Tag: value

June 12, 2009   Posted by: Loraine Fick

How I want to buy a car

carmousetight1Every five or so years, I shop for a new car. I hate car shopping. The haggling, the long trips to dealerships way outside of town, the hours and hours of waiting, punctuated by furtive whispers to my husband, “Don’t give in! Stick to our budget! But don’t tell them our budget!” and similar. But that’s toward the end of the process. There’s a lot of work leading up to it.

First I hit the Consumer Reports site to research cars. A subscription is just $5.95 a month, but it auto-renews so you have to remember to unsubscribe or it quietly chips away at your wallet forever.

I find the five safest vehicles according to my car type and year. When I say new car, I just mean it’s new to me. I like to benefit from someone else’s new-car depreciation, which is something like 25% the minute you drive off the lot.

Anyway, I get on several different car sites like CarsDirect.com and AutoTrader.com to look for my next set of wheels. First I have to pick make and model, then enter my ZIP Code, then there’s a long list of cars. If I want to, I can see the list from lowest price to highest. The trouble is, I want to compare five different models and several different years. I’ve got to select the same filters over and over for all five and then compare the info. continue reading »

Comments Off
June 10, 2009   Posted by: Loraine Fick

After the recession, thinking leaner

tighteningbeltmoneyWhere will we be after the recessionary cloud lifts? Working even harder to add value to products and services while keeping costs down. See Chris Chiappinelli’s recent post: A New Era of Thrift.

Comments Off