A CAR HAS NO NAME

So, guess what?

I finally got a new (well, new to me) car!  Aren't you excited? 

Can you at least pretend?  Thanks. :)

I've been saving up for a new car for a couple of years because my poor car was hanging on by a thread.  I was hoping to eventually save up enough money to buy whichever car I chose straight out, because I'd gotten very used to not having a car payment!  Unfortunately, my convertible was beginning to do some things that made me wonder if it was going to last long enough for me to save up the whole thing, which would have taken me a couple more years. Shakes, creaks, and bits falling off I can handle, but once the air conditioner starting skipping out on me, all that went out of the window.  Maybe it makes me a huge weenie, maybe it doesn't, but air conditioning is essential when you live in Devil's Buttcrack, Alabama, where it's 6 inches closer to hell than anyplace else on earth.  No, seriously, that's the town slogan. ; )

Monday night, Steve and I began looking online for some of the new cars I was interested in, but I got discouraged with how much the cars cost. I mean, I know cars cost a lot of money, and I was prepared for that, but it seemed like anytime we found a car I liked and maybe changed a paint color, or wanted an automatic transmission, it was adding on thousands of dollars over what I could afford.  Sigh. 

We stopped looking at the new cars and began looking at the "certified pre-owned" cars at the different dealers around town.  Most of them were either way older than I wanted, or way more expensive than I wanted to pay for a used car, but one caught my eye.  I'd never considered a Volkswagen (unless I could get one of those Mystery Machine type vans, and I'd still totally get one of those if I could) but out of curiosity I checked out their website and they had a 2016 Jetta that had several nice add ons for a very, very reasonable price.  It had 41,445 miles on it, but it had gone through the official check and had a great warranty, so we decided to check it out in person.

My boss was so excited.  He loooooooooves wheeling and dealing with sales people, and so he spent the first half of the day giving me pointers on how to pay lots less than they were asking on the car if I decided to get it.  He even called me on his way home to make sure that I "had my game face on."  Heh.  I assured him I did, but I'm not like him.  The man can walk into Wal-Mart and get a discount on something because he doesn't want to pay retail price, but I'm not that aggressive.  However, I figured I could do a bit of haggling. 

We got to the place and test drove the car, and is there anything more nerve wracking than test driving a car in after work traffic?  Add to that, that the windshield was covered in stickers and papers, and I'm just lucky that I made it to where we went and back!  It drove well, had some nice get up and go, and after I figured out how to adjust the seat and steering wheel, I decided that I liked it fine.  Maybe it wasn't exactly what I set out to get, but it was nice, and I couldn't find anything wrong with it.

We got back to the dealership and sat down, and I was all prepared to start to haggle over the price, but Steve...bless him, he wanted me to have a more reliable car so badly...tried to do it for me. When they wouldn't give him the price he asked for, he caved and agreed to everything.  I did interject and manage to get a little bit of money off.  Not a lot, but still a little is better than nothing!  (My boss was disgusted and wished he could have gone with me. I probably would have walked out of there with them paying me to take it, that's just how good he is.)  I also had to trade in Lois, my convertible.  Bless her heart, she was a good car that held on for a long time, but she was in bad shape.  They were only able to give me $750.00 trade in value on her, and that was being generous.  I checked Kelly Blue Book to make sure, and what they gave me was more than it was worth on there.

At any rate, now I'm the proud owner of a car that was made in this decade!  It doesn't seem to leak, I'm certain that the door doesn't hold water when it rains, air doesn't hiss through various cracks and crevices so loud that you have to shout when you talk, and so far it doesn't sound like it's cracking apart when I drive over bumps! Also, I can play music from my phone on the radio!  That probably doesn't sound like much to you, but for someone who had to make mixed CDs up until early last year (when the CD player quit working in the Seabring and trapped a CD of "Let It Go" in it's guts) it's fun to listen to music I choose!  The only downside of it is if I want to sneakily play a little Marvin Gaye, the name of the song pops up on the LCD screen before the first guitar licks of "Let's Get It On" even come on.  Tsk, tsk, tsk...

I'm also trying to name the car. It's just a thing I do, so don't judge me. I put a poll on Facebook for help choosing, but we've narrowed it down to these:  Joan Jetta, Jetta James, Jetta Li, Kenny "The Jetta" Smith (which is not named after my own personal Kenny Smith, but after the basketball player turned commentator on TNT) or The Cranberry.  So far Joan Jetta is winning, but as of now the car has no name. If any of you fine folks have a recommendation, I'd be glad to hear it. 

Anyway, here is a picture!

I hope we have many adventures together!