Adventures in car shopping and job hunting

Never go car-shopping after dog-sitting, especially if the dog wakes you at 5 a.m. to be let out for his morning poop and the alarm at the dog’s owners house goes off at 6 a.m. It doesn’t help if a cat is involved, one that teases the dog in the middle of the night and attempt to sleep on top of you.

That will leave you tired and even more disappointed when your take your old minivan to Carmax and they offer you a really low price because they say there are signs of potential dangerous damage. As if I don't feel odd enough owning an old minvan.

It’s also a good idea to eat something before you go on such an adventure, as looking at cars has been scientifically proven to make you hungry. It's something about new car smell that gives you an appetite for beef.

That’s how my Saturday started.

Backing up a bit, last week ended with me securing a loan for 6 percent but learning there is/was a $220 unpaid medical bill on my credit report. Long story short: the bill should have been paid by HBO or HMO, but it went to the wrong group number but right insurer, and thus to an address where I had not lived in three years. I never saw a bill, which is another reason you should get your credit report every year, NOT just every time you go to buy a car.

Bact to Saturday: After Carmax, I head to my mechanic to see if I might die driving my 2000 purchase. He says that the estimator exaggerated, the rust is normal wear and tear.

Here’s where my luck changes – the kid mechanic sitting next to him, his dad has been looking for a minivan.

Seriously.

So the kid and I drive it to Dad, who was golfing nearby. I let him take it for a spin and he offers me a fair price for something with 114,000 miles on it.

However, he had not heard from his bank as of closing time Monday.

I’m hoping to get a new Camry, and my mechanic, my auto body guy and a few other folks talked me into upgrading to the bigger engine, a V6 from the 4-cylinder, which means less money for my retirement fund, but a nicer car, I guess. The mechanic said it’s a better engine that holds its retail value, and the body guy said the extra oomph is worth it, so I will go with that.

I am going back and forth between two dealerships that initially offered me the same price on the deal but wouldn’t budge. If I can pay the same thing, what’s the point? Aren’t they supposed to try to woo me? Now it’s almost nickel and dime differences or a matter of less than $100 or so between them. In about six months I could have them down to a free car, I bet.

Meanwhile, I have a job interview set up with a firm near South Bend which has a Web site under construction, a nice pdf file they sent me in a e-mail that almost looked like something you might get from Nigeria but that it didn't ask me for money, and very little else about it on the Internet.

I am curious as to what comedy will ensue.

Stay tuned.