{"id":1254,"date":"2019-09-11T02:28:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T07:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thinkulum.net\/blog\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2019-09-11T02:28:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T07:28:05","slug":"weeknote-for-9-8-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thinkulum.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/11\/weeknote-for-9-8-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknote for 9\/8\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Car shopping<\/h2>\n

\ud83d\ude0e<\/p>\n

Thanks to my friend Heather’s enthusiasm for CarMax, last week my plan was to look at a couple of cars there and time my visits to somewhat coincide so I could compare them, but after I was stuck waiting for one car to transfer from Indiana and I watched in dismay as the other disappeared from the listings, I realized I needed a nimbler strategy, so I decided to check the CarMax listings every day and pounce on any good options as soon as they appeared.<\/p>\n

Thursday evening there was nothing that fit my criteria, but Friday morning a black 2016 Corolla with 30,000 miles showed up nearby (in terms of the model and color, pretty much the car I wanted way back in 2005 when I bought my Prot\u00e9g\u00e9, now that I think about it), so I set up a test drive for that afternoon, which passed my cursory Samarins-style inspection<\/a>, and while they wouldn’t let me drive it to my usual mechanic for a real inspection, fortunately my research had uncovered YourMechanic, so I made an appointment for the next day to have someone from there come do an inspection at the dealer<\/a>, because even at CarMax or any dealership that certifies its used vehicles, you should get an independent inspection in case the dealer’s technicians were cutting corners that day.<\/p>\n

Saturday morning I made a trip to the bank to get a cashier’s check for the car, and then at CarMax the mechanic ended up being very late because his previous job went long, and while we awkwardly waited, my salesperson, who was very nice but still a salesperson, urged me to cancel the appointment and let the 7-day money-back guarantee and the 90-day warranty handle any issues the car might have, but with Heather’s encouragement over Facebook I resisted, because I wanted my peace of mind before<\/em>\u00a0I handed over my money and because the mechanic was on his way, and once he got there I was glad I waited, both because I felt like I had an advocate against the sales pressure and because he concluded the car was good, which was the final step in my decision to buy the car.<\/p>\n

My salesperson did her salesly job of pushing me to buy the MaxCare warranty, but I had already decided I didn’t want one for a Corolla, and after I said no to her several attempts, she gave up and finished the sales process, and then it was time for the paperwork guy, who tried to give me a title application for the wrong car (by mistake, since the other forms were right), and then I handed over the check, and then I had a car, except that it had to stay on the lot, because I had to take my rental back, where Heather and Jeremy and their son picked me up to go to dinner, and afterward they took me back to CarMax to finally drive home my car.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n
\n
View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

My friendly little rental for the past few weeks. Several people thought it was my new car. But while I liked it, an Elantra wasn't on my radar. https:\/\/www.thinkulum.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/11\/weeknote-for-9-8-2019\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Andy Culbertson<\/a> (@thinkulum) on