Car Buying Tips for Moms
Go on any Facebook mom group and you will see “what car do you suggest” any given day. There are times I really wish people would use the search function in the groups. Thankfully there is Car-Ed.com to help with a 11 question quiz to determine and give suggestions on cars. While I don’t drive a Pick-Up daily, we have one and no fear jumping in and parallel park it too, which popped up a few times and were my top suggestions.
After my husband bought a new truck, I decided I wanted to trade in my 2016 Honda Pilot for something a tad smaller, better gas mileage and that could take us on more adventures. Having the trucks still in the driveway, helped with downsizing for my everyday “mom-mobile”. I wandered into Honda with a letter for trade-in, which when I got there was MUCH lower than paper said due to mileage. WAKE UP car industry people, we MOMS drive a lot. 75,000+miles in 3 years of owning, and I drove other cars for road trips, last summer when car was in shop for weeks and more. So true mileage I would lean closer to 90K. Trade in value $18,500 yet I owed $22,500. UGH!
We checked out Subaru next, where I really wanted to go. While getting a STI again like we had pre-kids wouldn’t be a good buy, the Forester was calling my name. I started looking at the Sport first because I really liked the look with the orange accents and style. It was mom worthy but driving without kids I would still feel “hip”. That night my husband and I sat down and decided to go for it.
Since we finance, we called up our bank. We had a check overnighted the following day, back to car shopping. Having the check makes it easier to negotiate, for starters we are approved so they know we are buying something. We can say we only want to spend (insert amount here) and work around that number. For my trade, I said this dealer was giving me this amount and how I wanted more. Honda was willing to give me the most if I bought Honda again, other non-Honda dealers weren’t as generous but we are happy with what we received. Despite them being lower than NADA and CarFax, and KBB.
I visited two places Subaru dealerships, I ended up settling on the second place. I took the kids out test driving, they were curious about loosing the 3rd row and forever having to sit next to each other. I’ll be honest I am a little nervous too, but we also have had the 3rd row down for weeks so they have already been next to each other.
The One!
I also settled on the Forester in white which ended up being a hard to find car. Overnight, the one White Sport available sold, my options changed. Changing my choice I went for a 2019 Forester Limited and was able to add some features to it since I would still have to order this car and wait for it to get to port and then the dealership. I had never ordered a car or had to wait, for I am not a patient one.
Franny the Forester, my name for her, came home December 31st. A great way to drive into 2019 with a new car. I have some customizations happening since I didn’t get the sport with orange accents, will update once those have been done.
Car Buying Tips-
- Decide you want a new car
- Look online – Car-Ed.com is a great place to start
- Shop your trade in (if needed)
- Shop around/test drive
- Get financing from bank on your own or dealership
- PICK YOUR Car
- Drive it home!
Update: Franny and I have been together 2 months and hit 4,000 MILES! Yes, I have driven that much- most of the heavy mileage is from snowboard trips. I love starting it from my car in morning. Apple Car Play has been awesome (I am new to it), trunk space and my roof rack are other favorites. The kids have not been fighting in the back and like Franny also.
