And the winner is...the Jetta
But pretty much by default. Here's the story so far...
By the end of last night, I had made a decision on the Cavalier. Like I said, both cars had their strong and weak points, but that $1900 asking price for a car in that good of a shape was just too good to pass up. I called the owner around 10 am this morning, and told him I could have the money by tomorrow night around 6 or 7 and I'll want to pick it up then. He agreed. He said he'd already taken the car down to the place he parked it to sell it (a high school parking lot) so I said that wasn't a problem for me at all.
But ultimately, it turned out to be a problem.
An hour and a half later, the guy calls me again and says that he's been getting offers all morning for the car, and would I be willing to show up with the cash in hand and pick it up now so he wouldn't get any more calls. I couldn't. For one thing, the banks are closed, and I certainly don't carry $2k in cash with me. Plus, I helped my friend James move a couch this morning, and I didn't want to back out of that. I told him I was willing to give him what cash I had as a deposit (about $100) or write a check for the full amount, but also to hopefully be patient because at that point I considered it a done deal. But the guy was hedging, big time. I could tell at that point that I probably wasn't going to get the car. Not that it really mattered to me one way or the other I was going to get a car, and I didn't absolutely need one right now.
My thoughts were confirmed about another two hours later when the guy called me again and said he had a better offer from someone who had 2k in cash on hand plus he agreed to smog the car himself. I couldn't really top that, nor did I really want to get into some kind of bidding war. I thanked him for the opportunity and he said he was sorry but the guy had a better price, and that was that.
Now all I have to do is call the shop that the Jetta was at tomorrow and hope that its still available (I'm confident it will be...this thing has been on craigslist for a few weeks and hasn't gone anywhere). Working out the logistics of getting the car home might be a bit tricky, but hopefully, ultimately, it will be mine. And maybe it's for the best too; the guy who has it now, while granted it was purchased at an auction by him, he really knows cars, and I mean *really* knows them. He didn't sugarcoat anything about the car, and didn't try to talk it up, and was very quick to just let me take it on a test drive and figure it out for myself. I really hope it works out, because it is a very cool looking ride to boot.
Also, like I mentioned, I spent most of today with my friend James, but I saw another old friend of mine from High School, named Rob. The guy was kind of a jerk after HS and made some really bad choices in life, but now it looks like he's on the right track and trying to turn things around, which I really applaud. I hope he does well.
By the end of last night, I had made a decision on the Cavalier. Like I said, both cars had their strong and weak points, but that $1900 asking price for a car in that good of a shape was just too good to pass up. I called the owner around 10 am this morning, and told him I could have the money by tomorrow night around 6 or 7 and I'll want to pick it up then. He agreed. He said he'd already taken the car down to the place he parked it to sell it (a high school parking lot) so I said that wasn't a problem for me at all.
But ultimately, it turned out to be a problem.
An hour and a half later, the guy calls me again and says that he's been getting offers all morning for the car, and would I be willing to show up with the cash in hand and pick it up now so he wouldn't get any more calls. I couldn't. For one thing, the banks are closed, and I certainly don't carry $2k in cash with me. Plus, I helped my friend James move a couch this morning, and I didn't want to back out of that. I told him I was willing to give him what cash I had as a deposit (about $100) or write a check for the full amount, but also to hopefully be patient because at that point I considered it a done deal. But the guy was hedging, big time. I could tell at that point that I probably wasn't going to get the car. Not that it really mattered to me one way or the other I was going to get a car, and I didn't absolutely need one right now.
My thoughts were confirmed about another two hours later when the guy called me again and said he had a better offer from someone who had 2k in cash on hand plus he agreed to smog the car himself. I couldn't really top that, nor did I really want to get into some kind of bidding war. I thanked him for the opportunity and he said he was sorry but the guy had a better price, and that was that.
Now all I have to do is call the shop that the Jetta was at tomorrow and hope that its still available (I'm confident it will be...this thing has been on craigslist for a few weeks and hasn't gone anywhere). Working out the logistics of getting the car home might be a bit tricky, but hopefully, ultimately, it will be mine. And maybe it's for the best too; the guy who has it now, while granted it was purchased at an auction by him, he really knows cars, and I mean *really* knows them. He didn't sugarcoat anything about the car, and didn't try to talk it up, and was very quick to just let me take it on a test drive and figure it out for myself. I really hope it works out, because it is a very cool looking ride to boot.
Also, like I mentioned, I spent most of today with my friend James, but I saw another old friend of mine from High School, named Rob. The guy was kind of a jerk after HS and made some really bad choices in life, but now it looks like he's on the right track and trying to turn things around, which I really applaud. I hope he does well.
posted by I.M. Weasel @ 7:00 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:02 PM ,
Unknown said...
Good for you for researching the car situation. I just wonder -- without really knowing how cars work, mind you -- if it might not be better to determine absolutely, positively *where* that ticking's coming from in your current car before you spend a bunch of money on an unknown quantity near the end of its design life.
I never thought I'd live to see the day you bought a German car.
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