Episode Details

This episode was previously available exclusively to our paid subscribers and is now being released to all listeners. We’re excited to share it with all the girlies out there! If you enjoy it, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform — and thanks for listening! 💗

Buying a car is one of those financial decisions that can make even the most confident money person second-guess everything. How much should you spend? Is new or used the better choice? Are you getting a good interest rate? And how do you know when you’ve researched enough to actually make a decision?

We’ve been through all of that ourselves, so we’re bringing one of our most popular previously insiders-only episodes out from behind the paywall. We’re revisiting our two different car-buying experiences — one brand new and one certified pre-owned — and sharing the actual numbers behind both.

We get into how we decided what we could comfortably afford, what mattered most when choosing our cars, and how we approached financing and negotiating. We also share how Cassidy negotiated $9,000 off the initial dealership price, why Emily chose certified pre-owned, the extra ownership costs we planned for (and a few we didn’t), and what we’d keep in mind the next time we’re car shopping.

✨ Episode Highlights ✨

• [00:00] Why buying a car can bring so much financial stress and overthinking
• [05:30] What we each wanted in a new car — and how we set our budgets
• [12:00] How we researched cars and narrowed down our options
• [18:00] Choosing between new and certified pre-owned vehicles
• [24:30] Getting into the numbers: financing, interest rates, and negotiation
• [32:30] Negotiating thousands off the purchase price — and the tactics that helped
• [43:00] Buying certified pre-owned, paying cash at the dealership, and navigating a trade-in
• [52:00] The extra costs of car ownership, from insurance to winter tires
• [58:30] Car-buying rules of thumb, loan terms, and our practical tips before heading to the dealership

✨ Resources ✨

• Consumer Reports 
• Kelley Blue Book
• Auto loan calculator (Bankrate)

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