Many reasons exist for the need to buy a new car. In my case, I was involved in an accident that caused my vehicle to be deemed a total loss by my car insurance company. After filing a claim I was told that an adjuster would need to inspect my vehicle before the claim could be processed. Once the inspection had been completed I was told the actual cash value of the vehicle by a claim representative. A check for the amount of $6,826 was then issued for the actual cash value minus the deductible for the policy.
When I obtained the check for the actual cash value I could begin looking for a new vehicle. My search for a new vehicle was done line by using websites that included cars.com and autotrader.com. All of my searches were done by car model, car type and distance. I scrolled through all the results that appeared on each page to see what was available. This continued for about a week until I located a used 2002 Chevrolet Blazer matching the requirements I needed. Unfortunately, the vehicle was located almost 100 miles away from my location and on a holiday weekend.
I called the dealer that was selling the vehicle on the following Monday to verify that the vehicle is still on the lot. The dealer assured my that the vehicle was a new listing and is still on the lot. Arrangements were made to travel to see the vehicle as long as I was guaranteed that it would not be sold before I had a opportunity to get there. Later that day I proceeded to travel to the dealer to look at the vehicle.
Upon arriving at the dealer I took the Blazer for a test drive. I made a note of options that may need to be fixed when negotiating the purchase price. My goal was not to pay more than the total amount that is on my insurance check. I brought up the issues I noted earlier that I would need to get fixed. I made an offer to the dealer and he proceeded to calculate his profit. To my surprise, the dealer accepted my offer of $6,700 for the vehicle.
The Blazer was paid for with my insurance check that was more than the final cost. I was then issued a check by the dealer for the difference. This is how I saved $128 when buying my new car.