Next up. How was I going to transport all my wonderful treasures? My CRV can hold a lot when the back seats are down but probably not a couch. Could I strap it to the roof rack? (In my mind I relived the last time I tried to strap something to the roof rack. It was a an 8 foot sheet of panelling on a windy day. I got about 2 blocks from the store and in my rearview mirror I saw it take flight and go sailing off into a cemetary. Fortunately the people there were already dead.) Couch on a roof rack is probably not practical. Moving on I began the search for the proper vehicle. A work van seemed to make the most sense. Roomy in back and covered in case of bad weather or if I had to leave it packed overnight. Dan my superboyfriend and king of all things E Bay helped me look. We branched out to Autotrader.com, the classifieds, and Craigslist.com.
I learned about something called Carfax.com which lets you get the complete history of a car--maintenance, how many owners, collision history, etc.-- by entering the VIN number. My criteria were low cost, not too many miles, and never been wrecked. The first one that I was interested in got sold before I had a chance to look at it. When the second one came along a few days later I decided to move a little faster. It was located at a used car lot an hour away. Superboyfriend and I took off to see it in his Suburban which is the size of a small house. When we pulled up in the parking lot I said to him, "O.K. I want you to do all the talking since you're the wheelerdealer and I'm not. We'll pretend you're the one buying and I'm just along for the ride. Then if I decide I'm interested I'll just sign the papers at the end." Dan opened the car door and there below the level of the window sat the salesman in his motorized wheelchair. Didn't I feel stupid. I'm sure he heard everything I said. Anyway after spending the next half hour or so looking over the van we didn't have a good feeling about it. Scratch number two, but I did get a good lunch of chinese food out of the trip. While we were sitting in the restaurant eating Dan called about another van listed by the owner. It was located about a half hour's drive in another direction. What the hell. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon, so we decided to just make a triangle with our mileage. The owner of van #3 was an elderly gentleman who had used it in his handyman business. He was in the process of moving back to his home in Connecticut and leaving in 4 days.
It had more miles on it than I wanted, but he gave me a good price, and he had put a new engine in it when he bought it. Equally important I liked him. When we met he shook my hand and gave me a Werthers candy.
Note to self: You catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. It doesn't cost anything to be nice. That goes a long way in business. I'm now the proud owner of a 1997 Ford Econoline 250 and he's safely back in Connecticut. I got a thankyou note a week later. Hopefully I made the right decision.
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