Today we said goodbye to the 7th member of our immediate family...our van. *sniff sniff* We put 175,106 FUN miles on that baby and even though she could have probably gone at least 25,000 more, it was time to let her rest. Oh, but the memories made in there will last us a lifetime! We brought Cate home from the hospital in that van, spent countless hours sitting in parking lots during practices...chatting, doing homework, eating dinner, watching movies, napping... and at least 100,000 of those miles were spent on the road headed to and from baseball and soccer tournaments to cheer on our boys. She was loyal to us for six great years and I'll always think of her and smile when I drive past another T & C white beast!
Ok, so let me start with the obvious...car shopping is painful. There is a reason my dad used to walk onto a lot, point to a car, and buy it without even test driving it. It's because car shopping stinks. Did you know Scott and I are the worst decision makers of all time? We are. It takes us hours to decide what we're having for dinner so you can imagine how awful choosing a new car was. I have been researching and checking every dealership's website in the St Louis area for the last month. There are A LOT of dealerships in the St. Louis area.
We knew what we needed...another van. Basically, it's the only thing that can accommodate a family of six plus luggage for all said passengers AND two huge baseball bags. Yes, we could have chosen an extended SUV, but there is no way Scott could have parked that in our beloved swimming pools narrow parking lot so it was quickly crossed off the list. (And besides, the $100+ tank of gas once a week would have seriously cut down on my weekly fieldtrips to Target...no thank you.) So, a van it was. We had a few "must haves".... low miles, DVD player, back-up camera, leather seats, and plenty of cargo space in the way-back. After going back and forth about it forever, we decided to buy a 'slightly' used car rather than brand-spanking new. I am hoping we are at the tail end of our mini-van days so a $40,000+ van for just a few years seemed unnecessary. So, I compiled a list of Smallie-worthy vans and Scott and I spent yesterday car shopping. Test-driving, negotiating, decisions, oh my. After much consideration, we chose...
wait for it....
wait for it...
drumroll please...
A WHITE VAN!
Lame? A little. Creatures of habit? For sure. By the way, that is not a picture of our actual van, which you probably figured because there is no ocean front property in the Lou, but I haven't had time to take an official photo yet. However, it does look exactly like that. Volkswagen Routan SEL Premium...my new home away from home. Super low miles-check. Back-up camera-check. Leather seats-check. Lots of cargo space-check. Plus, TWO DVD players, push-button stow-away seating, and enough cup holders in the front seats alone that I can enjoy EIGHT Hit-N-Run fountain Pepsi's at one time. Not that I would. But I could. And because it was used, we scored a great deal and were able to forgo financing and pay cash. Hip Hip Hooray! Which Scott thought meant we would have to take an actual bag of cash to the dealer when we finalized the figure. (See what I have to deal with people?! Now you understand why I'm crazy?!) Anyhoo, I drove back over there today, forged signed all of the paperwork by myself..(I'm practically a grown up now.*pat myself on the back*), said goodbye to my old "mobile-home" and took my new BFF on her first trip to Target. It was a beautiful thing.
Wow, that turned out to be a long story.
Bottom line is...
We are one mini-van closer to a 2-seater car.
1 comment:
I agree with you. Car shopping can be very frustrating, especially when you can't find the one that really fits your needs. But as much as possible, insist on being able to test-drive the ones that catch your eye. That way, you’d know right away if there are any difficulties with the car, whether mechanical or just the way it handles while driving.
Rhonda Burgess @ Bob Dunn Hyundai
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