The good and the bad.
I've been car shopping for 2 days now, but yesterday my van officially was declared dead. SO I need a van YESTERDAY. We were able to walk to 3 of our errands today, but now i need to call my FIL for a ride to look for a new car and hope we can take delivery today. UGH! That is the bad.
The good is that I was able to rebook our outgoing flights again and saved another $120. Not exactly enough to buy a new to me van, but every little bit helps!
Off to find a newish, low mile, no rust 7 passenger vehicle that is great on gas and under $12000.
UPDATED!!
THis was taken from another board I post on since I am a bit lazy LOL!
Our van is officially dead. We knew we were on borrowed time, but yesterday the thingy that holds the steering mechanism to the frame snapped off! (OK you knew that already - this was posted Wednesday Morning around 8 AM)
SO now I had to walk the boy to school (just 1/3 mile each way) and will have to walk to swimming lessons (1/2 mile each way) but I hear thunder in the distance.
FIL has agreed to take me car shopping (DH has to work) but I do NOT want to do this today! But we are being sensible and not renting a car for now. I have a lead on one older minivan, but it is in the opposite direction form where we wanted to go car shopping and my FIL is not so great about "all that highway" driving.
At least Disney is Paid in Full and we do have a bit of cash on hand for a down payment and taxes, etc.
UGH!!!
Just had to get that out. Prayers for a minivan, not too old, rust free, under 40,000 miles on it and under $11,000 would be deeply appreciated!
THIS was the update posted at 10 PM
FIL Decided it was better for everyone if they stayed back to watch the kids and just let me take their van (I agree, but was surprised that they let me take their not quite a year old car "unsupervised!")
Storm stayed north of here, and even though first lessons were cancelled (Its an outdoor pool) The girls got to do theirs with no raindrops, and we made it home again.
FIL gave me his car, I went to check on the 1 iffy lead and 1 solid lead we had and came back empty handed and disappointed. The solid lead was about 12 hours old and while the car was still on the lot, it had a deposit on it. I did get another lead on a car coming in about 40 minutes, but I had to leave to get the boy.
I got the boy just 3 minutes late, and then went to get Molly and had FIL drop us off at home so Char could visit alone.
I let the kids ride around the block with me trailing and then fielded phone calls form various car guys telling me what they found. Nothing exciting, but I took the info to check when we were all back in the house.
Nothing excited me seeing it on the computer either, so I started a fresh search and the 2nd one I found was great! DH stopped home for kisses and told me to jump on it, see if I could get a live view of it and then just buy it if I thought it was a good one (DH trusts me with it after seeing me in action Monday night - he was confident that I would not give into pressure and knew we were in agreement on important features.)
I called the contact listed on the ad and asked a few questions, made arrangements to see it "live" in about an hour, called my credit union to transfer the down payment to my checking just in case and inquire about their rates and probable monthly payment, Then called my ILS back, they came to get me and the kids, and they let me use their car once again. DH called to say he would be able to meet me there (Insert sigh of relief here since I really didn't want to get this wrong no matter how much confidence HE has in me LOL!) then headed over.
I was greeted by a sales man who told me he was expecting me and not even 5 minutes later "my contact" came out to introduce himself and assured me that they guy was one of the best and left me alone with him. We scoured the car thoroughly and DH arrived in time for a test drive. BEAUTIFUL van inside and out, 2 years newer than the one we missed out on earlier, less miles and cheaper, too! We were in agreement that if we could get the financing, we would be buying it, but the salesman first took us on a tour of the entire operation from the service department check in, bay area, quick lube, body and detail shops and 2 showrooms (New and used lots) then we came back to get serious.
Everyone took time to smile, shake our hands, joke around and was very nice! Not to mention how CLEAN everything was! Even the kids area. It was "loved" but not dirty. We got to work on the negotiations (Trying to see what terms suited our needs and we got it after 2 tries. Then we met with the official finance guy and came up with the "final" number. Then we were told they would need about an hour to get things finalized, so they lead us back to the "other" showroom to get started on the insurance transfer and then we left to drop of the IL's car and get the plates of our van. We signed off on all the paperwork while our sales guy put our plates on the van, and then he handed us the key and walked us to the van, explaining EVERYTHING to us before letting us drive away. "THis is where your headlights are, the highbeams, this is how the radio/ AC/ heat/ whatever works." and "Oh hey, don't drive away before we can give you your coupon for your first oil change for free AND remember you will get a free car wash, too!" OUTSTANDING customer service over all.
IN reality, I found this van online around 4PM and we had it parked in our driveway by 9! Truly amazing!
The good is that I was able to rebook our outgoing flights again and saved another $120. Not exactly enough to buy a new to me van, but every little bit helps!
Off to find a newish, low mile, no rust 7 passenger vehicle that is great on gas and under $12000.
UPDATED!!
THis was taken from another board I post on since I am a bit lazy LOL!
Our van is officially dead. We knew we were on borrowed time, but yesterday the thingy that holds the steering mechanism to the frame snapped off! (OK you knew that already - this was posted Wednesday Morning around 8 AM)
SO now I had to walk the boy to school (just 1/3 mile each way) and will have to walk to swimming lessons (1/2 mile each way) but I hear thunder in the distance.
FIL has agreed to take me car shopping (DH has to work) but I do NOT want to do this today! But we are being sensible and not renting a car for now. I have a lead on one older minivan, but it is in the opposite direction form where we wanted to go car shopping and my FIL is not so great about "all that highway" driving.
At least Disney is Paid in Full and we do have a bit of cash on hand for a down payment and taxes, etc.
UGH!!!
Just had to get that out. Prayers for a minivan, not too old, rust free, under 40,000 miles on it and under $11,000 would be deeply appreciated!
THIS was the update posted at 10 PM
FIL Decided it was better for everyone if they stayed back to watch the kids and just let me take their van (I agree, but was surprised that they let me take their not quite a year old car "unsupervised!")
Storm stayed north of here, and even though first lessons were cancelled (Its an outdoor pool) The girls got to do theirs with no raindrops, and we made it home again.
FIL gave me his car, I went to check on the 1 iffy lead and 1 solid lead we had and came back empty handed and disappointed. The solid lead was about 12 hours old and while the car was still on the lot, it had a deposit on it. I did get another lead on a car coming in about 40 minutes, but I had to leave to get the boy.
I got the boy just 3 minutes late, and then went to get Molly and had FIL drop us off at home so Char could visit alone.
I let the kids ride around the block with me trailing and then fielded phone calls form various car guys telling me what they found. Nothing exciting, but I took the info to check when we were all back in the house.
Nothing excited me seeing it on the computer either, so I started a fresh search and the 2nd one I found was great! DH stopped home for kisses and told me to jump on it, see if I could get a live view of it and then just buy it if I thought it was a good one (DH trusts me with it after seeing me in action Monday night - he was confident that I would not give into pressure and knew we were in agreement on important features.)
I called the contact listed on the ad and asked a few questions, made arrangements to see it "live" in about an hour, called my credit union to transfer the down payment to my checking just in case and inquire about their rates and probable monthly payment, Then called my ILS back, they came to get me and the kids, and they let me use their car once again. DH called to say he would be able to meet me there (Insert sigh of relief here since I really didn't want to get this wrong no matter how much confidence HE has in me LOL!) then headed over.
I was greeted by a sales man who told me he was expecting me and not even 5 minutes later "my contact" came out to introduce himself and assured me that they guy was one of the best and left me alone with him. We scoured the car thoroughly and DH arrived in time for a test drive. BEAUTIFUL van inside and out, 2 years newer than the one we missed out on earlier, less miles and cheaper, too! We were in agreement that if we could get the financing, we would be buying it, but the salesman first took us on a tour of the entire operation from the service department check in, bay area, quick lube, body and detail shops and 2 showrooms (New and used lots) then we came back to get serious.
Everyone took time to smile, shake our hands, joke around and was very nice! Not to mention how CLEAN everything was! Even the kids area. It was "loved" but not dirty. We got to work on the negotiations (Trying to see what terms suited our needs and we got it after 2 tries. Then we met with the official finance guy and came up with the "final" number. Then we were told they would need about an hour to get things finalized, so they lead us back to the "other" showroom to get started on the insurance transfer and then we left to drop of the IL's car and get the plates of our van. We signed off on all the paperwork while our sales guy put our plates on the van, and then he handed us the key and walked us to the van, explaining EVERYTHING to us before letting us drive away. "THis is where your headlights are, the highbeams, this is how the radio/ AC/ heat/ whatever works." and "Oh hey, don't drive away before we can give you your coupon for your first oil change for free AND remember you will get a free car wash, too!" OUTSTANDING customer service over all.
IN reality, I found this van online around 4PM and we had it parked in our driveway by 9! Truly amazing!
posted by Elena at 10:42 AM
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