Our New Car

We bought a new 2007 model Toyota Camry yesterday – fulfilling one of our dreams ever – a long black car!( it all started when I saw the ad of Chevrolet Optra – the karva chauth ad)

The Mr. remarked – there is so much pleasure in materialistic things also :D… Definitely yes! We both were grinning ear to ear all the 13 miles back home from the dealership – for no reason. The Mr. drove in the new car and I followed him in our old Corolla – smiling at the way the bright shade of the Fall colors reflected off the shining black hood.

It was a thought was there in our minds since a long time to own a new car. In India, I would have never even given this wish a thought – because of all that I have seen in India – owning a car is a pain – and that too a shiny black one – it is a crime to own one! Within days of buying it, there will a couple of scratches, blotches of mud everywhere and the car would rattle badly within months (unless you lived in those suburb areas where they have laid road for the first time).

But US is the land of opportunities indeed! Added to that fact is that a car, in the parts where I live, is a necessity and not a luxury. So, when the Mr. had to change his workplace to a place about 40 miles from home, we longer could share the single car we have (I refuse to come early to work and leave late, especially when most of the days I sit swatting the imaginary flies).

The decision to buy such an expensive car and that too entirely on loan is something very scary – for me – somebody who never has taken any expensive decision in life (who took the decision to marry then?? Was that no priceless!). The Mr. did sufficient research, backed up his findings with facts based on real life experiences – I was nearly convinced – and then came the trip to UP(Upper peninsula) in Monica’s camry – and I needed no more convincing that Camry was what we needed!

It has sooooo much space – was my first reaction! We test drove the new Corolla just to see if it had anything different from our ’98 Corolla and the moment we sat in it we were disappointed – it was the same thing, just a bit more power and little elevation. No Sir, I want a Camry. Okay, kya lena hai who tho decide ho gaya, now kahan se laayenge paise? This is where I was amazed at the credit system of the US of A. No Questions asked - no layers of paper work - no down payment!
A simple background check and we got our pre-approved check for the entire amount of the car.

Now came the third and toughest part - bargaining with the dealer for the price. I must say that I really underestimated the Gemini hiding inside the MR. – is he a smooth talker and a tough person to beat in the duel of words? Gosh! There I was sitting open mouthed amazed at his verbal prowess, while the salesperson tried to convince him, coax him, anger him, and insult him to budge from his low price. Finally after 2 hours the salesperson had come down by 1000$ from his initial quote (he even brought the manager in between who even went to say – Sir, I don’t think you can afford this car ,you should be buying a lower end car only – the chit of that guy), we were only 250$ away from our mark. We walked out leaving our number on Saturday. And on Monday, the first thing the Mr. gets is a call from the salesperson to tell that he was agreeing to our price. Oh! What a sweet news that was. In two days, the deal was finalized; we got our car and are happy as can be.