I swore to myself years ago, after splurging on my Honda S2000, that I would never, ever buy a brand new vehicle again. It simply does not make good financial sense. Purchasing a 3 to 5 year old new used vehicle is much, much smarter. But when Obama came out with the Cash For Clunkers program, suddenly, purchasing a brand new vehicle was no longer such a terrible idea.
Funny enough, it was my mother, who barely speaks English, who first heard about the program on the Chinese language news and then subsequently insisted on a daily basis that I take advantage of the incentive. I did indeed need a larger vehicle to haul all of my inventory and gear around for my trunk shows and fashion shows. Until now, I've been making do with my old 97 Jaguar XJ6 L. (It was a beautiful sedan which I bought used for a really good deal. I managed to score the L model with the longer wheel base which made it even more sleek looking and very comfortable in the back seat.) It was quite the challenge, but miraculously, I was able to make it work as long as I didn't have my kids with me and stripped the back seat of their car seats. But lately, many of the features of my Jaguar have been malfunctioning. The driver's side door wouldn't open unless I rolled down the window and reached over to open it from the outside (quite comical that I had to let myself out of my car that way considering that it's a "Jaguar"). The headliner has been sagging quite terribly and most recently, the steering column, which is supposed to automatically retract into the dash so that it's easier to get in and out of the vehicle, would retract and extend repeatedly nonstop after I shut down the engine, plus the alarm started to just go off spontaneously. In short, my beautiful XJ6 had turned into a CLUNKER!
Of course, my mother's ultimate goal was for me to trade-in the very last semblance of my youth - my S2000. I first fell in love with it at the Auto Show in SF in 1999. I admired it from the turn table at the show and watched how beautiful it looked under the fancy spotlights and then found myself at the Honda dealership shortly after it first became available in 2000. It was my one big splurge. Carrie Bradshaw splurges on Manolo Blahniks, I spluged on a sports car! It was the original, made-in-Japan model, before they toned down the engine and made it more pedestrian. I couldn't bring myself to let go of it, even after I had my second child, so I bought the used Jag to transport the family. Even though I haven't been able to drive the S2000 much lately, the rare opportunities where I found myself kid-free and having the privilege to drive my little red roadster were like sheer bliss! I would put the top down, have the wind in my hair, pass up all of the soccer moms in their SUVs and minivans and pretend to be 25 again! My mother on the other hand, saw my S2000 as a needless, frivolous waste and couldn't wait to have me get rid of it.
Spurred by my mother's insistence, I went online to search for the most economical 7 passenger vehicle that would qualify under the CARS program. As it turns out, the Toyota Highlander was the only vehicle that would qualify given my clunker (Jaguar) trade-in. I compared the fixed pricing for the Highlander on the Costco Auto Buying Program, AAA Auto program and in the end, found that the best price for this particular vehicle was offered by the American Express Auto Buying Program. The Amex program led me to Hayward Toyota which quoted the best price of all of the participating dealerships in the greater SF Bay Area. But I didn't stop there. The thorough researcher that I am, I decided to call all of the dealers in the area to see who had the Highlander with all of my features (or rather, lack of features as I didn't want to pay the premium for the built-in navigation or dvd/rear entertainment system and for whatever reason, most Highlanders in this area seem to have at least one or both of those features) in stock and then to find out if they would be willing to match the pricing that my Amex auto program offered. That's when I discovered that Hayward Toyota not only offered the best pricing, but also the best service.
Most of the so called auto sales "professionals" that I spoke with knew far less about the Highlanders than I did. Most of them were very nice but couldn't answer my basic questions and forgot to call me back when they said they would. I do understand that they were all swamped and overwhelmed with the demand generated by the cash for clunkers program. However, regardless of how busy Jeff Hershman from Hayward Toyota was, he always remembered to call me back and follow-up on every item. Jeff was fantastic! He was very thorough, very patient and took the time to answer all of my questions (and I had a lot of questions). He was very considerate and understood that buying a car is a big decision and not one that should be rushed into. He also tried his best to help make sure that all of the paperwork was finished as quickly as possible. After the purchase, Jeff continued to be very thorough and even called to follow up and make sure that I was enjoying my new Highlander.
Although my son (who had previously decided that he should inherit the S2000) and I are still in mourning over the loss of my roadster (and even my old XJ6) and will continue to mourn for some time to come, I am happy to say that my mother is very pleased to finally be rid of what's left of my youth and what she felt was a needless waste of space in our driveway. She is especially happy that I managed to come home with the new family-mobile just in time to chauffeur her and her four sisters, who just arrived for a 3 week visit from Taiwan, around town. Even though I can no longer deny that I too am in fact a "soccer mom" as I join their ranks in my snazzy new Highlander, I must admit that I am enjoying the nifty modern features of a brand new car, especially the integrated Bluetooth. ;-p
Alls well that ends well!
From upstairs, I could already tell that it's my 3 year old sobbing (and not her brother). So I head down to investigate and discover that she somehow managed to get a large (1/2 inch or so) splinter wedged deep into her hand. Although the splinter was rather large and rather deep into her skin, there was no bleeding and it really didn't look so bad. However, my poor 3 year old was sobbing hysterically as if the sky had just fallen. This was not the first time that I, Doctor Mom, have had to surgically excise a large and deep splinter from a tiny little hand so I felt well prepared for the task. ;-)
