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My car purchasing strategy

So... it's always good to have a strategy for things.  Most especially when making a big purchase!  So I definitely have made the decision to buy a new car.  I think having a reliable safe economically friendly car is just the responsible thing to do.  Now my current car is ok... but it's just sorta... well it's losing it's reliable feel.  Every time I go to drive it I get antsy.  I get nervous and don't feel confident driving it.  It just doesn't feel like it used to even this time last year.  It's becoming rather expensive to do repairs.  My last couple repair bills for the last 6 months have just been pretty up there.  I'd rather be putting that money into a new car that I can feel safe and sound riding around in.

I've done some research and come up with a few cars that I'm going to test drive.  The first one I did was the Honda Fit.  It's a pretty solid car.  It drives really nice and it's very quiet inside!  I enjoyed it a lot.  But I have come up with a strategy that involves me test driving at least 2 other cars.  Test drive 3 cars that I've found to be good candidates for my needs.  Those two other cars are actually 3 the Chevy Spark or the Chevy Sonic.  I'm going to consider those one car for now because I'll test drive both and then decide which one to include in the list.  Then the last car is the Ford Fiesta.  I also was considering the Mazda3.  But I'm not sure if I will actually test drive that car.  Basically I'm just looking for simple reliable cars that get great gas mileage and can possibly have an out the door price tag of under 15k.

As far as the packages or options or any of that stuff... just base models.  Base model with nothing but the standard features and as well a regular silver color.  Or just whatever they happen to have on the lot.  And lastly stick shift.  I currently drive a stick shift and rather enjoy it.  It's also cheaper!  The idea is that I just don't want any extra features.  The more features the more there is to break.  I just want something that will reliably get me from point A to point B and that's really it.  And as well something that will do it and won't cost a lot at the gas pump.  I'm really considering the Spark because it gets such great gas mileage and it's super duper less money than the others.  But apparently the Fit has gotten great reviews consistently and has a really spectacular track record.

Once I pick out a car that I do like my "part 2" of my strategy is to then go get three prices from three different dealers.  Then I will go for another round and tell each of the dealers the prices I got at the other dealer and if they want to sell me the car they have to give me the absolutely lowest price they can because if it's even a few dollars less at the other place... I'm going to buy it from them.

I'll let them fight amongst themselves for the sale.  When I was at the Honda place last night I told them I was only there to look and test drive and get information... that I WOULDN'T be buying anytime soon as in at least a month or two out... his response was "what can I do to get you to take this car home tonight"... in my head I thought well you can just give it to me I suppose.  Hahah... but I didn't say that.  I said "I'd love to... but I just can't.  I have a system and I have to compare a list of cars and all that.  So just the information and an estimated price will be all I can do tonight."  He then did that whole "go in the back" thing and came back out and wrote down a new price of 400 dollars less than the previous one.  I told him I would be back to discuss at a later date.  He seemed VERY eager to sell me a car!

And as much as I can't wait to be driving to and from work and the grocery store and such in a set of wheels that don't make my nerves go haywire with every bump I feel or noise I hear... I have to wait it out and take all my options into consideration to get the best bang for my buck.

If they are that eager to sell... they will be willing to work with me and be patient and take the time to sell me the car that will fit my needs at the pace that I am interested in.  I think it would be really cool if someone created a car company where the car price was the price.  There wasn't any "haggling" and that was that.  And then they are required to show you the mark up and all the costs involved in how much you pay verses how much the dealer and the sales person gets.  And then on top of that there would be like no pushy sales people because no one would get commissions.  It would just be buy what you want when you want.  And you just order the car online and then show up just to pick it up.  And the cars on the lot aren't actually the ones for sale they are just for show.  That'd be my kinda car buying situation.  I'm not a big fan of the whole "game" thing.  And also the prices would be even numbers.  LIke 10 grand exactly.  Or 12 grand.  Or whatever.  None of this 11,999.99 stuff.  And that would include ALL the fees.  So when the sticker says 12 grand.  That's the actual price that you pay.  There's no extra taxes, fees, or other random charges.  Indeedy.  But that's not the world we live in.  The world we live in is crazy complicated and super chaotic.  Soooooo thus my "strategy system" of comparing cars and then comparing dealers and then getting the dealers to fight with each other over my business.

The last thing I plan to do is get the extended warranty.  I just want piece of mind and to not have to worry about any more costly repairs.  I want to fix my costs so that they are the same no matter what each month and I don't have any more surprise months where I think I'm going to save X dollars and then end up spending way more than I even make that month.  Soooooo that's my car purchasing strategy at the moment.