Hey, Big Spender

[xifeng]

So, the mundanities first: Took Callice to the vet this morning. The vet said that, from what I described, he thought it was likely behavioral in nature and would thus take longer for her to be broken of it, but he gave me an antibiotic anyway; if she's not sick, it won't hurt her, but if she has a bladder infection, it will help. (He couldn't get a urine sample from her, and anything I could bring from the litter box would be useless because all the litter would make it hard to analyze.)

Also, teh m0mmy and I saw the skinny little black cat who maybe doesn't have a home; this cat is a total spaz, though watching it is always fun. It's also fairly good-natured and once tried to follow Mom into the house: "Ooh, is there anything nice in there? Can I come in? Wouldn't you like to have a little cat like me?"

Went into work, played with Illustrator for half an hour. Bleh.

But now, onto the REAL event of today.


Mom and I went into town with the intention of just looking at used Toyotas. We did find one we liked, and I said I'd like to shop around and take my time, since I had never bought a car before and it is, after all, a major purchase. The salesman got points for speaking to me, not to Mom, and for not being too aggressive or condescending to me because I'm female-bodied. However, he did bring out the big guns: specifically, the general sales manager who wanted to make quota for Saturday.

The list price of the car (an '05 Toyota Corolla) was $14995, which was a little steeper than I wanted to pay. The trade-in from the old BMW would have been $600, and I was planning on a down payment of $2500.

GSM: What can I do to sell this car to you today?
l33: Depends on whether I can get it for $13500.
GSM: (clearly surprised) ...I'll see what I can do, ma'am.

Most of you never knew my father, and I don't know if dethorats or treyvadi will remember this about him, since they never saw him in this context, but this is very much the same kind of thing he would have said in this situation. The H***** blood breeds true, it would seem.

I did not get $13500, which was fine; I really wanted $13750. The GSM was willing to settle for $13800, and so it was that I signed the papers. Mom had to co-sign, because my credit history is very new and nonexistent, but that's pretty much a technicality because I will be the one paying for the car. The payment isn't as low as I hoped, but it is within my price range, and the interest rate KICKS ASS because they relied on Mom's credit, which rules.

What this basically means is that I made them take the BMW for almost twice what it's actually worth (we were surprised that they were even willing to give $600 for the BMW) and, in general, made out like a bandit.

The title should reach us in the next two weeks--after that point, I can register the car. Mom needs to mail the title of the BMW to them, and I need to call the insurance agent's office on Monday and see what they can do for me.

The car itself is silver (the official color is Lunar Mist, which I like to say in a faggoty voice to make Mom giggle) and in general says, "Ladies, I have a job. I am a good provider. Clearly, you would like to partake of my genetic material." Also, it has A/C, and I don't care if a car is made out of sticks and old cabbages as long as it has A/C. The gas mileage is comparable to what I got on the BMW, which is great--not too shabby for a non-diesel! All in all, it's a good car, and I look forward to driving it for many years.


Sorry, augustuscaesar, no pictures tonight, but maybe if you do your homework and learn your periphrastics, some will be up for you tomorrow.

Comments

[imperfectkatoru.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! And I was one of the last to ever see the BMW. Well...maybe that's a bad thing. But we stoked the fire to help get you that just-about new car. I think that car is going to own quite well. And let's hope it's cleaner for the next time I see you.

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

You were! (In fact, you and Dusty were the last passengers to be carted about in it.) I did have a moment of "farewell, old friend" when I was getting my work stuff out of it after we traded it in; we got the BMW when I was 7 years old and subsequently drove it all over the US. X-chan and I both learned to drive on it, and it was my mode of transportation when I had an apartment in college. Sniff sniff.

But! AIR CONDITIONING OMG! Just think, we can actually have a conversation in the car next time without me yelling OMG WHAT because I can't hear because the wind noise is too loud.

Also, I can now fill up at any gas station instead of circling in a fruitless effort to find diesel. :D

Re: cleaner: Eat me. X3 You can't imagine the agonizing PAYYYNE of being a titlehack. We waste more paper than most people have ever even seen.

[momo.livejournal.com]

CH3CK Y0UR 3-M4I1!!!1111

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Y35, 45HL3Y. :D

Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

I hate periphrastics, though *WHIIIIIIIINE* Seriously, they rot my brain.

BUT! Yay car! Toyotas rock - I have complete brand loyalty to them. And you can't ask for a more amusing colour than Lunar Mist. Hurrah!

Am also glad that kitty is okay too.

♥

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

NO. You have to learn your periphrastics or no car pictures. And no amusing stories about d0rkitude, either. There, if that's not an effective threat, I don't know what is. :D

All my friends who have Toyotas have only good things to say about them, which was one thing that decided me in their favor. Also, there's a Toyota plant just up the road in Gibson County, so it's not hard to get the parts if, God forbid, I needed one.

I am glad that kitty is okay too, though I think she is becoming more recalcitrant because I took her to the vet where they committed indignities on her person. (You should have seen the look on her face. It was like, "I'm not going to wee for you AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME".) I hadn't thought of this before, but Mom thinks it's because this is the first heat season she's been at our house. Callice is fixed, so she doesn't feel the Call Of The Wild (or doesn't feel it as strongly), but she objects vigorously to other cats who roam the neighborhood looking for love, and also, this is the first time she's had territory to defend. And it makes sense, since the problem!peeing didn't begin until about the time heat season would have started.

Yay car icon!

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

I know how to MAKE them... I just don't ever remember how to translate the bastards. Which is fair enough, seeing as they seem to translate differently every single time.

Toyotas are easy to find parts for anyway, simply because they sell so many. I'm not sure if they're so big there as they are here, but I'm sure they're still part-tastic :)

That actually makes a lot of sense. Both the I'M NOT GOING TO WEE DAMNIT and the m0mmy explanation. It's probably a very lucky thing that she's been fixed, or else you'd have yowling to deal with along with the weeing.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Neither do I, actually. I am losing my touch! WOE. However, in fairness, I suppose knowing how to make them deserves some reward. It is dark now and the camera reacts poorly to low-light conditions, but perhaps tomorrow. :D

They do sell fairly well here--I'm told my particular model is the number-one selling car in the world so I assume we account for a certain amount of that figure. ;) The BMW held up well for years, but all the available parts were apparently kept in Murmansk and it took forever to get them.

Yeah, thank God. I like kittens, but not finding homes for kittens. D:

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Oh goody :) Also, I have been trying to rote learn translations for them this afternoon, and I think the little bastards are finally getting into my head. Now I just need to remember that there's a wonky 'a' in the 3rd conjugation future active indicative and I'll be set ;)

Did you get the sedan or the hatch? I'm assuming we have the same current model *g*

Gah, no, not an easy job. We were lucky my aunt took Misty's brother and sister :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, the joys of wonky vowels. ;)

Mine is a sedan. It's an '05 LE, if that means anything to you; I'm guessing it's the same model, just because model years are pretty consistent. *g*

I am sure I could get X-chan to take a kitten. Anybody else is up in the air. :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Stupid things. Every time I come across one of those, I assume it's a subjunctive.

I'm pretty sure that's the one we have here. One of my mum's friends has it, I think.

Perhaps you could get X-Chan to take ALL the kittens ;)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Well, X-chan always used to say she wanted to live on a houseboat (or sometimes in a Winnebago) with forty cats.

She never seemed able to indicate how she would clean up after them, though.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

I think a houseboat would be far preferable to a winnebago :)

Perhaps she could have magical cats that clean up after themselves.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Can you imagine the cacophonous yowlings of forty k1tties surrounded by water? X-chan would be a candidate for the Cross of St. George if she managed to survive that.

Yes, and perhaps she could invent a device that would turn cat poo into solid 24k gold.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

There's a cat that loves water - I can't remember which one unfortunately - and she'd have to choose forty different specimens of that breed :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

You might be thinking of Turkish Vans. They're pretty cats and like to swim. It's just the long!hair that I'd find difficult.

Callice has some longhair ancestry, but thankfully she's fundamentally a shorthair. It was bad enough to have to brush her when she first came home; I don't know if I could do it on a regular basis. O_O

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Actually, I don't think it was those ones, so perhaps X-chan will have two breeds to pick from when she becomes a crazy houseboat cat lady ;)

I brush Misty these days, but that's only because her arthritis means she can't reach a few spots. She's got pretty short hair though, thank god.

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

Cool, a car was had by all, it would seem. ^_^

*Cat imagines paying $13800 for anything*
*dies from a heart attack*
*gets a cheap funeral next to the haunted grave of Dr Acula*
*tells him she'll talk about cats until he shuts up*
*all was quiet*

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed! I am teh speed demon. ^_^

OH NOES!!!! Come back from the dead, Cat!!!!! How can you take advantage of this week's fabulous special on Othello cake if you die?!!!!

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

You're right. I can't afford to die in Othello season. I must take good care of myself for the next week or so at least.

And apropos: I spoke to my parents and they both heatedly declined to buy more than one Othello cake. They are so MEAN. ;_;

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Good, good. I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight.

OMG U R IZ TEH SO OPRES3D!!!!1111oneone!!!11angst!!!1!

[duokinneas.livejournal.com]

Your "good provider" bit forced me to use this icon. Also, that - and the "Lunar Mist" crap, because WTF, mate, car manufacturers, why can't you admit that the car is silver? - made my day ten times better.

Whoa - to me, $13,800 seems like a million dollars. ^^6 But I congratulate you on forcing them to bargain down. I also congratulate you on buying Toyota! In my family of foreign-never-domestic, Toyota means quality and will last you forever and two days (if it's not totaled somehow). If I could've gotten a Toyota, not a Nissan, I would have done so at the drop of a hat, but even used, because they stay in good condition for so long, they are expensive.

So right now, you're on my Win List of smart consumers. **snickles**

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured I'd be seeing the "Hello, Ladies" icon when I made that remark. ^^6

You and me both, princess. Re: bargaining down, I am of Jewish descent AND German on both sides my father's son. However, given that the car is a recent model and it usually goes for about $15,000, I did pretty good. The quality was one of the selling points; I'm not going to drive my car until the loan is up and then trade it in. (Actually, I bought it used, so someone else already took the hit on the depreciation--go me! If it had been an older model, I might have been able to get it cheaper.) I'm going to drive it until it falls dead under me, or until it starts costing more money than it's worth. If I'm going to be in the hole for five and a half years, then I am damn well going to hang onto that car as long as I can.

I thought you bought your car off your kin, or am I missing something there?

Yay! I made the Talyn Win List! *dances like a spastic chicken and squeezes her seahorse*

[duokinneas.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I didn't disappoint! **flaunts the icon again**

If I were anybody else, you might be facing a horrible Jewish joke, but I'm a wee bit too politically correct - shocking, isn't it? - to say anything about that. Moving on, you did really well. Used or not, a Toyota is going to last you forever; until my mom's 1989 Corolla was totaled, it lasted her for almost fourteen years and it would have lasted her probably five or six more, at the minimum. The way most people are about their cars, they don't realize that yes, that hunk of gas-powered metal and plastic is an investment, and it would be wise to take good care of it and to invest wisely to start with, which you already did, obviously, in buying a Toyota.

I did buy my car from my uncle, and he was the only one who'd be willing to sell me an automatic transmission car with air conditioning for $1,000. The woman who was going to buy it before me was prepared to give him about five hundred dollars more. Of course, now that it's in teenage hands, its value has probably dipped to an inconvenient $500. -_-6

**makes a happy seahorse noise - no, I don't know what that is, either - and squeezes you back**

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

You never disappoint. ^_^

Yeah, that was pretty much my reasoning; I wanted something that would get decent gas mileage, because abstracting is a traveling sort of job, and I wanted something that would be fairly low-maintenance (and here I'm talking above and beyond things like regular oil changes and putting more air in the tires and all that). Also, since the safety record is very good (plus I'm over 25 and female-bodied), it means my insurance isn't much more than what I was paying for the BMW.

Well, understandably. The only way you'll get that kind of price is through your kin or through a for-sale-by-owner deal (be careful if you ever go that route, you might get a lemon). Odds are that your uncle probably already took the hit on the depreciation; unlike real estate, cars don't go up in value the older they get. As for Sandrock's actual value, it depends on what you do to him and what the usual Kelly Blue Book price is for his year, make, and model.

(Why yes I am from Indiana. And obsessed with cars. Why do you ask?)

*cuddles her cute seahorse*