with my loan officer after sending D away again (No, I wasn't interested in their interest rate) and signed the last document authorizing the wire transfer.  My loan officer had called the main switchboard of the dealership and spoke with the manager explaining to them that if she couldn't get the information she needed, she'd highly recommend that I not do any business with them.  

With that all done it was now a waiting game.  I knew that D was working with another customer but at that point I was tired of walking around their lot... especially if they were going to slow boat this process.  So I walked into D's cubicle and waited for him to get off the phone.  He asked what was going on and I told him the money had been wired.  He called the finance lady and reiterated that it could take awhile but she'd be willing to check after an hour.  I smiled and nodded and asked him if I should wait here then, while pointing to the seat in front of his desk.  Of course I knew that he couldn't have me waiting there if he wanted to sell another car.  It did take him by surprise though and he sputtered a bit before saying he could have me wait in the service department's waiting area.  

Yeah, Lincoln dealerships are freaking NICE.  The waiting area for the service department has big leather chairs, an 85 inch television, a fridge with various beverages in it, and a coffee/espresso maker.  They made me wait about an hour, but I took advantage of the comfy chair and napped.  I'm pretty sure my snoring got them to check on my wire transfer faster as about 40 minutes later I was told that it had gone through.  

10 minutes later, and a few signatures more and I was the proud owner of that beautiful Rhapsody Blue AWD Lincoln Nautilus Reserve with practically every option they have besides the comfort seats.  And by the way, those seats aren't available with the rear seat entertainment, but they cost the same.  So when I tell you the Nautilus originally went for $65,000, I'm letting you know that it was as expensive as that could go without it being in their exclusive Black Label editions.  

D did his part and happily "showed me around my new car" but he's obviously a salesman and not a techy.  I knew everything he told me and learned absolutely nothing.  I even had to overtly ignore some of the things he said as they were patently wrong (the vehicle doesn't have air suspension!).  I drove it off the lot and quickly realized I'd left my phone cable in Nina, but I wasn't going to go back for it so I stopped at a gas station, took some photos, texted some friends bragging about my new ride, got an energy drink and a tasty beverage, and plotted a course to the nearest Best Buy (well... the nearest one in the direction I was going.  

It was then that I realized the last bit of spite from the dealership.  I'm not sure if they did this on purpose, but I certainly wouldn't put it past them.  They let me drive off the lot right at the height of rush hour.  The dealership was 25 minutes from the highway in the morning.  It was 45 minutes from the highway when I was trying to go home (to the Best Buy).  And to make it worse, I was starving.  I'd had my morning coffee, a McDonalds breakfast sandwich at 0730 that morning and that tiny ass bottle of water and that's it.  I now had a bottle of Gatorade and wanted to stop at some fast food place to get a burger or something else fairly clean I could eat in the car on the way home... but there's no way I was going to stop in traffic like this.  All the exits on the highway were backed up INTO the highway.  The Best Buy had a Wendy's near it, but the drive through line went into the street past the next building.  

So I drove home and tried to enjoy the ride.  

Now, you know the names of my cars.  If not, read this and this post.  They cover up to Fiona.  After Fiona is Ginger, followed by Isabella, and finally Nina.  My two "big" cars were my '83 Impala named Bellulah and my '90 Town Car named Belinda.  Big girls names start with 'B'.  So I figured as classy as this SUV would be, she would be a Beatrice.  It was cute, it was fancy, it was funny.  But on the way home that Nautilus whispered a different name to me.  She was more overtly luxurious than my previous cars... even Belinda.  She wasn't even all that big.  

My Lincoln Nautilus is named Tiffany.  

I've had Tiffany for four days now.  I just purchased the warranty from Zeigler this morning.  This afternoon I stopped by Belle Tire to get new rubber... I knew the tires would need to be replaced sooner rather than later, but my brother R found a big piece of one near the bead that was torn off.  They needed to be replaced now.  And with 21 inch wheels you can obviously expect them to be expensive.  I had to add the key service (keys cost over $400 a piece!) and LED light package (the front light assembly costs about $1200!!!!!!) to the warranty and it came out to just under $2100.  The tires, being Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4, were $1500 for all four.  

But damn, it's all worth it.  She's comfy, she's beautiful, she's cool, she even turns heads even if it's not as much as Nina.  She has a 2.7L engine that puts out 335 horsepower and while she feels slow compared to Nina (what wouldn't feel slow compared to her?) she has plenty enough power to get out of her own way.  I've ridden in my brothers Grand Cherokee with it's 5.7L V8 Hemi putting out 360 horsepower and it doesn't really feel much faster.  

Fiona was my first near new car.  She was too small. 

Ginger was my first new car and my first hybrid.  Hybrids drive funny and don't have enough power.

Isabella was my first lease.  Leases suck when you put 25,000 miles a year on your car and only planned on 12,000 miles a year. 

Nina was my first sports car.  Sports cars are not comfortable.  

I've been looking for my 'forever' car for a long time.  A car that I could pay off or at least pay enough on it to get into positive equity.  But I've been turning cars around every 2 years or so.  It hasn't even been a week so I'll have to hold my final call... 

...but I think Tiffany might be my forever car.