I bought myself a brand-new car without my husband.

Tony was always more opinionated on what vehicles we purchased. He only wanted to buy certain makes and did all kinds of research on his own. I would advise that I needed to be able to park it and lift car seats into the back. The last time we bought a new car, I was pregnant with our youngest. We didn’t buy cars often, but this was always his realm. I’d let him do the research and he’d even find what was available locally and go for test drives to narrow it down. I only stepped in for the final decisions and would sit there silently through the negotiations. I was happy to take the backseat in the process.

In hindsight, maybe I should have been more involved. Car buying as a widow had me feeling very intimidated.

Therefore, when I made the decision to start the car buying process, I knew I wanted help.  I needed guidance without being told what to do. I watched TikTok videos about what markups to look for at dealerships and what you can negotiate.

Then I found a car buying service and hired him. We setup time to go out and test drive different makes and models of the type of car I wanted. Having him with me on those drives, kept the aggressive salespeople at bay. Once I settled on the make and model, he presented the different trim options. I picked the color combo I wanted, and we scheduled a final test drive. We went to a dealership that doesn’t add in erroneous charges for every little thing. So the negotiations were minimal but I wouldn’t have known which location was the most trustworthy.

When it was all said and done, I pulled out of the lot with my first brand new car. The first car I ever picked out on my own. It probably isn’t a car Tony would have picked out for us, but I am happy with it. Since I am the one driving and paying for it, that’s all that matters. I am proud of myself for getting the help I wanted and tackling this for the first time in my life.