March 22, 2008
New Car Time
Assuming that you’re a few bucks ahead in life, now is the time to (1) buy real estate and (2) buy a car.
Assuming the bank will give you credit, which of course is the rub.
Popping the housing bubble produced bargains, if you can find and afford them. And while credit is really tight, for those who can be “approved” for low or zero APR, car dealers are willing to give you lots of free stuff if you can only move the cars off their lots.
I have a 2000 Eclipse with 107,000 miles, which means it’s mere minutes from every seal blowing out and the water pump exploding (which is what happened to my last Eclipse at more or less the 110,000-mile mark).
I happen to like sporty cars. Because I live in the middle of nowhere, and because it’s a 15-mile round trip to the nearest grocery store or post office or bank, when I drive somewhere I want it to be fun, goddammit! (And also I don’t want my water pump exploding when I’m 45 miles from home. Which has happened.)
So one of the sporty cars I was interested in was the Nissan Altima coupe. So I took one for a drive, and talked with the sales guy for a while, and was a bit disappointed that the APR they were offering was higher than the interest rate on my house. Perceiving this, the sales guy said, “I can give you a much better APR if you buy the four-door, cuz they’re not selling as well.”
“What’s the difference between the two-door and the four-door?”
“Other than the doors, nothing. Oh yeah, and the four-door has a thousand-dollar rebate and a lot of extras on it that are, basically, free, like a sun roof and fog lights and sporty wheels and this weird little secret compartment in the dashboard that can be used for firearms and contraband.”
“Show me a four-door,” I said, quick as usual on the uptake.
So now I own a four-door Nissan. It purrs very well. The contraband and the firearms have yet to be installed.
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