Thursday, December 10, 2009

A better vehicle.....

My daughter finally found a vehicle that she absolutely loves and tonight it became part of her family. This picture is not the actual vehicle but its the same make, body style and year.....Dodge Durango, 4x4. Hers is dark blue. We ran a "Carfax" report on it and its been a leased vehicle all of its life with the only accident being a broken fog light. As far as leased...... I think that may be a good thing because people seem to be a bit more careful about maintaining a leased vehicle as they don't want to be 'fined' at the end of their lease. It does seem to be in very good condition, inside and out. My daughter's friend looked it all over and since he's a mechanic, he hopefully can give an opinion with some expertise behind it. The first vehicle she found had unusual circumstances surrounding it. She liked that one too but never did get to test drive it. She found the Durango and promptly forgot about the other one.

The other vehicle is an Explorer. The guy said his wife won it and she's been the only driver. Its a one-owner vehicle, which is a good thing but I think this guy was being less than honest with us about several things and that made us nervous. When we ran the carfax report on that one it showed that on 2 seperate occasions the registration expired and one time it sat for a year without supposedly being driven and the second time it was nearly 3 years before the registration was renewed. It had extremely high mileage on it and when you factor in that it "supposedly" sat for over 3 years, it makes the use more than triple that of an average driver. It also has one recall that's never been taken care of.....since 2004!! You know what they say....you take better care of something if you have to pay for it. I sort of think that the vehicle was not really maintained like it should have been. The guy let it slip that he had paid out over $500 to have it detailed to get ready to sell it. Wow....this vehicle must have been pretty dirty at one time! My daughter's friend was more worried about the horribly uneven tread wear on the front tires...he suspected a major repair looming in the near future. The owner also has had it up for sale for 3 weeks and has come down $1,000 on his original asking price. So....even though it was the first vehicle to catch her eye, I'm glad she didn't get it and went with the Durango instead.

So tonight it sits all comfy inside her garage in its new home. I feel so much better knowing that she has a better vehicle to drive.....although I cannot fault her old car. That poor car has been through the mill and it still bravely took her where she needed to go. My long-time readers will remember when vandals took baseball bats at it, breaking the windows, the dashboard inside, the hood and front grill work....along with slashing 2 tires. She only had PLPD insurance on it so she had to drive it looking like that (after getting the windows replaced). We found out much later that the vandals thought it was someone else's car.....someone they had a vendetta against and so they did all this damage. She had left it in a Pizza place parking lot because the battery had gone dead....that place is only a couple blocks from where I live and she thought it would be safe for the night, until she could get another battery in it. She learned a valuable lesson....she says she will never again leave her vehicle anywhere for the night.

So, I'm headed for my warm comfy bed. Its 9 degrees outside with a wind chill of 8 below zero. We do have some snow on the ground but nothing as bad as Iowa....(I sent the rescue dogs with a keg of beer, Jamie!). My Christmas shopping is done since I did it online. I have half of it here....the other half is in transit. HO HO HO All of you contending with this cold....stay warm and those of you who are already warm.....all I can say is...."You lucky stiffs!"

12 comments:

Coffeypot said...

Nice ride. And all I can say about the cold weather, move South.

There is snow and ice in NY and I have filled my quota for this year. I just returned from my doggie transport up that way.

Jamie said...

Thank you ever so much for the dogs and beer, heaven knows I needed it. Well not the dogs so much....:)

I love the Dodge Durango. And I am so happy for your daughter to finally find one she loves.

You are a smart-smart mother and woman, where on earth would your kids be without you?

I am just about finished with my shopping, too. I will have to brave the cold this weekend to get if finished.

I hope this weekend is wonderful for you Charlotte. Lots of hugs. :)

Cheryl said...

Hi Charlotte!
There's nothing like a good car. I have a Honda CR-V and I hope it lasts forever. Well, for a long time anyway. It's the first car I ever wanted.

I can't find your email so I'll answer you question here. The recipe for the sauce was just as I posted but I should have said 1 and 1/2 pounds of brown sugar. I didn't want to write it out!! I cook it down. I have it in a measuring cup and I'm left with 5 1/2 cups of sauce. I buy the 6 lb. bag of meatballs from Sam's and it's just great. I got the recipe from Kathy from Kathy's Peace and my crowd loves it.

Joy Des Jardins said...

Congrats to your daughter. I don't know much about the Dodge Durango, but it looks like a really nice car; and from what you say...looks like she did very well.

We're in the same boat here weatherwise....not too much snow, but the temps took a dip to about 12 degrees with a wind chill yesterday. At least there's some sun. I'm really praying there won't be any more snow...especially when I'm ready to leave for Xmas, while I'm away....and when I return. I hate the delays. Happy Holidays Val...Love, Joy

happyone said...

Sounds like your daughter made a good decision with her new car. May she have many safe miles driving it.
I guess you know by now that I LOVE my car. :-)
Stay cozy and warm.

boneman said...

well, too many nice words to ruin it with my prattle...
I would rather own a gas miser, even if it were to rattle.
But brand new is sweet,
and a most comfortable seat,
It probably sure beats riding on cattle!

Happy Holidays to you and your family, dear.
And I hope much more happiness in the coming year!

Anonymous said...

In spite of a mental breakdown, I made it THIS far tonight so I must be getting better.

It started with my first car: EVERY car I buy, I wait til night and sit inside, admiring the lit dashboard.

LOVE the dashboards at night! I LOVE my Explorer, but while on the fire department, we all had leased Durangos.

Mama Llama said...

I'm glad your daughter has something that will hopefully give her security she needs and dependability that she can trust. Now to keep thugs and vandals away...
It is funny, though, how a car does very much become a part of the family. I remember as a child crying when my parents would trade in their cars after 10 years. It felt like a family member dying to me.
Be well, Val!

Forsythia said...

Looks like a good car. We bought a 2nd-hand Toyota Matrix at Carmax. It, too, was a leased vehicle, and has given us no trouble. Funny thing about it is that it has six gears!

Margaret Hall said...

CONGRATZ on the new car~!! Seems it is in the season..We just lost our 2nd car, ((go-to-work)) vehicle to hitting a piece of steel in the road, tearing up two wheels and two tires...arghhh...And, it ruined the suspension, so we donated it to the Portland Mission who work and recondition cars in their charity workshop...So----we are looking for another vehicle here at Christmas time..and it is raining cats and dogs here which makes it miserable~!!
Nice looking car~!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, VAL~!!!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad Val. Your daughter finally has what she needs after such a long, hard battle. I can just feel the happiness for her in your writing. It is 72 degrees here today. I won't brag, but I just planted my winter marigolds. I guess I just bragged. Your Hotmail email is the one to use, right?

XOSue

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Sounds like she chose the right vehicle. My mom has a Durango and she really likes it.
However, I have a 1994 Explorer with 320,000 miles on it. It's been sitting for a year because the front axle broke but I intend to fix it and give it to my son. It still has the original engine and runs good.