new car!

We have a new (to us) car: a white 2011 Toyota Camry! 

After we found out we were going to have to get a new one, we decided we'd better do it sooner rather than later and spent last weekend looking at cars. It was a bit nerve-wracking. We have only bought a car once before, and it was when we lived in Kirksville, so prices were lower, my dad went to look at cars with us, we had no children to worry about during the process, and we had actually saved up money for that very purpose. Not so much this time. Somehow we managed though.

We came very close to buying a 2007 Honda Civic. I really wanted that one to work out....unfortunately, after we had our mechanics look it over, they said that while it was in good shape, there were several things that would need to be done on it immediately (lots of fluid changes and flushes, etc) to the tune of $700. The (very stereotypical used car) salesman refused to negotiate the price at all, which left a bad taste in our mouths. We talked about buying it anyway because even with the additional work the price wasn't outrageous, but we didn't feel good about working with someone who wasn't willing to negotiate or take care of problems that car had before we even bought it. 

We were still considering that option when we looked at some cars at CarMax. Well, let me tell you, we were completely won over by the customer service and the coverage they offer. Within 5 days, you can straight-up return a car, and your purchase includes a 30-day warranty covering parts and labor if you need any repairs in that time frame. It felt so reassuring compared to how nervous I would have been driving off the lot with the Civic we looked at. And when we had some car trouble Thursday morning, I was very glad we had made that decision (not to worry, everything is taken care of). And their customer service was just unbelievably amazing. Everyone was wonderful, to the point that when we couldn't find someone to watch Jamie and he was having a hard time holding still and staying quiet, one of the workers came over and read to him and talked to him about superheroes and Star Wars. Another person offered to hold Jacob for me when he was being squirmy while we signed paperwork. 

The Camry is a much nicer car than the Malibu ever was, and we are happy to have it! Not so happy about having a car payment again, though. We hope it lasts us a long time.

last time driving the Malibu

The boys in the Camry for the first time. Jamie has been SO excited about getting a new car. He keeps talking about our "beautiful, nice new car."