Hold On to Your Wallets, Folks
Feb 18 2010
Stopping the RV has been interesting. There are times I feel like I should be hooking up the car, putting the antenna down, and plug an address into the GPS for our next stop. Of course, this may be due to single digit weather as opposed to a feeling to get on the road again.
However, the arrival here has been a culture shock – and a shock in general. Getting used to having to arrive at work at a specified time has been a change. But, I’m teaching at a good school and in a great department, so it has been easy to ease into a new career (“about time” as my brother-in-law would say).
Then there was the car search. We lost a perfectly good, high mileage, well maintained, Volvo early in the trip. It burned to the ground while being stored over a weekend by a mechanic. Unfortunately, the storage building was owned and shared by three local businesses, so finding fault was like finding good Mexican food in Europe. We went through USAA for the loss, but the payment didn’t quite equal the real value, and it was less the deductible (how about this for a bad choice: I raised our deductible before the trip in order to save premium, and we end up having 4 claims during the trip that more than exceeded the premium savings).
Anyway, looking for a second car was not so much an eye-opener but a reminder of how much I despise buying cars. The Scotch-Irish in me made me look for used cars instead of buying a new vehicle. We had to deal with the anonymity of CraigsList and local want ads, and the related cynicism about the real reason the car is being sold. And, of course we met the local car dealers’ salesmen (they’re always men, but that’s probably a positive statement regarding the integrity of women). I’ve never met so many best friends in such little time who really cared about my family (my hand was on my wallet the whole time).
In the end, we came across a nice guy who emigrated here from Poland a few years ago (I mention that only in honor of my late mom who was always proud of her Polish heritage – she would have enjoyed meeting him). He had an ’05 vehicle with low mileage and a great price. On top of that, he owns a few hotels around Colorado and threw in a free weekend at his hotel in the mountains at Frisco, CO.
Things are settling well. Now, on to the house issue.
Well glad to see you are getting settled. I tried to call MC last weekend but had to leave her a message. Tell her I will call her this weekend to see how she is coping.
Give the kids a kiss for me!
You are not alone. Buying a car can be the worst experience in the world. You should try it in the DC area where all used car salesmen are from countries with a totally different culture than the US. They use that to intimidate the somewhat less aggressive buyers.
@Pat – MC is at the Home & Garden show today with Paula. Call her this weekend!
@Lea – you have made me feel better about the car purchase. I don’t think I could have handled that intercultural sales aggressiveness. That would make a fascinating study. I think I’ll go watch Glengary Glen Ross.