Finding Our First Dream Car in USA

After living in Boston for about six years, it was finally time to move out of the city and into the suburbs, where we’d need a car. Boston is a perfectly walkable city, and you can pretty much survive without a car thanks to public transport.

We relied on a trusty trolley cart to carry our groceries from Stop & Shop, which was about 0.3 miles (500 meters) from our apartment. But, as anyone who’s lived in Boston knows, the housing is so expensive that 80% of your paycheck goes straight to rent. And don’t even get me started on parking. It’s either street parking or shelling out an extra $200-$300 for OPEN AIR PARKING, where you get the privilege of shoveling snow and letting your car soak in rainwater 300+ days a year.

After six years, a lot had changed. My husband started working from home, and there was no daily commute. Hence, the grand adventure of finding our first car ever began 

Our Budget

We had almost $10,000 in our bank—our entire savings. We initially wanted to buy a car outright to avoid paying interest, but with our savings, that seemed almost impossible. Plus, we were desperate to move into a bigger place in the suburbs. Breaking our lease would cost us two months' rent, in addition to at least the first month and a security deposit on the new place.

Our Boston (studio) apartment rent was around $1900. Breaking the lease meant paying an extra $3800. It was January, so rents for the apartments we liked were the lowest they’d be, around $2500-$2600 per month for a 2-bed, 2-bath in Northborough, MA at a location we really loved. Adding security meant shelling out at least $3500 for the new lease.

Facebook Marketplace Facade

We started looking at cars on the Facebook marketplace. Initially, we really liked the Subaru Outback. In the pictures, they seemed in decent condition, had about 200,000 miles on the meter, and ranged in price from $4000-$6000. However, most of those cars were in New Hampshire!

After doing a lot of research online, we concluded that buying a car from a different state and registering it in Massachusetts WAS NOT WORTH THE HASSLE. Most of the sellers had explicitly mentioned in the ads for MA buyers not to contact them!

So we gave up the idea of buying a car from the Facebook marketplace and started looking at local dealerships. After burning the midnight oil for months (from Nov-Jan), my husband finally shortlisted 3 cars in different towns in MA. 

Lincoln MKS (2013)

The first car we saw in person was a Lincoln MKS at an Alfa Romeo dealership in Worcester, MA. It was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but it was in the most elegant shade of blue.

Funny story: we had booked a rental car to see the Lincoln. At the last moment, there was an issue with the availability of the standard sedan we had booked, so they upgraded us to an almost brand-new Genesis, a luxury car! Initially, we weren’t thrilled about the upgrade because we didn’t want to compare the cars we were viewing to such a high-end vehicle.

But, to our surprise, driving the Lincoln MKS (2013 model) wasn’t much different from the Genesis. The Lincoln was luxurious too! It had all the features we hoped for: heated seats, heated steering, all-wheel drive, and many more. It ticked all our boxes, EXCEPT ONE: IT WASN’T AN SUV!

The Price

The car was priced around $8500, recently marked down from $11000. But one thing didn’t sit right with us: the car had been sitting at the dealership for TWO YEARS! We had never owned a car in the USA before, so we couldn’t tell if something was wrong with it. It would have been a very bold decision to go with it.

Moreover, we (especially I) really wanted an SUV. My husband was easily convinced since most cars here in the USA are HUGE! God forbid if we ever got into an accident with a truck in a small car, our chances of survival would be bleak. So, we wanted to give ourselves a fighting chance by buying an SUV.

Update: This car was sold within 2 months after being marked down to $8500.

Toyota RAV4

Next on our list was the Toyota RAV4 at a dealership in Westborough, MA. Now, the best thing about this car was that it was a Toyota. But other than that, it had been in two major accidents, and we could feel and hear every single part of the car moving while driving!

For the condition it was in, the price was relatively high (about $12,000). So, we crossed it off our list almost immediately.

Lincoln MKX (2014)

Then, we visited a Lincoln dealership in Westborough, MA, to see the Lincoln MKX 2014 model. It had about 130,000 miles on it and was in great shape. The old man who helped us was very nice.

The price was around $13,500 plus taxes and other fees. With about $3,000 down, we’d have to pay a little over $400/month for a three-year lease. As much as we LOVED the car, we needed some time to think about it.

Now that I think about it, It was a great deal! I wish we had gone for it. I miss this car very much as well.

Toyota Prius

Next, we went to a huge dealership of used Toyota Priuses in Canton, MA. Their website advertised prices starting at $5,000, but the cars we were shown started from $9,000. And they all smelled horrendous like they’d been freshly cleaned with bleach. I imagine that’s exactly how a crime scene smells after it’s been cleaned.

We were thinking about buying an old Prius (in the range of $5-6K) because it’s very fuel-efficient. But this dealership, which was supposed to be the best in Massachusetts, let us down poorly. We quickly crossed this option off our list as well.

My fondness for the Toyota Prius

Back in 2012, my dad owned a Honda Civic (2005 model) in Pakistan and was desperate to upgrade. At that time, the Toyota Prius was all the rage for its fuel efficiency. We often discussed buying a Prius, but only reconditioned ones were available in Pakistan, and my dad wasn’t fond of pre-owned cars. However, I grew a special fondness for the Prius. Whenever I saw one on the road, I felt a bond with it. Seeing those Priuses in the Canton dealership, that bond was broken FOR GOOD!

Now, whenever I see a Prius on the road, I thank God that we didn't buy any of those. Spoiler alert: This is the only positive takeaway from this whole experience

P.S. My dad ended up waiting for the latest model of the Honda Civic in 2016 and bought it with full specs. It’s a beautiful car, and to this day, only a few people are allowed to touch it!

Our Family and Friends’ Reaction

I sent photos and videos of the first three cars to my family without context. My dad called, all excited, congratulating us on buying a new car. I told him the photos were of three different cars and that we were having a very hard time deciding which one to buy. (Now I wished that we had just bought one of the Lincolns and then broken the news).

My brother saw the photos and asked, "What are you waiting for? Just buy the Toyota RAV4! Why are you even having second thoughts?" Like many Desis (Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi people), we believe that Japanese cars are the only trustworthy ones worth our money, especially if buying pre-owned. Their spare parts are readily available, they’re fuel-efficient, and there are many other reasons.

I told him I sent the RAV4’s picture by mistake. Its condition was horrible, and we had to choose between the Lincoln MKS and MKX.

Every single person we discussed it with advised us against buying an American car, much less a Lincoln. They said the running cost and maintenance would be very expensive.

My husband has a friend in North Carolina who’s crazy about cars. He has his fair share of experience with luxury cars as well (like Mercedes, Audi, etc). He also told us that the running cost and maintenance of these luxury cars aren’t worth the comfort. And he’s financially much more stable than us!

After so many negative opinions, we decided to pass on the Lincolns. The old man who showed us the MKX called us the next day, saying he had customers very interested in the car but wanted to give us a courtesy call. We told him to move forward with the new customers.

Spoiler Alert: WORST DECISION EVER!!

A Deal that was TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

While searching for cars, we started getting so many ads that it got out of hand. We’d open social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), scroll for about an hour, and see zero posts but hundreds of car ads.

One ad about a Kia Sportage caught our attention. The deal was leasing a Kia Sportage with $0 down and $300/month for either 2 or 3 years. It would’ve been like renting a car for $300/month, and at the end of the lease term, we’d return the car. This deal was very lucrative as we’d get a brand-new car.

This car didn’t have all the features we wanted, but for the price and the fact that it would’ve been brand new, WE WERE SOLD!

We were fed up with worrying about buying a used car and the complications it might come with. So, we called our nearest Kia dealership and repeatedly asked about this particular deal, as it was the only one we were interested in. They kept telling us the deal was available and we should visit them as soon as possible.

So we went there, only to find out the company sends only one car with that deal in years, which was taken in days (probably by very close family or friends of the people who work there). They tried to sell us other new cars, but they were way out of our budget, so we just took a test drive and came back home.

Honda CRV

At this point, we were back to square one in our car search. We decided to focus exclusively on Japanese cars, given their stellar reputation (in the Desi world). We found a few Honda CRVs that seemed promising in the photos. But then, the Carfax reports revealed that their odometers had been tampered with. Oh, joy. In addition, we found a Nissan Rogue (2016) and a Murano (2018).

Unexpected COVID Diagnosis

We had planned to see these short-listed cars over the weekend. But then my husband caught a cold and we ended up in the ER, where he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He took about a week to recover, and we quarantined for an additional week just to be safe.

In the meantime, the Honda CRV and Murano were sold. We were really bummed about the Murano, as it cost around $13,000 and was in great shape.

Nissan Rogue 2016

So, we went to a Toyota dealership in Dorchester to check out a Nissan Rogue they had received as a trade-in. We took it for a test drive, and it was... not great. There was a strange, annoying sound coming from the brakes every time we pressed them.

The car was priced at $12,500, marked down from $13,500. With $3,000 down, taxes, an 8% APR, and a four-year finance term, our monthly payment would have been $270. That seemed like an okay deal, so we paid the $3,000 on the spot to finalize it because we were so exhausted from FINDING THE PERFECT CAR.

We told them we were really concerned about the noise from the brakes and that it was a deal-breaker. They promised to fix the problem, but of course, they were lying.

The Manager's Sneaky Move

While finalizing the deal and signing the papers, the manager told us we should get insurance for the car engine (The Millennium Automotive Protection). It was a "very special insurance" only offered by them and it was a one-time offer. It cost an extra $3,000, but we fell for it.

On our way home from the dealership, we checked and found out that this particular dealership had terrible reviews. At this point, we didn't even panic because we just wanted our car search to be over.

When we got home, we checked the reviews of the Millennium Automotive Protection, and they were horrendous. One thing that ticked us off was that the manager had told us the insurance would replace the engine at no cost to us (if it malfunctioned), but there was no such promise in the written documents.

The terms of this insurance were very ambiguous, and it didn't clearly state what they would cover. The reviews mentioned that when people bought the insurance, they were assured it would cover everything, but in reality, IT COVERED NOTHING!

So, we called the manager first thing the next morning and asked him to cancel the insurance. He said we had to come in and sign the new papers. When we arrived, the manager seemed like a completely different person. He didn't even talk to us, just showed us the papers and asked us to sign them. After that, he disappeared. We asked to see him 2-3 times on separate occasions to discuss different things, but he was always "busy."

The Insurance Rollercoaster

When we first ventured out to see the Lincolns, we naively thought, "Hey, let's check car insurance quotes." Little did we know that buying a car in the USA for the first time with less than a year's experience on our driver's licenses would be a financial adventure.

We plugged our info into an online quote generator, and voilà! Quotes around $200/month appeared. But then our information was apparently shared with every insurance company in existence. Our phones and emails were flooded with spam, promising us the "best rates."

A lady from Liberty Mutual caught our attention (mainly because she called us every single day, for 3 weeks). When we finally talked to her, she took our details once again and quoted $170/month for the Lincoln MKS and around $200/month for the Lincoln MKX.

Fast forward to when we decided on the Nissan Rogue. The persistent Liberty Mutual lady updated our quote to $700/month! I legit lost my mind. After a heated conversation that my memory has graciously blurred out, we ended up with car insurance from Farmers at $300/month.

Bringing our Baby Home

When we put down $3,000, the dealership gave us seven days to back out for a full refund, but the dealership's paperwork took exactly seven days. Coincidence? I think not. We brought the car home, and as expected, the brake issue was still there.

Getting Our Car Towed

We brought the car home on a Tuesday. Our building doesn’t offer free parking, not even for guests. We got lazy and didn’t buy parking right away, wanting to see how long we could go unnoticed. Answer: TWO DAYS. Our car was towed by Thursday. We immediately bought residential parking for $225/month.

Total Monthly Payment

45 days after the down payment, we were supposed to make our first monthly payment to the bank we had financed it from. That payment turned out to be $330.

We contacted the manager of the dealership and told him the payment was higher than we had agreed upon. He checked it and told us (after 1 week) that there had been an error at the bank’s end. They had processed the old paperwork in which we had bought that scammy insurance.

It took about a month for him to FIX the issue, and send a check of $3000 to the bank. So that amount was deducted from our total loan amount but our MONTHLY PAYMENT REMAINED THE SAME which is quite frustrating.  

We bought that subpar car to keep our monthly payments low, but we still ended up paying $330 for the loan, plus $300 for the insurance (plus $225 for parking) every month!

When we first started the car search, we aimed for monthly payments under $500. However, a few weeks in, we realized that with car insurance, this goal was impossible. I just wished that for spending over $600 every month, we had gotten a better car.

Additional Expenses (The Car just keeps Taking)

Two weeks in, we took the car to a Nissan service station in Wellesley, MA. We opted for a 100K service package since the odometer read 95,000 miles. We also mentioned the brake noise.

We left the car there. The next day, they called to tell us that there was a very serious issue with the spark plugs. The car was not even safe to drive on the road. However,  they were unable to replicate the brake noise. 

How this car passed the state inspection remains a mystery. Anyway, we asked them to fix the issue they had FOUND!

When we went to pick up our car, they tried to charge us $2200. We asked them that according to the rate list on their website, our bill should be $1700. Those people pretended to do something on their computer for about 15 minutes, told us there had been a mistake in calculation, and finally ended up charging us $1700.

However, when we drove the car, we were unable to notice any difference as the annoying sound of the brake was still there. 

One more thing we noticed about the car after committing to it is that the car’s engine is too small for its bulky body, making it fuel-efficient but with terrible acceleration. Especially on the highway, pressing the accelerator with full force feels like we're begging the car to move.

The Silver Lining

Despite its flaws and the annoying brake noise constantly reminding us of our poor decision, this is our first car as a couple. We love it (mainly because we have no other choice right now).

At first, I wasn't keen on having a white car. However, given our search for a pre-owned vehicle, color ended up being our lowest priority. I would have preferred blue, red, black—almost any color except white. Yet, surprisingly, this color has grown on me. Strangely enough, our car always looks remarkably clean and shiny, despite being parked outside and exposed to constant rain. At least that's one positive aspect about our beloved car.

Apartment Dilemma Update

After investing heavily in a less-than-perfect car, we opted to postpone our apartment search until our lease ended. Little did we know, it turned out to be the worst decision!

Apartment rents hit their lowest in January-February, but with our lease ending in August, waiting proved costly. By June-July, rents had soared by $400/month, leaving us unable to find a decent 2-bed, 2-bath apartment for under $3000/month within a 30-mile radius of Boston. So, the $3800 we saved by not breaking our lease will now cost us an additional $4800 in the first year of our new lease.

But every mistake is a lesson learned, especially when navigating them with your favorite person on Earth. That's what they call living, I suppose...