Buying a Car

At the dealer: "scare copy" or truth?

The car you looked at today and want to think about until tomorrow may be the same car someone else looked at yesterday and will buy today.




Three weeks has passed after my arrival on US. I finished every paperwork related to my stay in US, and bought a car. Yes, I have got Suzuki Aerio 2004. Not sexy at all, but maybe useful enough. I bought it about two weeks ago. This car is fine till now. But there was an incident about the car in fact, I should confess. On the next day of the purchase, Sunday when the dealer closed, I could not start the engine because of the battery trouble, so I payed fifty five dollars to the gas station only for jumping it. But, on the next day of the trouble, the dealer apologized me, replaced it to brand new one, and refunded me the fifty five dollars. Tom, the salesperson at Suzuki, is a reliable person.

I tell you the story how I finally decided to buy Suzuki as follows. Even now I am not certain that my purchase was smart. But anyway, my experience may be useful for foreigners who want to buy a car in US.

At first I thought that buying a used car was best. I visited several dealers. Aggressive salespersons introduced me a lot of cars, saying that those were best among their inventory and meet my need. But I could not understand how to find the most suitable one for me because I have no experience to buy used car even in Japan. What should I check when I talk with salesepersons and test-drive cars? Appearance (many cars are so dirty)? Brake (if there is any problem, I will die)? Engine (I listened to the sound, but found no answer)? Miles (the ratio of mile and year seems to be important)? I was just confused.

In addition, many websites on used cars warns me that dealers try to sell consumers lemon (i.e. defective cars). So I changed my idea. I'll buy a new car so that I don't have to worry about its quality and enjoy the warranty from the manufacturer.

But I immediately found that new cars are just too expensive. Because I am a foreigner arrived recently, I cannot use loan or lease. I have to pay in cash. Above all, I have to sell my car one year and half later when I go back to Japan. Several alespersons told me that the depreciation of new cars are faster than old ones. These two problems of new car made me change my idea again. I'll buy a used car.

I found Nissan Maxima 2000 with low mileage (about 61,000 miles) at some dealer. This car with 3.0 liter engine is a bit big for me because only I use it. But the cost performance is very good. Also, the salesperson (I will call him "Pooh") was patient to explain me the detail of the car and its insurance when I asked him to speak slowly and repeat what he said many times. At that time, I was about decided to buy it, but didn't pay the deposit on it, because I am very cautious about the purchase.

After going home, I visited Kelley Blue Book to reduce my "cognitive dissonance". All right, the price of my Maxima is cheaper than Trade-In Value on the Book. But I found that some websites recommended me to check the Carfax information about the car I will buy. Carfax is an Internet web site offering vehicle history information about used automobiles.

On the next day, I visited the dealer again, asking Pooh to show me the Carfax data. He said "OK" and printed it out. After scanning it quickly, he was strangely reluctant to pass it to me and tried to change the topic. I asked him again to show it. After all, he gave me the document.

The data showed that Maxima's mileage is more than 100,000. I asked Pooh about the difference. He replied me that the shop which repaired the car before made a mistake and he would ask them to correct it. I felt dubious of his sincerity. But, finally, I gave him the deposit under the condition that it was refundable unless the Carfax data was updated. I became tired of buying a car and wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

Am I wise? Is that a lemon? I became increasingly anxious.

This is a bit long story. So, continued.