My New Car!

It has been long overdue for me, but when it comes to buying a new car, the timing has to be right, and this weekend was the right time. I am now the proud owner of a 2015 Toyota Corolla Eco. This class of the Corolla is a bit more fuel efficient than the regular L/LE/S versions of Corolla. It's not a hybrid, but it gets a tad bit better miles per gallon. I have been thinking about getting a Toyota for almost a year now, and I knew I wanted to get the Blizzard Pearl color. It's a shimmering eggshell white that actually costs $395 extra to have that color. After driving two blue cars (Ford 2002-2012 and Mitsubishi 2012-2015) for fourteen straight years, I wanted a brighter color - silver or white.

I went a little bit over my budget because I decided to get the Toyota Extra Care Platinum service agreement, which will cover any and all maintenance for my car for 8 years or 100,000 miles. Especially moving to a new state, I need the peace of mind that my vehicle will be protected.

My Corolla Eco was the only one in stock and they had it on the showroom floor next to my salesperson. These are the before and after photos when they moved my car off the sales floor. One of the sales managers even came out to shake my hand to tell me that it's really special when a customer buys a car straight off the showroom floor.

This is the fifth time in my adult life I bought a new car (3 financed/2 leased) - the previous four were Ford cars. I was extremely impressed with how well the Toyota sales and finance team treated me on Saturday. I went there to simply test drive, but I knew in the back of my mind that I should be prepared to buy because the car that I researched and had a preference for, the Eco, it was the ONLY one at the Victory Toyota Canton dealership. It was the color I wanted, the class style, and the interior was much more impressive than the Internet pictures. There was a cafe in the dealership where they make you fresh and delicious sandwiches, coffee/tea/bottled water, cookies and fruit - free to the customer while they waited for car service. My experience in the past at Ford dealerships was not at this level at all! Once you've been treated this well at a Toyota dealership, it's hard to justify going to a different car manufacturer dealership.

I test drove a Yaris, a Prius, and a pimped out Corolla with a moon roof. I loved all these vehicles, but my decision to buy the Eco sedan came down to budget, size, style, and long term love for the vehicle. I love a moon roof, but not for $2500 more. And I loved the Yaris, but it was a tad too small and very basic. I plan to drive to California from Michigan, and the Corolla will certainly fit my needs.

Earlier this month I received an alert from Credit Karma that some funky crap was on my credit report. I disputed it on the two bureaus that had it on my report (it was removed), and by time I purchased my car, my credit was in stronger condition to qualify for a great financing plan. So now that I have a nice new car, I know all kinds of opportunities will come my way because I have a newer car to get me to them.

Thanks to Victory Toyota Canton for helping me buy the exact car that I dreamed about and treating me wonderfully throughout the entire process!