With the finite wisdom God's given me, I recently made a decision to replace my old trusty Subaru with a newer Subaru. After a few weeks of looking, i stumbled across a 9 year old Subaru Outback a used car dealer was selling. Now i don't know how much i trust used car dealers as they have an image of being somewhat shady characters, but this car seemed to be great deal for only $2000. That's what my logic said, though I was looking that 'gut feeling' or 'divine guidance' to confim my decision, but all i sensed was my own logic at work.
Jim the dealer, seemed to be a nice enough guy. I tried to bargain with him about the price, but he said the ad was a mistake and should have been $2995. I'm not sure if i believed him, but he promised honor the listed price if i want the car. 'you're stealing it from me' he said, though i knew he was still making money on it.
I still felt a little bit leary, but since he included a three month powertrain warranty it helped me feel more at ease about any unexpected major mechanical repairs. He knocked off another $200 off the price if i'd take the car with marginal tires, but that $200 was slapped right back on the contact as the dealer's 'administration fee'. So he got what he asked anyways...
Sold my old car over the weekend, so with cash in hand i headed down to pick up my new car early yesterday morning. I had just paid the balance and when we hit our first obstacle. Jim didn't have the registration for the car. He said 'No problem', he'll send his 'gopher' down to the registration office with me to get a new registration issued. Jim seemed to be an expert juggler. While closing the deal with me, he was giving assignments to workers in the shop, doing paperwork for another car sale, and answering several phone calls at once. One guy called and asked directions to the dealership, he bluntly told the guy to read the ad, hung up and mussed 'Stupid imports, why don't they ever read the ad properly?!' Jim was clearly getting a bit edgy for monday morning...
He then asked me to follow this cute 20some year old redhead down to the registration office. Turns out she was a juggler too, working at three part time jobs! At the registration desk we found out the car was never registered in the dealer's name! Oops, what had i gotten into? 'No problem' the readhead said, 'I've never had problem like this before, but don't worry we'll get it sorted out'. A couple of phone calls and a fax, and 'voila', the registration could be transferred to me. How she juggled all this i don't understand, but at least the car was now free and clear in my name.
Back at the dealership we put the plates on the car, and i drove off with a sense of pride and relief. Mission accomplished, i now have a great new car! What could go wrong with my new(er) Subaru? Barely two hours later parked at the mall, i tried to start the car.... Silence! The car was dead. I try again, and again, and again, and finally the car starts up. Hmm, maybe there's a loose wire somewhere..
Drove to my next stop. Same problem again, this time it took a bit longer for the car to come to life. Then the third stop. This time i tried for 3-4 minutes with no results, and then called Jim. 'I have a little problem with the car you just sold me'. Jim told me to call the Autoclub and have it towed down if i can't start it. Thirty seconds later the car sparked to life again, and i drove straight back to Jim's garage.
Jim wasn't terribly pleased to see me. 'You know, I don't have to fix this' he blurted out with a tinge of anger, 'I just want the car fixed and you out of here' he quickly corrected himself. Then tried to reassure me, 'We'll look after you'. The mechanic looked at my car, who first thought it was a bad connection with the starter but discovered that the starter was overheating. They ordered a new starter, and Jim gave me a rusty old pick-up truck to drive while my new car gets fixed.
Returning to the shop at 5pm as agreed, the mechanic had some bad news. The starter they ordered was the wrong part, and the new part will come in the morning. So this morning back to the dealer i went wondering if this starter problem is a minor problem or have i just replaced my trusty old car with a lemon?...
Well, this morning they got another wrong part, but finally the right part and got my car back at 1pm. I drove off wondering if anything else might go wrong. I decided to take it to another garage for an independent inspection. I feared they might find something else seriously wrong with it, but they reported that the car's in excellent shape. It certainly lifted that burden from me! :)
During the past 24 hours my finite wisdom seemed to go though infinite emotions. For a while i was sure i made the right decision, then i wondered if i'd been taken for a ride by the dealer, then if i had bought a lemon. They say all's well that ends well, and at this point i must say it's all ended well.
But what did i learn from this experience? Unexpected events shook the confidence I had in my wise decision. In retrospect, the events did no more than ruffle my feathers, since they were eventually resolved. So i guess unless i'm clearly led by infinite wisdom, i should learn to trust the finite wisdom God's given me..
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