Buying My First Car

Like most people, I’ll never forget buying my first car.  When the 1994 Pontiac Grand Am you were gifted at 16 refuses to die, you don’t have your first experience at a car dealership until you are 24. After realizing the cost of doing repairs was costing way more than the car was worth, I knew I was going to get my chance of shopping for a nice used car and I was especially looking forward to having power windows and a working a/c.

For the next few months, I spent my time doing vehicle research online and test driving various cars. Finally, I decided I wanted a blue Kia Forte. Luckily, I was able to find the exact one I wanted and with the promise of a big Fourth of July savings event, my dad and I were off to see it in person.

After a quick hour and a half drive, we met with a salesman and I was back on the road doing a test drive. Only needing to be on the road for a couple of miles I knew this was exactly the car I wanted, but dreaded what came next…the negotiations. Having done my research and knowing their online price was already a great deal, I did not expect to see a much lower price than what was already listed. I didn’t have a trade-in and I wasn’t really expecting a lower price, but I really was not expecting the salesman to come back with a price higher than what they had listed online. One look at my face and I knew he could tell I was unhappy and after explaining to him why I was so upset he took off to discuss with his manager. Ten minutes later both he and his manager came back to the table claiming they were unaware of the online price and came with a much better offer. Deciding to continue with the sale instead of leaving, we did a few more offers and counters and came up with a number I was happy with.  But entire ordeal definitely made buying my first car an infamously memorable event.

Thinking about getting to drive my new car for 90 minutes had me excited to leave, but my insurance company had to throw another problem my way. For some reason, their phone and internet system were barely working and they were unable to adjust my insurance to drive the car. Fortunately, they were able to make it so my dad was insured to drive the car, so he got the privilege of driving and putting the first 100 miles on my new vehicle.

While there were some hiccups along the way, my first car buying experience was overall a good one. The excitement of having my first new vehicle is something I will never forget and helped prepare me for when I would make my next purchase.

This post was actually written as part of my application for the Marketing Director position here at Runde Auto Group. Even after working here for only a couple of months I can see how we do not operate like most dealerships. You will never see a gimmicky post card in your mail box nor will we advertise with a “Super Savings Spectacular” or “Push, Pull and Drag” event. What we do offer is a No Gimmicks, No Hidden Fees, and No Pressure experience that has allowed us to serve our community for nearly 100 years!