I was meant to have this car. The weekend before we went to the beach, Peter and I went out to look at a "Huge Tent Sale!!" of supposedly deep discounted used cars. We found a couple of 2004 cars that met at least some of my criteria--4 cylinder (gas prices, yikes!), 4 door (kids are used to the easy access of vans), lower/reasonable mileage, a/c, cruise, uh...having been built in THIS DECADE (very important). So much for the deep discounts though, they priced the cars on the high side and weren't really willing to negotiate.
I suggested we drive through some of the local car lots to see what else was out there. Somehow, we ended up at the one dealer I swore I'd never buy another car from. The Sable I bought for my daughter came from there and it's been nothing but trouble (currently sitting dead, needing a new engine.). But they had a little deep red Saturn that just came in, hadn't even been through service yet. Low mileage (only 38K!), the price was right. The agent promised to call us the minute it was back from service so we could test drive it. Two days later, we got a call that another agent had already taken a deposit on the Saturn just before we looked at it. We'd already decided we wanted it. I nearly cried.
So. Last week, Peter found a 2004 Saturn Ion listed on Craigslist. We made an appointment to go up to Traverse City on Saturday (today) to look at it. The guy promised he'd call if anyone else expressed serious interest, so we'd get first dibs. Wednesday evening, the guy called. He'd decided to sell it to his brother in law. Wugh.
Thursday, Peter emailed me an Auto Trader listing for a 2001 Saturn SL1. Then he called me, to say the car was being serviced but they'd call when it was ready and I could go over and test drive it. I'd been staring at the listing...the picture was a stock photo and not even the right color but all the details sounded very familiar--just like the deep red Saturn we looked at over a month ago . "I think this is the same car!" I told him. "Noooo, how could it be?" He called the agent and then called me back. It WAS the same car. They'd found an engine problem during servicing and decided not to sell it. It was then sent to auction, still unrepaired, where it didn't sell. When it came back, they decided to go ahead and do the repairs.
Not only did we buy the original car we looked at but they'd lowered the price, gave us a 6 month/6,000 mile warranty and threw in a brand new battery. It's even got dark tinted rear windows (those relegated to the back seats can feel like celebrities) and a split back seat so I can haul my boards! Like I said, I was meant to have it. Things work out.
Oddly enough, this morning Google alerted me to this quote from Miss Knotty at Knot What Ewe Think--
Truth be told, I have one (1). I’d like some more, particularly after Ms. Zan has been singing about how great the Spinsanity spindles are, but I’m funneling money into the new car fund left and right, and I’d rather have a new car than a Spinsanity spindle. So there that is.
In celebration of MY new car ~insert eye roll~, I'm sending her a spindle. She chose one of my son's designs...
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