Just so you know, Zach's gonna have a fit when he reads this

So, mom took me out car hunting earlier today. A perfect time to go looking for a car too, what with tornado warnings, hail, and intermitent rain the entire time. She took me to the same dealer she'd gotten her car from two years ago. A nice enough guy, even though he's a car salesman and hense, suspect.

So, we went looking around the lot at a number of cars. The first few we saw were good enough. They met the basic requirements I wanted for a car (automatic, cruise control, A/C) but they just didn't feel right, really. We looked at a few Cobalts and a Malibu and a couple other cars. Most of them were in the $12,000 to $15,000 range and that's about the area I was looking for, with the understanding that Zach was going to kick my ass for spending more than I should. We were still looking for a new car, though, one that was a program car or something were the price was taken down a bit for various reasons other than they found it on the side of the road and took it in.

Half an hour into looking around, the dearler showed us an SUV. Yes, I know, bad gas milage suddenly creeps into your head when you hear that and that's what I thought too. But, I took a closer look and actually read a bit of the material that went along with it. Turns out, it get's pretty good milage (mid 20's in town) and then he told me the best part. A week ago, they had a 2006 brought back in from a stint as a student driver car. Imagine my horror when he told me that. Why the hell would I want a car that was whored out to a bunch of teenagers, doing gods only know what unspeakable acts to it in the process of trying to learn how to three-point turn. But, he showed it to me and it looked pretty new. Actually, it looked like it'd never been touched. Of course, you gotta expect that at a dealrship. But then we took it for a test drive (test drive #3 for the day) and it felt right. It handled real well considering it was front wheel drive. It was very nice. I loved it, and I wanted to take it right then and there. But, I held off. Mustn't piss off the Zach too much.

So, we went in after driving it and talked price. MSRP for it is a little over $22,000. Kinda ouch, but at the same time, it's an SUV, what more do you expect? So, we talked it over and came down to $15,900. Oh, milage on the car right now is 4,746 miles. It's got everything I wanted, plus a little more. We discussed it, put a deposit on it (if you listen real close, I think Zach just had an episode) and went home to go look over insurance costs, and wonder if the bank going to give me a loan for three months while I wait for my settlement to come in. Pretty sure it is with mom co-signing the loan on this. Payments are going to be around $300 a month, but don't start for 45 days. Not sure on insurance yet, gonna have my insurance company run the numbers tomorrow. If everything works out right, I'm probably going to drive it off the lot Friday, maybe Saturday (I think Zach just passed out).

Now, I'm making fun of Zach because, well, he's anal about buying cars and that there's a certain process one should take to avoid being rolled by a dealership. I'm well aware of this and understand. If I had the luxury of holding out and forcing them down farther, I really wouldn't care all that much. I know Zach really wants me to wait it out and see if he can't get the guy to go down farther on the price. But, right now, I'm thinking about how I'm going to get back and forth to work for the next few days and wondering how much longer I can hold out on luck since the first shift people where I work are notorious about being late, which in turn will make mom late for work because I can't go home in the morning until someone is there. Personally, I give it until Monday before someone decides they want to sleep in another fifteen minutes. So, Zach's going to have to take a back seat on this one because I really can't afford to jeapordize my job or mom's. On the plus side, the back seats of this thing have great leg room!

So, with all that in mind, in a few days, I'm going to be driving a 2006 Chevy Equinox and driving people nuts. This works out real well too for another reason (Megan, this is the part where you sit up and pay attention because I'm making you an offer now.) A few nights ago, Zach and I were discussing. And we decided that with Alex coming to visit his grandparents for a month, wouldn't it be cool if he and I went and picked him up and brought him back to Illinois? And, while Zach's car is a great road trip car, wouldn't it be even better if we were in a brand new car? See, I'm thinking ahead here.

So, with all that said, most of the drama of the sudden and tragic loss of a devoted friend is nearing a close. I'll miss my camry. She was a good car that did the impossible in my opinion. I feel lucky that it lasted as long as it did. But, it was time awhile ago to get a new car and now, it's just something I have to do in order to survive.

Hope everyone likes it. I know Mom sounded more than a little jealous. She does that whenever I've gotten a new car. Strange.