Car stress!
It all started with my wanting a new car. It was time for me to get one - so I was prepared to go looking at the end of the year. Since I started working I have the money for a great down payment and I have a list of needs or must haves and wants or would really like. Then out comes this whole cash for clunkers thing and well I was kind of hoping that my car would fit the bill. Unfortunately according to the government my car averages 22mpg-combined highway/local… new to me? So I am not eligible to get $3500 trade in from the government. C'est la vie.
Well we have been out looking at new cars like the Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla, Chevy Cobalt and finally the Ford Focus. I know that I said I wanted American car and ultimately that is what I am purchasing but I wanted to look at the other 2. The reason I listed the above cars is because of my “need” list - I needed a 4 door sedan, standard transmission and had to get gas mileage above 30 mpg at least on the highway. My wants were a lot larger - moon roof, Sirius you know the basic fun stuff.
So Hubby knows someone at Ford and went down to check out the Focus last week. I felt that I was being pressured to buy before June ended and said no way. I was fortunate that they continued incentives that they had in June. So on Wednesday we went to see the cars and test drive a Focus. I test-drove a 5 speed and it was fun. The Focus has all the bells and whistles that I was looking for and it was priced right.
So we sat down and looked for a car - I really wanted a light Ice blue one but there were none to be had in the tri-state area. I finally settled on a 2009 silver SES - and we added a few neat things. They found one and we signed the paperwork. The loan is out in hubbies name but I will be making the payments. I am not happy that the registration will be in his name but I need to let that go. I will switch it to my name when it gets paid off. The payment is below $200 a month, which is great.
Now to my car… we needed to sell it. Hubby must have asked me quite a number of times if I had put it up online yet… no I need to get all the information and then write it up properly. So Saturday I put it onto Craigslist & autotrader.com to sell for $3000, which is what we had agreed on. It cost $45 for the
Hubby put the car at the end of our block with for sale signs on it so that it would have some exposure - we live on a court. During the BBQ at my friends house he got quite a few calls and each time he gave them a different price. One time it was $2,700 another it was $2,500 - color me confused - why was I putting it online for $3000? Today I placed an ad on cars.com Total for online ads was about $100.
Hubby takes car down to a local shopping center and we get a call about middle of the afternoon. When the guy calls hubby tells him $2500 negotiable - WTF what happened to the $3000 we agreed on. He talks to the guy and the guy takes it for a test drive. I guess they talk along the way and the guy offers him $1900 cash. I figure that hubby and the guy talked and the guy is strapped - but he has the cash on him. Yeah how freakin wrong I was. The guy buying the car does this for a living and has wads of cash. Hubby swore up and down in front of all my friends and I that he would not take less than $2000. I figure he knows best and actually trust him… then I saw the wad of money the guy buying the car pulls out. You have got to be kidding me - this dude could not manage to pay $2000! WTF. I am pissed beyond belief. Yeah cause hubby just broke his promise of “I will not take less than $2000.” And when I bring it up somehow it is my fault that I agreed to it - yeah because I trusted hubby. Apparently my trust was misplaced and it won’t happen again. I will get the $100 and the money I spent for the print ads out of our joint account cause I am not paying for that whole bit of stupidity. This whole buying a new car thing has been extremely uncomfortable and I’m not looking forward to what should be fun and exciting.
I am now debating whether I even want the new car at all. I can not believe the pressure I felt to do everything…. That is not how I do things and I generally push back when that happens. I am seriously not happy - and now I have no car…. Even further unhappiness. It is like my lifeline has been severed…. I know it is unreasonable but it was like my baby was ripped from me before I got my new one. I really wonder if this whole car thing was worth it. I am so angry right now - I was not ready for this - I do not like having my routine disturbed it is seriously uncomfortable.
So I sat here tonight and wrote this and delete all the online ads - talk about a waste of money. Why was I even pushed to put the car online? Not to mention it somehow was my fault for everything - uhm no I do not take responsibility for stuff that I didn't do...
Well we have been out looking at new cars like the Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla, Chevy Cobalt and finally the Ford Focus. I know that I said I wanted American car and ultimately that is what I am purchasing but I wanted to look at the other 2. The reason I listed the above cars is because of my “need” list - I needed a 4 door sedan, standard transmission and had to get gas mileage above 30 mpg at least on the highway. My wants were a lot larger - moon roof, Sirius you know the basic fun stuff.
So Hubby knows someone at Ford and went down to check out the Focus last week. I felt that I was being pressured to buy before June ended and said no way. I was fortunate that they continued incentives that they had in June. So on Wednesday we went to see the cars and test drive a Focus. I test-drove a 5 speed and it was fun. The Focus has all the bells and whistles that I was looking for and it was priced right.
So we sat down and looked for a car - I really wanted a light Ice blue one but there were none to be had in the tri-state area. I finally settled on a 2009 silver SES - and we added a few neat things. They found one and we signed the paperwork. The loan is out in hubbies name but I will be making the payments. I am not happy that the registration will be in his name but I need to let that go. I will switch it to my name when it gets paid off. The payment is below $200 a month, which is great.
Now to my car… we needed to sell it. Hubby must have asked me quite a number of times if I had put it up online yet… no I need to get all the information and then write it up properly. So Saturday I put it onto Craigslist & autotrader.com to sell for $3000, which is what we had agreed on. It cost $45 for the
Hubby put the car at the end of our block with for sale signs on it so that it would have some exposure - we live on a court. During the BBQ at my friends house he got quite a few calls and each time he gave them a different price. One time it was $2,700 another it was $2,500 - color me confused - why was I putting it online for $3000? Today I placed an ad on cars.com Total for online ads was about $100.
Hubby takes car down to a local shopping center and we get a call about middle of the afternoon. When the guy calls hubby tells him $2500 negotiable - WTF what happened to the $3000 we agreed on. He talks to the guy and the guy takes it for a test drive. I guess they talk along the way and the guy offers him $1900 cash. I figure that hubby and the guy talked and the guy is strapped - but he has the cash on him. Yeah how freakin wrong I was. The guy buying the car does this for a living and has wads of cash. Hubby swore up and down in front of all my friends and I that he would not take less than $2000. I figure he knows best and actually trust him… then I saw the wad of money the guy buying the car pulls out. You have got to be kidding me - this dude could not manage to pay $2000! WTF. I am pissed beyond belief. Yeah cause hubby just broke his promise of “I will not take less than $2000.” And when I bring it up somehow it is my fault that I agreed to it - yeah because I trusted hubby. Apparently my trust was misplaced and it won’t happen again. I will get the $100 and the money I spent for the print ads out of our joint account cause I am not paying for that whole bit of stupidity. This whole buying a new car thing has been extremely uncomfortable and I’m not looking forward to what should be fun and exciting.
I am now debating whether I even want the new car at all. I can not believe the pressure I felt to do everything…. That is not how I do things and I generally push back when that happens. I am seriously not happy - and now I have no car…. Even further unhappiness. It is like my lifeline has been severed…. I know it is unreasonable but it was like my baby was ripped from me before I got my new one. I really wonder if this whole car thing was worth it. I am so angry right now - I was not ready for this - I do not like having my routine disturbed it is seriously uncomfortable.
So I sat here tonight and wrote this and delete all the online ads - talk about a waste of money. Why was I even pushed to put the car online? Not to mention it somehow was my fault for everything - uhm no I do not take responsibility for stuff that I didn't do...