After many weeks of searching, comparing, and bothering people about it, Advocatie bought a car last week and used way too many trendy catchphrases in the process, like “Analysis Paralysis”.
It used to be exciting to buy a car. I remember driving around the county, in person, with my dad, to buy my first car. He couldn’t believe I was dumb enough to settle on the first car I saw, so he insisted we visit a dozen other dealerships together before we finally decided to buy, wait for it, the first car I saw.
These days, like many things when you have kids, it’s another thing that’s exhausting. It’s a girl thing to just “know” when you’ve found the right one—I guess—so it’s impossible to explain to a dozen sales people exactly why their vehicle is just not the right one. But I really don’t know why I had so much anxiety about picking one. It’s not like I was shopping for a husband. There’s no question I’m going to break up with the car in a few years.
Still, after getting used to things like bluetooth, backup cameras and navigation, and despite having a budget that is wealth-challenged and would be more suited to a bicycle, I still couldn’t seem to land on that perfect combination of price, mileage and options. But I knew it had to be out there somewhere so I powered on.
Throw in the Internet and access to cars all over the United States and a neurotic like me will settle on the perfect car six or seven times. “Decision fatigue!” Then look at the Internet again and decide I need something else because I was really only settling for the one I looked at yesterday.
Salesmen don’t always help either. I will credit them for being polite, but some are only nice until you say “yes.”
Wow, that’s also a lot like dating.
They gave me all the charm in the world when I was test driving and thinking about it. But as soon as you get to the desk suddenly they are all about can’t go that high for the trade-in and no wiggle room on the price and all the who are you kidding? looks.
Then when I say I’ll think about it and leave, they turn into ex-boyfriends who just don’t take the hint and text constantly for a week to see if I’ve changed my mind.
My favorite was the one who, when I said, “I’m looking for a Sequoia,” offered me a great deal on a Camry. Sure, my three dogs and 7-year-old will really enjoy hanging out in the back seat of a sedan.
I will say while driving cars without XM I enjoyed getting reacquainted with terrestrial radio and I have to recommend Advocatie-fave 103.5 BOB-FM. You never realize how much music you’ve been exposed to in your life until you listen in for a few minutes. Where else can you marvel over the fact that you can sing along to DelShannon, DelRio and DefLeppard. I also have to recommend Mercedes-Benz of Georgetown. While I am not of that luxurious ilk who can afford any car born since 2012, let alone a Mercedes, they do have plenty of used cars and shopping there is like visiting a five-star hotel.
Lessons learned: if there’s no picture of the front seat, it’s torn. Also, the 100,000 mile mark is not the death sentence; everything in my price range was at least that used-up and now makers are bragging about their 200K-ers. So that’s good for me because my next car is probably already on its second marriage.
