Just take it, drive it, and if it’s not back by Thanksgiving, we’ll assume you want it.”
Truly, that was the car dealer’s comment recently when we decided to trade Silver off before we became stranded too far away to walk home.
A lot of folks trade cars every year, and some vehicles don’t have many miles on the odometer. Now though, economic strains are making that more infrequent than earlier. Consequently, getting a good used vehicle is tougher than it was.
Obviously, we’re contradictory to the trade-often lifestyle. When we get “transportation,” which is our definition of anything automotive, we fully expect it to “last forever,” or almost. When we’re done with it, a junkyard is the only possible destination.
Ole Red got us from here to there for a decade, when he finally stopped not-too-far from home and said: “No more.” Fortunately, Silver had already been acquired and stepped right in to keep us going, after begging the station-man to help get “Red” to his grave.
No offense to Silver as he wasn’t really all that bad and never let us down. Problem was after only serving for less than two years, certain funny-noises under the hood made us more worrisome than we might have been an era before.
So, against our inner desires, a replacement-search began, and within short notice Dunnie stood out in the fourth row behind the showroom. Others likely saw him as a relic, and he is only a year younger than Silver, but 40 percent fewer rounds on the dashboard.
One trip to and fro the daily route convinced us Dunnie should be ours. Making “a deal” to settle the paper-signing though is always difficult, as instinctive horse-trader matched with professional car-salesman further intensifies negotiations.
It’s really impossible for both to get the “best deal,” but if each thinks they do that’s all that matters. Seldom have we come out on top in a horse-trade, and less often in a vehicle-swap.
This time was no different, as the dealership was the winner price-wise, certainly, as he “literally stole” Silver in the transaction. But, Dunnie is ours. We’ll likely shrug-off the check- amount when we’re driving him ten years from now.
Reminds us of Acts 22:28: “It cost me nothing.” Moreover, Luke 5:39: “The old is better.”