South Florida's idea of public transportation is a not so funny joke. A five mile commute can take what seems like forever to accomplish. Florida's Republican state and local governments aren't interested in fixing public transportation. My life takes me all over Florida. I'm stuck. I can't get around without a car.
Hubby has been campaigning for me to find another car. We've been a 2 car/3 driver family for years. Being one car short didn't help the environment much, it just made us use the two cars more. One car comes home only to leave again with another driver within a few minutes. The result is we had 1 less car, but both cars ended up with shorter usable lives. Both cars are paid for, but as the cars are aging, we're putting them in the shop and disrupting our schedules more often. The current bullshit theory is that one more car will make putting one in the shop not so bad. The real issue is that with 3 cars, only 1 or may be 2 of our 3 schedules will get screwed when a car goes into the shop. It's bunk, but there is some allure for everyone to have their own primary car, so I started looking for a car.
Just because I need a car, that doesn't mean I can't minimize my car's impact on the environment. It doesn't mean I have to finance it with a rapacious Wall Street firm. I didn't have to burn gas shopping for the car either. What I didn't know was that internet/phone car shopping was a stress free way to find a car.
Like most people my main problem with buying a car surrounds the dealership, finance and the overwhelming feeling of getting taken for a ride while buying my ride.
Unlike many people, my primary "bank" has been a credit union for over 20 years. Their loan rates get better as you fulfill their criteria, which I list later. The Credit Union pre-approved me to buy a brand new Volvo over 7 years if I wanted one and they said if I wanted to buy middle age crisis 2-seater; I could probably arrange it. Yeah, well, just because a lender will let you buy something, doesn't mean you should buy it.
I got the ok to shop for twice as much car as I had in mind and could finance it for twice as long as I had in mind in one, 5 minute phone call.
So, I went "shopping".
The intertubes are great. Over a few weeks I've "seen" Fits, Fusions, Tucsons, Prius and more. I found a 15 year old Hybrid Tahoe for $4,500. "Runs Great!" said the ad, I clicked the back button. There was the puzzling 2008 Prius selling for $6,000. The picture looked great. The ad said "for export only". That's a car wreck.
It was only a matter of time before a car I wanted showed up. Several did, but they turned out to be not quite right. Then, (insert harmonious two-toned choir chord here) there it was; the perfect car for me. It's at a dealership less than 5 miles from the house. There's a free Carfax report available on the net!
I called the dealer made an appointment for the next day. I called the Credit Union and arranged for a finance voucher. (I could return the voucher or keep it for another deal if this car fell through). I got there. The test drive was perfect. The engine looked good. Less than 35,000 miles. Less than 4 years old. Ugh! There was a hitch, the car had been dinged in the dealer's parking lot. It was about 4 inches of pulled back steel. It looked like someone took a can opener to it. It would rust in no time. I figured it would cost me about $1,200 to get it fixed.
Aw, pooh. All the negotiating stuff I hate about buying a car was about to happen.
Dang, dang, dang.
I breathe, getting ready to go for it.
Then, hubby walks over and whispers in my ear, "I heard them inside say they are having trouble selling this car because mostly Tea Party folks shop here and that's a tree hugger's car".
Cool beans for me, sucks for the dealership.
Hubby stepped back, his eyes widening. He later told me I was smiling like a cougar.
The deal I struck might not make Zig Ziglar proud, but I did all right. I got them to go down a little on the price, fix the ding and replace the scraped rear bumper. They tried to beat my credit union's rate, but they couldn't. The credit union gave me quarter point discounts for being a member for 20 years, having a high enough average daily balance, buying a hybrid and financing for 4 or less years. I lost a 1 point discount because I bought a used car, eh; you can't get it all, all of the time. I console my self with the idea that I'm coming out ahead in depreciated book value arena.
So, in spite of putting another car on the road, which I admit, isn't good for the environment; at least I energy efficiently used the internet and phone to buy a hybrid for under book value and financed it with a non-profit credit union.
I'm sure someone reading this snippet about my life will be sure to point out the falacious aspects of my rationalizing here, but that's ok. I'm driving a tree hugger's car with a cougar's smile on my face.