Well, things seem to be going along as they should. I spoke with the insurance company yesterday about my car, they are pretty darn busy this time of year and will get back to me on Monday about my claim. I did talk to "Insurance Man" about the cost of a new paint job and the depressing low value of an 18 year-old car, and he thinks most likely they will consider it the vehicle totaled. Works for me! Then I don't have to figure out how to get cigarette smoke smell out of the car, and I don't have to worry about the next mechanical failure. I suppose I am a little sad about Chuck (the car) not making it to 200,000 miles, but he's had a good life.
I find myself in the unusual position as of the end of today with 3 vehicles. I have to deal with Chuck still, I have a rental car, and I am now the proud owner of a Toyota Sienna van. Thanks to the BOM (otherwise known as the Bank of Mom, branches open all over the world) I have signed all the paperwork and have entered the adult world of car loans. I did realize since I am 33, and have never purchased a vehicle of my own, it was time to see how this works. While I would be perfectly happy to keep getting free crappy cars, not that Chuck was crappy, he was a good deal, I think 40 would be a little too old to be asking my mother to come with me to finance a car.
Of course this all started out so innocently by looking at a used car lot to see how much a used car would cost. I have some simple priorities in a car: easy to get disabled people in and out, room for a wheelchair and passengers at the same time, and an extensive security system. I added the third priority recently. I fell in love with the Sienna we rented in Boston this summer. While most things about caring for a disabled person don't get to me, taking apart a wheelchair, driving 2 blocks to the doctor's office, and reassembling the wheelchair does get to me. My pants get kinda dirty too, and I look like I've been run over by a trike.
The Sienna has enough room to put the wheelchair, fully assembled, in the back with no extra effort, and without tire tracks on the khakis. It also has enough room since all the seats come out, that at some point in time it could handle transporting a power chair. I've been pricing them online, and I know I can't afford a new one. So I went pricing used ones. I don't mind getting a car, but I mind owning another Honda. While I loved it, I didn't love the demand for items of no worth that kept getting stolen from it.
So after the 1st car place, I went to Karl Malone Toyota to see if they had any used ones. I had seen one online, but it was not the color I wanted. Well, they had 2 Sienna's with low mileage that were 2007 models. In their great salesmen-like ways they planted the panic button explaining this was the last day of the great Toyotathon sale. Mostly what I needed to know was how much would we have to put down for me to manage the payments without making Chris wheel herself out to the street with a cardboard sign to earn money. Which reminds me...I haven't seen the one-legged guy with a dog for quite awhile. I think crazy neighbor lady scared him good.
Well, the BOM was open, so we went in, and I was totally expecting great disappointment. Instead we left with my mom planning some great trip to Vegas, and Chris planning the next travel adventure of Phillip the monkey. If you haven't met Phillip yet, be grateful, and don't ask questions you don't want answers to.
The salesmen drove the Sienna and my mom to American Fork, where there is room for it, and I will finalize the details of Chuck's great sendoff into the auto beyond, and call Hertz to take back the Mazda I never want to drive in with snow again. And amazingly enough, the insurance on the new van is EXACTLY the same amount as the Honda. I'm still in shock.
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