Two major nuisances have beset S and I the past few weeks. As I mentioned before, the central air conditioner in our house has a leak. Then, on Friday, a mechanic told us our car also has a leak that's causing coolant to mix with oil. Apparently, a proper fix would require replacing the entire engine and the radiator for $5,000. That's literally more than the car is worth, so the mechanic suggested the we get a new car. He didn't charge us for the diagnosis which is nice and makes his story more believable. Since I don't know enough about cars to ever call BS on somebody, I'm always very wary of mechanics and the like. But he's a pretty bad huckster if he's lying to us to not take our money. We've been in his shop a few times before, so he's probably just being a good businessman thinking he'll forgo the $50 or so now in hopes that we'll come to him next time we have a $500 problem. It's smart because we almost certainly will.
Our car is relatively old and on it's last legs (coincidentally, the AC also didn't work), so we were planning on buying a new one anyway, but not until next year. Suddenly, we didn't really have a choice though as there is no realistic way for me to get to work other than by car. Get a new car went to the top of our nuisance triage list, ahead of fix AC.
By the way, I use the word "nuisance" instead "problem", because I think of "problems" as being long lasting and more deep-seeded, whereas "nuisances" are just annoying while they last, but once you fix them, they completely go away. So, losing you house, going bankrupt, being unhappy with your life, having cancer, being unable to find steady employment, getting divorced -- these are problems, these actually affect you on an emotional level and have consequences even when (if) they're resolved. Needing to fix one's AC unit and buy a new car are just nuisances, once they're solved, they're solved. You move on and don't really give it a second thought. While this mindset puts things in perspective a bit, it's counteracted by the law of our. Our nuisances feel like a bigger deal to us than other people's problems because they're actually happening to us. Unfortunately, we can't completely wave things away and say, "No worries, it's not a real problem." It doesn't quite work like that.
Anyway, we eradicated one of our nuisances. We bought a new (for us) car, a 2010 Toyota Prius. We're going green, I guess. There really isn't a better age for buying a car. Adam Carolla, a huge car nut, sometimes gets calls from people on his podcast asking for car recommendations, and he always says something along the lines of, "Get whatever you want. Everything works now. Everything is good now. Buy something a little used because it's worth the price reduction." So there's that, and then there's the Internet which makes price gouging very difficult. Just go online and you can immediately get an idea of a fair price for any car, and fair might be underselling it a little bit. You can probably get the best price for a car, because you can sort by price. If the dealership doesn't offer a low price you aren't going there because they aren't even coming up on your sort. They're almost compelled to put the lowest possible price online. And, everybody has a smart phone now, so if you think you're being overcharged, you can price compare while you're physically at the dealership. Technology has titled things in favor of the buyer.
We took advantage of this and tried to make the purchasing experience as painless as possible. We decided to get a hybrid because we'll save big time in gas money (basically we doubled the mileage we get), and because we want to act snobby toward all non-hybrid owners ("Some people actually care about Mother Earth"), so we did some research and found a few dealerships to check out. We went to a Honda dealership first to check out the Civic Hybrid, but the one we were interested in sold minutes before we got there. So we went to the Toyota dealership, found a used Prius with the right mileage at the right price, gave it a spin, checked out all the features, and pulled the trigger. Why not?
S was a little apprehensive about "rushing into something" and said that we should check out other dealerships, but I said what's the point? We know what they have. We've already looked through the entire inventory online. It's the same cars at the same prices. What we got and what we paid is exactly in line with everything we've seen online, all the reviews from all the sources, and from our friends who also just bought a Prius. There's diligence -- researching, test driving, taking the car to a mechanic during the 7-day free exchange period -- and then there's doing stuff that doesn't really help just because you feel like you should. We did / are going to do the former. I'm not down with the latter.
We had a pretty cool salesman. He was an older Bruce Dern-looking guy. He was definitely presenting the car in a glowing manner, as you'd expect, but he wasn't super-aggressive or anything. Overall, it was a relatively painless experience, but that didn't stop S and I from having our disagreements over some financial aspects. She's just much more risk averse than I am when it comes to certain things, because she's about peace of mind and I'm about numbers. For one thing, I just wanted to use our savings and pay for the car out of pocket, and she wanted to finance to keep more cash on hand. This doesn't make sense to me because in the the unlikely event we had an emergency and needed the cash we could just borrow it then. Now, maybe it would be for 10% instead of 3%, but that hypothetical 7% difference on a hypothetical amount of money just isn't worth the real extra $1,000 we're going to pay in interest.
For another thing, and this is the bigger one, I was adamantly against the additional coverage. For $1,700 we could get the extra insurance that covers everything, well everything, except of course the stuff that we already have covered, like collision, or theft, or roadside service or any of the other stuff that we actually might need fixed. Anything we might actually need fixed falls under "normal wear and tear" and isn't covered. (By the way this coverage was initially quoted at $2,200, but when I balked the financier magically procured a promotional code from a colleague that "saved" us $500.) Sure, there's a small chance the inverter or converter or whatever the main part of a hybrid engine is called could go out and that would be a $4,000 hit to us (this is the example the financier gave), but again this is hypothetical money versus the real money we're guaranteed to be paying by purchasing the coverage. And even if that does happen, and we're out $2,300, then maybe we save this the next time we turn down insurance we wouldn't have used on something. There are catastrophic things you should insurance against, getting really sick, your house burning down, your car getting stolen or totaled in a crash, etc., but for everything else you're almost certainly better off saving the money and paying out of pocket if / when unlikely mishaps occur. S sees my point on this, but her thing is, "I know it's a ripoff, but it gives me peace of mind," and my response to that is a loud exhale, an exacerbated shake of the head, and hopeless stare off into the distance. With that said, I'll give you one guess as to which way we went on things.
Alright, that's it for this entry. We have to go a party S's former boss is throwing. It's a tea in Georgetown -- very high society.
Until next time...
[Everybody's immediate thought when their car stops working.]
Our car is relatively old and on it's last legs (coincidentally, the AC also didn't work), so we were planning on buying a new one anyway, but not until next year. Suddenly, we didn't really have a choice though as there is no realistic way for me to get to work other than by car. Get a new car went to the top of our nuisance triage list, ahead of fix AC.
By the way, I use the word "nuisance" instead "problem", because I think of "problems" as being long lasting and more deep-seeded, whereas "nuisances" are just annoying while they last, but once you fix them, they completely go away. So, losing you house, going bankrupt, being unhappy with your life, having cancer, being unable to find steady employment, getting divorced -- these are problems, these actually affect you on an emotional level and have consequences even when (if) they're resolved. Needing to fix one's AC unit and buy a new car are just nuisances, once they're solved, they're solved. You move on and don't really give it a second thought. While this mindset puts things in perspective a bit, it's counteracted by the law of our. Our nuisances feel like a bigger deal to us than other people's problems because they're actually happening to us. Unfortunately, we can't completely wave things away and say, "No worries, it's not a real problem." It doesn't quite work like that.
Anyway, we eradicated one of our nuisances. We bought a new (for us) car, a 2010 Toyota Prius. We're going green, I guess. There really isn't a better age for buying a car. Adam Carolla, a huge car nut, sometimes gets calls from people on his podcast asking for car recommendations, and he always says something along the lines of, "Get whatever you want. Everything works now. Everything is good now. Buy something a little used because it's worth the price reduction." So there's that, and then there's the Internet which makes price gouging very difficult. Just go online and you can immediately get an idea of a fair price for any car, and fair might be underselling it a little bit. You can probably get the best price for a car, because you can sort by price. If the dealership doesn't offer a low price you aren't going there because they aren't even coming up on your sort. They're almost compelled to put the lowest possible price online. And, everybody has a smart phone now, so if you think you're being overcharged, you can price compare while you're physically at the dealership. Technology has titled things in favor of the buyer.
[No, we didn't buy a Canyanero, or any SUV for that matter. By the way, this is a truly ingenious parody from the days when "The Simpsons" was a truly ingenious show. My favorite part is when the school bus in run off the road and then all the kids inside salute.]
We took advantage of this and tried to make the purchasing experience as painless as possible. We decided to get a hybrid because we'll save big time in gas money (basically we doubled the mileage we get), and because we want to act snobby toward all non-hybrid owners ("Some people actually care about Mother Earth"), so we did some research and found a few dealerships to check out. We went to a Honda dealership first to check out the Civic Hybrid, but the one we were interested in sold minutes before we got there. So we went to the Toyota dealership, found a used Prius with the right mileage at the right price, gave it a spin, checked out all the features, and pulled the trigger. Why not?
S was a little apprehensive about "rushing into something" and said that we should check out other dealerships, but I said what's the point? We know what they have. We've already looked through the entire inventory online. It's the same cars at the same prices. What we got and what we paid is exactly in line with everything we've seen online, all the reviews from all the sources, and from our friends who also just bought a Prius. There's diligence -- researching, test driving, taking the car to a mechanic during the 7-day free exchange period -- and then there's doing stuff that doesn't really help just because you feel like you should. We did / are going to do the former. I'm not down with the latter.
[Stan's "Hybrid Song" on "South Park"]
We had a pretty cool salesman. He was an older Bruce Dern-looking guy. He was definitely presenting the car in a glowing manner, as you'd expect, but he wasn't super-aggressive or anything. Overall, it was a relatively painless experience, but that didn't stop S and I from having our disagreements over some financial aspects. She's just much more risk averse than I am when it comes to certain things, because she's about peace of mind and I'm about numbers. For one thing, I just wanted to use our savings and pay for the car out of pocket, and she wanted to finance to keep more cash on hand. This doesn't make sense to me because in the the unlikely event we had an emergency and needed the cash we could just borrow it then. Now, maybe it would be for 10% instead of 3%, but that hypothetical 7% difference on a hypothetical amount of money just isn't worth the real extra $1,000 we're going to pay in interest.
For another thing, and this is the bigger one, I was adamantly against the additional coverage. For $1,700 we could get the extra insurance that covers everything, well everything, except of course the stuff that we already have covered, like collision, or theft, or roadside service or any of the other stuff that we actually might need fixed. Anything we might actually need fixed falls under "normal wear and tear" and isn't covered. (By the way this coverage was initially quoted at $2,200, but when I balked the financier magically procured a promotional code from a colleague that "saved" us $500.) Sure, there's a small chance the inverter or converter or whatever the main part of a hybrid engine is called could go out and that would be a $4,000 hit to us (this is the example the financier gave), but again this is hypothetical money versus the real money we're guaranteed to be paying by purchasing the coverage. And even if that does happen, and we're out $2,300, then maybe we save this the next time we turn down insurance we wouldn't have used on something. There are catastrophic things you should insurance against, getting really sick, your house burning down, your car getting stolen or totaled in a crash, etc., but for everything else you're almost certainly better off saving the money and paying out of pocket if / when unlikely mishaps occur. S sees my point on this, but her thing is, "I know it's a ripoff, but it gives me peace of mind," and my response to that is a loud exhale, an exacerbated shake of the head, and hopeless stare off into the distance. With that said, I'll give you one guess as to which way we went on things.
Alright, that's it for this entry. We have to go a party S's former boss is throwing. It's a tea in Georgetown -- very high society.
Until next time...
What did you wear to the tea?
ReplyDeleteA t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. It was actually pretty fun, but the food sucked -- bite sized egg and cucumber sandwiches with the crusts removed, and sun-melted chocolates.
ReplyDelete