Amex cleared, and new car!

I decided to do what I didn't want to do to pay off Amex, which was to take money out of my savings account.  I got it down to where I just had to pay off less than $1,000.00 and paid it off.  I'm back down to zero on Amex!

As I mentioned in my August 21st post, I purchased a Carfax because I was car shopping and wanted to know a car's history before buying and the option I chose was for unlimited use.  I used it 2-3 times but didn't find the car I wanted.  Not to mention, I wasn't sure how I was going to go about selling my car, and buying a new (to me) car at the same time.  What are the chances a person can find a 4 year old car with the options they want at the same time they sell their car so they aren't car-less?  Slim.

My car had been for sale online for about five weeks and I had FOR SALE signs in the windows for about a 1-2 weeks when I got a text from someone saying they wanted to see my car in a couple of days if it was still available.  Of course it was!  This person was the first to contact me in the entire five weeks!  I started thinking I was asking too much for my car and was going to lower the price.

I agreed to meet with this person in two days at 9:30 am at a nearby parking lot.  I pulled up and met the couple - I had no idea who I would be meeting which made me just a little nervous.  You never know these days!  They were very nice, and reminded me a bit of my boyfriend and me.  They were car shopping for him, she had a cute little sporty new car.

He took it for a quick test drive, less than five minutes, and upon return he started in on the questions.  Was curious to know why I was the 3rd owner and the car had such low mileage.  The car was great, but not what I really wanted when I purchased it in July 2012.

He loved the car and made me an offer which was a good one, considering I did need to get new brakes, oil change, windshield, and 30k service.  It was a Saturday and as we both bank with credit unions agreed to make the transaction that day.  That beautiful Saturday was the first time in almost 20 years that I officially didn't own a car.  The feeling was not good.  It was great that I sold the car, and I was so happy for that, but that meant I had to rely on someone else to give me transportation...until I could rent a car.  My lovely boyfriend was more than willing to help me out.

I was amazed that the first and only person to inquire about my car loved it and bought it!  He had a list of others they were going to see that day, but after seeing mine, knew it was just what he wanted.  We were both so happy!

My boyfriend was online looking for the car I wanted all over the U.S.  I told him if he could find me a good enough deal, we could fly out and buy it.  He's done this before for himself and found a great truck that now has 250k miles and is still running strong.  It was Sunday night and he found a car that was what I wanted at a dealership, but there was no picture, just a description.  He called them the next morning and asked to be sent pictures, which they did, he also spoke to a sales associate who, as my boyfriend put it, "knew his stuff."  As it turns out, the reason there were no pictures online is because the car had been taken in as a trade and wasn't up for sale yet at the dealership.  Apparently sites such as cars.com and autotrader.com post inventory from dealerships even if the car never makes it on the sales floor.

I rented a car Sunday night for a couple days and was thinking this could get really expensive if I didn't find the car I wanted soon, but the one found online seemed promising!  I believe I spoke with the sales associate on Monday afternoon and he told me all about the car.  I was skeptical, but tried to hard to trust.  He told me that if I decided I wanted the car, he could hold it for me with a $1,500 credit card down payment, until I was able to either fly out to pick it up, or have it shipped.  Tuesday morning I agreed to do this!  I was so nervous!

It was now time to get time off work, book flights, hotels, and plan a route back home.  The flights were easy, I used Skymiles for one of them, and the other was only about $300 for a one-way redeye (don't ever want to do this again!).  To pay for gas I used American Express award cards I requested from my card a while back and was holding on to.  The hotels were booked through Hotwire so only cost about $65 each - we needed two nights.

Wednesday I got insurance on the car taken care of, Thursday I went to my credit union and got a Cashier's Check for the balance owed (the $1,500 to hold the car was applied to the amount due).  Friday night my boyfriend and I drove my rental back to the airport to take our redeye flight which arrived at 6:00 am.  We didn't sleep much on the plane, or at the arriving airport which was a bad combination.  We were both exhausted and had to drive 800 miles that day to reach our first hotel!

The dealership opened at 9:30 am so we took at taxi (which they so kindly covered the $100 bill) and arrived around 9:45 am.  It was so funny to arrive at a fancy car dealership in a big yellow taxi with luggage after a redeye flight!  Everyone was so kind and all my worries disappeared.

We went out to look at the car which they had pulled up under the large, I want to say awning, but it was a solid structure outside the entrance.  It was beautiful!!!  I couldn't believe that was the car I was buying!  I didn't expect such a beauty because the pictures I received of the car were taken from the sales associate's phone camera in a parking lot before the car was detailed and ready for sale.  He made sure to get pictures of the rough spots the car had...which were all gone just like he told me they would be.

I probably looked like a silly fool as I walked around it in amazement!  My boyfriend and I were in awe.  The three of us got in the car and I took it for a test drive.  It drove as nice as it looked, plus it's an '09 and Certified for another 75k miles!  Ha ha, agreeing to buy a car 2,500 miles away from home based on a sales associate's comments, web reviews of the dealership, and some not so clear pictures from a smartphone!

We finished up and were out of there by about 11:00 am ready to head home.  We drove about 800 miles day one, 1100 day two, and about 550 day three.  The weather cooperated all but one night when I had to drive in the pouring rain for about two hours at midnight.  The car handled it very well.

What a drive, what an experience!  I loved every minute of it; the car was worth it!  Even after paying for flights, hotel, food and gas, I still saved money because the car's selling price where I live would have cost me around $6,000 +/- than what I paid!  I love it :)

My boyfriend was wonderful from the beginning, being my short term taxi, searching online for a car many times, calling on cars he found, taking time off work (he was scheduled to work that weekend), flying out with me and driving back.  He put a lot of effort into making sure I got the car I wanted.  What a sweetheart!

God was good!  I sold the car to the only person who showed interest in it, found the car I wanted the next night, made the deal, flew out, paid cash, and drove back safely.

:)