Car Shopping
I was in a bit of a pickle earlier today. I wanted to go look for cars to buy, but realized that I need a car to drive to see cars.
I didn't want to have to rent a car if I could avoid it because it seems like that could add up, especially if I don't find a car right away, and I don't want to feel pressured to find just some car, I want to find the the right car.
I called around to some people I know here and got many, "sorry, can't help you"s. Then I called on my friend Justin, and he came through for me. He spent a few hours with me this afternoon driving all around to look at cars.
We first went to a car wholesaler to look at a Subaru that sounded incredibly promising. When we got there, it was supposedly out on a test drive, and we were directed down the road to MVP Motors, a used car lot that supposedly had a ton of cars for around $5K. I test drove a Honda Civic, and decided that that car is just too small for me, plus this particular one wasn't in the best of shape anyway. We were in the area for a total of an hour and the Subaru guy never got back to us, so we headed up to Vancouver, WA where I'd made an appointment to see a car at 3pm.
It is beautiful. It's a 2dr white 1999 Honda Accord. The mileage is a little high, though not that bad considering the age. It started up like a dream and ran really smoothly on side roads and at fast speeds on the highway. Justin knows something about cars, and he said that it looks to be in really good shape. They were asking $5900 for it, so I offered $4500. He didn't say yes or no, but when I got back, I found this cryptic email in my inbox:
Just letting you know that I would take the $4,500 cash and a check for $600 that I could hold for up to 3 weeks if you wanted the car. Just let me know.
I wrote back, and it turns out they are asking for $4500 cash with an additional $600 check for a total of $5100.
I also heard from the other 1999 Honda Accord that I'd wanted to see today. I missed him while I was in the area today, but we set up an appointment for 1:30pm tomorrow. It's also a 2dr, and it's black or maybe even purple, with a manual transmission (which I like!) and about the same mileage as the white one I saw today.
I'm looking forward to trying it out to see how the two apparently similar cars compare. If the dark one doesn't drive as well, it might make sense to get the white one which seems to be in good condition. If it does drive well, I can get the car I want for cheaper!
If neither of these pan out, my plan is to look into getting zipcar so that I can go and check out cars at my leisure throughout the week. If I find something I like, Justin said he'd be willing to go check it out for me since he knows something about cars.
This car browsing is fun; I'm not attached to any car, and I'm just going to see how it pans out.
I didn't want to have to rent a car if I could avoid it because it seems like that could add up, especially if I don't find a car right away, and I don't want to feel pressured to find just some car, I want to find the the right car.
I called around to some people I know here and got many, "sorry, can't help you"s. Then I called on my friend Justin, and he came through for me. He spent a few hours with me this afternoon driving all around to look at cars.
We first went to a car wholesaler to look at a Subaru that sounded incredibly promising. When we got there, it was supposedly out on a test drive, and we were directed down the road to MVP Motors, a used car lot that supposedly had a ton of cars for around $5K. I test drove a Honda Civic, and decided that that car is just too small for me, plus this particular one wasn't in the best of shape anyway. We were in the area for a total of an hour and the Subaru guy never got back to us, so we headed up to Vancouver, WA where I'd made an appointment to see a car at 3pm.
It is beautiful. It's a 2dr white 1999 Honda Accord. The mileage is a little high, though not that bad considering the age. It started up like a dream and ran really smoothly on side roads and at fast speeds on the highway. Justin knows something about cars, and he said that it looks to be in really good shape. They were asking $5900 for it, so I offered $4500. He didn't say yes or no, but when I got back, I found this cryptic email in my inbox:
Just letting you know that I would take the $4,500 cash and a check for $600 that I could hold for up to 3 weeks if you wanted the car. Just let me know.
I wrote back, and it turns out they are asking for $4500 cash with an additional $600 check for a total of $5100.
I also heard from the other 1999 Honda Accord that I'd wanted to see today. I missed him while I was in the area today, but we set up an appointment for 1:30pm tomorrow. It's also a 2dr, and it's black or maybe even purple, with a manual transmission (which I like!) and about the same mileage as the white one I saw today.
I'm looking forward to trying it out to see how the two apparently similar cars compare. If the dark one doesn't drive as well, it might make sense to get the white one which seems to be in good condition. If it does drive well, I can get the car I want for cheaper!
If neither of these pan out, my plan is to look into getting zipcar so that I can go and check out cars at my leisure throughout the week. If I find something I like, Justin said he'd be willing to go check it out for me since he knows something about cars.
This car browsing is fun; I'm not attached to any car, and I'm just going to see how it pans out.