New Car

I thought once the semester was over, life would get calmer, but we've been incredibly busy! Unfortunately it mostly revolves around preparing for Paul's departure, my new class lecture preparation (I'm teaching a different course in July), & the day-to-day care of Alec & the dogs. Nothing exciting there, but we did get a new car. Let me set the stage with our first car-buying experience (everyone's entitled to one mistake, right?)

It's October 2006 & we're still waiting for Paul's visa, so he flew out for 2 weeks to help me move my things from my parents' home in Vegas to Colorado. While in Colorado we wanted to find a car together BEFORE he left (mistake #1). We'd decided on a Subaru-dependable, great in the snow, etc. But, after test driving one decided it wasn't for us...the problem was we had no back-up choice (mistake #2). So, we got talked into a 2002 Nissan Maxima. A car we didn't want and paid more than we wanted (mistakes 3 & 4). As such, this time I refused to be blindsighted.

After doing our research, we decided on a CR-V. We wanted something the dogs could fit in (though Jordan says I can't say the trunk...that's what it is, right?), something with good gas mileage & 4-wheel drive. (It has a small engine (2.4 L) with over drive, so the mountains won't be fun, but it's mostly for in-town usage and the gas mileage was more important).

Plenty of room for the dogs

We knew how much we wanted to put down and our monthly payments. We looked online and found it right away. They had a 2008 CR-V-it's used, but with only 2,500 miles on it, so it makes the warranty good for 7 years, instead of 3 (since the engine's been 'broken in'). So, Wednesday we go to the Honda dealership and the guy wanted $500 more down and $99 more a month than I want to pay. The only problem? My husband test drove the car and LOVED it. The salesman got it down to $59 more a month than I wanted to pay, so Paul was ready to take the deal. I made him walk out.


Friday morning I get a phone call and he'd reduced the monthly payments to only $25 above what I wanted to pay. So, Saturday morning we check it out again, try the car seat & Paul is completely in love. I still say no. Eventually he knocks it down to $10 above what we wanted to pay monthly. Still not good enough. We say we'll come back if we can't find a better deal elsewhere (it is Memorial Day weekend-loads of sales & promotions going on, plus I had a list of other CR-Vs for sale in Vegas) and the salesman knocks the $500 off the down payment. Paul's about ready to deck me, so I finally agree...pretty happy about it all in the end. It reminded me of haggling in Egypt, it was such a rush!!

Plenty of room for a second car seat and a booster seat. Car rides start out slow...

Then get exciting when the wind blows in our face.

We love driving it and Alec's enjoying the view from a higher perspective. We had also saved enough (since he lowered the down payment) so Paul could get his MacBook. I was going to surprise him with it as his graduation gift, but he could use it before then, so it seemed silly to wait. My head's still reeling from all the money we spent on one day...that or the people at the Blood Drive took too much out of me yesterday...