The Shakedown

Back with a synopsis of our car crisis that encompassed the last 17 days of our lives. With all the events and emotions involved, it actually has taken that long for the dust to settle. So as mentioned in a previous blog post, the family was in the process of returning from new bicycle shopping when our 2003 Saturn VUE started bucking and choking unexpectedly, forcing me to pull over into the Post Office parking lot. A few hours later, VUE found itself towed to the only available Saturn dealer (50+ miles away) because GM recently closed our nearest local Saturn dealership. Then what? Well, there VUE sat for several days while we attempted to carry on with life as usual. Luckily Hubs was called out of town on business 2 days later, freeing up the old minivan for me to shuttle Peeps around in all week. Otherwise, I would've been begging Saturn for a loaner car or even renting a vehicle from a car rental agency. Timing was everything.

After feeling drained with worry and dread about how long we would have to endure the waiting game before hearing back from Saturn's service department, I finally received The Call. Mechanic Dude informed me the news wasn't good: the transmission needed an expensive overhaul. Fortunately, GM offered a credit to qualified customers who experienced this well-known issue, meaning we needed to fulfill all of the requirements in order to receive the deal. Mechanic Dude then suggested that we look into applying the credit toward the only new Saturn available at the dealership, and entire state for that matter. But what if we didn't like the car? If that were the case then we could venture out to another GM dealer and attempt to find another suitable replacement. Oh joy - let the car shopping fun begin!

Plain and simple, Hubs does NOT care for the whole wheeling and dealing of purchasing a new vehicle, hence the reason for sticking with Saturn where salespeople lay it on the line in black and white. Me? I don't mind the dealing quite so much. So Peep Girlie and I zipped on out to the Saturn dealership to check out that last standing new car on the lot. But wait… why wasn't it on the lot? Oh right. It was on the showroom floor. My heart skipped a beat as the salesman gave us a demo on all of its features. Wow… no way could this dazzling piece of machinery become our next family vehicle. Then after the guys drove the car off the floor and I hit the road with it, my heart jumped right into the deal and stuck. I know this is exactly what NOT to do when purchasing a car, so I held back my emotions and drove strictly business-like with the salesman in the passenger seat and Peep Girlie in the back. Channeling level-headedness… *ohm*

Back to reality, Peep Girlie strongly advised that we at least test drive a few other cars before making any moves on the new Saturn. That girl has a great head on her shoulders, I know! Good thing we just happened to be located on Dealership Row where MANY other car dealers surrounded us, making it easy to test out a few vehicles. But when our test driving fun ended, we were drawn back to the Saturn dealer where I called Hubs from my cell in the parking lot to discuss the situation like level-headed, intelligent adults. Then I signed off on the offer, putting us one step closer to replacing our long lost VUE.

Driving back home in the old van was surreal to say the least.

The next day involved scanning and emailing of formal documents to Saturn's Service Manager who then contacted GM about applying for credit toward the new car. Again, more waiting. Another day later with me sensing another long drawn out period of silence, I unexpectedly received The Call. Twice. Both on the land line and on my cell, with Finance Dude offering us The Deal. I couldn't believe my ears. Were we actually bringing home that magnificent set of wheels? Is it April 1st? Surely someone is pulling a fast one on us after all of that trauma we experienced over past several days. But no, and after all was said and done, someone upstairs showed mercy on our souls with this:

And yes, the trunk holds a cello and baritone quite nicely.