I broke down and bought a new car.

I got bitten by the new car bug. I traded in my beloved 2004 Honda Accord EX. I loved that car. It got descent gas millage. It was in fairly good shape, other than the time that some young 17 year old kid decided he could take a left right in front of me as I was going through an intersection. He tells me, "Dude, I had a green arrow." I had then pointed to the light and asked, "What green arrow was that?" There was no damage to his truck but he took my front end off. The car was not drivable at all. It sat at the body shop for over 3 weeks because he apparently screwed up my air bags and the seat belt.

To start off, I have owned a 2000 Honda Insight Hybrid. I loved that car. It did not have a lot of power, but got you where you needed to go. I got anywhere between 50 MPG and 70 MPG. It was a 2 seater and did not have a lot of room and was also a 5 speed, which was a pain to drive. It was fun going to gas stations and people would ask, "Where do you plug that thing in?" or "Can I see the engine?" It was interesting meeting all kinds of people when I would pull into a gas station. The main problem was that it was not a 4 door, so taking more than 1 person was not possible. I traded my Insight in on a 2004 Honda Accord which was a Honda Certified car. It had barely 12K miles on it.

The first place I hit was The Town North Nissan store off 183 just past Burnet. They had a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with like 30K miles on it. It was white and was an automatic. They wanted $14.9K for it. I thought it was a great deal, especially since they went new for $24K. I was told to as for a guy named Boon. On my lunch hour, I ran over to take a peek at it. I walked around the car and it was in great shape. The interior looked brand new. I met with Boon who hopped in the car for a test drive, only to jump out as we were leaving the dealership because he had another customer. He tells me, "You take it for a drive. As long as you want!" I am thinking to myself, "Gee. They are being very brave letting me take this car by myself, without having any of my contact info." I drove it on 183 south for a little bit and drove it back. I checked the millage because this odometer will tell you how many miles per gallon you are getting. I noticed it was reading 29 mpg. I also noticed the check engine light on. I get back to the dealership and there is another guy waiting for me to get back because he always wants to look at it. I am curious about the check engine codes, so I grab my scan tool and go scan the trouble codes. There were 3 codes that came up and they were all manufacturer diagnostic codes. Honda is notorious for having funky check engine codes but many of them are minor. The other weird thing was that 2 of the LEDs on the battery indicator to tell me how charged the batteries were were out. Once you got past those two LEDs, the rest were lit so I knew the batteries were being charged. I asked Boon if there was a warranty and he tells me there was no factory warranty but they would give me a 1000 mile warranty. I think to myself, "Gee, I would do 1000 in a few weeks." I take his card, writing down the trouble codes and head back to my office. When I get back to my office, I check my own sources for these trouble codes because this will be the 5th Honda I have owned and I do all of my own mechanical work. I find out that the 3 codes are basically problems with the IMA charging motor. (This is the unit that basically makes this car a hybrid and helps it get such great gas millage.) In this case, there was a reason why it was only getting 29 mpg and not the over 40 mpg that it should get.

The second placed I looked was the Leif Johnson Ford dealership off Airport. They had a 2005 Honda Hybrid for 17.9K which was the special internet price. I had called and spoked to a guy who told me to ask for him and set up a time for me to come in. When I got to the dealership, I was referred to another salesperson named Amy who in turn turned me over to a 3rd sales person. We go to peek at the car and this car was a dark grey. It was also in great shape. I hope in and was immediately disappointed it was a 5 speed. The sales lady asked if I wanted to go for a test drive and I said sure. I asked if she wanted to drive it off the lot because that had been the practice where the sales person would drive it off the lot and then let you take the wheel. She looks at me and tells me she can not drive 5 speed. I hop in and we take off down 290 south. We got to talking and she was a very down to earth and sweet girl, telling me she had been selling insurance prior to selling cars. She also proceeds to tell me she has only been in the car business less than 90 days. I know that the car business is one of those businesses where people come and go and many folks tend to change dealerships like they change socks. It is always a red flag to me for a person young in the car dealership because negotiating a deal is always harder because they have very little experience. I come back to the dealership and was then assisted by Amy. She tells me they will basically give me book value for my Accord. I do have some negative equity with this car, even after paying more every month towards my car payment. At 6% APR my payments at 72 months would be close to $386, which is not too bad. The good thing is the windows are tinted already but the down side is that it is a 5 speed and I hate to drive a 5 speed in bumper to bumper traffic on Mopac during rush hour. I tell her that I am going to run numbers with my bank and I will get back to her. Ironically, Amy and the other sales person called me in addition to the Sales manager all weekend long to see if I had made a decision if I wanted the car or not. That weekend was Joshua's birthday party and I had family in town, as well as having to work sound. I called Amy on Monday and she proceeds to tell me they have raised the price of the car $1000 but will sell it to me at the $17993 price they quoted me. I tell her that I am going to go look at a gas version of the Civic because they get 30 city and 40 highway, which is close to what the Hybrid gets but also is like $16K for a 2006 Honda Civic Coupe.

The third place I looked was the Howdy Honda in South Austin. They had this 2006 Honda Civic coupe with the new body style. It was very sporty. I walked in and was immediately given to someone else because this car salesman had a delivery. The new salesman, Kasey, was very personable and down to earth. We took this 2006 Civic coupe on a test drive. I liked the way it handled. It drove great. I was impressed by how calm he was, even with Josh in the back seat asking when we could go home. I took Josh with me for the simple fact that if things took too long, Josh would not stand for it and raise a fuss. We get back to the dealership and they appraise my Accord. He comes back and says, "I have good new and bad news." He hands me a Car Fax report which shows my car had been in an accident. He asked me if my car had been in an accident. I told him it had and was repaired at a 5 star repair facility, using nothing by Honda parts and paint. He tells me because it had been in an accident, they were going to give me $7700 for it. He then tells me that I could come up with $3000 cash, that would help with part of the negative equity and might make the numbers look a little better. I had told him that I was not really looking to put anything down on it since I was not really looking to buy a car. We end up leaving the dealership and heading home.

The last place I decide to goto was Honda of San Marcos. Josh's mom had bought her 2003 Honda CRV from them, so I was familiar with the dealership. They were under new ownership so I figured since it was so close to the house, I could go it and see what they could do. I had figured if worst came to worst, I would just go back to Leif Johnson Ford and buy that 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid that had a 5 speed. I was met by a guy named Patrick. He was an older gentleman from Houston who was new the San Marcos area. He had told me he had been in the car business over 27 years. He was this down to earth, country boy kinda guy. I test drove the Honda Civic. Ironically, I knew most about this car that he did. We get back and he asks me if I want to buy it. I tell him that I am interested in seeing what the numbers look like. His manager, Mr. Macy, hops in my car and takes it for a test drive. Mr. Macy is from Florida where he had this huge house but is having problems selling it. His wife had gone back to get some furniture for their new house in Kyle where they just moved and was rear ended buy some foreign folks. He was not in the best of moods; but, with everything going on in his life, I can see why. Patrick comes back and hands me a Car Fax and tells me the car had been in an accident. He then tells me they are only going to be able to give me like $8500. I think to myself, "Wow, thats a bit more than Howdy Honda was going to give me but Leif Johnson is still going to give me full book price." I explain that to him and he goes back to Mr. Macy. They try to get me to put some money down to help work out the negative equity; but, I am interested in seeing how far they are willing to go to make the deal work. Mr. Macy then tells me he will give me close to almost book value for my trade. I tell him that I would like to see what the numbers would be and it comes out to $399 at 6.5% APR at 72 months. They take me into financing and the best rate they can give me is like 6.99%. I call USAA and they tell me 6.5% and basically tell me they are going to ship a check over to the dealer. I did wind up with a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid. This car is white and is automatic. It is a clean car. It had like 29K miles on it. I was told the car was owned my an Engineer who had a mid-life crisis and wound up with a Honda S2000 Roadster. The windows were tinted on this car as well. I drove it home that night.

What is my overall opinion of the Civic Hybrid? It is smaller than the Accord. I did slam my right elbow into the head rests getting into the car the other day. The A/C controls are a little funky. It will take some getting used to. The radio will need to be updated but I have my sights set on a CD player that has a LCD display in it and will probably update the speakers as well when I upgrade it. I am getting 41 to 49 MPG. I drove for over a week on a little over 1/2 a tank of gas. Gas was a little expensive in San Marcos so I put $10 in and that put me just under 1/2 a tank and I am still driving on that tank. In my Accord, I would have had to put in $20 twice already. The Hybrid does take a little getting used to. You have to drive it differently than a regular car. You have to keep your eyes on the battery charging as you drive it. I tend to put the cruise control on and let it ride. I am overall impressed with this car. I decided to move away from the Accord since I drive over 100 miles a day 3 days a week and figured if I could just about double my mpg, it would benefit me in the long run. The 2004 Honda Accord average MPG was 28 MPG. In the Honda Civic Hybrid it is 47 MPG. You figure in a 10 gallon tank the Accord could go 280 miles. In the Civic Hybrid I could go 470 miles. I figured I would save probably $20 a week in gas alone and almost $1000 a year. Thats not too shabby.

DO NOT buy from Capital Kia in Austin, TX

So Josh's mom on her final attempt to get a van decides she wants to go check out the Kia Sedona's in North Austin. They do have a 5 star crash rating and have front and rear A/C controls standard. I called up Kia and spoke to Chris Coker the Internet Sales manager. Chris tells me to come on out at 5pm on Saturday night. I had to go because Josh's mom did not want to get the shaft so I tagged along. We get there and they ran numbers on a 2006 Kia Sedona. Chris tried and tried but told us the payments would be over $500 and we wanted them around $350 to $375. I then asked if they had any demo models or certified preowned. He looks and tells me his Used location at IH35 and St. Johns has 2 2004s starting at $14k. He offers to meet us over there. We drive over there and were met by Matt who showed us the two Kia Sedona's. Both were basic models with power windows, locks and CD player. There was a green Sedona and a blue Sedona. Both Sedonas looked in rough shape. In fact, the detailer left wax streaks all over that van. I could have done a better job. We walk inside and they start running numbers. They start to present us with a deal when I tell Josh's mom that I am not getting good vibes from this and we should leave. She tells me she wants the van and wants to see what they can do. I come back and Matt pulls up their version of a "CarFax". He tells me there has been no repair work done to this car. Josh's mom decides she wants to go ahead and signs the paperwork. She has a "blank" check from USAA that she can use that had a better rate than they were offering but they were trying to get her financed that night because they get a kick back from finance places that use their service. Their rate they offered her was almost 3% higher in APR than she had but they worked on the numbers to eat the over $6000 in negative equity in her Honda CRV up. They get her payments a few dollars below what she is paying and they close the deal. It takes them forever to get this thing situated. You would think that you could just go in, buy a car and be in and out in less than 2 hours. Not this place.

She gets the van home and the next day she tells me, "I am spooked about this van. I should have listened to you." I figured they had a 48 hour return policy, she takes Monday off to go drop off this van at 9am when they open. She calls me from the parking lot and tells me one of the sales persons is refusing to help her that Matt or the Manager would have to assist her. She leaves to take the van over to the main Kia Dealership off 183 and Anderson Mill to get serviced because the van was making a noise which was coming from the suspension. I had hear the noise she was talking about. Chris Coker promised us a full detail for the van and promised to take care of the noise since it was under warranty. She leaves and calls Matt and the Manager from the used car start 3 and 4 times only to be told they were in "meetings". She even had Chris call him and he told Chris that he knew of the situation and he would "talk to him later". How ironic that over 3 days later, still no phone call from Matt or the Manager from the used store and its past the 48 hour turn in time.

I decide to poke my head under the hood of this beast to find out what the deal is because I am mechanically inclined and been working on cars for over 20 years. I do not have my own shop but folks tell me all the time that I should open one. I decided to change the oil and transmission fluid to straight synthetic. I also drained and replaced the power steering fluid with synthetic. I even ran fuel injection cleaner through the fuel system. Given, it is probably overkill on all that but you figure for a van that is 2 years old, it should have been in better shape that it was. I am impressed that www.kia.com has TSB's and technical repair data on their site for free. I have access to diagrams and tear down diagrams for any part of that Sedona. They even show you how to diagnose particular problems as well as list recalls. Ironically, the noise has since gone away. The Sedona shifts much better and runs quieter.

I am amazed at service we got from the used car department of Captial Kia. You would think they would stand behind every product they sold, but they do not. Once you buy a car or truck from them, you are on your own. I give Chris Coker praise for putting up with our ranting and trying to do whatever he could to try to fix the situation. He could not do anything about the whole returning the van business but tried to do what he could to make us happy. I plan to file a complain with the Better Business Bureau with these guys as well as the Attorney General. I also plan to contact the owner of Capital Kia who apparently owns the Auto Mall here in Kyle as well a few other dealerships in Texas. I am sure that it probably will not go fa, but what they do not realize is that word of mouth travels far. In fact, I asked a fellow co worker who is a Honda/Toyota fanatic and is from Japan what they thought of Kias and he was like, "I do not trust them. They are crap." I myself will never buy a Kia. I will also stick to either Honda or Toyotas. My 2004 Accord has over 85K on it and is still running strong. I will probably drive it until the wheels fall off.

If you are in the market for a new or used Kia, Do not goto Capital Kia. Do not listen to their tv ad about if they can not beat a Kia deal, they will probably just give it to you. That is a bold faced lie. They might "woo" you with great numbers but after the sale, you are on your own.

Car Shopping!

So Josh's mom has talked me into going to help her buy a new van since I used to work in the banking industry. I ran the numbers and know basically she can get her new van at $350 a month for a 2006 Mazda MPV LX since they have tons of rebates. She had me call one dealer in North Austin. I spoke to the internet manager who was very nice and friendly. I told him I would have my 8 year old son with me, so if he needed anything he would need to get that so everything would be ready when we rolled in today. I call the guy today and he is at lunch. We fight 5 0'clock traffic to get up there. He calls me and he is back from lunch and tells me to come out. We roll into the dealership and he tells me they have this demo 2006 Mazda LX with DVD player and he can get me out the door for $350 a month. We go back into the showroom and he goes to talk to his manager twice. He tells me he can get $390. I told him basically that we would do $365 tops. I told him to meet me in the middle and give me more money for my trade. For every $1000 dollars its an extra $20 payment. I tell him to put $2000 somewhere so we can leave. He proceeds to tell me that all the paperwork is locked in his boss' office and he would have to call me on Monday so we can work the deal.

First of all, I am amazed that this dude would even consider me coming back on a Monday even after telling him that I was bringing my 8 year old son and I did not want a long, drawn out car purchasing process because Josh would not go for that. Secondly, he told me at first that the demo had more room to play with numbers and would work out for Josh's mom. He then tells me that perhaps another model might be better. Another model? Didnt you tell me on the phone that everything was ready to go? Why make me come back to go through MORE hassles? I left pissed off and went over to the other Mazda dealer in South Austin, thinking that they would work out a deal for me. I walk in and was told that all salesmen had gone home. I told the lady, "Most car sales are done when a dealership is closing." I then spoke to the Internet Manager. I explain my situation to him. He tells me that their deal is a better deal than the other Mazda place was offering and show it to me on paper. The one dealer had an SV model and they offer an LX model. Josh's mom picks out a color and they get to working the deal. I started playing dealers against each other when I told them the one dealer was offering me $1500 more than they were offering me. This guy would not budge. They wanted to offer her $420 a month. I was amazed that they did not want to budge on their price. I had thought that it being the end of the month that they would give me some sort of break, especially since they are not going to be offering that model any more since they are going to the CX7 and CX9. He suggested I go over to Carmax and see if they will give me more for my trade and then bring that over to them so they could work something out with that. I told him I was NOT going to goto Carmax. He could either earn my business or I will wait for the first bone head to call me on Monday.

My first mistake was offering to help Josh's mom buy this new van since I was in the banking industry at one time. It is exhausting. It would be nice to be able to walk in to a place and have them give you a fair price without trying to poke your eyes out. I thought I was avoiding all that by contacting the dealer first, providing him my information and then going into the dealer a few days later.