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Squeeeeeee!!!!
I haven't been blogging much about the Saga Of The Beetle Search, but I've been trying to find a used diesel New Beetle in good shape for a reasonable price for over a month. Every time I get a line on one, it's gone already, or it turns out to not actually be a diesel, or to be an automatic (I want a manual), or to be waaaaaaay more than I'm willing to pay for a second car.
This afternoon, thanks to AutoTrader's email alerts, I got an email about one near Dallas/Fort Worth. The price looks good and the car looks great. I checked Carfax and the report is squeeky clean. My cell phone was out of battery, so I raced home (I try not to put personal long-distance calls on the office phone), plugged in the phone and plopped down in the floor by the charger (where I still sit... writing this!). Called the dealership and Harvey (the sales-critter responsible for this particular car) was out for the day. They offered me his cell phone number. Normally, I'd be averse to calling somebody once they're away from the office, but I wasn't willing to let this one wait 'til morning.
So I called Harvey. He's had people calling from all over the country about the car, but nobody actually committed to it yet. It was scheduled to go on eBay tonight. Harvey drove it for the last couple of days and almost bought it himself... says it runs great and is fun to drive. At 88k miles, it's just over where it should have had its timing belt changed (at 85k)... he doesn't have the maintenance history and they don't have a mechanic, so I'm taking my chances on that one. It's listed for enough below NADA value that I'll eat the cost of the belt change if I have to... it won't have to be done for another 100k miles after that... and if the belt looks really ratty when I get there, I'll just use that to haggle the price down some more.
Since I'm kinda working blind, and knowing that used car salesmen sometimes have a slippery grasp on reality, I asked the last question... "Harvey, if you needed to put your wife or daughter in it tomorrow to make an 800-mile trip by themselves, would you be comfortable sending them off in this car?" He said he would. I'm gonna take that at face value and hope for the best!
It's pretty... silver with black leather interior, power everything (except tranny, which is 5-speed manual), powered moonroof, good tires, interior and exterior in great shape, alloy wheels, upgraded audio system. And as soon as I can get my butt to DFW, it's mine! It's officially on hold for me (unless somebody sold it in the time it took me to have the conversation with Harvey), and they do complimentary pick-up at DFW, so now I just have to talk to my boss and book a flight.
So okay, I haven't actually bought it yet, but I committed to buy it unless it has been "substantially misrepresented." Yay for finding a car that won't bankrupt me on fuel costs! I love my Trooper, and having a second car means the Trooper should stay alive and healthy for several more years for hauling dogs and PA gear and stuff while the shiny little Bug can be the daily driver.
I almost feel bad for the lady from California who "just wanted her daughter to see the ad first"... but having had the one in Memphis snatched out from under me this past weekend, I'm over feeling bad about anybody who hesitates. :-)
I'm so excited!
I haven't been blogging much about the Saga Of The Beetle Search, but I've been trying to find a used diesel New Beetle in good shape for a reasonable price for over a month. Every time I get a line on one, it's gone already, or it turns out to not actually be a diesel, or to be an automatic (I want a manual), or to be waaaaaaay more than I'm willing to pay for a second car.
This afternoon, thanks to AutoTrader's email alerts, I got an email about one near Dallas/Fort Worth. The price looks good and the car looks great. I checked Carfax and the report is squeeky clean. My cell phone was out of battery, so I raced home (I try not to put personal long-distance calls on the office phone), plugged in the phone and plopped down in the floor by the charger (where I still sit... writing this!). Called the dealership and Harvey (the sales-critter responsible for this particular car) was out for the day. They offered me his cell phone number. Normally, I'd be averse to calling somebody once they're away from the office, but I wasn't willing to let this one wait 'til morning.
So I called Harvey. He's had people calling from all over the country about the car, but nobody actually committed to it yet. It was scheduled to go on eBay tonight. Harvey drove it for the last couple of days and almost bought it himself... says it runs great and is fun to drive. At 88k miles, it's just over where it should have had its timing belt changed (at 85k)... he doesn't have the maintenance history and they don't have a mechanic, so I'm taking my chances on that one. It's listed for enough below NADA value that I'll eat the cost of the belt change if I have to... it won't have to be done for another 100k miles after that... and if the belt looks really ratty when I get there, I'll just use that to haggle the price down some more.
Since I'm kinda working blind, and knowing that used car salesmen sometimes have a slippery grasp on reality, I asked the last question... "Harvey, if you needed to put your wife or daughter in it tomorrow to make an 800-mile trip by themselves, would you be comfortable sending them off in this car?" He said he would. I'm gonna take that at face value and hope for the best!
It's pretty... silver with black leather interior, power everything (except tranny, which is 5-speed manual), powered moonroof, good tires, interior and exterior in great shape, alloy wheels, upgraded audio system. And as soon as I can get my butt to DFW, it's mine! It's officially on hold for me (unless somebody sold it in the time it took me to have the conversation with Harvey), and they do complimentary pick-up at DFW, so now I just have to talk to my boss and book a flight.
So okay, I haven't actually bought it yet, but I committed to buy it unless it has been "substantially misrepresented." Yay for finding a car that won't bankrupt me on fuel costs! I love my Trooper, and having a second car means the Trooper should stay alive and healthy for several more years for hauling dogs and PA gear and stuff while the shiny little Bug can be the daily driver.
I almost feel bad for the lady from California who "just wanted her daughter to see the ad first"... but having had the one in Memphis snatched out from under me this past weekend, I'm over feeling bad about anybody who hesitates. :-)
I'm so excited!
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 12:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 01:00 am (UTC)Flight is booked... I go get it on Tuesday!
* waits anxiously for confirmation that salescritter got my email *
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 04:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 03:35 pm (UTC)Who's the kitty in the icon? I love odd-eyed whites... they're so striking!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-09 09:34 am (UTC)The photo is from a series of her posing provocatively on a red sofa. Even before that we called her the Marilyn Monroe cat: gorgeous, needy & dumb. Genetically, she's a Siamese in a white fur coat (so not deaf); more fuel for the movie star comparison. We only wish she'd gotten the Siamese IQ instead of the Siamese voice.
Being a cat of very little brain, she spends most of her life scared and cranky. (Reminds me of a lot of Republicans I know.) She's very affectionate, especially with men (see above), yet yowls and screeches whenever you pick her up, even if it's her idea.
The bane of her life is our bouncy, playful, 2 1/2 y.o. Vir. He's extremely smart, so he quickly figured out that if she wouldn't play with him, he could at least play with her head. Fun to watch, not so fun to referee
It took 2 years, but Satin finally figured out that he's a great big creampuff. Now, besides when he deserves it, she swats him and cusses him out whenever *anything* she doesn't like happens (nail clipping, etc.).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-10 03:59 am (UTC)I need to get a good face shot of Smudge... he's an odd-eyed mostly-white, but he's a van (small smudge of black on the top of his head, hence the name) so also not deaf. He's my biggest snuggler... if he can't get in my lap (generally because it's occupied by the laptop), then he's curled up beside me and as far up onto my left leg as he can get without being on the laptop. He's got a purr that can be heard from across the room... such a sweet boy. Technically, he was my former housemate's cat, but he's half of a sibling pair and has always been more bonded to me than he was to Amy, so she agreed to let him stay with me and his sister Gorby.
Thankfully, all of my cats like the petsitter, so they'll be a bit clingy when I return from Conterpoint, but they don't sulk much about trips any more 'cause Lawana gives 'em lots of attention while I'm gone.
I don't have a Smudgie icon... I need to do that. This one is Izzie... the other youngling who plays pounce-and-zoom with Bigfoot. She's got an interesting history, which I'll save for a later post. (It occurs to me that I should do a series of "meet the critters" posts.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 11:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 01:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 03:36 pm (UTC)Not coming this weekend, though... Ron asked me if I could run sound for Saturday's gig, but I was dragging my feet (tons of things to do before Conterpoint) and they found somebody else. I'm really glad, now that I'm losing two days out of next week to go get the Beetle!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 02:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-08 03:44 pm (UTC)One of my criteria in looking for a second car was that it has to entertain me. If I'm going to support two vehicles, one has to be fun. So it had to be fuel-efficient, which led me to the diesel VWs, and it had to be the Beetle ('cause Golfs and Jettas just aren't as cute) and manual.