The Road to Normalicy?

I have been working for a little over a month and it feels good. So, I started car shopping. I originally had my choices narrowed to the following:

2005-2007 Honda Accord EX-L
2005-2007 Toyota Camry (With Leather and Moon roof)
2005-2007 Scion XB

Valerie suggested we look at the Element (Why No Pinch.) I felt that I was driving a truck. Don't get me wrong--the Element is a great vehicle, however after looking over the cargo capacity, I would easily overload it.

So a week ago today, Valerie and I went out to several dealerships to test drive several cars. We had a little game to see how fast the Sales Weasels would introduce themselves. Valerie won with 15 Seconds. Then it got even more absurd, the moment we stepped on the lot--We would get ambushed.

No one seemed to have the right car in the right price range. We spoke with one sales rep in Santa Ana, who, when he found out the price range--tried to find a car. When we could not, he suggested a new car. When I told him I could not afford it, all you could see is dust clouds from his leaving.

We went down to a Honda Dealer in Irvine. We went through the same drill. Then he showed us a 2005 Toyota Solara SE. It is silver with dark gray leather interior. It has a moon roof and 4 cylinder engine. It is basically 90 percent of what I was looking at. They had it listed for 19K. The only thing that stopped me that it was a coupe. I was interested in a sedan. I told the Sales Rep I would call him back if I wanted the car.

Valerie and I went to two other Honda lots and could not find anything. So I went home and did research on the Toyota. I had pricing, CarFax and reliability information-- I called him back and said I was interested. We could not meet that night, so I took time off work next day to go down there and make the deal. I examined the car and told the rep--I would need to have the car inspected by an independent mechanic. We negotiated and off I went to the mechanic.

Here I found out the Battery needed service, new Air Cleaner and the Moon roof didn't work. The Mechanic told me that if these things were changed, this car is in excellent shape. I took it back to the dealer and told him I would buy it if these things were fixed. It took them two days to do all of this.

So for the first time in 6 years, I have a car payment.

So after all of this, do I like the car? You bet! It is a nice adult car--I call it the Go Cart. It is fast and handles well. Valerie calls it my mid life crisis car.

With it I feel I took one more step to putting the unemployment period behind me.

What about the Buickmobile? My friends will not need the car until September 27. So I will take the time to fix all the little things,clean the exterior, shampoo the carpets/seats and change all the filters as a thank you!! It has been a great car and I am very grateful to have use of it.


Now if I can only get some time off this year...