2006-03-21

used car supersale!

I've started to look for a car now that my checks have cleared and I have a bit of money to spend. On Saterday, I went to a used car tent sale at the local stadium and, let me tell you, it looked nothing like it did on tv. I went with my 14 yr old brother. From the moment we stepped on the lot, the salesmen hounded us. And they were gross. One particularly boozey saleman tried to sell me this giant white Cougar, even to the point of turning on the engine and telling me to listen to it purr. I'm clearly not a Cougar kind of girl. It's a grandma car and I repeatedly told him I wanted a compact. After half an hour, my brother and I agreed that we had had enough. My little brother was in awe that the used car salesman cliche was "true in real life."

This morning I went to see a car from an ad online. According to the ad, it was supposed to be a 1999 Kia Sephia with 80K mile for $2,600, which according to blue book should have been about the right price, had it been maintained. I called the lady yesterday, and made the appointment. I knew her name was Maria, she didn't speak English well and she lived by the swap meet. It was classic, but you know, I felt I shouldn't be judgemental, perhaps it was my white liberal guilt. It actually only got better. At first it seemed ok from the outside, it had a couple of dings, nothing too bad; the seats were torn on the sides, but you can always get cheap covers. But in fact, the car was a total piece of crap. As we were looking it over, my mom noticed a gas leak and pointed it out to Maria, who insisted that the car didn't leak. She moved the car so that we could see it better, which actually just revealed that the leak was even bigger than we thought. Maria still instisted that it was just water and then when my back was turned, she kicked at it so hard to try and cover it up with dirt that she almost fell down. My mom caught her.

We came all the way out there, so we had to do a test drive. Maria started the car, which actually took a couple of tries. I drove it around with her for about 15 minutes, enough to notice that it made clanking noises in second gear and that the brakes were shot. I pointed out that it made noises and I politely told her that I had some other cars to see and that I would get back to her. It was probably nicer than she deserved, because I think she actually swindled people for the car lot across the street. The key had a number 4 on it and the word Kia in magic marker, so she must put in private ads for the cars that they really can't sell without getting Better Business Bureau complaints. Or sued.

xanthium at 3:47 p.m.

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