New Cars for Everyone!

I did not get a new car. However, my wife finally got a new car. Hard to believe that it was almost seven years ago when she bought her Ford Escape. It is funny, I am not one to get too sentimental about things like a car. I get excited about the prospect of something new. Lindsey on the other hand, she thinks of all the memories and everywhere we have been, whereas I think about where we will go. I guess it is just two different outlooks.

Anyways, she said she wanted a new vehicle a few weeks ago and that the goal was to have one before we go to Myrtle Beach. The Escape is just too small for the three of us. When we go somewhere for a night, the car is loaded to the roof. Lindsey decided that she wanted a full-size SUV with third-row seating. Oh, and she did not want to pay that much for it. For the past month or so I have been checking a few of the places websites to see if anything looked appealing. A week or so ago, I saw a Honda Pilot at Bud’s Auto in Indiana that was in our price range. I told her we should check it out. We drove down there on Monday and could not find the car. We finally found it behind the building and when we asked the salesman, he said that it had just sold. We looked around a bit more and the guy showed us a Chevy Traverse. It was white and the inside was fully loaded. I believe it was a 2014 (or maybe 2013). It had leather interior, the DVD player for the people in the back, and all of the other fun stuff. Lindsey really liked it, but it was just a little too far out of our price range.

We left Indiana and went home for lunch. I remembered that Blue Knob Auto had a bunch of Traverse’s on their site, so I started looking at them. I told Lindsey that they had a bunch there and we should check them out. We went there after Payton’s nap and strolled around looking for the one I had in mind. Lindsey never believes me that Blue Knob is huge, she thinks Bud’s is bigger…she quickly learned the error of her ways after we walked for like 40 miles looking for the Traverse section. We took it for a test drive and when we came back…okay, quick aside.

How do you test drive a vehicle with a toddler? It would be way too much of a pain in the ass to switch the car seat out. So she took it for a drive, then came back and I took it for a spin. If you have never been to Blue Knob, they just give you the keys and a plate and let you alone. We took Lindsey’s car up to the part where the Traverse was and Payton & I waited in the car while Lindsey drove around. When we were at Bud’s, the guy gave us the keys and made it seem like we should just take it with Payton and no car seat. I went inside the building with her and waited. It seemed so weird. I suppose at Blue Knob, I could have held Payton, while we just cruised the parking lot.

Okay, back to the story. This was a 2015, it had all of the cool features (Lindsey loves the moon roof for some reason), but did not have leather, nor the DVD player. I believe it also had a few less miles. I told her that the DVD player & screen was really not a big issue. It would not be that difficult to just put my tablet in the car and have Payton watch movies on that. Also, while leather is great, is that really worth paying the extra money? And my next question was, do you like this one? She thought about it and decided to go inside to hear what the price would be and how much they would give her for the Escape.

We started crunching the numbers and it turned out that the payment was doable, and in a rare moment of decisiveness, Lindsey said “I’ll take it!” I was pretty shocked. I figured she would want to head home and think on it for a few days. Her logic was was pretty sound though, the other Traverses we saw were more expensive (some significantly so) and she was afraid that this one might be gone in a few days while she thought about it and that she would regret the decision. Unfortunately, this meant we had to do all of the fun stuff now. And we were definitely not prepared to buy a car that day. Lindsey’s car still had a ton of stuff inside of it. Oh, and her mom was her cosigner on the Escape, so we had to have her come all the way to Altoona to sign it over as well. So while waiting for her, we went to eat. We came back and packed everything up in the car, I switched the car seat to the Traverse, and after some paperwork signing, we were on our way home in our Chevy Traverse.

I am not going to lie, I really like it. It does not seem that much bigger that Lindsey’s Escape, but when I took it to Walmart the other night, I parked next to a similar Escape and the Traverse is significantly bigger. I am probably most excited about the fact that I will be able to use the Bluetooth to connect my phone. For some reason in Lindsey’s old car, the Microsoft Sync only allowed her phone to connect. If I tried to connect mine, it would not do it. Also, the audiojack was not working right, so if I drove, I could not listen to podcasts or music via my phone. Yep, I pushed for a new vehicle because I was sick of the radio.

“Yeah, I think your wiper bearings might need realigned.”

Not to be outdone, Payton also got a new car. Technically she has two new cars. Since it is 70 degrees outside, I put together her little car that I can push. Once it is actually nicer, I will put together the car my mom got her for Christmas, which is much bigger. Payton tried to help me put together her little coup, but seemed confused about all the parts. Then all she wanted to do was eat the steering wheel. Oddly enough, she gave me a bill for $3500 when she was done….so maybe mechanic is her future profession.

Author: Ngewo