We spent a VERY long time at the dealership.  I was not about to be beaten!    We test drove TONS of cars...literally.  After the first NEW 2008 car, the salesman RAN in to give us a monthly quote.  To say the least, there was NO WAY, I'd even THINK about paying full price on a new vehicle, let alone the 500.00 payments they wanted us to pay.  The lowest I could get him to go wasn't in my budget and as I told him, " I'm NOT about to over-stretch our budget for a car". 

He quickly RAN to find other cars for us.....Mr. Fencemender and I rested on two...a 2006 Hyundai Sonata with excellent miles and 5 year warranty...but over-priced OR our 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe, which had EXCELLENT mileage, hardly any wear and tare, and to spite it's age, still not only had NYS warranty on it, but also part of the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty on it added with the NYS.

Needless to say, the man DEMANDED that doug would ONLY QUALIFY for the 2006 Sonata that was overpriced.  I told him I wasn't interested UNLESS it was a certain price and between a certain payment.  So he went from me and looked straight at doug and said, "If we could take the Sonata down from THIS to this would you accept it?"  Doug said, you heard my wife!

The whole time I overheard the men saying how whipped Mr. Fencemender was that He let his wife overtake him like that....and What a "lets just say Witch" I was.  Funny thing they didn't know however is Doug is the numbers guy and I am definately the more outspoke and more stick to your budget freak:giggle  We worked together on this one and I liked that they had absolutely NO IDEA how played they were.

So I looked at the salesman who didn't even give us a quote for the Santa Fe, Told him I wanted a quote and that if we didn't qualify like HE said Mr. Fencemender wouldn't, then it was Gods will for us to walk out that door and use the money we'd use for a downpayment to fix the ol' clunker.  HIS FACE DROPPED

So he gives me a quote MORE than he told me in the VERY beginning that the quote would be (this was before he tried to sell us the 2008 Hyundai Elantra).  I looked at him and told him, NO you said at such and such a time, The car would be UNDER the specified amount.  Irritated he ran to his "supervisor"...back and forth they went with loans ((I KNEW they were messing with time...even Mr. Fencemender said he was getting tired of the "Make us wait game"....where our salesperson kept saying "Oh, I'm praying it goes through...I'm just praying this makes it".

THE BEST PART

So while we're waiting, Mr. Fencemender gets a phone call.  It was from a bank....The guy from the bank asked doug about certain questions on his history and he told him that I was sick and majority of the bills were from medical issues pertaining to misdiagnoses of PCOS issues.  The bank officer said, What is it YOU could afford?  Mr. Fencemender  told him and he said,  We'll finance you Mr. Fencemender. 

Right as Mr. Fencemender was on the phone with one of the banks, the "manager" says, well, we can't get you the financing you were looking for.  WE REALLY want to sell you this car, but your going to have to give n take alittle. (You mean YOUR going to have to take alittle, I thought while listening to him sink deeper and deeper).  Can't you just Go above your asking price to THIS?  No other bank is willing to give you what your asking.

I laughed right away and the supervisor got :fire with me.  He looked at doug who said "Which banks said they'd give us YOUR lowest rates"?  Supervisor told us of three.  Mr. Fencemender said, "you just interuppted the bank supervisor from such and such who said he would give us our asking price" at the price of the car we asked for and with less interest. 

He went downstairs to check and sure enough They had a NEW copy of one of the statements they had with a higher quote.

We had gotten our car for 3000.00 LESS than their lowest price AND our payments were only 40.00 MORE than our lowest price we chose during our budget.  We had Several hundred more to work with...but I wanted to work BELOW our means in case of emergencies that Mr. Fencemender and I could work together to pay if we needed to without putting our basic needs on the line.

Even Better.....Gods hand was in it all.  I had prayed for DAYS  and also went to the ladies bathroom often during the sale to PRAY for Gods provision and to close all doors if we weren't making the right decision.

During that whole time.....doug added his cell phone as the phone to contact him on the contract.  IF Mr. Fencemender had put down the home phone number, the bank would have called home, we wouldn't have been there, and we may not have gotten the best price...or maybe even no car at all. 

Totally GOD through the whole sale!  Right down to Gods protection and guidance through the sale. 

AWESOME.

And while I wasn't too thrilled about leather seats (freezing in the winter and sticky in the summer not to mention HOT) The car we ended up buying was the one I had wanted for the past several years but told myself we would NEVER be able to afford.  Funny how God works.  Even with silly material things, he knows our desires.  In my case, I wanted something to keep up with a growing family, our sporty hiking, biking, camping type lifestyle, while still allowing us to have good mileage to the gallon.  We got it!  Mr. Fencemender is safe with reliable transportation and we can AFFORD the payments.  Even our Insurance is cheaper because of the 30% higher safety rating. :thumbsup Lots of room for trips too.