well, that happened fast.

[jennlk]

We put a deposit down on a car this morning, and we may have it by next weekend. Test drove a Camry hybrid this morning, and liked it better than the Accord hybrid that we'd driven yesterday.

Not an actual commitment to purchase until we see the car, but sedans/small crossovers are selling fast, often before the dealers actually get them to the lot, and the deposit basically gives us right of first refusal. It won't stay on the lot for long if it's not what we expect - Camry and Accord hybrids are basically flying off the lots. It's a "lot basic" car in silver, but has a NotBlack interior, and that's more important to me than exterior color.

Demand is outpacing supply for a lot of reasons - pent up demand from last year *and* a shortage of computer chips at the very least - and we decided that this car already on the truck to the dealership was "close enough" to what I wanted to be OK. And if it's not? We can move the deposit to a different car, either on a truck or on the assembly line. (and yes, a brand new car - I'm planning on driving it for at least a decade/150K, and this way I'm not buying someone else's problems.)

Comments

[jennlk]

The old car is remaining in the fleet, but is being re-assigned. She's reached 200K and 14 years, but the thing that made us buy *now* is that word on the street is that most automakers will stop making their current model non-luxury sedans within the next few years if they haven't already. I really don't want a SUV/small crossover, as they just don't have the cargo space I need, even with the rear seat backs down in some cases.

As a bonus, J gets to geek about new car and new car technology. He's already read the owner's manual for the Camry, and the car's barely off the truck! (he found a PDF online somewhere.)