I bought a new 2007 car today. EDIT: And crashed it! Yay!

[quote]Make sure you take up smoking for the next time you see these know-it-all “friends” so you can ostantatiously light your cigs with NT$1,000 bills (use a colour photocopier – I’m not THAT stupid!).
[/quote]

Except for the fact than in many countries that is a felony. :laughing:

:laughing: :bravo: quality… that treatise is begging for that most classic of phrases “the contemptible feral hag…”

Have you ever asked how much you could get if you pay cash? I bet you could get below $500k. they usually give like $30-50K discount if you pay cash + some free stuffs. So that discount is actually your interest.

When I bought my Golf, the list price is $898k and the dealer offer $800k 60 months 0% interest + $98k down payment OR $80k discount if pay cash therefore $818k. So after calculating, you know NPV, 2% cost of capital etc etc, in the end of year 5 (60 months) those two offers are actually about the same in term of total cost, meaning that $80k discount is actually the interest of $800k 60 months loan…

We went with the discount and paid cash + we got free window tint, reverse radar, waterproof carpet and some small things like mug, key chain, caps, etc

[quote=“Mordeth”]Yep…with three dogs a car might come in handy sometimes…I’m buying it together with my girlfriend…I wouldn’t have bought one myself alone. She had her heart set on one for a long time…and would have bought it with or without me…so I decided to help her. I have some regrets…but it’s a good car and is winning many “Car of the Year” awards so…I don’t feel too bad. Plus my girlfriend is a really awesome human being…and she deserves to have something nice for once.

Anyway here’s the car we got: globalsuzuki.com/swift/index.html[/quote]

seems like a great car for taiwan

I’m a highly satisfied Swift owner. It didn’t take me long to decide that that was the car I wanted when I looked around - and the wife felt exactly the same. The only small cars I like better are the Mini and the New Beetle, but as those cost way, way more to buy and maintain, it just wasn’t a contest.

We wanted the light green, but would have had to wait an extra month for it, so opted for the dark grey. Now that I’ve seen a lot of Swifts of all colours on the road, I’m rather taken with the red, but never mind.

I paid cash, and got a bit of a discount plus odds and ends of freebies (the only ones that I cared about being the tinted windows and mats). Neither the wife nor I are into haggling over prices, and if I think the price is fair, I’m happy enough to pay it. When we first went to the showroom and chatted with the salesman, he offered us a price with a few grand off. We went away to think about it, and when we went back a week or so later I just said, as soon as we sat down, okay, we like it, and if you can let us have it for 520k, then we’ll take it, which he agreed to right away – so we were happy, he was happy, and everything was hunky-dory. I’m sure we could easily have paid less, but there wasn’t any need – and as the salesman was a very pleasant, earnest young fellow, who has given us excellent after-sales service so far, I’m only too glad to split the difference between the ticket price and the rock-bottom selling price with him.

I hope you and the gf will enjoy driving yours as much as I’ve enjoyed driving mine.

[quote=“Omniloquacious”]I’m a highly satisfied Swift owner. It didn’t take me long to decide that that was the car I wanted when I looked around - and the wife felt exactly the same. The only small cars I like better are the Mini and the New Beetle, but as those cost way, way more to buy and maintain, it just wasn’t a contest.

We wanted the light green, but would have had to wait an extra month for it, so opted for the dark grey. Now that I’ve seen a lot of Swifts of all colours on the road, I’m rather taken with the red, but never mind.

I paid cash, and got a bit of a discount plus odds and ends of freebies (the only ones that I cared about being the tinted windows and mats). Neither the wife nor I are into haggling over prices, and if I think the price is fair, I’m happy enough to pay it. When we first went to the showroom and chatted with the salesman, he offered us a price with a few grand off. We went away to think about it, and when we went back a week or so later I just said, as soon as we sat down, okay, we like it, and if you can let us have it for 520k, then we’ll take it, which he agreed to right away – so we were happy, he was happy, and everything was hunky-dory. I’m sure we could easily have paid less, but there wasn’t any need – and as the salesman was a very pleasant, earnest young fellow, who has given us excellent after-sales service so far, I’m only too glad to split the difference between the ticket price and the rock-bottom selling price with him.

I hope you and the gf will enjoy driving yours as much as I’ve enjoyed driving mine.[/quote]

bravo !1 See thats the thing a lot of people dont realize. If you screw the store/salesman out of the very last dime , they wont much want to help you if you ever have any issues with the car. YOu will NOT get V.I.P. treatment. If you paid a fair price you can expect better aftermarket service. And expect your salesman will look after you better.

Its the same here in the USA. Those that get the last dime out of the store (outside of promotions, where heavy discounts are already given) just dont get looked after as much. The salespeople wont deliver the car to your house, wont answer your calls in a timely fashion and wont be accomodating to you if you need a special request. Its Ok to ask for a discount of course. But not good for anyone to haggle and fight for hours. They will sell you the car, but turn a blind ear if you ever need assistance. Its true that the ones who pay full asking price get the best service. And if you are one who can easily afford that, then do it. You wont buy more then ten cars in your life time anyway probably. Why not make it a hassle free, enjoyable experience for your own sake. If you (like me) need to watch my dollars/dimes, sure negotiate for the best price, but be a bit reasonable and pleasant and its great for everyone :slight_smile:

A buddy of mine screws the very last dime out of the dealers and his salesman (who gets paid a commission based upon the profit of the sale to the store) and then always goes to another dealership for service because he really doesnt want to show his face out there.

Of course most people would say “fuck the store, i gotta look out for number one” and if you have to? Yes of course you have to. But try to make it less painful for yourself and others by offering a fair market bid. And if you have very decent income, let the poor son of a gun, who had to work with you make a little too.

Had a swift back in Aus and sold it before I returned to TW. They are a great car and I would love to have one again… only if there was some place to drive it in TW apart from the east coast :smiley:

Was teaching my girlfriend how to drive today. She was approaching a 90 degree corner too fast. So I began a one sided conversation with my girlfriend which went something like this… “slow down,
Slow Down
,
SLOW DOWN
,
SLOW DOWN
, STOP,
STOP
,
STOP
,
STOP!!!
…oh well…having a new car was nice while it lasted.”

She says when I started saying “slow down” it scared her and confused her as she felt she wasn’t going too fast…so she froze up. I don’t blame her at all…and up to that point she was doing amazingly well. It only took her 3 tries to parallel park. And she even had the car on the go-kart track and was doing very well there.

On the other hand I had told her that she should go to one of those driving schools and practice with THIER cars a few times before driving ours…she laughed at the idea and said “Why would I pay to drive someone else’s car when we already have one?”.

Oh well…look at the bright side…it was a small accident and no one was hurt…and maybe this will teach her to be more cautious and prevent her from having a worse accident in the future.

Oh, shit! Oh well, at least its still under warranty. I’ll bet she’s thinking the driving school clunkers aren’t such a bad idea now, though.

ouch, that gotta hurt…did the airbag deploy?..hope you got full coverage insurance…it’s not gonna be cheap to fix

thats not a small accident. in the usa, they may have totalled the car

but the important thing is that no one is hurt. still she MUST attend the drivers schools. and she should bang up their car and not her/your own

Airbags didn’t deploy…luckily…that would have been a shitload extra money. The coverage we have covers us if we hit another car and it’s our fault. But it doesn’t cover us for hitting a street lamp. It would have cost 10k extra for the full coverage…so after we get the car fixed that’s another 10k we’ll be spending.

We just got the repair estimate and it’s about 54,000nt. That’s if he replaces everything…but there are a lot of metal parts he can salvage…so it should be lower. I really feel sorry for my girlfriend…she’s a factory worker and works very hard for not so much money. I mentioned to her how she’s going to have to work 12hrs a day for the next two months just to pay off her half of the repair fees. That’s didn’t make her feel any better…haha.

She mentioned how she was thinking about buying something kinda expensive and how that would have to wait now because of the accident. I asked her what she wanted to buy…as for the life of me I have no idea what to buy her for presents or Christmas or whatever…after a bit she admitted to looking at diamond rings. 10 minutes later I was slipping an engagement ring (my late mother’s) on her finger…it made her happy again…which was nice to see.

It’s been quite the eventful day…and I still have the new Miami Vice to watch…I hope the movie isn’t too exciting…I think I’ve had enough for one day.

:frowning: Well, at least no one was hurt (except for the car and the wallet).

Airbags didn’t deploy…luckily…that would have been a shitload extra money. The coverage we have covers us if we hit another car and it’s our fault. But it doesn’t cover us for hitting a street lamp. It would have cost 10k extra for the full coverage…so after we get the car fixed that’s another 10k we’ll be spending.

We just got the repair estimate and it’s about 54,000nt. That’s if he replaces everything…but there are a lot of metal parts he can salvage…so it should be lower. I really feel sorry for my girlfriend…she’s a factory worker and works very hard for not so much money. I mentioned to her how she’s going to have to work 12hrs a day for the next two months just to pay off her half of the repair fees. That’s didn’t make her feel any better…haha.

She mentioned how she was thinking about buying something kinda expensive and how that would have to wait now because of the accident. I asked her what she wanted to buy…as for the life of me I have no idea what to buy her for presents or Christmas or whatever…after a bit she admitted to looking at diamond rings. 10 minutes later I was slipping an engagement ring (my late mother’s) on her finger…it made her happy again…which was nice to see.

It’s been quite the eventful day…and I still have the new Miami Vice to watch…I hope the movie isn’t too exciting…I think I’ve had enough for one day.[/quote]

well i think you handled this whole thing very admirably. I would probably be looking for a new GF if this happened to me, cuz i wouldve cussed her out and all that and made her cry and hate me ! And thats just in the first five minutes after the accident. And she wouldve run off to cry on some other guys shoulders or something. I let my GF drive my car and i was SCARED !!! And i have full coverage !!

EDIT: oh! i missed the whole thing bout the engagement. CONGRATULATIONS. !! :slight_smile: I thought you were just letting her borrow the ring cuz she wanted a ring to wear? Just jewelry. HAHA.

congrats.

indeed what a day huh? SMASH up (car) and major commitment (marriage)

congrats to the engagement. :bravo:

forget the damage to the car, you just got yourself somethin’ way longer lasting

You fuckin’ WHAT? You proposed? Too much!

CONGRATULATIONS MORDETH!

Wow! Congrats on the engagement.

Thing is, she’ll be banging up all your prized possessions now! :astonished:

:noway: jesus jumping jehosaphat… she’d have been mad not to say yes… any man who can watch his girlfriend smash up his brand new week old car and not blow a fuse surely qualifies for “keeper” status in the eyes on any woman… pity about the car though…

congratulations Mordeth!.. :bravo:

Yeah what a nice outcome! Congrats to you Mordeth :slight_smile:

Congrats on the engagement.

Cars are replaceable…except real cherry '69 Chevelle Malibu’s…thems hard to find.