My "New" Car

Ok, in the world of bloghood I have severely slacked on the postings as of late. Its been over a month, actually since my last post. Sad.

I have much to blog about though, so stay tuned for some exciting tales from my corner of the world.

First off, the long awaited car reveal! The pictures are the only ones I have of my car and were taken courtesy of my blackberry on the day I bought the car. I was so excited and wanted to send pictures of it to everyone in my address book so hooray for excitment or you would only have text and no pictures. I think the car looks kinda funny in the pictures, but, since they are the only pictures I have, they will have to suffice until I take more. If I take more...

After much deliberation, comparing, drooling, refocusing, and deep breaths, I finally decided that the car I wanted, the car I would be happy in, the car I imagined I would still be happy in until I or it died, was a Toyota Rav 4. The trouble with that, however, is that I didn't want to get anything older than a 2006. That meant I'd be skirting up in the high end of my budget, if not beyond, in most cases.

Bradford was very helpful through the entire process and even drove to and back from L.A. within a 24 hour time period to go look at a 2006 Rav 4 he found on eBay for a steal.

Unfortunately, the car in CA was not what we had expected. However, it opened up the door of searching again and through that searching we found a little credit union that had a lot of repos, one of them was a beautiful, silver, 2007 Rav 4, with barely 44,000 miles on it, 4wd, and a free roadside assistant kit that the previous owner forgot about in the trunk :)! After test driving and thinking it over for a day or so, I knew it was the car I wanted.

The nice thing about buying the car was that since it was a credit union, I didn't have to pay any of the ridiculous fees that come with buying at a dealership, and since they'd had the car for so long and wanted to get it off their hands, we talked him down to giving it to me for the blue book trade in value which was $2,500 less than what they had listed it for in the classifieds, and by far WAY less than I could get a Rav 4 for anywhere else. Especially for the year and condition it was in. I was very happy with the purchase and am still thrilled about it. I really like the car.

The only cons I can think of are: the transmission- I would have loved a manual transmission but I was having a hard enough time finding Rav 4s for sale let alone a manual transmission Rav 4. It was weird adjusting to driving an automatic after having driven a manual for so long, but it really isn't that big of a deal, it was just a preference more than anything. I also would have liked a different color. Again, a very minor, relatively irrelevant, detail but if I could have chosen any color it probably wouldn't have been the silver. I also find myself wishing it had some of the fancy gadgets and gizmos that come from newer cars these days like heated seats, navigation systems, and so on but those aren't necessities and if I really wanted to, I could get those things put in.

So, after all is said and done, I love my car, the awful and painful process of finding and buying a car is over and I am pleased as punch with my purchase.

Or rather... the bank's purchase. Ew.

DMV

I went to the DMV this morning. It took a less than ten minutes from walking in to walking out. The lady helping me was pleasant. I was the only person there beside the dozen or so employees. The registration fee ended up being a LOT cheaper than I was told it might be. I got my license plates right there- not temps, the real deal yo. And I left happy.

But then, as I was walking to my car, I had this horrible feeling that it couldn't possibly have been that easy. It couldn't possibly have been such a simple process. What did I do wrong? Is this just the calm before the storm? Are they going to lose my title before my bank gets it back from them?! Is my license plate number somehow registered mistakenly to two vehicles?! Will by debit card be charged again for some strange hidden fees that I somehow unknowingly signed to? What did I even sign anyway? Why didn't I read it all?! WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?!?!?

Breathe... maybe Utah Gov has stepped up their game? Maybe... Hopefully.

Pictures of my lovely are still pending. Life is... intense... right now. If I ever think to nab some pictures despite the mayhem I'll be sure to post them.

Goodie

I have my car. I love it. I will have pictures soon.

Thank goodness that whole process is over... almost. Still have to make it to the DMV. Wish me luck!

Wheels Keep on Turning

I am in the market for a car.

I'm also in the market for a new purse. But that's beside the point...

I decided that since I am now debt free, what better way to celebrate than by diving headfirst into the pool of debt again?! Yay...

But really, it is kind of yay. Bradford has been awesome and has all but given up use of his car for the past year for me to use to drive all over Utah for work. I figured that now its time to join the rest of the grown-ups in this world and purchase my own car.

Initially, Bradford convinced me to just keep using his car for a while longer, save up a bunch of money, and then pay what I could in cash for a car and take a smaller loan out for the remainder if I had too. Smart fellow that Bradford. However, recent developments have changed the game plan a little. Blackie, Bradford's car, has started to have a few... hiccups lately. Bradford has decided that instead of dealing with the inevitable hundreds of dollars these new hiccups will cost in the near future, that he will sell Blackie and buy a motorcycle. For those days when a motorcycle just won't cut it (ie- 7.786 months out of the year when Utah is covered in white stuff and is a constant freezing-degrees-faranheit) then I will repay my debt to him by letting him use my car when necessary.

I am excited. But not. I will have a lovely car that will have more than two doors (making shopping MUCH more convenient... however that may make the whole "debt free" thing even more a thing of the past... OK, I'm kidding), transporting furniture will be less of a pain in my behindular (I am still perfecting my apartment and have more furnitures that need to be brought in), and it will be more reliable and comfy and a myriad of other things. But then there's the "but." I hate debt. I don't want to be in any more debt. I can easily make a car payment each month, no sweat, but that means less money stowed away into my savings every paycheck. That makes me :(. Besides, cars are pure money pits. I mean, all they do is take money from you. They hardly do anything in return to compensate... besides that whole transporting-my-being-in-comfort-and-safety bit of course...

But, I guess the fact that I can own a car, pay for my own apartment AND still plug away a few hundred bucks into savings each month should be enough to make me :) right? Right.

I feel like all I have been looking at is cars. My head is spinning. The wheels inside my head are spinning with wheels. Wheels, and MPGs, and reliability ratings, and interior specs, and dollar signs... The other day as I was leaving work I had to stop for a minute and think really hard as to which car I was walking to because I had been picturing myself in so many different cars all day that I couldn't remember what car I actually had. Good gravy.

I hope I can make a decision soon. I just want to get it done all ready. Car shopping is tiresome! This little guy has been a good help though:

Wish me luck!