Car Shopping - Day 2 - 2004 Acura TL

Day 2 is equally fun as the choice has come down to WHICH TL to buy, and it's all a matter of price and value.

We ventured off to the centre of the universe - Toronto for the afternoon and evening in pursuit of the one.
Couple dealers later, no car is bought yet as all claimed prices are firm, priced to go, there were cases they would not take $23000 offer for a final price of $23486. Wow.. the economy is not that bad yet I suppose

Notes: be warned of the Admin Fee and Safety Fee, which is another way for dealers to profit. I have seen Safety Fee from $395, $495, $695 from various dealers, which is a complete ripoff

2005 Acura TL, Black on Tan, Navigation, 75000 km, $22000
2006 Acura TL, Silver on Black, Navigation, 80000 km, $22000

With no car and almost giving up for the day, we headed back to Mississauga to check out other TL's only to find none were left (along with 3 police cars and 1 ambulance on the parking lot at Canadian Fine Motors, interesting.... they weren't happy with the discounts?). For reasons beyond me we got convinced to go to the Scarborough location of Canadian Fine Motors claiming to have only 2 2004 TL's left (2 2005 were sold already), and 1 when we arrived - a Pearl White 2004 Acura TL with Navigation and Skirt package, and 18" tires (why why why...). It looks better in reality

2004 Acura TL, White on Tan, Navigation, 87000 km, $17900

Long story short, maybe too spontaneous, that was the one we bought after some hard negotiation (still, only in "hundreds" off), and a new set of tires

Let's hope our first purchase from a private dealer does not turn into a regrettable decision, as I have heard rumors about Canadian Fine Motors on RFD. It is ironic we started out with 2005 to 2006 TL, and ended up getting a 2004 instead.

As Murphy's Law will have it, we then found this 2004 Acura TL for $2000 cheaper (no skirt, 17" tires) after getting home, and there is no cooling off period for car purchases in Ontario.... so our car is worse than 1, better than most listed cars out there. Fingers crossed.... we won't regret it

Car Shopping - Day 1 - Acura TL it is

Day 1 of our find-a-car-in-a-week adventure
Budget is $20,000 before tax, and choices were

New Cars

• 2009 Honda Civic, or 2008 Honda Civic Coupe - looks nice in and out, but too common, $ insurance
• 2009 Toyota Matrix - sporty, easy to handle, interior feels cheap, $ insurance

Used Cars

• 2006 Audi A4 - nicely done car, 2.0 Turbo, very quiet car except the engine sound and a bit of bump during idling, and small backseat.
• 2007 Volvo S40, S60 - Volvo? really? probably not...
• 2005/2006 Acura TL, TSX
• 2006 BMW 325i - kinda don't want another RWD car

After insurance quotes, and realizing Civic/Matrix is $150/month while luxury cars listed above are $130/month, along with not overly impressed by the new car test drives, the choices are down to the used cars (as I always preferred).

Continued with test drives of a 2007 Audi A4, and 2005 Acura TL, I was surprised that it was a clear choice - you just know. TL felt very smooth and powerful (3.2L V6 engine) with beautiful engine sound like a BMW, except I do not get one thing - TL has never had and still not have a folding down backseat. All you get is a pass-through? What is up with that... that is worse than not Civic's all-down-or-none (not 60/40 split) backseat.

However, when it came to sit down and make an offer, Kitchener Fairview Acura gave us $350 discount off a $22900 2005 Acura TL, wow.... I am so touched and walked out. WOW....low of the day

X'mas and Boxing Day Purchases

Weird X'mas. Spent the entire afternoon watching NBA (Spurs beat Suns by 1, yeah; Boston lost to Lakers, boo), then felt tired and went to bed at 9:30 pm. Yes, 9:30 pm.... wow, that is sad

Woke up 6 am Boxing Day and finished my reading for the Microsoft certification, and started watching the new TV show Leverage, it has potential 4 episodes in

9 am, ooh, since I am awake already, let's head out and see what's out there... there was no lineup anywhere
Staples had a lineup only because people arrived before 9:30 am when they opened up.

It's a lame Boxing Day compared to last year, but here I am, still spending (online & in-store)

• D-Link NAS $140
• 100 DVD-R $20
• Grocery $20
• Gas @ 64.2 $35
• APC 1300VA UPS $150

Car Accident => Car Writeoff => Car Shopping

In case you didn't know about it, read about the accident

So either a Good news or a Bad news for a Christmas - my brother's car seemed to be a writeoff

The bodyshop estimates $8400 to fix due to expensive parts for a year 2000 car. We will probably get back $7000~$8000 if lucky from the insurance minus the $1000 deductible. This is where Line of Credit comes in handy for true Emergency situations

Now, won't this be the biggest, and most costly Boxing Day purchase ever?
Now, what car to buy?

Purchases

Let's tally up the purchases PRIOR to Boxing Day, and I will write another entry AFTER the Boxing Day (which seemed pathetic from all the flyers I have seen via RFD)

• Winter Tire (alloy rims) $730
• Canadian Tire Gift Card (5% cashback) $1000
• Nintendo Wii Console $310
• Nintendo Wii Fit $120
• Guitar Hero World Tour $240
• Rock Band 2 for Wii $200
• Panasonic Electric Shaver $30
• Power Supply $30
• GPS Car Vent Mount $20
• Canon SD1100 Digital Camera $150
• Sanyo Eneloop 4 AAA batteries $11
• Garmin Nuvi 750 GPS $200
• D-Link Gaming Router $50
• Ricardo 25" Luggage from The Bay 75% off $50
• Calvin Klein glove $20
• 1TB Hard Drive $115 x 2
• Wii Guitar for Guitar Hero $20

Note: prices are approximate after tax

How I have not gone into bankruptcy or felt the recession is beyond me =)
On the bright side, I am getting 2% cashback on my credit card and helping increasing consumption

Snowmageddon

Some comments for this snowy day - snowmageddon, is it even a word?

The Good

• I received my first ever bonus. It was not about the money but the thought that I am included (despite new). It definitely makes me appreciate the company more as they kept us in their thoughts, and will continue to pray for no layoff with fingers crossed!
• Wii Fit is still in demand
• X'mas Party time!
• We will have a White X'mas, first time since 1971 from coast to coast in Canada
• I have my snow tires on, yeah, it's night and day difference... especially through corners
• I helped push a neighbour's Smart car stuck in snow to her garage, yeah. Reminds me of last year when others helped push Cat's car towards our house

The Bad

• We will have a White X'mas
• Bad year financially for 2008, it hurts to look at the portfolio

Car Accident

My brother had the unfortunate accident last night due to slippery ice and avoiding the accidents in front of him. He is alright thankfully, the car is borerline savable. Will know in a few days and update back here

It was scary in a few ways

• It happened only 1 km away from my accident back in 2005 (between Hwy 24 and Hwy 8 on 401)
• He spun around twice at high speed and came out safe
• He saw the headlight towards him (from the car who spun around in front of him)...
• Winter tires do not work on a sheet of ice, nothing works as there is NO traction! ABS, Traction Control, 4WD
• Police closed off the 401 after the accident and called in the salt truck to spray before re-opening
• 401 was all good from Mississauga until KW region, where snow and ice loved us so much...

Meanwhile, he gets a Buick Lucenere from State Farm/Enterprise insurance claim. I must say it has a beautiful elegant exterior, but below average interior and finish for a Premium Luxury Car

Getting Ready Financially for 2009

It's 20 days away from 2009, and whether you realize it or not, there are new changes coming in Jan 2009, and I have to start acting now to get my financial plans in order

Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)
I have to find $5000 to put into TD Waterhouse TFSA account, ready to go Jan 2, 2009!!
If you want to learn about TFSA, KPMG has a good starting guide

RRSP
I have to start looking into my RRSP that I have avoided since 2005 as I usually find better usage for the supposed-to-contribute money. Now I have near $30,000 contribution room, and it is time to plan and lower my income bracket.

Fortunately, with some sweet talk, TD and TD Waterhouse love me so much that they are willing to waive my $100+ admin fee for the TD Waterhouse Self-Directed RRSP, which means I simply have 2 TDW accounts - one registered, one not. No additional financial institutions to deal with or move money to

Now where do I find $30,000 to put it in..... I think I love TD too much as well

Tax-Loss Selling Equities
Investors do this to offset capital gains in previous years to get tax refunds.
Sorry, I refuse to give in and admin my losses (which is quite a lot...) but I am investing for the long say. Buy and Hope... wait, it's Buy and Hold

Layoff is all around us

Yesterday I received more shocking news from my ex-coworkers at that there was another surprising round of layoff (of 5). Wow! is all I can say, there were 60, there were 30, and there were 10, and now there are 5.

I can only try to understand how it feels like, as I have barely avoided my first layoff of this lifetime.
You hear layoffs on the radio, watch it on the news, but sooner or later it is here, closer than you imagined. I wish my friends and ex-coworkers calmness in weathering this sad news, and best of luck at finding new and better opportunities.

Now, I better work harder to ensure I will not be blogging about myself someday.

Enters December 2008

Life is as usual, here and there

Confucius Institute End of Term Dinner
I was invited to the UW Ryerson Confucius Institute End of Term Dinner by my mandarin-class-taking friends. Let's just call it an interesting night

• Majority of people still spoke English there, I barely heard mandarin
• Students were mixed between Caucasian and Asian,
• We were served 12-course Chinese dishes on a square table, without chopsticks :-)
• Congrats to the photo winners, those photos represented China beautifully!

Life of a Landlord

• Buying a Garage Opener - $150 after tax
• Installing the Garage Opener - $90 plus tax
• Fixing the range's broken oven - Unknown, afraid to know from the last Fix-Dishwasher-for-$700 horrible experience
• New Stove Range (self-clean, stainless) - $508 after tax from Future Shop clearance
• Keeping the tenant happy - priceless

Winter is here, really

Lucky us in KW, the 20-cm snowstorm didn't make as big an entrance as forecasted, and 10 more days until I can get my winter tires on my rims (that is the earliest appointment I can get). But that is nothing compared to another $700 spent on 4 Alloy rims for the winter tires

Christmas, and Parties
It is December, which means the month of Christmas parties left and right, from work's party to friends', and significant others' parties. Also catching up with friends till next gathering

'Tis the season of joy, alcohol, christmas presents, and Merry X'mas!

Vacation, Vacation, Vacation
We all could use some vacations, especially in December, 4 days off from Dec 25~28 and 7 days off if one takes Dec 29~31 off. Problem is - what to do in a vacation? It sounds boring if nothing productive such as accomplishment or travel is planned. Me? Looks like nowhere to go but home, and maybe study for Microsoft certifications. Hoping for the real going home for Chinese New Year!