car purchase

Sometimes I overanalyze, and spend so much time researching and shopping for something, I feel as though I should be paid for my spent efforts.

Here's an example: I've changed hands with 4 cars, just in the past 6 months alone. Not that my intention was to be a private car dealer or anything-- but with the good number of pink slips I've seen lately, I sure as heck appear to be one.

This huge car dance will (hopefully) soon see its end, though. I'm finalizing paperwork in purchasing yet another car, for the folks. So now, I'll technically be burdened with 2 cars' worth of debt.

For this last and final car (a 2004 Lexus RX330 w/ 22K miles), I'm taking advantage of 2 significant discounts:

- The vehicle is a used vehicle. It was the first-year model of the current RX model design, so I get a discount for a car that looks almost brand-new. I would give the interior an 8/10 score, accounting for 2 years' worth of wear.

- Being previously driven as an internal company vehicle, I avoid paying any middleman and take advantage of any discounts that go along with this. I can rest assure all maintenance was duly performed (and maybe over-aggressively so), and that the car was washed weekly (this is mandatory for internal cars lest the driver is assessed fines).

Hopped with options, including the Premium Plus package, the KBB low / high retail value ranged from $30K to $35K, according to my financier. My contract purchase price: $26,667.18. I don't take into account other used-car pricing guides because KBB is my financier's guide of choice.

If the vehicle is appraised midway between its KBB estimated range, I'm saving $5800, which translates to an 18% discount. Not mind-blowing, but you won't see me complaining about saving nearly $6,000. Unfortunately, I'm forced to finance this vehicle for now. There's no sense in temporarily depleting short-term reserves without any regard for cash flow disruptions.

It's all about finding the right balance when push comes to shove, to make things happen.

It's now cheaper to drive cheaper

Hybrids become more of a tough sell

For the frugal car owner, you've got significantly lower gas prices (year-to-date lows), significantly more mileage, and now, the entry cost is incentivized. Car shoppers: this sounds like a winning combination to me.

arnold and his humvee

In California, apparently all 85,000 HOV (high-occupancy vehicle a.k.a. carpool) stickers have been distributed, with a few hundred applications still pending.

I thought the 85,000 HOV application limit was an annually reset one, not a historically cumulative total limit. Apparently not so-- no new hybrid cars are getting new stickers until the year 2010 (or until someone votes for a change before then), from my sources. I'm fully prepared to stand corrected.

So, that relieves initial HOV congestion concerns.

A couple things of interest:
- Any current hybrid + HOV sticker owner must be happy as a clam today, even if, according to one Prius owner, the true federal tax benefit of Prius ownership isn't as significant as initially believed.

- Any near-future new hybrid vehicles which may potentially obtain even more significant gas mileage and far lesser emissions cannot obtain HOV stickers. Only their previous generation models, which are today's models, will have them.
(Which brings up an interesting policy point: why not have a staggered phase-out schedule for today's hybrid HOV stickered cars so that, say, after 2-3 years, they need to re-apply, thus freeing up some slots for future, significantly more fuel-efficient vehicles? What if fuel-cell / ethanol-based vehicles hit the mass market before the 2010 limit? For instance, what must Honda R&D be thinking, considering there are a few clean-n'-quiet diesel models in their pipeline for 2008? Oh right, political vision rarely isn't myopic or provincial.)

- The stickers remain with the car, regardless of title transfers.

- I wonder how much higher of a percentage of the original purchase price that current-gen hybrid resale values will command.