The other night Justin's car started to make a terrible noise, as its been reported to me, and he is bascially done with that car. His father had gotten him the car so he could drive back and forth to UNF, and I was so glad to not have to do that drive any longer. At first he had a 'no eating' policy, allowing only tea to be drunk in his vehicle. Then, when he worked for his father and had to use this same car basically as a truck, he fell out of love with it. Hauling yard equipment from site to site and other dirty stuff around took the charm out of the car. Then, there was the moving of the office back and forth from building to building, suite to suite more than once that year which took its toll on the car, causing the latch on the hatch to fail. Not handy!
When hauling some wood in the car, the windshield got a crack which has never been repaired, though its covered by insurance. All it takes is a phone call and appointment, you know? Well, he's not trusted it for some time now, uses my car whenever possible. After Wednesday and the mystery rattle under the hood, he was in search of a vehicle to replace it. Justin wants to get a truck, preferably a small one, but must fit certain criteria such as age, miles, and price.
On the Internet he found a pick-up at Coggin on Phillips Hwy. I had made plans to go with Judy C. to a retirement/anniversary celebration for a local pastor but instead went with Justin to look at the truck. First we had lunch with our friends, some of them, and then headed to the Southside to see the truck. When we pulled up, the car lot was nearly empty. What the heck? There was a young guy walking around with a big drink so we engaged him. He told us they were in the process of moving all the cars to their new lot just down the street. Whew!, I felt better then.
Another guy showed up, Mark, who had worked there longer and could better answer the questions. The guys had us follow them to the new store, brand new, and they would help us locate that truck. Because it was so newly traded in, it hadn't make it to the lot yet plus they couldn't readily locate the keys for it. Before long, Mark came back with the key and we were off to see it, this time at a property on the opposite side of the road from the first place we were at. Justin and I chose to take our own car, giving me the feeling of being able to just drive off if we didn't like it. Not beholding to them to take us back to the new building, or try to sell us something else.
Well, it was really tucked behind, almost hidden, on this property. The previous owner's junk was still in the truck, scraps of paper, empty Scoals can, that type of mess. It started right up, the A/C worked, and away three of us went for a test drive. It did everything it was supposed to do, though Justin thought the brakes shuddered a bit.
The dealership will perform a 150 point safety inspection first, clean it up, and have it ready to go for us on Tuesday night. There is a good deal of paperwork to handle despite him not financing the vehicle. We had to stress to the sales people and to the 'finance guy' over and over that nothing happens on our part until that safety inspection has taken place and it passes. The fees are nuts, non-specific, and the salesmen didn't even know what they were for. What made this stressful for me was that of the three guys we worked with, all of them were new here. Not one of them had a business card to give us. The primary sales guy we worked with, Mark, wrote his name and number on the back of the envelope holding the paperwork Justin signed so we can call him. I said to them, "You know everything about us (after filling out the paperwork) and we know nothing about you!" Bet they were glad to see us go!
Justin was relieved when we left, but there are still many unknowns yet with this vehicle. He is having his boss or another friend look it over once he buys it though we have little recourse once it leaves their lot. The safety inspection, etc. will take place on Monday, they said, but we can't be there to pick it up until Tuesday after Justin is done working. Then, he has to get his car checked over, fix the windshield, repair the hatch, and clean it out to sell it. He needs the money from that to pay his 'loan' on the truck. Plus, insuring two vehicles is an added expense. Another glitch is parking, as we are limited on parking spaces here so that is further incentive to get that car taken care of.
We were taxed when we got home, this stressful afternoon wearing on us. He is relieved to have found this truck, that's for sure. Justin said he needed a shower after that afternoon which helped him to relax. For dinner we had leftovers and watched a couple episodes of "Parks and Recreation" which he is trying to get me to love. So far..it's okay but it's just not "Seinfeld"- or "Last Man Standing"-funny. Quirky is more like it, but it may take a while to grow on me. Speaking of "Seinfeld", I wanted Justin to see part of a segment of "The Car Dealer" episode where Puddy became a car salesman and wanted to high-five Jerry over and over. Justin was made to high-five the first guy we met at the car dealership because they both have Dodge Calibers. Everything is "Seinfeld"!!!
