THE CHEVY

Yesterday I pulled the trigger on the car.  To recap, my beloved  truck died.  It threw a cam shaft (no, I don't know exactly what that means,but I had two mechanics tell me it's bad.  Very bad).

So for the last 5 weeks I've been without a car.

Shortly after the truck died I met with a couple of car brokers and I outlined what I'd like to get.  Turns out I was outlining something bordering on impossible as I wanted a crossover type vehicle without many miles in good shape, relatively recent vintage at a cost of 10K or less.

If I had said '20K', it wouldn't have been a problem, but I wanted a car I could pay cash for without disrupting the good ship financial.  Didn't want car payments and 10K seemed like a good target.

The initial time estimate to obtain a new vehicle was 'a couple of weeks'.  That stretched into 3, 4, 5 and finally 6 weeks.  Last week I had a chat with my car guy and together we discussed a more reasonable vehicle.  A Jetta perhaps.  I really liked the Jetta station wagon.

Yesterday the car guy called.  He had a deal. The price was right, but the car was a 2008 Chevy Malibu.  I don't think I had ever  seen, heard, or had any thought about a chevy Malibu.  I had opinions and perceptions on a  Jetta, Passat, Lexus, Camry, Honda, Toyota, BMW, and Subaru, but Chevy Malibu?

As he was talking, I pulled it up on my computer.  Wasn't ugly.  In fact it was a decent looking car.  I decided to buy it.  On the spot during the phone conversation.

24 hours later, today, the car guys delivered it to Bellevue.  I drove it home.  It'll do just fine.

I know that some think I'm nuts for buying a car this way and especially for buying a Chevy Malibu.  There are plenty of cool cars out there. but as I learned during my shopping, 'cool' has a cost associated to it.  It's supply and demand, and on some level, you have to assess how much you want to pay for that 'cool' factor.  Everyone has an opinion on what you should drive.  "Sweet ride" is often heard when there's a cool car around.

So how much did I want to pay, or over pay, to be cool?  I thought about that.  Upon reflection, my amount is at or near zero.  A car is not an asset.  It is a depreciating machine that moves you from point a to point b.  Unless it is very special, it is worth less today than it was yesterday.  Every mile you drive, every day that passes, it goes down in value.

Here's the car.  It's really nothing special -- but the price was right. And, as anyone who knows me will agree, I'm not cool...

Quick footnote:  There was a problem with the power steering -- at start up the steering wheel flutters a bit.  The car guy mentioned it before I sat in the driver's seat and said he'd fix it.  I'm one for a handshake and a commitment.  He provided that.  In a couple of weeks I'll update this -- and you'll find out whether it was fixed -- or I'm one of the larger idiots on the planet for buying a car this way.