Note ding in door
A few weeks ago I decided that it was time for me to buy a new car. Not that there was anything terribly wrong with the car I was driving, but because the car had been in the family since 2002 and I was tired of it.
My elderly mother bought it as a “program car” with under 10,000 miles on it. She drove it to the grocery store and to the Bridge House (place
where little old ladies play bridge). When she could no longer drive, she gave the car to my son. He drove it until he decided he wanted a pickup. That’s when it became my car.
I justified a change by saying I needed a car that would let me sit up higher, something like a RAV4. My son took me from dealershp to dealership and I sat in various vehicles, all more or less the same size and type. I admired the cool dashboards, the iPhone outlets, the heated seats, the electric everythings. And the colors.
My mother loved the color of her car. I hated it, a boring beige. I wanted something bright blue. Or red.
So it went for several weeks, visiting dealerships, jerking my head around to follow a pretty SUV, lusting after a new car as my perfectly adequate old one took me where I needed to go.
Finally I took a shiny red RAV4 home over night. I admired it in my driveway. I drove it into my garage, but couldn’t open the door to get out. Never mind. Lots of people leave their cars in their driveways. I really had the new car bug. I decided to find out how much they’d give me on my Corolla. Sure, it was old, but it had been well taken care of and not driven to death. It had only 42,000 miles on it. I figured I should get at least $5,000.
The dealer said he’d give me $2,500 for my old car. Yes, it was low mileage, but hey, there’s a dented place on the driver’s side. And some hail damage. And, he reminded me sadly, it is old. I said I’d think about it and drove home.
Hail damage
I walked around my 2001 beige Corolla. The dent on the driver’s side isn’t all that big. As for the hail damage, you really have to search to find it.
I looked at the printout from the dealership. Less trade-in, the total came to $20,607.95. And that didn’t include sales tax.
With the new car smell out of my nostrils, my brain began to function. To the dealer my 2001 Corolla is worth $2,500. But to me, if I don’t buy a new car, it’s worth at least $20,000.
As for the color, maybe I’ll like it better if I stop thinking of it as beige and start calling it Desert Sand.