The ‘Major Purchase’

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

I hate spending money. I especially hate spending a lot of money at one time. I have to psych myself up for anything that I consider to be a “major purchase” — which is anything more than a few hundred dollars (even the “few hundred dollars” is pushing it depending on the amount of money I have in the bank at any given time). I already had to make one “major purchase recently” when we got our new heating and air installed, but that one is getting paid off with “easy monthly installments” so it’s not a big one-time hit… just like the furniture, the new washer and dryer, and a whole host of “easy monthly installments” we’re in varying stages of paying off.

So, I know I have given plenty of space in this column to my disdain for buying a vehicle. I always assume I am paying too much, getting a lemon, somehow being taken advantage of, and all of the other things that often come with buying a vehicle.

But we decided a while back that we needed to get something new (well, new to us) for my daughter as she gets ready to head off to college next fall, so I’ve been snooping around looking for a deal on something that will hopefully last the next four to six years without breaking the bank. I didn’t want to finance

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

anything long-term, and I know that limits what’s going to be available, but with a firm top limit in place and with my daughter understanding said top limit, we took out in search of a deal.

Let me tell you, I don’t know if you’ve looked into the used car market lately, but there seems to be a major shortage of stock. We came across a couple of lots that were basically empty. But we managed to find a few that fit our preestablished parameters and did some test drives.

With a couple of maybes in mind, we were headed home driving down East Broadway when we passed a lot that didn’t seem to have a dealership attached. We stopped and saw that the office was actually off Broadway and behind the fenced -off lot.

It was Best Buy Auto Sales. It was closed, but I called the number and the guy said he had left early but was now available to come back up if we wanted. He met us there, we told him what we were in the market and he quickly had three vehicles in our price range ready to test drive.

He was very upfront about each one, said he would include a 6-mnoth warranty on any vehicle we bought, and basically said, “What you see on the sticker is the price.”

With all of that in mind, my daughter fell in love with a Nissan Rogue that was actually $500 cheaper than my max and so within the hour, we had a deal worked out and after he got it cleaned up and checked out by a mechanic, and my very happy daugher drove it home the next day.

Best “major purchase” ever.