Kat's best friend since fifth grade is Christina, a slender young lady with a thick mop of dark hair who stays with us every other weekend and goes with us on vacations. She called yesterday to tell Kat all about getting her hair dyed platinum blond. While I waited for Kat to pick up on another extention, I heard Christina's wonderful, delightful stepdad in the background as he got his first glimpse of Christina's new look.
"Good heavens, Christina! You look like a giant Q tip!"
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Hair-trigger buyer's remorse
At long last, after four relapses and hours and days of online research, comparisons and test drives, we finally have our new car, a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. According to the local Hyundai service manager who looked it over for us, we got an unbelievable deal on a really good car, paying even less than wholesale for it.
Amazingly, after decades of knowing better, it took more than a week of searching and test-driving before Jim and I actually sat down and prayed to find the right car. That morning I found our Sonata. Then, while we were finalizing the loan, our loan officer happily informed us that our new interest rate would drop the car payment about $25 per month because, unbeknownst to us, my-- MY! --credit score was so high. (!!!)
The funny thing is that this did not transpire at all the way I had planned out, with my keen but not obsessive interest of protecting us. My criteria for selecting a car were simple: (1) We had to get it from a legitimate dealer of some kind; (2) it had to have a clear, acceptable Carfax report (clear title, and no wrecks, rentals or fleet vehicles); and (3) Jim and I had to agree about it, without having any of the "catches" that at least one of us normally gets when something's not quite right. Because I had to spend another day or two recuperating from my last (please, God?) relapse, Jim handled getting the hardcopy paper work from the dealer, and then we got the money for it.
Jim went and got it Saturday and we drove to church in it Sunday. Although the exterior is perfect, the cleanliness of the interior and a non-working headlight assembly immediately made me anxious we might have gotten taken. So, while drive to church Sunday I asked Jim to show me the Carfax report after we got home.
"What Carfax report? The dealer only faxed a copy of the bill of sale." (Loud exclamations ensued: "I told you to..." and "You mean to tell me we just bought the one car we didn't see the Carfax on?!!!, and so forth.) Wonderful stuff right before church.
Next morning, successfully holding panic and paranoia at bay, I took our externally beautiful car to the Hyundai dealership. As it turns out, the headlight issue was nothing more than a loose plug and the less-than-appealing interior apparently resulted from an exploding can of Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. The service manager looked the whole car over, pointed out a few minor maintenance needs, and said that detailing would take care of the interior completely, which I had done immediately. He also opined that the exploding soda probably had been what kept the price far lower than it should have been.
The thing is, if I had seen the Carfax report on this car I never would have given it a second look. Its original owner was Enterprise Car Rentals. But, because I trusted Jim to handle the negotiations and paperwork while I nursed this chest cold, we got a car that is in great shape and has had regular maintenance, for the kind of price family members give each other.
Throughout the almost 20 years of our marriage, every time we've had a need, the Lord has been taking care of us even before we ask for help. It's been entertaining, sometimes even stunning, to see how he uses all the situations in our life-- the pleasant and not-so-pleasant-- to move things into place for our good. It would be good if I could remember this fact of our life, especially on the way to church.
Amazingly, after decades of knowing better, it took more than a week of searching and test-driving before Jim and I actually sat down and prayed to find the right car. That morning I found our Sonata. Then, while we were finalizing the loan, our loan officer happily informed us that our new interest rate would drop the car payment about $25 per month because, unbeknownst to us, my-- MY! --credit score was so high. (!!!)
The funny thing is that this did not transpire at all the way I had planned out, with my keen but not obsessive interest of protecting us. My criteria for selecting a car were simple: (1) We had to get it from a legitimate dealer of some kind; (2) it had to have a clear, acceptable Carfax report (clear title, and no wrecks, rentals or fleet vehicles); and (3) Jim and I had to agree about it, without having any of the "catches" that at least one of us normally gets when something's not quite right. Because I had to spend another day or two recuperating from my last (please, God?) relapse, Jim handled getting the hardcopy paper work from the dealer, and then we got the money for it.
Jim went and got it Saturday and we drove to church in it Sunday. Although the exterior is perfect, the cleanliness of the interior and a non-working headlight assembly immediately made me anxious we might have gotten taken. So, while drive to church Sunday I asked Jim to show me the Carfax report after we got home.
"What Carfax report? The dealer only faxed a copy of the bill of sale." (Loud exclamations ensued: "I told you to..." and "You mean to tell me we just bought the one car we didn't see the Carfax on?!!!, and so forth.) Wonderful stuff right before church.
Next morning, successfully holding panic and paranoia at bay, I took our externally beautiful car to the Hyundai dealership. As it turns out, the headlight issue was nothing more than a loose plug and the less-than-appealing interior apparently resulted from an exploding can of Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. The service manager looked the whole car over, pointed out a few minor maintenance needs, and said that detailing would take care of the interior completely, which I had done immediately. He also opined that the exploding soda probably had been what kept the price far lower than it should have been.
The thing is, if I had seen the Carfax report on this car I never would have given it a second look. Its original owner was Enterprise Car Rentals. But, because I trusted Jim to handle the negotiations and paperwork while I nursed this chest cold, we got a car that is in great shape and has had regular maintenance, for the kind of price family members give each other.
Throughout the almost 20 years of our marriage, every time we've had a need, the Lord has been taking care of us even before we ask for help. It's been entertaining, sometimes even stunning, to see how he uses all the situations in our life-- the pleasant and not-so-pleasant-- to move things into place for our good. It would be good if I could remember this fact of our life, especially on the way to church.
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