Finally it's my turn

I have been patiently waiting to buy my first new car, of course when I went in to the buying process I never considered buy brand new. I thought, "Okay, I have X amount of money to put down, and X amount of money for a monthly payment, and extra insurance money, that's only enough to buy used." Turns out, I was wrong. I do not know a single thing about buying a vehicle.

The first vehicle I ever drove was my Mom and Stepdad's brown Dodge diesel. After that I drove their blue Dodge Dakota. When I moved to Utah in 2006 my Dad had purchased a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am and gave it to me; lucky girl, I know. I have been driving it since. That thing is a tank, I have no doubt that with proper care it will last for a very long time. I just didn't want to continue to put money into fixing it when I had no intentions of keeping it. Brandon is very tall and he can hardly get into it. Also, we plan on having another baby soon and two carseats in there is somewhat of a joke. In any case, it was time to upgrade.

Thanks to a large tax return I had a hefty down payment. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have new wheels! Brandon and I don't have the best credit. His is better than mine and he has already bought and completely paid off a vehicle. Needless to say, if it weren't for him (and a hefty down payment) I would not have new wheels! Luckily the cards on the table were in our favor, or mine anyway. We have been very blessed with our finances lately and I am so thankful for that. Our little family deserves the break.

I shopped, and shopped, and shopped online for a used vehicle in my price range. I looked anywhere from $1,500 - 10,000. I didn't want to spend more than $10,000 because I thought if it were more than that then my monthly payment would be more than my allotted $250 a month. After spending so much time looking at the same vehicles over and over again I decided to call the local dealer to find out my options. Again, I am a first time buyer, I had no idea what I was talking about or what I wanted for that matter.

The first thing I told the salesman was how much I had to put down and how much I had for a monthly payment. He immediately said, "I can put you in a brand new Nissan Sentra for pretty close to that." Me, not knowing that they had been redesigned, said no thank you! I knew the previous years model had been rather small. In fact, they were not much bigger than my Grand Am. I told him I need something a little bigger and he asked me if I had seen the new ones. I told him yes, even though I hadn't. See, I had my heart set on either a Chevy Impala, or a Ford Fusion. Leaning more towards the Fusion I was determined to find something in my price range.

He did some looking around for me but was not having much luck. In the meantime I was researching 2011 Nissan Sentras because "brand new" suits me better than "used." After looking online I decided I may as well go check one out since I liked what I saw online. My salesman was happy I had a change of heart. He had a great point, "why buy used with 70,000+ miles, when you can buy new for the same monthly price?" A girl like me can't argue with a bargain like that, like I said, "new" suits me well.

I was able to take one home for the night but due to the fact that we were going to a birthday party I wasn't able to drive it much until the next morning. I instantly fell in love. It was a smooth, quiet ride, something I didn't even know existed since I'd spent the last 5 years in my battered Grand Am. It didn't have a whole lot of extras but I was satisfied. I was buying on a budget and didn't want to push it to the limit.

The next day we returned the car and I told him what things meant the most to me. I wanted dark silver, tinted windows, buttons on the steering wheel (that part was me spoiling myself), and a spoiler. He did our credit checks and the next day informed me we had been approved and how much our payment would be. We agreed to everything and he ordered my car to arrive on monday.

I received a call Monday informing me that my car had arrived, but the window tint needed to be done so I wasn't able to pick it up until later that afternoon. After Brandon got of work we rushed down to the dealership and there it was, sitting right there, and I was ecstatic! It was so pretty! He came out with keys and we checked it out before signing papers. It had the spoiler, buttons on the steering wheel (even more than the test car), a leather wrapped steering wheel (I didn't realize I wanted this until later research), and intelligent key*. I was beyond satisfied! Brandon signed the papers and I drove off the lot utterly blissful.

Yes, my eyes are closed. My husband is a terrible excuse for a photographer.

I haven't been able to drive it a whole lot since I have been working so much. I drive a mile to take Audrey to the babysitter, and then a mile and a half from there to work. Not much fun. I also haven't taken any of the stickers off of it, or removed any of the papers or plastic from inside. It's still so surreal to me. I finally managed to move some of the things from my old car into my new car, but it was very bittersweet. Even though I'm ready for something new my Grand Am holds so many of my memories.

So out with the old and in with the new, here are a few pictures of my new love.