Car Shopping

I absolutely hate car shopping.

I’m not good at haggling. I hate the idea of something not being priced at what it’s worth. I don’t know if this is because I am an artist and believe fully in things being fairly priced for the work involved and value, or if I just suck at haggling. Either way, it’s frustrating and I dislike the whole process altogether.

So I’m trying to avoid it, but recently with all the car troubles I have been having my ability to feel my vehicle is reliable has waned considerably. Which sucks because I love my car and would love to run her into the ground if I could, but realistically the vehicle industry in the United States and my income rely on having a trade-in. Not that she’s worth much in her age and condition, but she’s worth something towards something better.

So I’ve been looking at Carvana for vehicles, and as I started that journey I was considerably concerned that I would struggle to find anything in my budget that I would like.

Turns out I have the opposite problem. I’m finding a considerable amount of things that meet my criteria.

So the other night my husband and I made a deep dish pizza, got glasses of wine, and sat down on the couch to review the options I had researched while being a bad employee at work. We had started with 20, and I got it narrowed down to 5, with 2 contenders at the top of the list, and the rest serving as backups if those two ended up being sold while we tried to get a loan.

I had made plenty of phone calls prior to the purchase to verbally process my decision. My husband was somewhat helpful for narrowing down the options, but his lack of knowledge about cars made his help limited and eventually he just stated that I should get what makes me happy. So I called my parents and I called my brother who is in finance to see his thoughts on my options and the financing options from Carvana.

After all that I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing and made my decision to purchase.

The loan process went pretty smoothly since I have fairly good credit. I applied online and worked with our local officer when she had a few questions. It took less than an hour to get approval and I picked up the check after work. Then I finalized the purchase with Carvana after a phone call from them to finish up the process and get some information.

My car will be delivered on Thursday at 5pm and they’ll take my trade-in away. If I don’t like my vehicle choice they’ll return my trade-in within 7 days.

It was a pretty easy process that took a lot of anxiety out of the process for me, and while I was disappointed with my trade in offer, I really couldn’t be too picky. I mean my other car was a 2008. She had been through a lot with me. She had her bucks and issues that made me wary of her, but we stuck it out together and made it work. It was time to move on and get something more economic with better fuel economy and that meant downsizing.

I got a 2016 Chevrolet Spark. In a very pretty periwinkle and with only 6,000 miles on it. It’ll be a difference compared to my Chevy Trailblazer SUV, but I think I’m at the point in my life where that change is a necessary one. I’m too busy to help friends move anymore. I don’t haul as much as I used to and if I need to I can always call my dad to help me with his truck. My world is pretty small despite an occasional trip to MI now and again to see family.

I’m feeling good about the decision. Despite all the anxiety about making it. I’m just glad it’s over and now all I have to do is look forward to the new vehicle and the new adventures.