A Weight Removed

I have a very serviceable 1996 Buick Century.  It's not pretty, it's not flashy, it is literally a little old lady's car.  It came to me from my Great Aunt (RIP) who drove it 48000 miles before garaging it for four years.  I have owned it for just over two years now and it is creeping up on 68000 miles and suddenly- it is limping.  I put a new water pump in it last week because it started overheating and stalling on me and it is not overheating any longer but is still stalling.  The husband and I talked about it and we weren't sure that we wanted to get into potentially expensive repairs on it.  We went to a couple of different dealerships and ended up liking a used Ford Escape at one dealership and a brand new Kia Soul. 

Here's the thing.  We don't have the best credit rating out there- and in this economy the banks are pretty darned tight with financing.  We could buy the Ford- no problem- but the interest rate would be somewhat astronomical.  The Kia people know what we want to spend- and evidently are pretty sure they can get us the financing because they sent me home with the car for the weekend.  I am not banking (pun intended) on getting the financing at the dollar amount we can comfortably afford because we all know that most dealerships will try and talk you into a higher deal.  Needless to say- the beginning of my weekend was pretty darned stressful. 

In talking it over with my parents and with one another- we decided that if we are going to spend a lot of money on a used car (as much as I love the ESCAPE- it has 100,000 miles on it) we might be better off repairing mine- so the Escape is out.  If we don't get the financing on the Soul- a back up plan is now in place.  My parents are leaving soon for a wonderful three week journey and I am going to borrow Dad's truck if needed.  I had already planned on borrowing it to drive to Ball State and pick up fixtures for the store at the end of June so it might just be a bit earlier.  It is such a relief to know that if I am not driving that cute little vehicle next week- I can shoot down to E-ville and grab the truck so we don't have to scramble to trade Jim's truck back and forth between two crazy work schedules and my myriad of doctor's appointments. 

I am so very grateful to my parents- not only for this but for their advice on this matter.  I am lucky to have them.