Today was a huge day for me. I would say Jim too but he didn't really seem to have any problem with it. Today we bought a SUV....for our son(T)! Its the first of many cars we will be purchasing for our children since we have five. This being the first it has made me feel old (all of my friends as well because they just cant believe the boys have grown up so fast). It is scary thinking of one of my children being on the road on his own. I thought of nothing but that when we were searching online for something for him. What is safest? What gets good gas mileage? What will it cost to insure? Will we find something he likes? We looked online at different cars, trucks, suvs, and anything else that came up for about 2 weeks. I was think one price range and Jim another. We talked. I agreed and my price came down. He is going to be ruff, he is most likely going to tear it up, or even wreck it. We don't want to buy anything to expensive or something that we cant replace. After all of that I still felt unprepared for our adventure today.
Skip the blue if you don't want all the details just the out come..
We started out local (well in the county and near by) but they didn't seem to have anything in the price range we were looking for so I asked. I soon found out that car lots think of that price range as cash vehicles. Totally ok with me because that's what I had in mind. The problem with that is they tend to show you crap. I was thinking there is no way we are going to find a car for this price. After all that talk about the price my mind was made up that was it we are not going over it. ( I have to be that way or else Jim would see something like it and not care how much it cost and get us into all kinds of trouble) So the lady shows us a truck that might work for me. I got all kinds of excited because T had said he wanted one but I was against it. He would be happy right? NO. You mean you can hear those loud pipes and feel the vibrations from the big tires when you drive down the road? I thought they just looked cool. Well DUH!!!
So on we go. To Grapevine because that the next car lot that Jim had found "a lot" of good looking cars online. PSH. We looked there for all of 15 mins. What he had was way over priced or look like shit. It was nice of him not to hound us though. Then where to you ask? All the way to Keller. What about all the other car lots we past? Nope we aren't bothered to look at those because they weren't on the list (of 4- Decatur, Grapevine, Keller, and Arlington...really?) Keller has some decent cars in our price range. Jim and I are checking them out. T not so much doesn't seem the least bit interested in them. Then his interest only dropped off more when we learned the car he wanted to look at had been sold. What 15 year old boy doesn't want to help pick out his car?!?! After going through our list of one we thought might work for him we come across on that was already marked off the list but I cant remember why...oh yeah it was standard... We test drove it anyway. The door rattled when it shut though whats that? So we look and there is shattered glass all over the ground a few shards in the nooks under the seat. So of course I ask if anything was stolen. Stuff gets messed up when you try to rip stuff out in a hurry. What did the sales guy say? Nope not that it was a different one. He continued with that story until I showed him the glass in the floor. Then he didn't have much to say about it.
We look at and talk about some other cars but end up leaving. This time we stop at the other car lots! Thank goodness. We find nothing we like but Jim is still thinking about another car at the other lot. We test drive a few more but they had something wrong with them or something we (Jim and I) didn't like. T wasn't happy about one of those.
We finally find one that he like but it will be just over budget with TTL. We go for it anyway. This is when I learned that there is a limit to the number of test drives you can have in a day. Really? You think I am going to come find one car in the lot drive it once and take it home? They are used cars! There is no way I am going to keep looking at your lot if we find something that would work for us and you wont let us drive it. If I cant drive it I am not buying. We drove it. Jim approved, T loved it, now we just have to agree on the price. (I had help with the research for pricing... Thanks Chelebell!) We talk we agree to a price, tell the guy and he says...no :( He ended up coming down some but not alot. It was ok though. TTL put us over our price range but not too much and nothing even close to trouble (even lower than my starting range).
I think he got his money back though. They charge $125 paper work fee! Really? I just watched you print them out and sign them. It took less than 5 mins. Also, I looked at the taxes and they look right but then the government fees were high. I know because I did my homework and call to find out what fees we have to pay and how much each was. Should I have made him change them or take them off? My mom would have been proud but at this point I was ready to cry one of my babies is about to get a car!!!! So I didn't. The guy was nice and after putting up with me and my questions he earned it anyway.
It turns out we got a Saturn Vue. T loves it, it drives great (when T isn't behind the wheel, we have lots of work to do before he is to be unleashed on the world in August), looks good, and is completely paid for and ours...his one day.
