So, I said I would get back to the car story, and I started to. I wrote this big long post about the history of my cars for the past 5 years, then I stopped and said, "who is going to care?"
Since the answer was "no one", suffice it to say that after being screwed over by dealerships and mechanics pretty much continuously for the last 3-5 years, yesterday was the proverbial straw that broke the camel. The repair that I paid $300 for last week started to break again after 5 effing days, and all I could see were 8 months of mechanic's bills and car worries until this car was paid off. The switch flipped, and I said, "enough!"
After reviewing blue book values for my POS, checking my payoff balance on my car loan, and reviewing all in-company options, I found that my best course of action would be to go to a dealership and see what they could do.
Luckily, I had 2 things going for me on this trip to the dealer that I didn't have before. 1. I now work for a company in the dealer's supply chain, and 2. I have a friend and co-worker who happens to be a big, intimidating man.
The Giant volunteered to go with me to the dealership, so we went over our lunch hour. We met with the rep that handles our company referrals, who grabbed us a salesman, who worked with us to find a car in my price range and with the necessary options (automatic transmission, cruise control, aluminum wheels, power everything, remote door-unlocker thingie, and a nice light color). Dale convinced me to go with the one with the sunroof, and the cruise control is apparently packaged with the 6-cd changer, though the reasoning behind that escapes me. At any rate, I ended up with a car that was pretty well loaded.
I went by myself to pick it up at around 3 pm, and ONE FREEWAY EXIT FROM THE DEALERSHIP the belt that was slipping off--you know, the belt that was replaced LAST WEEK--finally went the rest of the way. I managed to coast into a parking space right before the engine overheated. (This sort of providence happens to me all the time--I either have some badass guardian angels, or it's true what they say about fools and children.) Unfortunately, rendering your trade-in undriveable lowers its value considerably, and I was now without my giant. While I don't think I got completely screwed on the trade, I didn't do nearly as well as if that belt would have stayed on for about 5 more minutes.
Two hours and a few minor hassles later, I drove out of the dealership in my new car. It's silver, it's pretty, and it had 8 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. For about $50 more per month than I was paying before, I can now hit the brakes without worrying that the car is going to shudder to pieces, unlock the doors from the parking lot, and rest assured that the air conditioner will work every time I turn it on.
And in Houston in July, that's really the most important thing.
Posted by Joy at July 2, 2004 09:48 AMCongrats on the new car. That's always so exciting, isn't it, driving a new car? I have a silver one, too, and I love it to bits.
Posted by: Marleen on July 5, 2004 07:17 AM