Car News Update

As I mentioned in a previous post, last weeked, we bought by wife a new 2007 Volkwagen Jetta to replace her 1997 Pontiac Sunfire. We finally got to pick up ths past Friday as the car had to be driven up from a dealership in South Carolina. We got to the dealership around 9:30... And we didn't leave until after 1:00. We had filled out much of the paperwork last weekend, but it just took FOREVER this time for some reason. They were quite busy there and I think one of the finanace managers wasn't in. They ended up recruiting the finance manager from the Jaguar dealership next door (owned by the same person who owns the VW dealership) to take car of us. We were also delayed by the fact that we wanted the financing in my name, the title in both of our names (I have to be on the title because the financing is through me), and the registration in my wife's name. But because of some bank rules, DMV rules, and dealership rules, we ended up having to do everything in my name. So we finally got out to see the car and my wife was upset that there were pinstripes on the car. Fortunately, they were the vinyl decals so the dealership was quickly able to remove them by simply peeling them off and using a little adhesive remover. As a gesture of good will, the dealership allowed us to go to their gift shop and pick out anything we wanted. So my wife and I each ended up getting a stainless steel travel mug (retail value: $20/each). The car is running fine so far. There are some dings in the front chrome and a ding in the hood that the dealership needs to take care of. One thing I forgot to mention is that we purchased an extended warranty, so we now have a 7-year, 70,000 mile bumper-tp-bumper warranty. Given the repair history of my old Sunfire, this should give us some piece of mind for several years.

We sold the Sunfire yesterday afternoon. I'm relieved at how easy it was to sell it (without any advertising even!). The money will come in handy to help cover the double car payments until my Camry is paid off this summer.