Shopping

Mama came to Borger to get me yesterday since I had to return the truck I had been driving for a couple weeks. I do enjoy driving the loaner that I have available to me at work – especially since the company pays for the gas. I suppose that is why my boss is so aggressively pursuing the mandate from his boss to get rid of all trucks not being used for company business. Many of these vehicles are being used as nothing more than commuter vehicles and have no work related purpose. I am starting to gather the information on costs (about $38,000 per month for fuel) so I understand the drive.


Anyway, Mama and I went to a used car dealership to look at one particular truck to see if we could get it at a cheap price. When we got the keys for the truck we had come to see I gave them to Mama and asked her to start it as I popped the hood. She stretched over from the passenger seat, put the key in the ignition and turned it. When the truck started she screamed and scared the salesman to death. Turns out the exhaust from the header back had been removed so it was pretty loud. I am guessing the catalytic convertor had been sold prior to taking the truck to auction. Nothing worked well on it and all “improvements” the previous owner had done were yet to be completed.

It was not a difficult decision to walk away from that one. It was not worth near the money they were asking for it, but we did find a Dodge diesel that we are interested in. It was so low on fuel that I was hesitant to drive it. We will go back tonight to test it out and see of we can negotiate a reasonable price. When I gave the particulars to Grandpa, he was very interested.

On our way back into Amarillo we stopped at a mobile home dealer to see if they had something we would be interested in for the farm. We have decided to get a used mobile home to set on the farm to house us until we get one of the two houses livable. We did find a single wide trailer that we were interested enough in to put a deposit on it to hold it until we investigate financing. It is both exciting and frightening.

Mama and I need a dependable second vehicle and we need to buy one that will meet our long term needs. Since we can only do this once we have to be careful to choose wisely. Grandma and Grandpa need to lower their expenses. Moving onto the farm is the option of choice but there is no habitable dwelling. Buying a used mobile home is a good stopgap; rent becomes a purchase and that at one third the price.

But there is a scary little four letter word associated with all of this: debt. I do not have sufficient cash in hand so I have to leverage the purchase with debt. It stretches out our cash, but it does make us a slave to the lender – even if it is short term. Grandma and Grandpa would happily make the payments on the mobile home and when the little house is ready we can sell the mobile home so they will recoup a large portion of the cost. Sounds like a pretty good plan. We’ll see how it plays out.

As for the vehicle purchase, things are not nearly so clear cut. Buying any vehicle, new or used, truck or car, it is always an expense. Such a purchase should never be made with the thought toward recouping expenses. Some consideration can be given to resale value but that is always iffy. If you dwell on that you will not really enjoy the vehicle because you will tend to limit the miles driven, limit the activities it is used for, and frustrate yourself with every little splotch, stain or scratch. You will resent the purchase and so will everyone else in your life.

I buy vehicles to be used up. I have to look at this purchase through that same prism. With that thought in mind, the truck we will hopefully test drive this evening is the same size as the one I owned in New Jersey. I liked the truck, but Mama would not drive it – ever. If that is what will happen with this truck it would be a terrible waste of money. So I have to find out if she would really drive it, otherwise we pass on it and anything like it.

So many decisions.