Karen came home with some bad news a few weeks ago. The car she had inherited from her grandfather — a 1996 Chrylser Concorde LX — had finally kicked the bucket.
After thousands of dollars in repair and care, the latest Concorde malady was the final straw. The mechanic's advice was to trade it in so that's what we did.
It's been more than six years since my last automobile purchase — my 1998 Mistsubishi Montero, which is still on the road (knock wood). A co-worker and his girlfriend bought a Scion, and he kind of gave me a rundown of the market.
Karen was pretty specific on what she wanted — 4-door sedan, plenty of leg room, good gas mileage a low miles. Since her car did not qualify for the Cash for Clunkers rebate (it was slightly above the MPG requirements — 19 combined, 1 MPG too high ... Drat.) we decided to go the pre-owned route.
What she didn't count on was the amount of hogwash that would pour out of typical used car salesmen. Even after watching her head spin around on its axis, many of these dude wouldn't stop. I suppose that's part of their strategy. It doesn't work with my wife.
We managed to get in a few test drives with no major damage to any salesmen, and I even managed to emerge relatively unscathed. After narrowing our choices — We pretty much eliminated the Kia Optima and Ford Fusion with their less-than-impressive rides — we were down to the Nissan Altima and Chevy Impala. We considered some other sedans, but most often, leg room was an issue.
With no intention of making a purchase Karen and I ambled onto the Mel Hambleton parking lot. The salesman, Andy, came out for the usual chit-chat and tire kicking. Almost immediately, Karen went into "show-me-what-I'm-looking-for-before-I-take-a-piece-out-of-your-behind-and-stomp-off-the-lot" mode.
We finally came across an 2005 Altima at the end of the lot with some hail damage, which was significant but completely cosmetic. We'd driven a couple of Altimas and had absolutely fallen in love with their quiet, smooth ride. This one had heated, leather seats, and a Bose stereo system with a 6-CD changer ... Sweet, right? Even better, it had only 35,000 miles and one previous owner!
After some some run-of-the-mill haggling, the new ride was ours! One never knows how these things work out, but I hope we have this car for another 8 to 10 years.
If you're wondering about the color, it's "polished pewter metallic." Pretty fancy, eh?
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