Car Craziness

So we bought a van today! Well, kind of. Sam forgot to bring the check to the dealership and we won't have the money in the account until Wednesday, but it is OURS! This process has lasted quite a long time. My car started having major trouble a year ago, but we weren't pregnant yet and didn't think we should buy a van just yet. Then my car had major major trouble 2 months ago but, alas, we were not ready financially to buy a van. So, in the last year we put $2,000 into my dumb little car. Sam finally found THE van a few days ago and we started the process. He looked at it. I looked at it. The mechanic looked at it. My mom looked at it. Daniel played in it. We were all sold. After the final test drive, Sam started wheeling and dealing. The plan was to trade in my wonderful Mazda Protege that I have had since high school for at least $1000, but we came to find out that 1. I was in a small fender-bender at LSU and had the bumper replaced so car fax screamed WRECK and 2. The car was purchased in my dad's name and then sold to me once i turned 18, so the carfax screamed TWO OWNERS. Both items Sam insisted were either minor or not true, but the dealer did not believe him and only offered $500 for the car i just put $2000 into!! Needless to say i was PO'd. After Sam told me this on the phone and i thought about it I called him back to tell him that we should just sell it ourselves. Of course I did this with a little too much passion and he put me on speakerphone (without my knowledge) in the sales office while they were drawing up the final plans. Somehow, my anger at the situation made the dealer take more off the van and gave us less for the car, but with a loophole that we don't have to trade in the car! So, hopefully, Sam's little brother will learn to drive a stick and come up with $1000 and make us all happy.



I am happy. I am getting a decent price for my car (and maybe keeping it in the family). Sam is happy. He got the salesman to go lower than he thought on the price of the van. The salesman is not happy because he lost extra money on the van (and therefore we are happy). So, hopefully this wednesday, or thursday, when the money arrives and we can all coordinate ourselves to get to the lot at the same time with just one vehicle, we will have our new, used van.
My wonderful car, that has been with me since high school, on our wedding day.

Pictures to follow upon actual purchase.