A New Car!!!

I know, we sound like moneybags... but the truth is, we're just squeaking by. Having good credit goes a long way in this town, especially post Wachovia/Wall Street meltdown. We had to get another car for Kevin's new gig (he needs his own wheels) and we had been hunting for weeks and weeks, checking online sites, car lots, craigslist...even notices on the bulletin board at the local pizza restaurant.

In the end we decided to go to one of those giant used car lots, the ones with thousands of cars all priced to sell. We went for the huge selection and we went for the "no haggle" policy. Actually we didn't really just get up and go. Once we decided we would consider a car lot, we looked online and found the car we wanted. Kevin sent them an email notice letting them know we were interested; no sooner had he hit "send" did our phone ring with a "dedicated sales associate" on the other end, giving us the deets on this car. And on financing, warranties...pretty much everything. In fact, by the sounds of it, we didn't have to do much of anything else except go look at the car, sign a few papers and split. Sounded too good to be true.

Well, it was. I don't know how these lots divvy up sales, but there doesn't seem to be a seniority/experience system in place. We must have gotten the newbie, or the lowest of the low (who happen to be one of my favorite Toronto rock bands - shout out!) because our sales associate was a ding dong. Now if you had a client coming to look at a car who had already been qualified and basically said "Hey, we want to buy that car", wouldn't you at least take a look at the car first? If that client had asked you about which papers he/she needed to bring, wouldn't you check some sort of list before signing off?

Needless to say, our sales associate hadn't looked at the car and couldn't figure out how to open the driver-side door. Not a good sign...Our associate couldn't figure out how to fold the rear seats up, how to open the sun roof or even if it was a 4-wheel drive. Our associate didn't seem to know much about our car at all. We are forgiving people and were anxious to get out on the road so we overlooked the "I'm not sure" answers and took our baby for a test drive.

The ride was smooth, roomy and perfect for our family. Now all we had to do was sign a few papers, drop some cash on the table , pick up the keys and squirt the sales associate with pepper spray. (just kidding; saw that in a commercial once) We were all set to go when our sales associate asked me for my state licence. (see previous blog) Of course, I don't have one and didn't bring any photo ID with me. Now remember, I asked BEFORE leaving the house if there was anything specific I needed to bring besides my DL. I told our ding dong that I didn't have a state DL and was assured it would be fine. Well, it wasn't. Turns out I couldn't be on the title at all. So, I don't officially own the car, Kevin does. But it's OK with me...he gets to pay the note!

The car is home and looks grand parked in our driveway. Now it seems everyone in the family (even the dog is turning his nose up) all of a sudden hates our ghetto, Toyota Echo. Everyone, except me. It's my car and I'm kinda proud of the one-hubcap-missing-weirdly-dented-too-many-bumper-stickers look we got going. It's urban, a little dangerous and totally unpretentious, just like me. I don't need anyone to pimp my ride; I like it just fine.

As for the new car, it's shiny and almost perfect; just like Kevin. The kids now love to circle the car ride pick up lanes at school in the new car and shudder when I suggest taking them in our old standby. I might just take them in the ghetto car every now then for fun. Or maybe I'll embrace our new car like everyone else.