I know the last post says it went up on Monday, but realistically it went up Sunday night. I did stay up two hours past that writing up the basics of what I posted, printing them out for a discussion with my brother, and then searching/scouring the web for a 2025 Lincoln Nautilus Reserve III Hybrid with a Blue interior and either a Blue or White exterior.
Did I mention what a pain it is to search for this particular set of features? I generally use CarGurus.com, and AutoTrader.com. Lately I've been hearing better thing about Cars.com. So Sunday night I had to use all three. You see in using CarGurus, I can specify a new car, the year, the make, the model, the trim (which includes whether or not it's a hybrid), the interior color and the exterior color. But while I can select a Reserve Hybrid, I can't select a Reserve III (hybrid or no). So if it brings up 10 'perfect' cars, I have to go to all of them, generally follow the link back to the dealer website, search their inventory to find that particular vehicle, then look at the window sticker. And out of the 10 'perfect' cars, it found 1.
AutoTrader on the other hand CAN specify Reserve III, but can't specify hybrid. It has areas that SHOULD be able to narrow the engine down to a hybrid, but the option is greyed out, even though some of the models found ARE hybrids. Again, it finds 10 (10 different ones than CarGurus did) and I end up with only 1.
Cars.com, like CarGurus, can't specify Reserve III. It can specify Hybrid, but it's hit or miss. It finds another 20, but only 1 meets all the criteria.
Anyway, I ended up with no more options. I double checked the ones I had previously, took out the Reserve II Blue on Blue (I just wouldn't be happy without the extra oomph of the audio system) and took out one that I had thought was white but was just a silver Nautilus with photos that were overblown.
That left me 3 Nautiluses. The one at the relatively close dealership, an hour a way, and two near Chicago, 4 hours away.
I should add in here that after I posted last night, I went to the website of the bank that holds my auto loan. It said the payoff was $20,300 (as an example... I don't remember the exact numbers). It also said that the Payoff would be $20,450 and I could send a check to their processing center in Cleveland to pay it off. Umm... fuck that. I made a payment of $20,300 figuring there would be a little left over that I could then call and pay off directly so that I could hopefully get the title sooner. The payment I set up would process the same day as my normal monthly payment of $441, but the payment I was making should replace the monthly payment.
With asking for prices from Kelly Blue Book, and Cars.com, they send out your information to dealers they are associated with. KBB at least asks you if you are trading it in and if so, what you are hoping to buy. I filled it out and it sent my information to the very dealership I wanted to work with. Cars.com didn't ask that, so it send my information to an Infinity dealer. I know this, because both dealerships contacted me Monday morning via text.
I ignored the Infinity dealer as they wouldn't have anything I was interested in. Even if they wanted to buy my car outright, the CarMax offer was better. So I hoped they'd let it drop and I just ignored that text.
The text I got from 'Carol' at Varsity Ford. Now, I didn't see the FORD in that because I knew I was dealing with Varsity LINCOLN. I think I mentioned that I originally thought they were on the same property or at least across the street from one another. They're not. They're 30 miles apart. It didn't really matter to me as I've done business with Varsity Ford before and was treated very well. Hell, if you remember when I was buying Ginger, I had a per month price that I wanted, on higher than that that I'd shoot for, and one higher than even that that I'd accept. The first offer they made was UNDER my lowest number. Anyway, they're still owned by the same auto group.
The text they sent was about selling my car and asking if I was interested in a new or pre-owned vehicle. I told her that I was looking to trade Layla in for a new Nautilus that was being transported to their lot and gave her the stock number. I also told her in the same text that I'm not ready to shop just yet, but I'd keep the dealership in mind. She responded offering for me to put a deposit down that would hold the Nautilus as it wasn't even on their lot yet, that way no one would snatch it up. I declined as I wasn't sure what I was going to do at this point.
After lunch, I went over to my brothers house and we talked about it. Like I mentioned in that last post my brother B knows me. He knows I'm obsessed with cars. He knows its WAY deeper than simply liking cars. That even if I were to buy this Nautilus, I'd probably start looking at new cars in a few months if not sooner. That's just the way I am. So unlike Mom or my brother R, he can get past the most obvious answer of:
"No Calvin, you absolutely shouldn't buy a new car when you are unemployed no matter how much money you can save and no matter how much cars might raise in price. In fact, you should stay with your perfectly fine, perfectly running, Ford Edge that has a three year warranty on it and suits all of your needs."
"No Calvin, you absolutely shouldn't buy a new car when you are unemployed no matter how much money you can save and no matter how much cars might raise in price. In fact, you should stay with your perfectly fine, perfectly running, Ford Edge that has a three year warranty on it and suits all of your needs."
He listened to me, he asked some questions, and really it came down this. What's the worst thing that can happen? The worst thing that can happen is that I either don't get back to work or I get to work but find that I can't maintain employment. Either way, I can't make the payments without cashing in the rest of my 401k. I couldn't pay off the car with that, but I could continue making the payments for over a year. Of course, during that time I'd be seeking out new treatments and hopefully getting better so that I could return to work. IF I couldn't get back to work after all that time and if I hadn't gotten social security benefits by then, I'd have to give the car up, take that huge hit to my credit, and.... eventually pay off that debt. But it wouldn't be the end of the world.
The more likely position is that I go back to work and everything is fine. So if I didn't buy the car, I go back to work, wait the two months, and then likely find the prices way out of whack and BOOM, I'd hate myself for not buying what is essentially my dream car (I can't think of another car that I want more at this moment) when I could.
That's right, I decided to buy.
I went to bed early Monday night as I hadn't got much sleep the night before, and of course got up very early this morning. On my normal wake up routine I checked email and saw that at the same time Carol and I were chatting via text, she had sent out an email with the same information. That made sense that she'd reach out via both text and email, but obviously my situation has changed since last we talked 20 hours earlier. I emailed her back in great detail.
I let her know that I was in the process of selling the Edge, but that I'd made what I hoped would be the final payment and should have the title soon (I was thinking a couple weeks, but whatever). I tried to nail them down on price. It was listed for the $63,623 employee pricing but there was the $1000 'bonus' cash. So $62,623? And how much were the fees and taxes? I also made it clear that I didn't expect any haggling or negotiation on the price, I just wanted the total. I asked about financing. My credit union will give me 5.99%. If know they can't quote me a rate and guarantee it without running my credit, but I asked if they believed they could match or beat that rate. I then moved on to the trade in. They'd gotten my information from KBB, so they got the $11,054 price quote. Uh, no. I told them about the other quotes I got and asked if they could match the $14,000. I even sold up Layla, listing all of her extra options. Finally I asked about the deposit. How much would hold the car, how long could it be held for, could the deposit just role into a cash down payment at the time of purchase.
Now, I finished writing that email at 5:40 AM. Obviously I didn't expect an answer at that time. At 9:20 she responded and told me she was handing me off to Jeff who could answer all the questions. That made sense, as Carol clearly wasn't a sales person. She was the first step and answered all the email inquiries, online inquiries, and items like mine. If she got interest, she'd hand it off to a sales person. If she didn't, it saved the sales people's time. Obviously with those questions, I was interested.
Jeff didn't bother with email, he called me just before Lunch. We talked over the car, I mentioned how I got here (Had a Nautilus, spilled milk, cried, sold it for beans, bought a Edge that I don't like, plan on returning to work in a couple months, wanted to take advantage of the employee pricing before it ran out), and then got into the workings of the deal. He first explained how the bonus cash worked. Basically it would be taken out of the deal last. In other words, tax and fees would all be calculated on the $63,623 price. After all the fees and taxes were added in, they'd take $1000 off the final price. Basically, I'd get $60 less because of the tax difference. No biggie. He also gave me the 'out the door' price with all the taxes and fees. $66,761.82. Not bad considering the sticker is over $70,000!
We next talked about the trade in. I gave him the overview of the car, making sure to sell that it's run great, I just bought it last summer, I barely drove it, it's had one accident but it was before I bought it and I couldn't tell, I put two new tires on it just the other day, and I added WeatherTech floor mats and cargo area cover, and a cargo area privacy screen. They might not care about the WeatherTech mats, but the privacy screen is sold by Ford accessories for like $200 and every penny counts. He said he'd talk to the service department as they set the price on trade ins. We then joked about the fact that the price wouldn't be guaranteed. I think he was relieved to know that I already accepted that he couldn't promise me a price, just a best estimate. Obviously if I lied about the car, any estimate he gave would be worth shit. Finally we talked about me paying Layla off.
While I was on the phone with him I checked the bank's website and saw problems. They took my large payment, which again was the exact amount of what was owed and should have left maybe $100 in remaining interest, and said that the remaining balance was $600. Immediately after that, they showed my normal monthly payment which they also took, with a remaining balance of around $19,000. And above all of those, it showed the loan balance as -$441. None of it made sense. So I told Jeff that I'd be heading over to one of the branches so that I could talk to a person face to face and not just someone on the phone.
After lunch, I went over to the bank and waited for the branch manager. He was nice enough even if he looked like he just graduated high school (does everybody look young to me now?). And it's been a LONG time since I've been in an actual bank. My credit union has always been business casual. Slacks and polo shirts for basic employees, suits and ties for managers and higher ups where banks were shirts and ties for everybody. The only change up was pants for men and skirts for women. But now? Hell, my unemployed nephew dresses better than the bank manger kid.
Anyway, I told him what was going on and asked if he could help. He said he'd make a quick call to their central loan department and find out what was going on. I'm fairly sure he expeced the call to go quickly as he had me sit right up near the teller area. Right where I could listen in on other poeple's banking. But it wasn't quick. I sat there for thirty minutes. he finally came back and said he had to run through a lot of red tape, but it was fixed. No payment made online could be set as a 'Loan Payoff' which is why they want you to send in a check. My payment, since they calculate interest per day and the loan payoff they gave me online was expecting 7 days of extra interest, actually paid the loan off. All principal and all interest. Then my monthly payment through their whole system for a loop. The loan amount that it showed me, however, was correct. They owed me that monthly payment back. He told me that it would be coming to me within a couple weeks via a check in the mail. As for the loan, they finally clicked the right button and marked my payment as a loan payoff, closing the loan out. It would take 3 days to finish closing the account down, and then 5 to 10 business days to get me the lien free title.
YAY! With the screw up I was figuring on at least a month, which put me close to the end of the employee pricing for everyone sale. I was even scared that the dealership wouldn't hold the car for that long. But 2 or 3 weeks? That's FINE!
When I got home, I called up my insurance agent. My brother B has always gotten his GAP insurance through his auto insurance company. Progressive. I'd looked into it once before, but State Farm didn't offer that. Now that I'm with Farmers, I figured I'd ask them. They don't, so I'd have to get that from the dealership. I figured that would be one of the last things and would be rolled into the final monthly payment. While I had the insurance agent on the line, I asked them for a quote on the Lincoln. Now obviously, my insurance went down moving from State Farm and Tiffany to Farmers and Layla. I figured it would go back up to more than before as this is now a brand new Lincoln and not a five year old one. But lo and behold, It'll actually cost the same. About $130 a month.
When I finished up with that phone call, I wrote another email to Jeff letting him know how the bank went and asking him the last few questions I had regarding the financing and putting a deposit down to hold it for a few weeks until I got the title.
Jeff either hates putting information out that can be saved and proven, like an email, or he just hates typing and emailing. He's probably young enough that he prefers texting (GET OFF MY LAWN!). Anyway, he calls me back and we start talking real numbers.
He said he could probably get me 5.74% but once he ran my credit he'd know for sure. He seemed pretty sure that he'll be able to get me a lower rate, but didn't want to overpromise. That's something that I ADORE in sales people. Under promise, over deliver. With the out the door pricing, knowing that I'd want GAP protection, and the interest rate, the only missing piece was the trade in on Layla.
He told me that they only wanted to pay what KBB offered, but he got them up to $12,000. He gave me a monthly payment, but to be honest, I didn't listen to it as I knew that $12,000 wasn't going to fly. When he was done and asking how I liked the price, I didn't even acknowledge it and told him that we had to work on that $12,000. I reminded him that I had a cash offer from CarMax for $14,000. I told him, mainly to show him that I knew what I was talking about, that I knew going to CarMax, selling the car, and bringing them $14,000 would cost me a bit more because I'd be paying taxes on more, probably close to $600, but that still left me $14,000 in the hole. Not to mention the hassle of going to that CarMax dealership, selling my ride, and only then coming up to the Lincoln dealership to get my new ride.
Jeff again took it in stride. He'd tried to interrupt me at one point saying that he knew I'd probably like that to be closer to $13,000, but he stopped there as I didn't stop talking. Once I DID stop talking and emphasized that I wasn't going to leave $1,400 on the table he quickly came back and said he could probably get $13,000. At $13,000 for the trade in, taking it to CarMax would only be saving me $400 as I'd still have the tax liability Plus it would simply put, save my time. So I told him if he could get me $13,000 he had a deal. With that last piece in place, he gave me a monthly loan amount at 5.74% including the GAP insurance.
This is where I see the stars aligning, telling me that this is the deal and that I should be doing this. The monthly price will be exactly $2 LESS than the monthly payment I had for Tiffany.
And then he dropped the big bomb on me. He told me that talking to his manager, there's a way they can do the trade on my Edge WITHOUT the title. I'd of course have to get the title to them as soon as I got it, but we could get the trade done and I could have the new car long before I get the new title. And to demonstrate just how confident he was, he said "I'm not sure we can get it done TODAY, but I'll hustle and see if I can make that happen.
This call was at like 1:30 and the dealership closes at 6:00. Plus he knew I was at least an hour's drive away. Big spoiler alert, I'm writing this as of 11:15 at night and I don't have a new Lincoln in the driveway. That being said, he DID try to call me just before they closed. Unfortunately, I was eating dinner at the time and missed the calls (he tried 4 tim
es).
es).
A quick aside on the phone call, I have a Google Pixel on the Google Fi phone service. I mention both because I'm not sure if this is a phone feature or a service feature, but when it senses that it's an obvious spam call, my phone doesn't even ring. During the election I can't tell you how many calls I found that it had skipped for me. If it's not quite sure if its spam or not, it will ring once and then answer the call itself. It says it's the Google assistant and that it's recording the call 'for the person you're attempting to reach'. It asks what they're calling about and who the caller is. All the while, the conversation is showing up on my screen. It's also recording it so I can go back and listen to their responses. Now, in this instance it sucked. It made this poor sales guy that probably just wanted to either talk to me or leave a message, go through a LONG series of questions as the service tried to determine if I wanted to accept the call or not. But for most spam callers, or when the phone is on my hip, it's great!
Anyway, I found out by talking to Jeff that he's not actually a Varsity Lincoln salesperson. He works at Varsity Ford. That's why he had to work out if this trade-without-the-title scheme will work. He's done it with HIS dealership, but has to make sure the general manager at the LINCOLN dealership will accept it. He says once we get everything lined up, he'll drive up to the Lincoln dealership and meet me there to finish the sale. He said if I wasn't trading in the Edge, we could finish the sale over the phone, sign the documents via email, and have the car delivered to me at no cost!
I personally don't care where the sales person is. He's polite, he's working to help me, he understands what I want and works toward that goal. The only thing that might be lacking is the after sales service. This thing is a big computer and I should get a walk through of its basic features and hooking into the system. Like just setting it up with the Lincoln Way app on my phone can be tedious, let alone logging in as a new user on the internal Google system.
I won't lie, I'm excited. I even looked around for a less expensive car and a more expensive car. I looked at 2024/2025 Black Label trim Nautiluses, but they're a good $5000 more and that's a bridge too far. I looked for 2022/2023 Nautilus Black Labels and could only find one with the interior that I liked (those years it came with either a white one or a brown one, I like the brown one and hate the white one). But that only one that had the interior that I liked had a Black exterior (yuk) and had over 30,000 miles. It didn't even have a good price for what it was. So, that was a no go.
This is my car. This is my car at my price. I just have to wait to talk to the sales guy and get this deal done! I'll keep you up to date!
Oh, and since they have it on their lot, I have some photos of the actual vehicle. These weren't taken by me (I'll include MY photos when I write up a review) but you can at least see specifically what I'm looking at:
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