Well, I guess I had better write something. 😅
Trying to think about important things that have happened over the last week…
I last wrote on the 19th, so I guess I can start with what happened on the 20th…
Ah, yes! That was quite an interesting day! There was a car that I was interested in buying sort of as a quasi gift for my mom (I would own it, but it would be a hers to drive whenever she wanted because it’s sort of her dream car ever since she saw it on a dealership lot 25 years ago or so.)
It was going to be a surprise because… I love happy surprises. 😊
(I’m going to go ahead and write in present tense even though this happened two weeks ago. It’s just easier for me to think about the day as being today as I go back through it…)
Anyway, I was excited about the car, but I was nervous… about the car… About the trip…
The car was a ways away, all the way down south of Jackson Mississippi. 😶
I had thought about flying out and then driving it back, as it was going to be cheaper that way. But if I flew out, and it turned out to be not as advertised (which had been happening a lot lately), then I would be in a bit of a pickle because I wouldn’t have a return plane ticket, and a return plane ticket spur of the moment would likely be quite expensive if one were even available at all.
Not only that, but if anything went wrong on the drive back, I would be completely naked–no tools. 😬
So I got permission from my buddy Miguel to borrow his truck and trailer, again, even though gas prices would be super expensive.
But I was also nervous about the money…
I think only once in my life had I spent more money on a vehicle than what this one was going to cost, and that time that I spent that much was on a vehicle I intended to flip.
This one wasn’t really an investment: It was sort of a gift. It wasn’t a gift of ownership, but a gift of buying a vehicle vet I like but isn’t my own particular dream car, and buying it specifically because it’s My mom’s dream car, and I wanted her to be able to have the joy of driving it. She turns 79 in a week, so, wouldn’t it be awesome?! Get your dream car at 79? 🙃
So anyway, I was nervous about plunking down that kind of money, knowing that it would be tied up in that car for likely years to come. And if the price I was getting it for, it was likely worth it, in terms of it being a reasonable amount for the car, possibly even a little on the cheaper side for what it was advertised to be. But after taxes and the cost of going down and bringing it back, it was the kind of deal that was like, yeah that’s probably a reasonable amount to pay for the vehicle, but it’s not a great deal.
Whenever I buy something, at least larger purchases, I think of them as investments even if they are for personal use. I often try to buy things at a price where if I sell it, at worst, I’m going to break even, but hopefully, I’m actually going to make a little bit of money on the item.
Anyway, either way, it was going to be what felt like to me a lot of money.
I thought about what kind of a dent that money out of my bank account would have on my ability to do the things I’m trying to do… Buy a house, etc. I thought about the risk of driving all the way down there and spending five or $600 just on the trip itself with the decent possibility that the car might not be as advertised, just like had happened multiple times recently.
Part of the deal that I made with Miguel for borrowing his truck for such a long trip was that I do an oil change on it. That was a totally reasonable deal, but it added time and $100 to the cost of the trip. So it was one more thing to factor in.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to choose to do. I hadn’t told my mom about the car at all, wanting to keep it a complete surprise. I had arranged everything so that I was set for the trip, arranging the borrowing of the truck and trailer from Miguel. Arranging the trip with the seller. I had even arranged to do a quick battery job on the way down in an effort to help fund the trip.
But with my nervousness and indecision, that battery job was starting to look a little bit more like a liability, a job 45 minutes from home that was now an obligation even if I decided not to go to Mississippi to by the car.
The fact that I had made that appointment with the customer sort of pushed me at least in that direction, all the while hemming and hawing about the choice I was going to make.
So I drove down to Fayetteville with Miguel’s truck and trailer. I did the battery job in, I think was like a 2013 Ford escape, or something like that.
From there, still undecided, I drove to the Fayetteville AutoZone on MLK, and I started to do the oil change for Miguel, thinking to myself that if I decided not to go, he could just pay me back for the oil change.
Or something.
While I was debating what to do, there was a gentleman out by Elkins who was selling a Ford f-450 that I had potential interest in to replace my Silverado, my Silverado not having the towing capacity that I need if I’m going to haul heavy loads and equipment around.
I was also in contact with the gentleman who is selling the car down in Mississippi, trying to get some last courage up via confirmations that it really was in as greater shape as what he claimed it was.
Finally, after reinforcement from the seller that it really was in fabulous condition, and after making the choice in my mind to have this little experience be an adventure, with zero expectations, just an adventure, such that if the car turned out not to be what it was advertised to be, heck, I was in Mississippi, and I might as well have some fun and enjoy a little adventure.
So with that attitude, I pointed the nose of Miguel’s truck south, and I pulled away from Fayetteville, Arkansas, destination Mississippi.
The drive south began relatively uneventfully. When I’m pulling a trailer, I find myself probably a bit more focused on the road, which is a good thing, but other than that, it was just a drive.
I drove through the tunnel, skirted past fort Smith, past Alma, and I think past Van Buren? I forgot the names of which towns I passed. As the first few hours went on, there wasn’t really anything notable, other than my continued anxiousness with the amount of money that I was potentially plunking down that would be tied up for a good long time.
That weighed on me more and more as the drive went on, and somewhere probably 20 minutes north, or so, of Little Rock, I decided that it wasn’t a smart idea to spend that much money.
I wanted to surprise my mom. I thought it would be an absolutely fantastic little surprise for her to have her dream car, even in the right color! To drive around whenever she wanted.
But I was struggling to be able to justify the purchase.
I feel pretty cheap and selfish as I write that. 😕
I pulled off the freeway, and then I pulled the truck and trailer over onto a side street, and I just sat there in the truck, parked, for probably 30 minutes or so.
At first, I debated what I was doing. Should I keep going? Should I give this up? Should I actually call my mom and see how big of a deal it might be, if she realistically really would even enjoy the car?
After however long of sitting in the truck, I finally did what was probably a crappy thing to do, and that was to call my mom, tell her what I had been wanting to do, tell her that I was chickening out of spending that much money, and asking her if it really would be something that she would really love.
Super crappy position to put someone in…
Unsurprisingly, her focus was on me. She got a little teary at the thought that I even wanted to get the car for her, and then she said whatever those perfect little things are that she said that made it seem like it was totally fine and that she was totally happy without the little surprise of her dream car.
So that settled it. I had driven about 4 hours from home, but I was turning around, and I was going to come back.
😞
Part of me felt cheap and crappy. After all, it’s just money.
I send a message to the seller, apologizing for wasting his time, letting him know that I was turning around and heading home. In the message, I included my reasoning for turning around, that I just couldn’t justify spending that much, even though I knew the car was worth it if it was as advertised. There was a certain price that was the max that I felt like I could justify, and I mentioned that price in the text, not expecting it all that they would go for it, having previously already come down $3,000 from the original asking price and having landed and planted firmly on the price that I had managed to talk them down to.
As I was getting ready to head back north, the seller called me. He hadn’t read the text very thoroughly, so he asked me some of the same questions that I had already answered with my text, including the max that I felt like I could justify. He tried to talk me up a little bit, but there was a cut off that, in my mind, was absolutely solid.
He made a few offers that were higher than my line in the sand, and each time, I just said no, this is my absolute highest.
He offered to put a lower price on the bill of sale and title than what I had actually paid for it, but I told him that I wasn’t comfortable with that, which he said he super respected, which was cool.
At that point, he said, “Let me talk to my wife.”
Seeing that there was a possibility that they might actually be willing to do the price that I said was my new tippy top, I pointed the nose of Miguel’s truck back south and started driving. I knew that even if I drove straight through without stopping, I wasn’t going to get there until somewhere around 11:30 or midnight. So I didn’t want to waste any time just in case they decided they were willing.
After about maybe 15 minutes of driving south, he called back, tried to get me to go a little bit higher again, and after I said that My tippy top really was my tippy top, he said something to the effect of, come on down, we’ll figure it out.
🥳
I never would have guessed that they would be willing to do the price that I laid out as my tippy top. But he told me that because I was getting it for my mom, and because I was a stand-up guy, not wanting to do the deal on Sunday, and not wanting to put a different price down on the bill of sale than what I actually paid for it, but mostly because it was for my mom, they agreed.
🥳
So I headed south, trying to make good time, but they said that they wanted to go out and probably wouldn’t be back until like midnight or 12:30 a.m. Anyway, so I stopped off at the grocery store, bought some food, and made my way down to their place, getting there somewhere a little after midnight to, I think, and just hanging out and waiting for them.
I guess I’ll stop there for this entry because that’s when the day ends… Chronologically, at least. 🙃
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 