I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy…

So what’s a car with over 96,000 miles and probably a thousand bucks of work on the horizon worth? That’s what I was stuck contemplating Wednesday as I headed over to meet Billy and his dad at a Toyota dealership. Have I mentioned Billy before? I still never know how to refer to him. He’s the guy I hired to do my dirty work at the production facility. The word “Assistant” is in his title, but that doesn’t accurately describe his association to me. Sure, he works for me, but it’s not like he’s fetching my coffee or taking notes for me (Geez, did I just offend every assistant out there in the workforce? I’m terribly sorry). Let’s just call him “my guy” – that’s typically how I refer to him at work.

Where were we? Oh yeah, I was meeting up with my guy (Billy), who conveniently knows a guy (his dad), who, even more conveniently, knows another guy (the owner of a Toyota dealership). And there we would beg them to take away my trash heap and not absolutely rape me on the price of a new car even though Citibank has decided to take all of their frustrations out on my credit rating this year.

In the end, I could have gone elsewhere and leased one of those real low end cars you see advertised that come with 2 cylinder engines and manual crank starts, but I need some security this year. So my payments are a tad higher than I want, but I am now the proud lessee of a beautiful 2007 Toyota Corolla. Why this car? Because I still miss my old Geo Prism. I didn’t even consider other cars because I just wanted something dependable – I don’t need fancy. And now, I have many exciting car experiences to enjoy for the next 4 years:

• When I press the gas, the car doesn’t think about it. It actually just goes.
• When I press the brakes, I don’t have to think about it. The car actually stops.
• Random “Your engine iz pwned!” lights won’t come on even after it’s just been serviced.
• I got to roll the odometer over into double digits and then triple digits with quadruple digits in the near future. That’s far more exciting than hitting 90,000 miles and realizing that your car is now worthless.
• Closing the vents means that the stink of NJ is actually kept on the outside – not filtered back in.
• People can get in and out of the back seat without my assistance.
• 350+ miles per tank of gas…
• I won’t sigh when someone asks me what I drive.
• Most importantly, any major mechanical problems for the next few years will not be my concern – they will be Toyota’s.

Now, there are some downsides to getting a new car:

• Monthly payments – ‘nuf said. That’s the price you pay for getting a new car.
• I actually care about the condition of my car now – no more shrugging off people banging into it because “it’s made of plastic anyway.”
• I’ve got a new license plate to learn. My old one was so easy, I wish I could have kept it.
• No more… uh… tape deck. My last two cars had combo CD and tape units. That was kinda cool. Seriously, I’m running out of bad points…

I’ll continue to worry about financial issues into the new year, but at least we no longer have to worry about housing and transportation. I’ll post some photos of my new hotness next week.