This is a little long but this is the bargaining process I went through to get my FFH: My wife and I are both retired, in our early 70s and live pretty much debt free. We probably fall into the income range of the average retiree using a combination of company retirement, SS and our IRAs to sustain us. We hang pretty close to our budget goals which allows us to have a comfortable life style. Our 10 year old reliable Toyota Camry had 127,000 miles on it and building, while our 22 year old Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, which had 117,000 miles on it, was adequately up to doing the tasks we required of it. Which was mostly lumber, dirt and trash hauling. However, a major breakdown in either vehicle could be costly, likely exceeding the value of the vehicle. At our ages, reliability in transportation is pretty important and we had been contemplating upgrading at least our primary vehicle for some time. We already had a second 2004 GMC pickup that we use for "RVing", that could pinch hit for the old pickup doing local chores, if need be. So when the "Clunkers" program came along this seemed like the appropriate time to move into a new economy car. However, even searching for a week we were unable to find the Ford Fusion Hybrid we wanted, at least in our local area and the Clunkers Program expired abruptly. When the second wave of opportunity arrived we began immediately exploring other alternative choices, but locally, that might fit our needs. To our surprise our dealer now had the exact car we wanted on his lot. The sticker spouted a final price of $31,940. Since this was what we were looking for I made it clear to the sales manager that I wasn't the type to barter back and forth, that I had already done my research on Consumer's Car Reports and the Internet, and was aware of Dealer Holdbacks and Rebates that were currently being offered, and all I wanted was his bottom line, nothing else. He produced a Dealer Invoice that looked reasonable, so I made a reasonable suggestion that he discount his final Ford Fusion Hybrid price by $1,215. He agreed, so moving on I explained that additionally I had a "Clunker" trade in that would qualify for the $4,500 plus $100 for scrap metal and he verified that it would. Next I explained that I also wanted to trade in my 1999 Toyota Camry and after some haggling on the price we settled on $3,300. Now I realize I probably could have personally sold it for more .... but in today's market, who knows? It was worth it to move it now at this moment. Additionally we personally came up with an additional chunk of cash from our hard earned savings and then financed the balance with our local credit union at 4.29%, which brought our 3 year contract price to around $415 a month. This included an "Extended Warranty" of 2 years beyond the original warranty, at a cost of $990, which we wanted because of the Navigation and amazing electronic gadgetry that comes with the car. In the end we have cut our vehicle ownership by one, thus reducing our insurance and registration costs, cut our monthly fuel costs substantially (probably by half), and have some reasonable assurance that we will have reliable transportation for years to come. We also used the license plates from our old pickup which are valid until July of 2011 saving a little here too. Registration was $53. In summary it was a great deal for us at this moment in time. We purchased the car almost 4 weeks ago, use the car daily and filled the gas tank for the first time yesterday. One added benefit is that my wife, who usually is pretty heavy footed, now boasts that "her" mileage is better than "my" mileage as she checks her "performance" at the conclusion of each trip which is exhibited on the display. I'm sure the front brakes will last longer too. Me ... I am a happy camper.
