I Hope I Never Have To Buy A Car Again
Colorful indigenous mountain villages are wonderful to visit in Oaxaca. Having had an older SUV there for a year in 2007, I drove it back to the states where my son killed it…an oil leak in the motor.
But, missing Oaxaca, I moved back down again. Then the options were frightening chicken buses that often go over the brink…the gory details in the back of every newspaper. Or colectivos…shared taxis piled with as many bodies as would fit…often with a small child who would upchuck around the curves. No potty stops…no photo stops. I would often wish I could explain to the drivers how to take a corner…slow down… and then about 2/3 of the way into it step on the accelerator which picks up the car and helps keep nine bodies from ending up in what’s left of each others’ laps….back and forth…constant low-level nausea. It offers up a story or two for your friends but it gets old fast.
So. I flew back to Oregon to buy a mountain car and bring back some more of my stuff. My 23 inch computer monitor for watching movies (I don’t have a TV), hand mixer, food mill, a small microwave with English language controls, real maple syrup, pourable salt, Krusteaz mix, corn meal, (can you believe that with all the corn in Oaxaca you can’t get the kind of corn meal to make corn bread), spices and some favorite kitchen ware. You know the stuff.
I decided on the Nissan Xterra. I requested estimates on the internet and then followed up in person. I had a limit and let them know, but they will tell you anything just to get you on the lot.
First lot…Gladstone in Portland Oregon…called the internet contact and asked for an appointment. Oh, yes, I’ll be here she says. NOT!!! Got there and she hid in her office…sending out another salesman to deal with me. I showed him the email with her offer. Conference ensued between manager and 4 other people. Oh, that was a typo in the email they said. Riiight!
Walked out and called Wilsonville. Told them my limit. Salesman confers with his manager. Comes back to the phone and tells me they have a demonstrator with low mileage for well below my limit. Go to the Wilsonville lot. Oh, we can’t possibly sell it for that! The salesman was new and didn’t know what he was doing! Riiiight!
I call Hillsboro who had a basic model for well below my limit. I call McMinnville who had one Xterra S with big tires. Ohhh, damn. Should have gone to Hillsboro first. I wanted the S. Told the salesman what the other two lots did to me. He said, oh, are they still doing that? That’s what they used to do in the 60’s! Sold it to me for my limit. But no car manual in the car and had to go back to McMinnville a week later to pick up a copy they ordered specially. They promised an extradited car title. It’s been over a month and I have yet to get it. Oh, well.
My first and last auto purchase…I hope!
Tags: Not Assigned To A Category, Oregon
Zoe
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