A bit overdue
On Saturday the 18th, while we were cleaning the old apartment, I got a call from Sac PD saying they'd found my car, and giving me the information of the towyard where it had been taken. The yard was only open on weekdays, though, so I called Steve on Monday to coordinate a time we could both go check it out and see if it was in fact recoverable (I had not yet deposited the check). Grandma drove me over there on Tuesday, and it turns out the car had been recovered on Friday (it was taken Wednesday night/Thursday morning), a mere seven blocks away, parked in an elementary school parking lot. Apparently all they had wanted was the blingy aftermarket taillights my uncle had installed before he gave the car to me. Thanks, Tom. Oh, and my dad's tools. But the car seat was still there; apparently they couldn't figure out how to unbuckle it, heh.
So Steve met us there and took pictures and typed figures into his laptop and determined that the car really is totalled. They broke the casing on the steering column in order to start the car, and because it's so old (1992) that part has been discontinued. So, I could have bought it back from the insurance company at salvage cost, but then _I_ would have had to pay for the repairs, and would no longer be able to carry full coverage on it. Which doesn't sound like that great a deal, despite the immediate convenience of actually having wheels to get me around town. So once home I conferred with my financial department dad and he agreed, so I went ahead and deposited the check Steve had given me, and let him know that's what we were doing. Boo for no more excuses to see him again. Even Grandma agreed that he was really cute. Oh, and he wasn't wearing his wedding ring that day, either. Hmm.
Eenyway, Popa loaned me his Jeep to get myself to work and Morgan to school in the meantime, and this past Saturday I went up to Amador County to poke around our favorite dealer's lot (honest, non-pushy people; how often can you say that about used car salesmen?) and see what might be in our price range (which Dad and I just happened to be in agreement about, without even mentioning it). I test drove a Focus and a Camry and despite that the Focus was _way_ cute and trendy (and blue!), I actually preferred the Camry. When I told sales_rep Brad (friend and acquaintance in the way people only are in small towns), he kind of grinned and said, "You should." So Dad and I went back up to his house, took Morgan and Rusty to the lake (Morgan wanted to swim in the water with him, and he wanted to chase the ducks), and thought about whether we wanted to do it or if we should look around in town. Eventually we both realized that no matter what anybody else in town had, it would be hard to beat that Camry, and plus we're unlikely to buy from anyone other than Brad, anyway. So we called Brad back and asked him to pull it off the lot, and yesterday, in an impressive feat of car-juggling, we managed to get me up there, buy my new car, wash Popa's car as a thank-you for loaning it to me, bring _both_ cars back down the hill, and get Dad home at the end of it.
So I now have my very own pretty green car. With four doors (my one real requirement), AIR CONDITIONING (Popa's didn't have it, and it's in the three digits here these days), and _much_ more gas efficient than either Popa's Jeep or my Blazer. Am a very happy mommy.
So Steve met us there and took pictures and typed figures into his laptop and determined that the car really is totalled. They broke the casing on the steering column in order to start the car, and because it's so old (1992) that part has been discontinued. So, I could have bought it back from the insurance company at salvage cost, but then _I_ would have had to pay for the repairs, and would no longer be able to carry full coverage on it. Which doesn't sound like that great a deal, despite the immediate convenience of actually having wheels to get me around town. So once home I conferred with my financial department dad and he agreed, so I went ahead and deposited the check Steve had given me, and let him know that's what we were doing. Boo for no more excuses to see him again. Even Grandma agreed that he was really cute. Oh, and he wasn't wearing his wedding ring that day, either. Hmm.
Eenyway, Popa loaned me his Jeep to get myself to work and Morgan to school in the meantime, and this past Saturday I went up to Amador County to poke around our favorite dealer's lot (honest, non-pushy people; how often can you say that about used car salesmen?) and see what might be in our price range (which Dad and I just happened to be in agreement about, without even mentioning it). I test drove a Focus and a Camry and despite that the Focus was _way_ cute and trendy (and blue!), I actually preferred the Camry. When I told sales_rep Brad (friend and acquaintance in the way people only are in small towns), he kind of grinned and said, "You should." So Dad and I went back up to his house, took Morgan and Rusty to the lake (Morgan wanted to swim in the water with him, and he wanted to chase the ducks), and thought about whether we wanted to do it or if we should look around in town. Eventually we both realized that no matter what anybody else in town had, it would be hard to beat that Camry, and plus we're unlikely to buy from anyone other than Brad, anyway. So we called Brad back and asked him to pull it off the lot, and yesterday, in an impressive feat of car-juggling, we managed to get me up there, buy my new car, wash Popa's car as a thank-you for loaning it to me, bring _both_ cars back down the hill, and get Dad home at the end of it.
So I now have my very own pretty green car. With four doors (my one real requirement), AIR CONDITIONING (Popa's didn't have it, and it's in the three digits here these days), and _much_ more gas efficient than either Popa's Jeep or my Blazer. Am a very happy mommy.