The Car

Irma took the day off Tuesday to go to the doctor and shop for a car. We kept coming back to the Cadillac Seville SLS I looked at Sunday. We took it for a test drive and I checked it inside and out, it looked good. Irma took one more look at a pickup she liked but admitted the Seville was a much better deal. The price was right so we bought it and took it home. So that's it, no more auto shopping!

I was thinking back on this whole thing, when I first heard about the accident I felt really bad. Irma was fine but this was the worst time to have to buy a new car. I couldn't believe the adjuster wanted to total the car. Why couldn't we just fix it? I kept teasing (half-teasing) Irma that we would have to buy a cheap POS car to replace the van. I didn't think we could ever get anything decent without taking on payments. I hate this whole process of dealing with the insurance company and buying a new car. I thought we were gonna get ripped coming and going. I didn't let it bother me too much though, I figured let God sort it out, whatever happens we'll deal with it. Then the insurance company said they would give us twice what I thought we would get, I couldn't believe it. A little sunshine! I saw the Seville less than a mile from my house a couple days later and it looked great. The price was perfect, even a little low. I researched the car on the internet to see what kind of problems to expect. Everyone that owned one seemed to be in love with it, no horror stories. I got a CarFax report and it looked good, no problems there. I went on eBay to compare prices and condition. I looked up prices for parts that might need replacing some day. I looked at a bunch of other cars too, but I was still drawn to the Seville. Tuesday we went to really inspect it. When I first started it the radio was on and it just started playing Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd. That's been my favorite song since I first heard it, I think I was in 7th grade, and they never play it on the radio anymore. That was wierd. Now I had to buy the car! Just kidding, that's not why we bought the car, but now that we did I like that it happened like that. So now we have a car better than we had before and a few hundred bucks more. And based on the same factors the insurance company used to price the Eurovan, if we total the Seville now we would actually make a couple thousand. But that will not happen.

The Eurovan is still sitting in the driveway. Acually we pushed it off to the side because it was in the way. I think we made it mad. When I was inspecting the damage, little plastic parts showered the ground every time I moved something in the engine compartment. I swept them up but must have missed some under the van. Irma told me to take the new car to work and after a few miles the left rear tire went flat. I pulled into a hotel next to some lights and took out the spare, which looks like it was never used. (The whole trunk looks brand new) The spare was flat. Wonderful. I called Irma to come and bring my car, I would use my spare since both are GM products. My spare didn't fit. I found 50 cents and went to a gas station to fill the spare. Imagine my surprise to find the air was free. I didn't think free air existed anymore. I changed the tire and found a piece of plastic sticking through the tread, damn Eurovan. I let Irma take her car home and I'll fix it in the morning and sweep the driveway. I hope they take the van by tomorrow. I drove my car to work and enjoyed a major lightning show on the way, just glad it wasn't raining when I was changing the tire.

Here's a picture of the poor van.