I finally reach the final straw concerning vehicles

Two weeks ago I was filling the white truck up with gas, pushed the nozzle hard into the intake, and suddenly experienced a toxic spill. The pipe between the intake and gas tank had rotted out.

Luckily it was not the gas tank and when I turned the gas off, the leak stopped. The station manager gave me (and did not make me buy!) a bag of cat litter to sop it up.

Can you believe I did not have a bag of my own in the back of the truck?

But it was the last straw. I had been planning on driving the truck to New Jersey for work. Work would pay for a rental car but -- living in the country -- getting TO a rental car is no easy feat, and I couldn't leave a potentially-leaking truck in an airport parking lot.

So when I got home, I slammed down my keys and picked up the phone.

Most people would have heart attacks over the way I buy a vehicle. A) it needs to be new. New vehicles have been a God-send to me. They last well over 10 years, and after they are paid off, they are excellent collateral if you are ever in a financial bind. Having no vehicle payments has been wonderful, but having to call the tow truck twice in the past half year, and foster/friend/mechanic Craig to bail me out countless times, has not been so great. B) I tell the dealer what I want and say "call me when you find it." I'm not playing games, okay? C) I feel I do enough research online and with other owners, that I will buy a vehicle sight-unseen.

I have been looking online for vehicles for almost a year now, and had decided on either a Ford Transit Connect truck ($22,000) or a Kia Soul ($14,000). I had stopped to look a Transit Connect just the day before in Ithaca, and probably had a salesperson come out to accost me, I would have made the very-expensive-and-probably-unwise decision to buy one. But they didn't. So I didn't. Whew.

As much as I wanted a truck (especially one I could practically live in) I knew a new vehicle was going to be stretching the budget to the max, so I called the only Kia dealer in my area.

Luckily I got a salesman who "got it." Seriously, really "got it." Well, there was that moment when I said I wanted a base model and he said "Oh, we have one here. Well, it has a sunroof and the audio packages" and I said "How much?" and he said "$16,500" and I said, simply, "No." From then on, it was smooth sailing.



Yes, I bought a car over the phone. I told him to find me a black, base model Kia Soul, by the end of the next day. Well, we did have that second moment when he called back and said I could "pick it up on the weekend" and I said the whole point of buying a car was because I needed it BEFORE the weekend--but you know? He got it. I faxed over my license and insurance card. Once he realized I was serious about the "next day" thing, he even used his day off to make sure that car got picked up, delivered, and inspected before 5pm.

Getting to the car was another matter. I probably should have taken the plates from the blue truck, but I took them from the white truck because I was going to have to leave whatever vehicle I drove over, until I got back from my work trip. So only the blue truck was legal to drive. However, the blue truck decided it wasn't interested in moving smoothly. I started her up about ten times during the day only to have her stall out. Luckily, right before I was ready to go, she roared to life and purred like a kitten.

(I wonder if she will when I try to get her home?)

I met the salesman at 7pm to sign the paperwork, and after a short conversation with my insurance company, lots of signatures, and a check, I had a car.

Then there was the moment of truth. Would I LIKE it?

When they brought the car around I experienced a huge sigh of relief. The Kia Soul is much bigger than it appears online. It's rather like a RAV-4 without the "4." It's almost as high as a small truck. And the inside is sensible. Things are where you expect them to be. There are no cupholders in odd places or window controls in the middle of the dash instead of on the door. The only complaint I have is that all the door locks (inside and out) are operated via the driver's side door via a manual key. So to open the hatch you have to open the front door and hit the unlock button.

This is, of course, how they get you to move up to the non-base car for $16-18K.

Off we went to NJ, and then two days later to VA. Sure, it's no Lexus, and I'm glad I got the standard, because I'm betting the automatic is pretty wimpy (even with a larger engine). But it's a darned good little tall hatchback.

I enjoyed the back seats for the two trips, but shortly they will come out and I'll get a rubberized carpet for the back. Currently I could fit perhaps ONE trapped cat in the hatch, and that's not going to cut it. I've lived with two seats for around 20 years, and I can continue to do so.

I still have the two trucks, and am waffling on what to do with them. Do I keep one, or sell them both for scrap? It would be nice to have a truck for trash-and-big-object hauling (otherwise I'll have to take trash in every single week with the small Kia) but is it worth the extra insurance cost?

I'll let you know.