Monday, September 13, 2021

Can I share a story?

If you don't want to read this litany, I won't be offended if you just pass by. 

On July 17th my car died :-(  Well it didn't completely die, but we had been warned by our mechanic that  there was a problem with the engine that would probably give out within two years. That was two years ago.

I was driving home that afternoon, as I turned the last corner into our subdivision, I heard a "clunk" and the car started shaking really badly and all the lights on the dashboard were going crazy. I knew the end was near. Our mechanic had told us we could probably get a new engine to replace the one that was going bad. The problem was, we should have done it two  years ago. Because there are no new parts available ANYWHERE because of the chip. Now I know you  know about the chip, right? No new cars are being built because of the lack of chips coming from Asia. We were not able to get a new engine. But our mechanic kept trying. For two months.  Until he finally said, "it looks like it could be a very long time before any new parts will be available."

So my hubby and I started looking at cars. We decided we would look for a used car, maybe a few years old. The problem was, there are not many older used cars available either. Most of the cars in our area were  18, 19, or 20's. And we needed to go to a dealership because we needed to use my car as a trade. 

After several days of looking online and at dealerships, we were pretty disappointed at the prices of the used cars. We had hoped to find one with low mileage, about 6 years old. HA! Not going to happen. I don't know where all those cars are. Maybe people are just keeping them. We found a lot of cars that appeared to be lease cars because of the high miles on a relatively new car.

Ok I will cut to the chase. My hubby decided to go to the Toyota dealer where his company buys their vehicles. He told the manager what we were looking for. One of their execs was driving a 21 Highlander and it was the kind we were looking for. So I test drove it, and really liked it.  Bottom line, we ended up buying a new car (with only 1,000 miles), for LESS than the used ones with 75,000 miles on it. AND they gave us $6,000 for my Suburban. I think the Lord was looking out for us. 

This is my sweet faithful car that I have enjoyed for the last 12 years. 

I took the picture as I said goodbye.

And this is my new car.

It has all kinds of bells and whistles that I have to learn how to use. But I'm hoping this little baby will last for more years than my last one.

p.s. Did you know that there are over 700 chips in the newer cars?

9 comments:

suzanne, dutchess county NY said...

I am glad you could get a vehicle you liked. It is crazy that the used are almost as much as the new cars. I too looked for a used, two, three year old with low miles but ended up with a brand new car that was only $3000 more than the used would have cost. Just last week my husband traded in our truck. It was a 2016 with 6000 miles on it. Practically new. We kept it garaged and used it to to a fifth wheel camper. Well we didn't get to camp much (covid and fuel prices) sold that and sold the truck for what we paid for it new. Crazy

Allie said...

Congratulations on your new vehicle! It's not just cars, it's computers and graphics cards for them and everything else. The world has gone stark raving mad. Praising the Lord you found something!

ShirleyC said...

Wow! I didn't realize there were that many chips in a new car! I know the shortage is bad as I live less than a mile from our Ford dealership. They only have a hand full of cars, and I'm not even sure those are for sell.

Your car is so pretty! My Edge is two years old, and I couldn't get an inspection sticker because both places here have been closed because of Covid. Now it's raining for days!

Darlene S said...

Congratulations on your new car. What a deal and what a perfect car for you. I absolutely love it. Wow, someone was watching out for you. The stars certainly aligned on this one. Yeah. And, I had no idea that there are 700 chips in the newer cars. OMG I'm a magnet for killing computers, now I have to worry about the chip failure in new cars.

Elaine Adair said...

Purchasing, or trading, or buying new cars is difficult enough without throwing in the "chips" complication. You took a photo of the old one (I did the same!), saying goodbye to lots of memories that happened with that vehicle. I like the story you told, complications as silly as they are. What a strange time of life we are in! A saga in itself! 8-)

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I drive a 2009 Toyota Highlander. I've had very little maintenance costs with it so far (just tires, oil changes). I do miss the simplicity of the Chevy A/C and a few other things (like the size of my old Trailblazer), but the Highlander has worked well for me for many years now (bought used). I have almost 162,000 miles on it now. Enjoy your new Highlander.

straythreads said...

Congratulations on the new car. I get the same model a few months ago and way too many bells and whistles. I have quit panicking when I drive in and out of the garage! I know this is tight but I’ve done it before so just chill and be quiet is what I want to scream

Sherrill said...

They are actually manufacturing new cars but those are sold before they even get to the dealer. People are finding what they want, pre-ordering them and then waiting until they're shipped out. And the prices of used cars are higher than they've ever been before. I've leased for the past 5 cars and wasn't due for the next until July. I went to the dealership in April and he pointed to what was available then and it was like 7 cars (of the model I wanted). There was only ONE red and it was actually outfitted just the way I wanted so I snagged it right then! I felt really happy that it worked out like that. YOu got a really sweet deal, too!!!

Michelle said...

Hello. I finally traded my 2001 yukon xl in for a new car this year. Sticker shock to be sure as we didn't have anything of value to trade in. My husband was too worried with me driving that thing around. It was running fine but had over 250K miles on it and in Minnesota, it gets super cold and if I ran into issues out here in the country, we could be in serious trouble.