this post is about my new subaru forester.
looks like someone's got a new car.
and it looks like that someone is me.
photographic proof involving said car and said doofus:
well, actually i don't technically only the car yet.
and kelly subaru suzuki doesn't own my old convertible yet, either.
but that's just semantic red tape.
it's mine, damnit!
this whole process of car buying (from dealing with the loan to getting my own insurance) is perhaps the first big adult thing i've ever really done.
sure, i mean, i'm paying off loans, taking care of my own doctor visits, etc, but somehow, this is different.
perhaps it's just the monetary scale.
which is a full two orders of magnitude higher than anything i've ever bought "on my own" before.
i say "on my own" since, well, i'm actually co-signing with my dad to get a much much much better interest rate than i would be able to get myself, since i really don't have much credit history yet (nothing bad, just few items at all).
although, i guess, i actually didn't pay anything down (used the trade-in as my down payment), so the only money i spent was on a few accessories i bought on saturday when i took the car back in to get cleaned.
that lack of upfront payment makes the $20,000 seem not that bad.
but shit, that's a lot of money.
for me at least.
it's how much i make a year right now (i'll be getting a raise next year when i start grad school, hence why i can afford to get a new car).
but yeah, so i went and bought the car friday after work. well, i left work early to come home and shower and eat first (no one wants to buy a car dirty and hungry).
and so by the time we closed the deal (~7 pm) the dude who normally cleans up the new purchases was gone for the day.
but i got to take it home, which was good for a big reason i'll mention in a bit.
but joe and i took for a drive around town and out a little into the country, and man is it nice.
after having all of the stuff 'done' it was nice to take it out for a good long drive.
so saturday morning required a visit back to the dealership to get stickers removed and a nice hand washing.
and they filled up my tank, which is sweet (somehow $45 seems awesome when i just "gave" them $20,000).
the whole finance/haggling process was intense, but i think i did pretty well.
i ended up getting ~$900 fewer for my trade in than i wanted because, as it turns out, my brake system went to shit a few days before i sold it.
not just new pads, a whole work up and many other new parts (bearings, etc).
nothing like hearing (and feeling) the metal on metal of new-brake-needing right before you want to sell the damn car.
fuck!
but i did manage to get an extra $500 knocked off the car list price and get him to add some more to what he originally quoted me for the trade in, so i held my ground on some things and probably could've gotten a better deal, but it's over and i didn't get a screw job.
but many was that guy a sleaze.
he tried to sell me on a higher interest rate.
[i got a better deal with the credit union than i would've with them, which makes sense, i effectively cut out the middle man]
does he think i'm stupid?
or is he just an idiot?
possibly both, but i gave him a simple lesson in financing: i have a lower rate with someone else, therefore, i'll pay less with them, so no, i'm fine with the rate i have with them, thank you.
oh, and he tried to do other things, like say my car had more miles on it than it did and ignore the multi cd-changer that was installed.
and then he had the balls to ask me to lie and say he was really good on the customer service questionnaire they send me in the mail.
i shit you not, he said, and i quote, "even if you have to lie a little bit, give me a good rating and give the dealership a good rating, because that's important for us."
my response after his minute-plus rant on the topic?
"i'm gonna do what i'm gonna do."
meaning:
"i'll tell them you told me to lie on this form, i'll tell them you tried to sell me a worse interest rate than i had, i'll tell them you knowingly put the wrong mileage in the blue book calculator, and i'll tell them how annoying and sleazy you are. so, i'll tell them how good you are at being exactly what people expect from a car salesperson: a total dick who doesn't care anything about you, just about selling a really expensive thing to you for more than it's actually worth. but aren't we really all trying to do that anyway? so is it that car salespeople are just the best at selling things? or could they actually make more money if they were honest and shit? but that's a whole other can of worms, for now let's leave it at you're getting a shitty review from me because you're a dick. period."
everyone else at the dealership was really nice, though.
and the car is great.
so honestly, the only knock was the salesman.
but i knew it would be going in, so whatevs.
that end of it is over now.
now i just get to go back next saturday to have them attach my trailer hitch and to pick up the accessories that weren't in stock yesterday.
and also to have them check out the buzzing in the speaker in the driver's door.
something's a little too loose or too tight, i would imagine.
but any bass = buzzing, so needs attention, given the car is brand new.
my first grocery trip in the forester highlighted how i have some getting used to with a completely different style of car.
i now have a hatch in place of a trunk, which makes for differential grocery bag placement.
the hatch does have a sheet cover thingy (so you can't see everything in there), but there are still tons of windows, etc, so no more hiding dead bodies in my car.
and i actually didn't quite pull all the way into the parking spot at the store since i now have a shorter front end than i did with the sebring.
there are other things, too, but for the most part, much for the better.
i've got better handling, a tighter turning radius, a higher ground clearance, better gas mileage, better safety, better road vision, etc.
but no convertible top.
and i no longer own the car that once was driven by my grandmother.
i'm trying not to deal with that aspect at all right now.
but thank you grandma.
your car served me well and allowed me to get a car that will serve me even better.
i miss you.
hopefully you'll still be prominent in thoughts without that constant reminder of you.
shit.
last night, i became more of an adult by finally starting my own car insurance policy.
which is expensive, but, not to be a shill, geico is actually pretty cheap, comparatively.
and, jesus, once i get to new york, my rate will go down a ton (florida's got extra requirements).
and then i'll be a good student again, and all will be great.
on saturday i also went over and picked up my bike which was in the shop getting spokes replaced.
it rides much better now with trued wheels, properly working spokes, and full tires.
vehicles all around!!
so, today, in comparison to the prior bunch of days, was pretty light.
with sunday laundry and things.
and finally talking with rob via the computer video.
he was on a trip and his internet's been down, so he went to a web cafe and got on there.
a 15 min conversation that was fantastic, even if i was eating burritos.
or perhaps made more fantastic by the burritos?
and i talked to the whole fam on the web cam later, which was pretty nice.
abby's getting huge.
faith is attentive and she and i made faces at each other.
and my sister's prego again!
and the rest of the fam is good.
(shit, i talked so much to my mom during the week about car stuff that we barely talked today, probably the least we've talked on sunday night in a long time.)
and, hell yes, i get tomorrow off of work!!!
wooo!
there's a bbq in the afternoon/evening at a grad student's house, but otherwise, i'll relax, enjoy some time off, perhaps do more adult things (fuck, rob and i need a place to live next year!!!), read, sleep, etc.
man i love days off that aren't normal weekend days.
and i've only got 2 more months here!
shit!
and melt banana is playing here on wednesday!
woo!
and i think i'm gonna go get dairy queen!
[might this become another sunday thing? i don't know, but i prolly should let it, my love handles and self-esteem would not like me]
and i think i'm gonna watch princess mononoke tonight.
i got it from netflix a few days ago.
i'm actually done with it now.
i watched the last movie i got last night.
and let me say, while unbreakable had some cool cinematography, the plot was pretty dumb, the dialog was shit, and the twist ending banal and stupid.
oh well.
fuck, sorry this post is way way way too long.
end.
and it looks like that someone is me.
photographic proof involving said car and said doofus:
well, actually i don't technically only the car yet.
and kelly subaru suzuki doesn't own my old convertible yet, either.
but that's just semantic red tape.
it's mine, damnit!
this whole process of car buying (from dealing with the loan to getting my own insurance) is perhaps the first big adult thing i've ever really done.
sure, i mean, i'm paying off loans, taking care of my own doctor visits, etc, but somehow, this is different.
perhaps it's just the monetary scale.
which is a full two orders of magnitude higher than anything i've ever bought "on my own" before.
i say "on my own" since, well, i'm actually co-signing with my dad to get a much much much better interest rate than i would be able to get myself, since i really don't have much credit history yet (nothing bad, just few items at all).
although, i guess, i actually didn't pay anything down (used the trade-in as my down payment), so the only money i spent was on a few accessories i bought on saturday when i took the car back in to get cleaned.
that lack of upfront payment makes the $20,000 seem not that bad.
but shit, that's a lot of money.
for me at least.
it's how much i make a year right now (i'll be getting a raise next year when i start grad school, hence why i can afford to get a new car).
but yeah, so i went and bought the car friday after work. well, i left work early to come home and shower and eat first (no one wants to buy a car dirty and hungry).
and so by the time we closed the deal (~7 pm) the dude who normally cleans up the new purchases was gone for the day.
but i got to take it home, which was good for a big reason i'll mention in a bit.
but joe and i took for a drive around town and out a little into the country, and man is it nice.
after having all of the stuff 'done' it was nice to take it out for a good long drive.
so saturday morning required a visit back to the dealership to get stickers removed and a nice hand washing.
and they filled up my tank, which is sweet (somehow $45 seems awesome when i just "gave" them $20,000).
the whole finance/haggling process was intense, but i think i did pretty well.
i ended up getting ~$900 fewer for my trade in than i wanted because, as it turns out, my brake system went to shit a few days before i sold it.
not just new pads, a whole work up and many other new parts (bearings, etc).
nothing like hearing (and feeling) the metal on metal of new-brake-needing right before you want to sell the damn car.
fuck!
but i did manage to get an extra $500 knocked off the car list price and get him to add some more to what he originally quoted me for the trade in, so i held my ground on some things and probably could've gotten a better deal, but it's over and i didn't get a screw job.
but many was that guy a sleaze.
he tried to sell me on a higher interest rate.
[i got a better deal with the credit union than i would've with them, which makes sense, i effectively cut out the middle man]
does he think i'm stupid?
or is he just an idiot?
possibly both, but i gave him a simple lesson in financing: i have a lower rate with someone else, therefore, i'll pay less with them, so no, i'm fine with the rate i have with them, thank you.
oh, and he tried to do other things, like say my car had more miles on it than it did and ignore the multi cd-changer that was installed.
and then he had the balls to ask me to lie and say he was really good on the customer service questionnaire they send me in the mail.
i shit you not, he said, and i quote, "even if you have to lie a little bit, give me a good rating and give the dealership a good rating, because that's important for us."
my response after his minute-plus rant on the topic?
"i'm gonna do what i'm gonna do."
meaning:
"i'll tell them you told me to lie on this form, i'll tell them you tried to sell me a worse interest rate than i had, i'll tell them you knowingly put the wrong mileage in the blue book calculator, and i'll tell them how annoying and sleazy you are. so, i'll tell them how good you are at being exactly what people expect from a car salesperson: a total dick who doesn't care anything about you, just about selling a really expensive thing to you for more than it's actually worth. but aren't we really all trying to do that anyway? so is it that car salespeople are just the best at selling things? or could they actually make more money if they were honest and shit? but that's a whole other can of worms, for now let's leave it at you're getting a shitty review from me because you're a dick. period."
everyone else at the dealership was really nice, though.
and the car is great.
so honestly, the only knock was the salesman.
but i knew it would be going in, so whatevs.
that end of it is over now.
now i just get to go back next saturday to have them attach my trailer hitch and to pick up the accessories that weren't in stock yesterday.
and also to have them check out the buzzing in the speaker in the driver's door.
something's a little too loose or too tight, i would imagine.
but any bass = buzzing, so needs attention, given the car is brand new.
my first grocery trip in the forester highlighted how i have some getting used to with a completely different style of car.
i now have a hatch in place of a trunk, which makes for differential grocery bag placement.
the hatch does have a sheet cover thingy (so you can't see everything in there), but there are still tons of windows, etc, so no more hiding dead bodies in my car.
and i actually didn't quite pull all the way into the parking spot at the store since i now have a shorter front end than i did with the sebring.
there are other things, too, but for the most part, much for the better.
i've got better handling, a tighter turning radius, a higher ground clearance, better gas mileage, better safety, better road vision, etc.
but no convertible top.
and i no longer own the car that once was driven by my grandmother.
i'm trying not to deal with that aspect at all right now.
but thank you grandma.
your car served me well and allowed me to get a car that will serve me even better.
i miss you.
hopefully you'll still be prominent in thoughts without that constant reminder of you.
shit.
last night, i became more of an adult by finally starting my own car insurance policy.
which is expensive, but, not to be a shill, geico is actually pretty cheap, comparatively.
and, jesus, once i get to new york, my rate will go down a ton (florida's got extra requirements).
and then i'll be a good student again, and all will be great.
on saturday i also went over and picked up my bike which was in the shop getting spokes replaced.
it rides much better now with trued wheels, properly working spokes, and full tires.
vehicles all around!!
so, today, in comparison to the prior bunch of days, was pretty light.
with sunday laundry and things.
and finally talking with rob via the computer video.
he was on a trip and his internet's been down, so he went to a web cafe and got on there.
a 15 min conversation that was fantastic, even if i was eating burritos.
or perhaps made more fantastic by the burritos?
and i talked to the whole fam on the web cam later, which was pretty nice.
abby's getting huge.
faith is attentive and she and i made faces at each other.
and my sister's prego again!
and the rest of the fam is good.
(shit, i talked so much to my mom during the week about car stuff that we barely talked today, probably the least we've talked on sunday night in a long time.)
and, hell yes, i get tomorrow off of work!!!
wooo!
there's a bbq in the afternoon/evening at a grad student's house, but otherwise, i'll relax, enjoy some time off, perhaps do more adult things (fuck, rob and i need a place to live next year!!!), read, sleep, etc.
man i love days off that aren't normal weekend days.
and i've only got 2 more months here!
shit!
and melt banana is playing here on wednesday!
woo!
and i think i'm gonna go get dairy queen!
[might this become another sunday thing? i don't know, but i prolly should let it, my love handles and self-esteem would not like me]
and i think i'm gonna watch princess mononoke tonight.
i got it from netflix a few days ago.
i'm actually done with it now.
i watched the last movie i got last night.
and let me say, while unbreakable had some cool cinematography, the plot was pretty dumb, the dialog was shit, and the twist ending banal and stupid.
oh well.
fuck, sorry this post is way way way too long.
end.