bought new car

I got a new car over the Christmas break. An expensive present to myself I guess. It was to replace my 2005 Honda Civic which was old with over 200,000 km and needed $2,000 of work from the mechanic's estimate.

It was new to me anyway a 2013 Nissan Sentra with only 19,000 km. Salesman said it was one owner coming off lease. It had some new type features such as 2 years and 40,000 km of full warranty left.

I got it at O'Regan's Green Light in Dartmouth. I bought from O'Regan's because they sponsored Dartmouth North baseball where my kids played.

It was a good buying experience. I identified some candidates in my budget range which was late model quality used with low mileage to replace the Honda. Their website was well designed to narrow the search. With a shortlist I booked an appointment and arrived for the test drives on a Saturday morning.

I drove the Sentra, a 2013 Ford Focus, and a 2012 Toyota Corolla. It was a close decision with the Corolla but I went with the Sentra as it was a year younger and had the best fuel economy.

I got dealer financing as there was a special where they offered either winter tires or a $500 gift card to the store of your choice if you use their financing. I went with the winter tires. So I'm all set there.

They threw in a welcome coupon for a free oil change and $10 off the next 4 oil changes. So I got my first minor service for free. With the coupons the cost of an oil change is the same as my regular garage so I'll be treating myself to dealer service for a little while at least. Maybe until the warranty wears off. will see.


The car is running well so far. The Civic ran well for 8 years and 205,000 km. I hope this vehicle can be as successful. One good thing is work from home starts next week so that will cut thousands of km a year and save a lot of wear and tear and hopefully extend the vehicle life.