How to buy a car in 2 days

Last month I embarked on the car buying journey. Like any newly minted MBA graduate, I came prepared and ready to negotiate.

My criteria were pretty straight forward: small, four-door, hatchback, excellent gas mileage, reasonably priced.

Initially my boyfriend and I were going to buy the car together. We researched our options online...and also asked our Lyft driver for recommendations.

She suggested we download the app: TrueCar.  We did and we were super stoked about it at first. But, after a while the dealerships just bombard you with quotes.  If you have very specific criteria, this app can help you find the best dealer in the area. But, if you're more flexible and looking for the best deal, it's a little overwhelming.

All in all it helped in the research stage, because we could quickly get estimates on car prices throughout the Bay Area. However, we did not end up using it to make our final purchase.

The first day of actual car shopping was brutal...and not necessarily because of the dealerships. Mainly because when it came down to making a decision, we were not on the same page: I wanted automatic and my boyfriend wanted manual.

We would sit down with a sales guy having discussed our walk away point and our BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) beforehand. I would pull up my handy dandy spreadsheet. Here's a screenshot for reference (very useful for figuring out what package you want to negotiate):

[This spreadsheet will help you calculate monthly payments if that's most important to you, but also break down in total what you're paying in interest and principal. This helped me decide that I wanted to pay more now, so I have less interest to pay all together.]

But, then we wouldn't be able to commit because we couldn't get the price we were targeting. Now our target was pretty low for the type of car and features we wanted.

On the first day we passed by a used 2011 Ford Fiesta for $10,899 that caught my eye because it was in great condition and well priced. Finally, when we couldn't come to an agreement on the new ford cars, I decided to go for the used car on my own if I could negotiate a lower price, which I did!

So to recap, in order to buy a car in 2 days: do thorough research beforehand, figure out your budget, and commit.

International Negotiations: My favorite B school class

It's the beginning of Module D; the beginning of my international negotiations class and the Action Project.  Not only am I starting new classes and project in school, but I'm starting them in a completely foreign to me place: Shanghai. The international negotiations class has been quite eye-opening.  How has it taken me this long to learn about negotiation techniques when I could be putting them into practice every day?? Well if you're thinking the same thing right now, here are three lessons that stood out so far.

First Lesson: Be prepared.
The best way to prevent walking away screwed over is to be prepared.  Figure out what the target price is, how far you’ll go, your walk-away point and your BATNA. To get to this point, you need to do some research and ask a lot of questions. This tip reminds me of the point made in class called “Save face” – the Chinese expression for “ask questions,” be curious. Especially when you’re with another person, it’s really helpful for both people to understand how far you’re willing to go.

Second Lesson: Be Knowledgable.
This lesson may seem VERY obvious, but it is valid. It’s hard to be a strong, confident, successful negotiator when you do not know or understand the terms and value of the item or issue being negotiated. For example, I now know I should do a lot more research on the products I’m interested in before I even enter the market. With this understanding I will be able to assess the value of the item on my own. I will not have to rely on others to tell me if something is a good deal or highly valuable.

Third Lesson: Be reasonable.

This lesson definitely resonated the most.  After two classes, reading and plenty of in class practice, my friends and I decided to check out the famous fake market. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! The last stall we stopped at, we told the guy that we wanted "big, nice bags." We follow him up a maze of escalators, elevators, and hallways until we reach a dark, hot room.  Since this was highly secretive the sales people did not want us in there for too long. I found two designer bags; a simple tote and a beautifully made leather bag, and I offer a price - 200 RMB (knowing very well that this was too low, but thinking it couldn’t hurt to start low).  She looks at me, mutters, takes the bags from me, and puts them back.  Then she tells us to leave.   

I was shocked, stunned. No counter offer? No negotiating? After reflecting on the incident, I realize there could be many reasons she was annoyed.  But, I did learn that it’s important to be reasonable! Negotiate within an agreeable zone.  If you’re the first to make an offer, be very thoughtful about the anchor. You will show respect, understanding, and smarts when you negotiate reasonable and thus, you're much more likely to come to an agreement.   

My take-away from this experience is that anything can happen in a negotiation, there’s a lot of acting involved, and one shouldn’t take things personally! I need to remember to separate myself from my interests, reduce the possibility of being caught off guard by being prepared, and understand the situation. 

Our recommended reading for preparation for the course was Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher.  

It's a great, quick, to the point read.  From there, it's practice, practice, practice!

VISTAs looking for good deals

Having been a VISTA for the past 9 months has really helped me hone in on finding and evaluating good deals.  I think it's time I share these with the rest of the world! B/C how annoying is it, when you look at yelp reviews, but have to take everything with a grain of salt, because there are no prices anywhere! Yes, the service may have been great, but did you also pay 3x the amount it's supposed to cost?

This grief, as you may be able to tell, comes from personal experience. Now that it's been over a month since I had to get my car fixed, I think I am ready to share the experience and what I learned.

It all started when I decided to get an oil change for my car - for the first time in Marin County. I have gotten oil changes before and it's been a quick and easy experience and about $20 max (I've found places that did it for $15 in Orange County, but that was a while ago). Anyways, I had no such luck in Marin County. After extensive research on yelp and the internet in general, I went to Wheel Works for $30. Now yelp did warn me, with many negative rumors about their service, but it all had to with the wheels not oil changes. So I went for it anyways, mainly b/c it was cheap!

Well, not only did they give me a list of things that were wrong with the car, but they told me that when they did the tire rotation something got stuck and they had to remove one of the studs or I would have to get the car towed!

So my only plausible option was to have them remove one of the studs. Now, he said that it would be ok to drive like this for a little bit, and for short distances, but at some point, I would need to get it fixed. They were even so nice as to give me a printed estimate of how much it would cost...over $300!!!

I said thanks and left. A day after the oil change, I had the check engine light go on as well. FML

Before I went in there, my car was working fine - now I have numerous things very seriously wrong with it!
and $300 to just to fix one of them!!

I was done with this place that was for sure! There was no way I wanted to go back there- I may not know who was at fault for the stud breaking, but I wasn't feeling generous towards them either way.

Now, this is the point at which my research and perseverance really came in. First of all I called my dad! He didn't fully understand my story, because I didn't fully understand what the mechanic was saying (the mechanic actually changed his story half way though, which didn't help), but he did some research on what needed to be done next.

Turns out, that with a stud missing there are two main scenarios and two main price categories. If it's a certain type of car, it's really easy to replace the stud, and if it's another type car, it's more difficult.

Well to install a stud for my car I found out it's actually easy... if you take it to a wheel specialist. I found a place on Mills and Hoag, in the Canal District. Just two guys working on breaks and wheels. It cost me $60 total for the bearing and the labor to install it.

I couldn't believe it! Wheel works (you'd think they would be a specialist in wheels, but apparently not) wanted to take out the whole wheel/bearing and make things super complicated when all we needed was to install one stud (takes half an hour).

I just felt so abused and taken advantage of. But in the long run, I think I learned a lot from this experience, and I will make sure to take my time researching before hand. You should too!