The Car We've All Been Waiting For

NOTE: All suggestions for car names must be in by midnight eastern time to qualify.

Surely you all are wondering. Assumedly everyone wants to know. Likely there are questions to be answered. So here's the story. It's a little long, but we all know how I like a good saga so read on!


Last Monday our car was hit. My stomach dropped as soon as I heard. We knew eventually we would have to buy a new car, but we were hoping to get the most out of our Cavalier that we possibly could.

The timetable now moved up considerably, we started shopping. AutoTrader.com is a life saver. We immediately found several cars that seemed like viable options and I started calling around to get information as soon as I could.

Friday night we stopped at several dealerships. We wanted to see all of our options, find out more information about several of the cars we had been reading up on. Most of the lots were closing as we came in and it was very cold. But we did get to test drive a couple and got some good ideas about many.

Pretty much everyone we know and everyone who knows someone we know, agreed that Subaru was an excellent choice. They're dependable, we heard. From the pictures of all we looked at, we could tell that it would be perfect for the hauling we would require from it.

I found a private seller who had a fairly new Subaru Legacy for a very reasonable price. We played phone tag a few times and finally set up a time to meet on Sunday after church. In the meanwhile, we did a few more drive-bys through small and large car lots and also stopped at another private seller's to do a test drive.

But I was holding my breath. My fingers were crossed. I was hoping against all hopes that this would be the car. The specs looked perfect on paper: sunroof, manual transmission, bike rack on top, sweet stereo, tons of storage, back seats fold down flat, low price, cruise control, a/c that worked, a very loud horn, and only three years old.

Sunday afternoon came. We met at Matt's* house. He seemed like a very nice, friendly guy and gave us a few details on the car before we took it for a spin. Before I even pulled out of the driveway (Yes, can you believe Andy let me drive it first!? I am one spoiled lady.) I said to my hubby, "Can we get it?"

The only stipulation was that we needed to take it to a garage and have a mechanic look it over. I was so sure this would be the car for us, I hardly wanted to even bother, I just wanted to take the car home! Monday we met Matt's wife and as we gave her our loan approval letter from the bank she gave us the keys to take the car to The Garage. (Really, that's the name of the shop!) The mechanic came out and looked it over, took it for a test drive and determined that we absolutely needed to have the brakes done very soon (we had been noticing the squeaky brake situation anyway) as well as the wheel bearings. He printed out an estimate for us and we went back to the seller's house.

Matt's wife took the estimate and said Matt would give us a call and let us know how much he would be willing to come down in price. We decided as we drove away that we would keep looking, just to be safe.

Though I didn't want to keep looking. I just wanted Matt to take off the amount of the repairs and we would be good to go. I was ready to take it home then and there. We had bonded, you see.

After more phone tag back and forth we agreed on a very reasonable price and set a time to meet at the bank the next day. On the way to the bank I called to let him know we were on the way and to make sure he had the title with him. He didn't, but his bank had said they'd mail it and that he wouldn't need it for closing. Our loan officer didn't agree with this. In fact, she said that we couldn't possibly close until we had it. After several phone calls, being on hold for quite a while, and many differing opinions, Matt decided to go back to check at his parents place and also at his place. Just to be sure.

Finally, finally, it was all settled. The title was found, we signed off on it, he paid the remaining balance due on his loan (we really bought it for less than he currently owed!) and I drove away in my new sube.

We are sube owners. Members belonging to an elite sube club. Waving at other subes as we drive by, we feel like we brought home a new family member. And in a way, we did.

But what to call him? Or her?! Any suggestions for a good name for our new addition? A fabulous prize is promised to whoever recommends the best name!



*We decided that Matt was a new friend and we could refer to him by first name. It was great to work with such a flexible and friendly guy.