Price.Line.Negotiaaaator.

Bought a car yesterday! Yes, I know. We move fast! I believe my last post said in the next couple of months we would have a new car. Well, one of our trusty Toyota salesman called us back with an 07 Toyota Camry SE that had just been traded in from a lease.

Before we headed over to the dealership we asked the price over the phone and did most of the negotiating there to ensure it was worth our time to come out and look at the car. The first price they quoted us was way off and we actually asked if it was right. It wasn't. Of course. He said it was a "misprint" and quoted us a price 2K lower. That's better. Then, we low balled. We started the negotiating and really pushed for 2K lower than asking and to include all tax, title, and license fees. We also wanted them to remove the extended warranty, because, while it does make a person feel warm and fuzzy, we're buying a Toyota because we shouldn't need the warranty. We would rather save the thousand dollars than pay for a warranty that will most likely not get used. If you read consumer reports, they talk about these extended warranties and the hidden costs behind them. Nothing is free. My dad successfully bought a certified pre-owned car and had the warranty removed in order to get the price down. These guys weren't budging though. Ben and I decided that they were close enough to our bottom line that it was worth a trip.

We get out there and he's got the car pulled up front for us. It's black, 25k miles, gray leather, moon roof, heated seats, CD player, bluetooth, spoiler, power seats, locks, everything.. more in the one car than both my old car and the van combined! It was awfully shiny, I kinda felt like a girl looking at a precious diamond for the first time. So sparkly, so clean, so... speechless.

We drove it around the block and returned to the dealership with our guns loaded. Ben and I both agreed; if they couldn't drop the warranty or the equivalent thousand dollars off, we were walking. So we sat down with our salesman and started in. I didn't get huffy, I wasn't emotionally attached yet, so it was easy for me to not really care at that point. No sense in raising my blood pressure over a car. But it was so sparkly and shiny.

He wasn't budging off the warranty, said it was already purchased from Toyota, can't return them, yada yada. We explained our point, explained my dad's purchase, etc... nothing, not moving. He even said, "look, my boss is only going to make about $500 off this deal as it stands." That comment didn't phase Ben or me. He said he could maybe take off another hundred, but let's be honest, in the scheme of things, that's chump change. We had already planned our walk away line, so that was our cue. "Well, thanks so much for calling us, but at least now you know where we stand. If anything else comes in we would be happy to take a look." And so we walked.

We were in the car about ten minutes down the road and we got a call. Guess who? It was our salesman telling us he could offer us 3.9% financing if that would help cut costs for us. Since we were planning on putting a pretty healthy chunk of cash down we told him thanks, but really it won't make a significant difference. We hang up. Ben looks at me and says, "I wonder if they would come down an additional $350, because with the lower financing that would work out to about our ideal price." So we called back.

Salesman: "let me check with my boss."

Us: "ok"
(phone rings again)
SM:"It's a deal, can you come back in tonight?"
Us: (cutting through three lanes of traffic to the exit ramp)

I'm cheesing at this point. And yes, phone calls to both parents had been made telling them about the news before we had even signed any paper work or received the keys. Hell, we weren't even close to the dealership, we had to turn around and drive twenty minutes back.

Got all the paperwork filled out and, to our surprise, even though we didn't have the check ready for them they still gave us the keys and let us take it home, just had to call when the financing had been completed. I got to drive the car home. Since it was already 9:00pm by that time and we still hadn't had dinner we went out to celebrate!

Looking back, I think we did a great job on our first car buying experience. We managed to get outta there paying a thousand dollars off the asking price including TTL. Which ended up putting the car priced about four thousand lower than our bottom line. Suckers. One thing that we made note of for the future: when you decide to walk, don't drive home, drive around the block and sit and wait. We would have saved a lot of time and gas. It was definitely classic. Dad said, if you walk, they will chase you. I thought for sure they were standing firm and us walking was not going to phase them, but dad knows best!

The Search...

So the search begins for our new car. This is one first that, after being together for 10 years, we have yet to experience. The process has been fun so far, but I'm not looking forward to the day we have to start the negotiating. I tend to get pissy real quick when I don't like the way things are going, so needless to say, my pissiness paired with Ben's good guy attitude could make for an interesting day. I guess now that I think about it, it's classic good cop, bad cop. I'm already looking forward to it.

Anyway, this weekend was our second trip out with our focus primarily on the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. We rolled up to the Toyota dealership, in our nice sea green minivan, about thirty minutes after they opened and had three salesman watching as we pulled up, all jocking for position to greet us first. They were all so eager, real friendly around these parts. We test drove an 09 Camry LE. It was nice, but I felt like I was driving my grandparents car. Ben liked it.

We headed over to Honda and had the same experience, this time the salesman was so close I thought he was going to open my door for me. He jumped on Ben as soon as he opened his door, I was still taking my seat belt off and, by the time I got out of the van, they were already talking business. We test drove an 08 Accord EX. It was nice, felt a lot like my old car but 14 years newer. My only concern was the firmness of the seats. My Honda killed our backs on long trips and I was worried that while the seats were firmer than the Camry they would eventually get to the point of my old car.

Today, after doing some internet searching, we headed out to look at an 08 Camry SE to see the difference. The SE is the sportier model that looks more like a young couples car than a Sunday cruiser. The car that I found online was sold last night, but we were still able to drive one to get a feel for it. Based on that, I think we've decided on the Camry SE.

Now the search begins. We've contacted our two eager Toyota salesman to have them call us when they get any 07 or 08 SE's on the lot with a few options that we are looking for and mileage that is respectable. Now we sit by the phone and wait. And of course, search the internet for any deals on craiglist. I would venture a guess that we'll have a new car in the next few months!

Californication

We're back!

We had the best time on our vacation. I could write a several page blog about what all we did, saw, ate, and drank but that would be as boring to you as going through our nearly 1200 photos that we took. So instead, I'll summarize and include some highlighted pictures.

We arrived into SFO at 11:34pm PST on Saturday June 6th. The airport was hustling around with travelers anxious to hit their next destination, Ben and I were hustling around just trying to find the restroom. Wait, Wait. Summarize, summarize!

So, Saturday we arrived and hit up the Cable Cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39, Bushman, Cable Car museum, and Union Square. Topped off the evening with dinner overlooking the square at night at a lesser known establishment, The Cheesecake Factory.

A few highlights from Saturday:

Riding the cable cars. We picked up the car a few stops from it's terminus so we could guarantee a ride on the outside. It was a little nerve racking, passing other traffic and cable cars. As one cable car passed us there were some ladies giving us high five's, they were were obviously crazy. There was no way I was going to let go as we were flying by at 9.5 mph!

Bushman. Bushman is a homeless man that hides behind a bunch of sticks he's holding. He's typically hides on the sidewalk or along the street and jumps out at unsuspecting tourists as they walk by. Good for a great laugh. Apparently this guy has been around for years and now there are imposter 'Bushmen,' so don't be fooled! The travel channel actually did a story on him, apparently he makes great money, sometimes $20 bucks a scare!

Sunday we went to early mass, breakfast at Sear's, rode all forms of public transportation (minus ferries), visited Coit Tower, Ferry Building, Golden Gate park, and had dinner with friends at The House.

A few highlights from Sunday:

Riding public transportation. We managed to ride on $1.50 the ENTIRE day, including bus, trolley line, and the train. The most memorable ride: the bus through Chinatown.

Dinner with friends. One of Ben's friends from work now lives in San Fran, so we were able to meet up with him and his wife for dinner. They made reservations at The House, which was fabulous! More of a spot for locals, the building is about 15 feet wide and hosted about twenty tables. Reservations far in advance are a must. Their menu is Asian influenced. Ben had Ahi Tuna and I had the salmon. Their presentation is amazing and the food was even better! We followed up dinner with a drive down Lombard St. and ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli square.

Monday was our transition day from the city to wine country. We picked up our rental, hit up Presidio park and Fort Point, drove across the Golden Gate bridge, had lunch at Sausalito, hiked around Muir woods, took a coastal tour on Highway one, cut through the countryside, arrived at The Lodge in Sonoma, had our first wine tasting, and then ended the day with dinner at The Swiss Hotel. Yes, it was a full day and I didn't even shower.

To keep this very much a summary, because I'm starting to get wordy, here are the highlights of the week.

Visited 18 wineries, 15 of which were in Sonoma Valley. After that many wineries my palate expanded from Chardonnay and Cabernet to pretty much everything except Pinot Grigio and Viognier. We ate different cuisine every night for dinner, Thai, Mexican, Italian, American, and Swiss with Italian influence. I think it's a toss up for best entree, either my pizza at the Red Grape or my birthday dinner at The Fig Cafe. We did our own bike tour with the vineyards around the town square area, that I think, was the most fun day. By lunch time, we were definitely glad the mode of transportation we had chosen would not put the lives of others in danger, given our state. It was so bad, by the next morning I had unexplainable bruises on my legs. That's usually a sign of a good drunken time!

Favorite wineries:
Chateau St. Jean - bought a bottle of Pinot Blanc and Gewurztraminer (pronounced sorta like 'girlsaremeaner'). Picnicked on the property and got beat in Bocce ball by Ben.

Sebastiani - excellent wine, but too expensive for my wallet. If you ever see their Cherry Block Cabernet buy a bottle or a glass, it's amazing!

Ravenswood - fun people, great motto, "No wimpy wines" and actually had a bottle of white Zin buried in the yard with a head stone. Ben bought a bottle of Moscato. They gave us a pin with their motto in two different languages, I definitely sported that the rest of the day. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good.

Gundlach Bundschu - amazing views, great wine. Bought a bottle of Mountain Cuvee, pretty spicy. I was tipsy when I tasted it, so we'll see if I like it now that I have it home.

Artesa - for the views.

B.R Cohn - super friendly staff, great wine, and great vineyard history/stories. Bought two bottles a Paneled wagon (Pinot Noir) and Moose (100% Cabernet). Moose is named after the vineyard dog (a black lab) that passed a few months ago. A percentage of the proceeds go to the local animal shelters and will be a retired vintage. Paneled wagon is named after one of Bruce's vintage cars. Bruce is the vineyard owner, and I feel like we are on a first name basis now. And no, I didn't actually meet him.

Mayo Family - daughter of the vineyard owner poured the tastings, and you got to taste ALOT. By the end of the tasting we were all socializing and I ended up getting a free bottle of $40 Merlot for my birthday from the couple next to us. The daughter even cracked open a bottle of sparkling wine and was drinking with us. I felt like I was in a neighborhood bar with friends I'd known for years.

On my birthday we had spa treatments, couples mud baths and massages. It was a weird experience, something I probably won't do again, but it was a fun to get to share it with Ben. I included a picture, yes, we're naked in there, and yes, mud got everywhere.

Ben and I enjoyed Sonoma so much. We ventured off one day to explore Nappa and some of it's more popular wineries but found the area to be a little less friendly, much more traffic, and more expensive. We were much happier with the laid back lifestyle of Sonoma with the town square and visiting with the locals over dinner.

Here are some pics of the trip, enjoy!

"Welcome to Walmart"

If you were lucky enough to attend our neighborhood garage sale you would have been lucky enough to have been greeted by my ruggedly handsome husband. "How you folks doing this morning?" It was like he was practicing up for his future retirement job, "Good morning, welcome to Walmart." It was great, I was expecting to hear, "anything I can help you shop for today?" but I didn't.

You might say, a garage sale, you've only been married five years, how much stuff could you have possibly accumulated? Well.. enough. I still had rubbermaid containers in the basement that had not been unpacked from our move two years ago. I was also thinking that, with another move imminent, I didn't want to move more than necessary. One could also argue that I was trying to find ways to fund my ever growing clothing addiction.

Among the crap, were 20+ picture frames from high school through my college years. Apparently I went through a "stage" and bought frames for every photo. We also had some clothes that I'd never worn, decorative pillows, an old bike, rugs, and my old computer from college, the 2nd generation iMac. It wasn't until we had kids showing up and asking what it was and begging their parents to have it that I realized this computer was made BEFORE these children were even born. I, at the age of 26, own an antique, who would have guessed? I'm guessing this is the way my parents felt when they had to explain what a record player was.

Things started to slow down early on Saturday so I began to get desperate and stood at the road with bags yelling, "all you can stuff in this bag, five bucks!!!" I think Ben was a little embarrassed because his proper greeting went out the window when his wife began chasing cars down the road yelling. But I will say, the women came in droves, it really did prove that women will buy anything if they can get a good deal.

Among all the junk, Ben and I decided, on somewhat of a whim to put a for sale sign in the Honda to see what would happen. Our neighbors scoffed. Joke was on them though, we sold it two hours later. Our neighbor bought it for his sixteen year old son who will get his license this summer. It all happened so fast I'm not sure what we even got for the 'ol girl! Once we got it all cleaned out, yes, we hadn't even cleaned the thing, the kid got in it to drive it home, and to our surprise it wouldn't start. A tad embarrassed, we tried again. Nothing. So we decided to hold his check and take it to our mechanic to check it out to ensure we weren't passing on a lemon.

A few hours later after we banked $200+ on our first garage sale, the car started right up and we drove it down to the shop. Monday our mechanic calls and tells us we need a new fuel relay somethingorother, and it's done, fixed. Ben calls up our neighbor, and, to our surprise, he backs out. I say it's his loss because this Honda will last forever, and now he'll have to explain to his kid why he's not getting an awesome car. His explanation was something about doing business with your neighbor is like doing business with family. BAH! I'm fully planning on putting that for sale sign back in the window and parking it outside to let the offers start rolling in. Maybe this time we'll actually clean it.