No I Don't Need The Extended Warranty

I'm not a car guy so why does it come as no suprise that the big event this week in San Jose is a car race through downtown San Jose. Not that I mind, it's just that you've got all these Champ cars coming to town and racing around and making all kinds of noise and for what? Just to go around in circles and arrive back where they started from? Sheesh, what's the hurry?

But then, like I said, I'm not a car guy. Back in high school I was never one of those you'd see standing around the quad talking exhaust manifolds and carburators and reciting a bunch of numbers they memorized from a magazine with tailpipes and busty bikini models on the cover. Maybe I should have but the fact is I was too busy being one of those musician wannabes hanging around the music building and trying desperately to become the next Duane Allman or Jimi Hendrix.

"Hey man, show me how to play that".

"Sure, it goes like this (bee de lee de bee de bee bee twang). Got it?"

"No, man, you played it too fast. What was that first part again?"

"See ya'. "

"Oh...oh...ok, that's cool. You gotta jet, I get it. That's alright I think I got it. Let's see (thunk bip buzz buzz kdunk buzz...) Damn, I missed that last part. How did that go again? Oh yeah, I forgot. See ya'...thanks."

I wonder what's more pathetic - the wannabe's that try to talk cars and don't know what they're talking about or the wannabe's that try to be guitarists and can't play. Well, better to be one or the other than wind up being both, I suppose.

So, like I said, I'm not a car guy, and that's unfortunate too because it's that time again. That time that I'm sure so many of us look forward to. That time when we leave our comfortable little worlds, steel ourselves, grit our teeth, march down to our friendly local car dealerships and prepare to do battle with those frickin' people again.

Yes, it's car buying time.

Now if they would just invent a car that would always stay stylish and modern and never break down then I wouldn't have to go through with all this. What's even sadder is that I really don't have to go through with this. My current car is running just fine. It's one of those japanese models and all I do is put gas in it, change the oil, keep the tires and brakes fresh, and it just runs and runs and runs. It's dependable, reliable, extremely cheap to own and even though it's got around 110,000 miles on it I don't see any reason why it shouldn't go another 110,000. All I have to do is just keep doing what I'm doing.

And that's the problem with these japanese cars. They're so dependable and so reliable that after a while you just get sick of them. At least with an American or European car you can count on the thing to break down on you and force you to buy something else, but these japanese things just keep going on and on and on. I mean it's boring.

So I don't really need a new car, but I want a new car, and the prices are pretty good nowdays so why not. And this time I think I'm going to get...well, another japanese car. Geez, I haven't thrown prudence and sensibility completely out the window. This time, however, I'm using the internet to make sure I get exactly what I want.

And that's what this blog is really all about. (Yeah, I know, 5,000 words of introduction and we haven't even gotten to the first theme yet).

So here's the skinny on shopping for cars on the internet - it totally rocks. Now mind you I didn't say buying a car on the internet. That's a whole different story. But researching and pricing cars on the internet is definitely the way to go these days. There is just so much information out there. You got Edmunds, and Intellichoice, and Yahoo Auto, and Carsdirect and the list just goes on and on. You can get reviews, specs, options, dealer costs, dealer incentives, Kelly Blue Book value, trade-in value, loan rates, insurance quotes, and best of all, dealer quotes on any car currently for sale in your area.

Now, without even leaving the house, I know what I'm interested in, I know what the price is, I know what my current trade-in is worth, I know what my financing options are, and I know how much it will cost me to insure it. Grrrrrrr, c'mon Mr. Dealer man, I'm ready for ya. Yeah, that's right, you ain't gonna hornswaggle me! Now mind you, I've said that everytime I've ever bought a car in the past and I've always left the dealership feeling like I just had my pocket picked, but not this time.

No, this time I've got the price quoted in advance.

They say that bargaining over the internet saves the buyer, on average, about $400 over what they would have spent had they just walked into the dealership cold, and I believe them. This price quoting thing is great, and it seems like the dealers don't try to jerk you around so much if they know that you've been to Edmunds.com or some site like that where you have all the numbers right there in front of you. I got about 10 different quotes in on the 3 different cars I'm looking at, and they all were pretty good though definitely not all the same.

For instance, on one of the cars I had a quote that was $500 over Invoice, one that was $200 under invoice, and another that was $250 under invoice. Why so cheap? Because I can see right here on my computer screen that there is a $400 incentive being paid to the dealer by the manufacturer and that the 2006 model is just about to be introduced and some dealers are willing to sell under invoice in order to clear their inventory. That's why so cheap.

So now that I have price quotes in hand and all the other information I need, all I need to do is go down to the dealership and check the car out. If I like it, I buy it, and if I don't, I don't. I'm sure they'll try to lowball me on the trade-in but don't forget - I know what the trade-in value is too. As long as it's close and as long as I like the car then this whole car buying thing might just have gotten a whole lot easier. Yeah, what would we do without the good ol' internet.

Wish me luck!