Ford Escort #2 ! !

We got a car! Oh my goodness!! (My cell phone is currently out of commission so my family doesn't even know about this yet...)

But yes, we have purchased a new used car. Funny thing is that my old car was a green 1994 Ford Escort, and our new car is a green 1993 Ford Escort Wagon (with less miles). HA! This car is my old car but with 4 doors instead of 2, and a wagon-style back instead of a hatch back. The price was way lower than I could have ever dreamed! I thought buying a car was going to KILL us!! But God once again has answered our prayers and we were blessed with a great car! It is also more shiny (being garaged for a long time by a grandpa who did not use it very much), cleaner, has no non-Mormon motifs on the back, and still has the lining on the ceiling!!

We actually got it on Craig's list. I vigilantly watched Craig's List ever since my car was diagnosed with a terminal illness about 2 weeks ago. It was a sad day and I'll miss my little blessing car. (I call it my blessing car because I considered it a blessing from Heaven. My wonderful Aunt Linda gave it to me just before she passed away. And because it was a blessing to me, I used it to bless the lives of others - just like Aunt Linda did for her family.) So my blessing car started shaking uncontrollably one day. Julie followed me with her hunk of red Mazda to our favorite mechanic at 30 mph with our hazard lights on. Turns out that it was something about the #4 cylinder seat dropping, and causing lots of damage to the piston. A very expensive repair.

And while watching Craig's list I learned a lot about it. There are lots of scams!! I actually found a scammer and saw a bunch others that I thought could have been scams, too. One advertised a Toyota Camry with 120k miles for 3000. I emailed them and they wrote back really quickly... (pre-written email - pretty fishy!) They explained that I needed to sign up at a website, talk with those guys who would handle my transaction, pay them, and they would deliver the car. It actually didn't occur to me that it actually was a fraud, so I wrote back and said, "I need a phone number to call and ask questions. By the way, you ought to read Craig's list warnings about frauds because your email sounds like a fraud." A little blunt, opps =} . Yes, I read all the stuff about frauds. Good thing I did. They warned about 3rd parties, delivering cars, and people "guaranteeing" transactions. Morgan read my blunt email and said "how mean." But then being curious and computer savvy he found that ad and looked it up. That website that I was suppose to go sign up on had been created the PREVIOUS DAY! And after finding a phone number on that site, he found it on a list of fraudulent phone numbers. So he flagged the ad, notified Craig's list, sent a copy of their email, and took back his previous comment to me. All in a day's work of a computer scientist.

And of course I wasn't going to buy a car without seeing it or talking to the owner. Actually our favorite mechanic (and if you live in our area then I recommend you go there! We were also referred to them) told me that they do pre-purchase inspections. They do a free minor inspection or a major inspection for $85. I found a Lexus and the lady selling the car took it to be inspected. Thank goodness I had her do that. The mechanic called me back with a list of over 10 things wrong with the car!! Including a cracked serpentine belt, a bad front axle, missing air dams, warped rotors, brakes (although new) needing reinstallation, bad catalytic converter, the engine DYING while in idle, occasional clicking instead of starting, hood props broken, and leaks. WOW. So I told the lady that I couldn't buy her car. That wasn't even worth negotiating!!

So a few days later I found a beautifully familiar sight with only 100k miles and an amazing low price. The guy took it to our mechanic and they checked it out. They called back with a few maintenance things that needed to be done, like flushing the transmission fluid and re-finishing the headlights. But that was it! And I knew they did a good job in checking it out because of all the things they found on the last car and because they are just great guys over there. So after I drove the car around and fiddled with it a bit, we negotiated just a little on the price and NOW WE HAVE A CAR!

Julie has been a sweet heart because she's let me borrow her car since mine died. I LOVE having my sister live near. How did I ever live here on my own?