First time shopping for a car

I have always liked driving. Even as a kid, I used to play Daytona whenever I went to arcades. The time has come when I decided that I have enough of the inconvenience of not having a freaking car. I managed to psycho the old cat to get an OPC car, then after much consideration, we decided to get a normal everyday use car instead.

We will be getting a 2nd hand car for now, cos wanna change to a new car only in 2014. We have initially agreed to purchase a car only end of next year since want to carry out Plan B. So what prompted this sudden decision to bring forward the plan? Correction. We are only bringing forward the plan to buy a car, not Plan B, lol.

1. Even though The EL has 2 cars, I have to share with Mdm Yik, and our schedule clashes more often than not. I am tired of compromising.

2. The journey to Hotberry is tedious. It is 3 hours to and fro and I hate going there cos of that. I usually will not go when the car is not available. Getting a car will make things easier though... I still don't like to go.

3. I am sick of cabbing and I hate watching the meter jumping every few seconds. Cabbing on rainy days is a chore. More often than not, calling for cabs doesn't work.

4. I am tired of going to far places without a freaking car. Its a waste of time.

5. If we get an OPC, how am I going to get to work when I am expecting (in future)? I have to take cab (no way am I going to queue under the hot sun for the shuttle bus), and cab fare a month amounts up to $500 at least. If I am going to pay that amount on cab fare, I might as well buy a normal everyday use car?

So I gathered up my guts and told the EL about our plan. We want him to come along when we go car shopping since he is the expert in this area. Boy, he is really good!

Yesterday after church, together with The EL and Mdm Yik, we went car shopping at Ubi. We are very impressed with The EL. All he did was to open the car's bonnet and one look at the interior, he could point out at least 5 points about the car (e.g. this one good, that one not good) and the salesman cannot even deny! Mind you, its just ONE LOOK.

After that one look, he proceeded to dismantle certain parts to check the engine, and pointed out more points. He went around inspecting the cars, pointing out really minor flaws that we couldn't even see. He pressed hard down on the boot to test the spring, checked this, checked that, also don't know how he check. And then he bargained for the price. We decided to keep our mouths shut. Let the king of bargaining do the work. For parts that need to be replaced, he could even calculate out the individual parts to the salesman and get him to give further discount plus fix those parts for free.

The interesting thing is, just by testing the car, he was able to tell what kind of person the car owner was. E.g. The owner has no passion for cars, only needs a car for driving and thats it. Blah blah blah. Amazing!

We were very impressed!

Anyway, we are now in the negotiating process for 2 cars, both Nissan Sunnys. Not very fuel efficient, but the engine and parts are good. It is within our budget for now too. Hopefully we can get this car thing over and done with soon. I will be able to drive to work, no longer need to suffer air pollution in the morning!