HH Needs A Ride

We are looking at a Chrysler Pacifica for HH to drive to work. His $1000 Caravan is still running strong, but I think he needs something more dependable. As in, I need something more dependable for when he has to take my T-Hoe and leave me the Caravan.

There are two Pacificas exactly alike in our area, at dealers about 7 miles apart. We drove one this evening, and plan to drive the other one Monday morning. They are both 2006 models, silver with tan interior. Nothing fancy. It's going to be a work car. On the plus side, the one we drove only had 26,000 miles on it. Can't beat that with a stick. Also, it's at a used-car dealership where we've done business before. In fact, it's the place we traded our old Suburban without a transmission. OK, that's misleading. It had a transmission, it just wouldn't go in reverse. Oh, we were honest about it. We found a newer Suburban there that we wanted, and called to tell them we were bringing a trade-in with no reverse, and where did they want us to park it. Then we pushed the old one out of the garage and went on our way. I'm sure they won't hold it against us. They knew what they were getting.

I'm thinking our salesman is new. He was sitting in the customer chair of the first desk by the door, and he jumped up to greet us when we went in. Then he had to walk about a quarter mile to get the Pacifica and bring it up front, and get the plates and a gas card, and ride with us to get gas. He offered to buy us all a beverage, but we declined. He was right personable, that salesman. He had HH's gift of gab, and was not pushy. I like that quality in my salesmen.

That little Pacifica can go. That salesman was a hefty boy. HH and I are not exactly anorexics, either. The Pony was but a dandelion fluff compared to us. The #1 son stayed home alone, which I was not happy about, living in the middle of nowhere like we do and him lacking common sense. He had strict orders to stay in the house, no cooking, and no running up and down the basement steps.

Getting back to that salesman... he was not dressed much differently from HH. Which is not to say that he was wearing backwards overalls, but that he just had on shorts and a t-shirt. Not even a collared shirt. And when we asked for his card, he pulled out a 49-cent flip notebook from The Devil's Playground. I'm thinking he really needs to make a sale. We told him flat out that we were just driving it today, that there was another one just like it that we were driving Monday, and that we were going to buy one or the other, cash deal, no trade-in. He said the boss was not there, which was certain, because it was 5:45 on a Saturday, and they close at 6:00. He said he would not even venture a price other than their list price, because he is not in charge, and they would all laugh at him. Of course their price is a bit high, even for such a low-mileage car, but they advertise cash discounts, and we can always go to the other dealer. He did, however, go talk to the manager on duty, who told him that they were not going to let the price get in the way of selling that car. I'm sure they won't. They closed their lot in the next town, and the entire inventory is packed on this lot.

I'm sure they're in the business of moving cars. Especially for a cash deal in this economy.