BY WARREN BOROSON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The repair shop informed me that my 2003 Subaru Forester needed almost $4,000 worth of work. I checked the car’s Blue Book value: $4,000.

Message: Buy a new car.

I had written articles about buying a new car for Money magazine, years ago, and remembered:

• Go to at least three dealers for prices.

• Wear shabby clothes. (Well, I ALWAYS do that.)

• Sell your used car separately.

I decided to buy a new car rather than a used one simply because…I would worry about a used car. Who had driven it before? Vlad the Impaler? And I DID want another Subaru Forester. Big and safe. Although I yearned for an electric car. I checked with Consumer Reports about what I should pay. Then I started asking around. At the first place, Dealer Smith—nearby, good reputation—I did my research, closely questioning a knowledgeable salesperson.

What was the basic model and its cost?

What accessories did I need?

Dealer Jones, on the other hand, was the place whose repair shop told me I needed $4,000 worth of work. I was not eager to buy a car there. But Dealer Jones said he could beat Dealer Smith’s price by several hundred dollars. What do you say, Dealer Smith? The other bid, Dealer Smith told me, must have been for a car that had manual and not automatic transmission.

A third place, Dealer Shirley, would save me a few hundred dollars. But that dealer was a good distance away. So was Dealer David. Besides, convenience is worth something—if you can afford it. The last dealer told me about tricks dealers use to jack up the price—unexpected dealer preparation fees, for example. But that last dealer was out of state.

So I bought from Dealer Smith. I also wanted Dealer Smith to buy my used car so I could simply transfer the license plates. What would he give me for my 2003 car? "What do you think the cars is worth?" he asked sagaciously.

I thought about it. “$4,000 is the Blue Book value,” I said. Not the answer he wanted. He had his mechanic check out the car, offered me $2,000, and I took it like a shot. The dealer could make the $4,000 worth of fixes for maybe $2,000, so his investment would be worth $4,000. Fair. Anything I didn’t like about the deal? Well, the new car had 149 miles on it already. Had it been driven by lots of potential buyers?

Also, something I thought was standard—a cargo cover—would cost $160 extra. Boo. But it’s a good car. And there’s something nice about boasting to everyone that I had just bought a new car. But, damn, I have to read the instruction book. All those knobs whose functions I don’t know!

What does PTY mean? Now, a woman I know told me that she had also just bought a new Subaru—and was careful not to let the salespeople know what she did for a living lest they jack up the price. “What do you do for a living?” a salesman had asked her. In response, she tells me, “I just giggled.” Apparently that’s an acceptable response from a woman. I don’t think I myself could get away with it. The woman, by the way, is a physician.

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