We finally bought a vehicle. The reason it has taken us so long is that, as I mentioned previously, we had fairly disparate lists of desirable vehicular features - I wanted something cheap and economical both to buy and to run, something that was certified and e-tested* for peace of mind and something that was within fairy easy distance for viewing. Isaac wanted a big truck. Or 4x4 at the very least. Everytime he'd look through the Super Shopper (like Loot or Exchange & Mart) and would say 'Hey, there's a Blahdy Blah truck for sale here', I'd immediately google it and shout '15 mpg ain't gonna cut it!' Then I'd find a small car of some sort and say 'Shall we go and look at this?' and Isaac was so uninspired he couldn't even be bothered to answer.
Every week Isaac bought the Super Shopper and every week I'd look through it and think what a waste of money it was. Half the ads didn't say what car they were actually selling, the number was wrong, the price was incorrect or if they were any good they'd gone by the time you bought it on the day it came out. The last time he bought it, I couldn't even be bothered to look at it. I waited a whole week till the new one came out and then had a flick through - a 2001 Kia Sportage listed certified and e-tested for $2750 OBO leapt out at me. I called the number with very low expectations but was amazed to find it still available and the chap sounded very nice indeed. I said I'd chat to Isaac and call him back. It was down in Keswick (here they pronounce the 'w') which is about an hour and a bit away south of us, but then our friend Sarah said she was going down south that weekend and did we want to come? We asked if we could make a detour to Keswick, called the guy and arrangements were made.
I still had low expectations - everything we'd looked at had turned out to be rubbish in one way or another - but as soon as we saw it we both knew we'd found a winner. We drove it - fast, slow, 2WD & 4WD - and found it was a lovely smooth and worrying-noise-free ride. There were a few rust spots around - Ontario salts its roads in winter and it eats cars alive - but nothing Reilly couldn't handle. It had only 187,000kms on the clock and even had all new tyres including the spare - All Terrain ones at that. We offered him $2500, he said yes, and we arranged to pick it up the following Wednesday after the paperwork for the safety and a wheel alignment had been done. Then we went to the mall to celebrate!
Every week Isaac bought the Super Shopper and every week I'd look through it and think what a waste of money it was. Half the ads didn't say what car they were actually selling, the number was wrong, the price was incorrect or if they were any good they'd gone by the time you bought it on the day it came out. The last time he bought it, I couldn't even be bothered to look at it. I waited a whole week till the new one came out and then had a flick through - a 2001 Kia Sportage listed certified and e-tested for $2750 OBO leapt out at me. I called the number with very low expectations but was amazed to find it still available and the chap sounded very nice indeed. I said I'd chat to Isaac and call him back. It was down in Keswick (here they pronounce the 'w') which is about an hour and a bit away south of us, but then our friend Sarah said she was going down south that weekend and did we want to come? We asked if we could make a detour to Keswick, called the guy and arrangements were made.
I still had low expectations - everything we'd looked at had turned out to be rubbish in one way or another - but as soon as we saw it we both knew we'd found a winner. We drove it - fast, slow, 2WD & 4WD - and found it was a lovely smooth and worrying-noise-free ride. There were a few rust spots around - Ontario salts its roads in winter and it eats cars alive - but nothing Reilly couldn't handle. It had only 187,000kms on the clock and even had all new tyres including the spare - All Terrain ones at that. We offered him $2500, he said yes, and we arranged to pick it up the following Wednesday after the paperwork for the safety and a wheel alignment had been done. Then we went to the mall to celebrate!
So we picked Mia's Kia** up on Wednesday and have driven around pretty much constantly since. The other day we went and drove muddy roads around cottage country - even getting stuck on a muddy trail and having to use our 4WD to get us out - just because we could. Then yesterday I went to visit my cousin Tine, who lives just over an hour away and I really ought to see more often, for a lovely lunch. In fact we've actually managed to put over 700km on it in 3 days. Ha ha ha.
The thing is, in Canada you can't get anywhere without a car. It would take me about an hour to walk to the local shops, so the sense of freedom you have when you have a car is amazing. I know we've been able to borrow Isaac's parents' cars most of the time, but when you ask to borrow someone's car you leave them without one, so you feel like you have to justify your trip. Now I can go anywhere and do anything, with no reason at all! Hurray! She was worth the wait.
*for Brits: the Canadians don't have an MOT equivalent as such but here you have a fairly stringent test that each car has to pass when changing owners called a safety or a certify. It can be done by the seller, in which case they will get more money for the car, or it can be sold 'as is' and done by the buyer, which can be risky. It also needs an emissions test or e-test to make sure it's only mildly damaging the environment.
**we're still working on a name so this will have to do in the meantime.
