First off: I withdrew a fair sum of cash to purchase a car. My older boy tells me, "You've got to do the obligatory pose with the cash!!!"
So here it is!!! $2,500, now that's gangsta!!!
That's been a couple weeks now. I've been looking since. The first one that I really liked (from the description) was from a company that auctions off charity donation vehicles. It's a 1998 Saturn SW2, same year as my SC2. Has the leather interior, power windows & locks, and cruise control, but the big selling point for me was that it only had 43,000 miles!!!
As you can see, it looks like it's in great condition, too. Turned out to be slightly less in person, with a series of scratches on the back quarter and scraped up bumper corners. More troubling was a screech from the water pump area when it was first fired up. It did go away after running around ten minutes. Both back windows weren't working right, and the passenger side one had clear RTV silicone on the bottom edge. The parking brake was lacking, too.
Still, with that low of miles, I figured it'd be worth at least $2,700, and I was prepared to go all the way up to $3,250 or so. Mostly I was hoping that no one would be interested in a 15 year old station wagon. I got a couple of bids in, but it quickly went higher than I was willing to go. I've never been to a vehicle auction before, it was pretty cool. However, in addition to whatever you bid, they tack on an additional 10%. And $55 for the smog check. AND $55 for a paperwork fee. I was taking that into account while the bidding commenced.
After that, I looked around to see what else there was (although I've been keeping a pretty close eye on CraigsList) and a new one had popped up. Similar to the one at the auction, but a 2001 model with a lot more miles on it. The asking price was $2,200, and there were no pictures.
We went over that evening to check it out. The owners were a senior couple from England, the original owners. It ran just fine, and has its share of dings and such, but I thought it was well worth the asking price. It hadn't been smogged yet, so I was ready to leave a deposit contingent on them getting a smog check. The guy asks me what I thought of the price, and I told him I thought it was completely in line with what he was selling. He said he'd knock $200 off to take it and get it painted. You may have noticed the corners of the bumper have been painted where it had been scraped up.
I put her in Paint Shop Pro, and was attempting to modify it into a sedan delivery, but it came out looking more like dark tint. That's OK, I had been thinking that needed to be done, too.
My wife is over the moon about her new car. I told her "Happy Birthday!!!"
As you can see, she's not the only one!!!
So here it is!!! $2,500, now that's gangsta!!!
That's been a couple weeks now. I've been looking since. The first one that I really liked (from the description) was from a company that auctions off charity donation vehicles. It's a 1998 Saturn SW2, same year as my SC2. Has the leather interior, power windows & locks, and cruise control, but the big selling point for me was that it only had 43,000 miles!!!
As you can see, it looks like it's in great condition, too. Turned out to be slightly less in person, with a series of scratches on the back quarter and scraped up bumper corners. More troubling was a screech from the water pump area when it was first fired up. It did go away after running around ten minutes. Both back windows weren't working right, and the passenger side one had clear RTV silicone on the bottom edge. The parking brake was lacking, too.
Still, with that low of miles, I figured it'd be worth at least $2,700, and I was prepared to go all the way up to $3,250 or so. Mostly I was hoping that no one would be interested in a 15 year old station wagon. I got a couple of bids in, but it quickly went higher than I was willing to go. I've never been to a vehicle auction before, it was pretty cool. However, in addition to whatever you bid, they tack on an additional 10%. And $55 for the smog check. AND $55 for a paperwork fee. I was taking that into account while the bidding commenced.
After that, I looked around to see what else there was (although I've been keeping a pretty close eye on CraigsList) and a new one had popped up. Similar to the one at the auction, but a 2001 model with a lot more miles on it. The asking price was $2,200, and there were no pictures.
We went over that evening to check it out. The owners were a senior couple from England, the original owners. It ran just fine, and has its share of dings and such, but I thought it was well worth the asking price. It hadn't been smogged yet, so I was ready to leave a deposit contingent on them getting a smog check. The guy asks me what I thought of the price, and I told him I thought it was completely in line with what he was selling. He said he'd knock $200 off to take it and get it painted. You may have noticed the corners of the bumper have been painted where it had been scraped up.
I put her in Paint Shop Pro, and was attempting to modify it into a sedan delivery, but it came out looking more like dark tint. That's OK, I had been thinking that needed to be done, too.
My wife is over the moon about her new car. I told her "Happy Birthday!!!"
As you can see, she's not the only one!!!
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