Yeah, they've bargained

Meet Subee, my new "old" Subaru Impreza! She's a 2002 with 103,000 miles. I hear Subaru's are good in snow (all wheel drive) and have great heaters. My boss has owned two Subarus and says they're good to 200K and then he gives them to some teenager to use up. That's good enough for me.  Besides, I've heard that lots of mountain folk drive Subees. She's definitely not Lola, but she does have power windows and doors and a nice after-market JVC stereo with cd and mp3 player. I bought her on New Year's Eve and had to drive home on icy roads. So far, so good. That's frost on the windows, btw.

These two photos were taken this morning. I thought the sunrise was beautiful. You can see that I still have snow everywhere. It's been so cold the last several days! Brrrr! 

We drove around looking for an SUV for under $10K at several car lots. I thought it would be a great day to buy a car, last day of the year and all. HAH! It was so cold we couldn't stand it. All the salesman practically laughed in our faces at the price I wanted to pay. Nobody had anything! I think everyone was ready to close up for the holiday too. Then we decided to see if the guys we bought my other used cars from were still in business. They were! We drove down the row of cars they had and spotted Subee. My daughter said she just looked like my car. We pulled up and told them we wanted to test drive her. They recognized us right away from the other two car purchases two years ago (we were driving the Hyundai) and just handed us the keys. This was the same seller I bought my Hyundai Accent from. And they just handed us the keys then too. I've had Sally for over two years now and no problems except new tires. I've put on over 50,000 miles in that time too. Sally's got 108,000 miles now. I also bought my daughter's gold Saturn there two years ago and Goldie is still running too, although my son has taken her over now. We drove the Subaru down the block and decided it was the right one. It was getting late so I told them that I trusted that it was a good car and within the hour we were buying it. I think it took longer to write out the sales papers than it did to decide on the car. The car lot owner told me that if I buy 3 more cars from them I'll get my next one free. lol. It could happen, you know. My daughter bought a used Honda Civic a couple of months back. I told her to go see if my guys were still in business. She didn't, and 6 weeks later is currently replacing the engine. Well... I'm paying for the engine for her. Sucker that I am. Hopefully, she will get a job soon and pay me back. And her boyfriend just bought a used Toyota 4Runner. Guess what? He had to put in a new engine.

I can honestly say that these guys do a good sales job on the cars. They're very nice, friendly, honest folks and don't hard-sell. They let the car sell itself. They usually buy the cars at auction and fix them up. It's amazing how quick insurance companies total cars and how many people flip cars (buy, fix up, and resell). They have a great mechanic and do a good job with the body work too. The detailing is excellent- you feel like you're getting a new car. As long as there is no major damage to the car's frame I'm okay with getting this kind of car. I even spoke with the insurance company about salvage title cars. They basically told me they're fine to get but not worth carrying full insurance coverage on. I'm down for that. If I wreck it- it's a loss. It's a gamble. But then, so are lots of things in life.

My only complaint with the Hyundai is that the hood is getting some chips in the paint. Well, they're going to repaint it as part of the Subaru sales deal. So, if you're ever in the market for a reasonably priced used car, let me know. Maybe I'll get it for you and you can pay me back. Three to go, you know.

Yeah, they've bargained - song: Port of Amsterdam, artist: David Bowie