Let's play Jeopardy!
Remember to phrase your answer in the form of a question.
The answer is: 1999 Chevy Astro LS
What is: White, with 85,274 miles, and purchased by Foolscap001 and irpooh?
Our current Van, known as Pooh V (because it's the 5th vehicle I've had that I've named Pooh - well they work better when they have a name) has been developing issues that are starting to add up. So, I went to the credit union to see how much they would let me have. There is a long story involving a lot of pissed offness and a real screw up on the part of a loan officer about that, but eventually resulted in my knowing how much I had to work with and their willingness to work with us. Then, Foolscap001 spent last Sunday cruising the used car lots in the area.
Why Sunday? Because it is still the law in Iowa that a vehicle cannot be sold on Sunday and so the dealerships are closed thus making it possible to look without a salesman hanging around your neck. I don't know how to explain it, but Serendipity has yet to fail me when it comes to cars. We didn't get to all the places I wanted to look. My keister can only take so much and after about 3 hours, I was done.
One of the places I wanted to get to was where I got Pooh III. My mechanic got very tired of looking at the "junk" I kept bringing him to check out and sent me to a guy he knew who at the time was just getting started in business and was so far out in suburbia that he was still surrounded by corn. He is now surrounded by restarants, office complexes and hotels. I got a great deal on a car. The next time I was looking for wheels, I started there, but he didn't have anything. But he was nice, easy to work with and I haven't forgotten him. I've sent people there to look because he was good to me.
So Monday, while Foolscap001 was working and before my playdate with Sam, I went back to one of the dealerships where I had seen what might be a possibility. I drove around and thru the lot 3 times, 2 times past a butt circle of salesmen. Did anyone look up, offer to help, wink or wave at me... NOPE. You can guess what I did... NO I didn't honk at them and flip them off, I just quietly drove away and next time I need a car... I doubt I'll even look at their lot, even on a Sunday.
There was another place we didn't drive thru, just by and I decided to to look more closely at their lot. Saw one Van I liked and pulled in to look closer only to see a salesman putting a SOLD sign in the window. SHOOT... BUT this salesman actually took time to wave me down and talk to me and show me a couple of vans but they were just out of my price range and he was not willing to negotiate. I did take his card and told him I would think about it and would call IF I could get more $$ out of the CU.
Having had enough of that BS I headed straight for where I should have gone in the first damn place. BUT had I gone there on Sunday, I wouldn't have seen the Astro because the guy that owns the place was using to haul his mother and bulldog around. His mother is 80 something, with a hip replacement and walker and the bulldog can sit on a bench seat in the back and see out. I said oops sorry, didn't know it wasn't one of the ones for sale. And he said, that no, it was for sale, he was just using it cuz it was easy to get his mom in and out of the dog likes to see out. OK, so what year, how many miles? How much...
When I picked my jaw up off the ground**... I was pretty darn sure I had found our next vehicle! How sure was I? Sure enough that I went back to the CU to see what they payments would be. AND sure enough that I took Foolscap001 back after work to "try it on"... well, his legs are longer than mine and I wanted to make sure he would be able to travel comfortably and it is considerably higher off the ground than our current van. IT FIT!!!
So, before we left, we told him we wanted it. He wanted to clean it up, check the brakes, etc etc etc and give me a call...
see Sept 27th entry And I left a message late yesterday afternoon with our loan officer at the CU. Right after I left that message the current van decided to start pumping radiator water into the interior of the van. It is parked and as soon as I can figure out how to get back home, I'll take it to the mechanic. OH we're keeping it. And so it will need some repair, but it is not such a hectic scramble as we will get the new one on Friday. Yes, I'm going to repair it. It will be a luxury, for the first time in my life, I will have a vehicle to fall back on in an emergency And Foolscap001 is rather attached to it because it looks like a shuttle craft...
**NADA Trade in for this van $5,000... Retail $7,000.... Asking price from dealer... no not priceless... $4,500+Tax and Title!!!
pick your jaw up off the keyboard
you're hitting the space bar.... grin
The answer is: 1999 Chevy Astro LS
What is: White, with 85,274 miles, and purchased by Foolscap001 and irpooh?
Our current Van, known as Pooh V (because it's the 5th vehicle I've had that I've named Pooh - well they work better when they have a name) has been developing issues that are starting to add up. So, I went to the credit union to see how much they would let me have. There is a long story involving a lot of pissed offness and a real screw up on the part of a loan officer about that, but eventually resulted in my knowing how much I had to work with and their willingness to work with us. Then, Foolscap001 spent last Sunday cruising the used car lots in the area.
Why Sunday? Because it is still the law in Iowa that a vehicle cannot be sold on Sunday and so the dealerships are closed thus making it possible to look without a salesman hanging around your neck. I don't know how to explain it, but Serendipity has yet to fail me when it comes to cars. We didn't get to all the places I wanted to look. My keister can only take so much and after about 3 hours, I was done.
One of the places I wanted to get to was where I got Pooh III. My mechanic got very tired of looking at the "junk" I kept bringing him to check out and sent me to a guy he knew who at the time was just getting started in business and was so far out in suburbia that he was still surrounded by corn. He is now surrounded by restarants, office complexes and hotels. I got a great deal on a car. The next time I was looking for wheels, I started there, but he didn't have anything. But he was nice, easy to work with and I haven't forgotten him. I've sent people there to look because he was good to me.
So Monday, while Foolscap001 was working and before my playdate with Sam, I went back to one of the dealerships where I had seen what might be a possibility. I drove around and thru the lot 3 times, 2 times past a butt circle of salesmen. Did anyone look up, offer to help, wink or wave at me... NOPE. You can guess what I did... NO I didn't honk at them and flip them off, I just quietly drove away and next time I need a car... I doubt I'll even look at their lot, even on a Sunday.
There was another place we didn't drive thru, just by and I decided to to look more closely at their lot. Saw one Van I liked and pulled in to look closer only to see a salesman putting a SOLD sign in the window. SHOOT... BUT this salesman actually took time to wave me down and talk to me and show me a couple of vans but they were just out of my price range and he was not willing to negotiate. I did take his card and told him I would think about it and would call IF I could get more $$ out of the CU.
Having had enough of that BS I headed straight for where I should have gone in the first damn place. BUT had I gone there on Sunday, I wouldn't have seen the Astro because the guy that owns the place was using to haul his mother and bulldog around. His mother is 80 something, with a hip replacement and walker and the bulldog can sit on a bench seat in the back and see out. I said oops sorry, didn't know it wasn't one of the ones for sale. And he said, that no, it was for sale, he was just using it cuz it was easy to get his mom in and out of the dog likes to see out. OK, so what year, how many miles? How much...
When I picked my jaw up off the ground**... I was pretty darn sure I had found our next vehicle! How sure was I? Sure enough that I went back to the CU to see what they payments would be. AND sure enough that I took Foolscap001 back after work to "try it on"... well, his legs are longer than mine and I wanted to make sure he would be able to travel comfortably and it is considerably higher off the ground than our current van. IT FIT!!!
So, before we left, we told him we wanted it. He wanted to clean it up, check the brakes, etc etc etc and give me a call...
see Sept 27th entry And I left a message late yesterday afternoon with our loan officer at the CU. Right after I left that message the current van decided to start pumping radiator water into the interior of the van. It is parked and as soon as I can figure out how to get back home, I'll take it to the mechanic. OH we're keeping it. And so it will need some repair, but it is not such a hectic scramble as we will get the new one on Friday. Yes, I'm going to repair it. It will be a luxury, for the first time in my life, I will have a vehicle to fall back on in an emergency And Foolscap001 is rather attached to it because it looks like a shuttle craft...
**NADA Trade in for this van $5,000... Retail $7,000.... Asking price from dealer... no not priceless... $4,500+Tax and Title!!!
pick your jaw up off the keyboard
you're hitting the space bar.... grin