This is it!

This is the post that I have (im)patiently waited to write for over 4 months. And now that there is resolution to the story, I can finally lay it out for all of yous. This is the story of 1 man and his journey. A journey filled with heartbreak, frustration, excitement, nervousness, sadness, and happiness.

This is the story about the Yarshmobile.

  
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It all started out at the end of November last year. I had been driving the Yarshmobile for 4 months with expired registration. Problem was that the car had some engine issues and smoked like a mofo, not to mention that it also drank oil but then just spit it back out. But it ran, so I had a way to get to work each day. I didn’t do much other travel (to hang out with friends, go to the grocery story, etc) because I didn’t want to get pulled over. But one morning, on my way to work, I had the misfortune of driving by an officer who was pulling on to the freeway after stopping another car. He pulled in behind me and flashed the lights… damn. Ticketed. It was time for a new car. Not only so that I could reduce my fine for the ticket (because I knew there was no way to get the car fixed before my court date), but because I needed something a bit more reliable and something that ran well.

I had only a small amount of criteria for my vehicle – it had to be somewhat sporty and fast, look cool, and be able to handle the size of my 88-key keyboard. I did my research and fell in love… with an ’05 Dodge Magnum RT (it’s got a Hemi!). The Magnum definitely has the size to handle such a large cargo load. I found one listed online and decided to take a look.

I really liked the car once I test drove it that December morning, and worked out a deal for it. I drove off of the lot that day and went to Jeff & Abbi’s house warming party to show off the new diggs (technically, I went to the party to hang out and play poker. Showing off the car was a bonus).

    
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While driving it that day, I did happen to notice a few issues that needed to get fixed (Sun roof didn’t close properly, leaving a gap where the elements could get into the car, and the rear windows wouldn’t go up/down on occasion), but the car was still under warranty and should have been fixed for free. So once the financing went through and it was legally mine, I would take care of them. Only 1 problem – the financing never went through. The dealer couldn’t approve the loan for me. And they jerked me around for 2 months. After a couple of weeks, when I hadn’t heard from them about approval and whatnot, I started calling them. I only talked to the finance department 2 times out of the 20 or so times that I called and left messages (and those 2 times were when I actually got them on the phone, not them returning my call). Finally, in February, they started calling me asking me to either find financing on my own, get a cosigner, or return the car. I decided to return the car. They could give me the $1000 back, that they originally gave me for the Stealth, and I would be on my way, never to deal with that dealer again. I returned the car, but still managed to drive off of the lot with a different car…

  

Yes, they still had the original Yarshmobile stowed away, and they pulled it out for me to drive home. They actually got 1 thing right – not selling off my car until the deal for that car had been finalized. That was a shock and a surprise, but at least I still had a car. So, now I am back in the same situation I was in only 2 months earlier, only more upset and frustrated because I actually liked the car. But I had to move on.

I looked for alternate financing to buy a Magnum, but it just wasn’t working out for me. When I finally got approved for the right amount, they dropped my financing significantly because of a technicality in my employment history for Connected Dot. So, I was forced to look away from Magnums entirely, and look at some econoboxes that would fulfill the requrements of the loan approval (2000 or newer vehicle with less than 30,000 miles on it) and be under my approval limit. Basically it came down to 2 choices: a new Nissan Sentra (which actually aren’t too bad with a 6 speed manual transmission), or a Honda Civic (which look ok, but I don’t care for Honda much). Then Randall suggested a Mazda 3. Cool looking cars, but are a bit more pricey. I researched them for a couple of days and found a new listing for a 2006 model late last week. I decided to go take a look at it on Friday night, but didn’t bring my checkbook or my trade-in since I was only there to see if I liked the car in the first place (many many thanks to my brother for letting me borrow his car for a month while I tried to find one of my own). Well, I liked it.

I told them that I didn’t have my trade with me. They said no problem, and that they could do an off-site appraisal. I told them that I didn’t have my checkbook, but they said that they could take the check after everything was worked out. Dammit… fine. Let’s run some numbers. 3 hours after I did my test drive, I was driving home in my new car. I was happy. It is really nice: All leather interior, Sunroof, Premium sound, Alloy wheels, Awesome Headlight and Taillight clusters, Kickass Instrument Panels, Looks sporty and sweet… It’s Niiiiiiiiice!</Borat>

    
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The only thing I had to take care of was getting the Stealth to the dealer, plus my down payment check(s). But those issues were solved because I brought the salesman, Moses, to my house that night where I wrote the checks for him and handed him the keys to the Stealth. He drove off and that was the last time I saw the original Yarshmobile.

This morning I got a call from Moses, who is an extremely nice guy, and he told me that the financing had been approved. And so with that, my story thus far is complete. I am the proud owner of a 2006 Mazda 3. I would definitely recommend Moses and Camelback Toyota to another person. The staff was helpful, and the building was modern and very clean (unlike Courtesy Chevrolet… I do not recommend them. I’m not even gonna link to their website).

And yeah, even though it is much smaller than the Magnum, my keyboard does in fact fit in there. So, w00t!

[tags]Cars, Mazda 3, Dodge Magnum[/tags]