My NEW used car!

1999 Honda Civic EX. Previous owner left the country and is on tour in Europe. His friend Powimy po Pulsky and wife Postapa Agnes sold it me. They were incredibly kind and cute (late twenties and Polish) and their condo was adorable -- just outside Chicago (next door to Oak Park).












I've read a book's worth of information about buying used cars -- from dealer's and personal owners. It has made me the most paranoid and stressed person for the last month. I checked over thirty VIN numbers on Accords and Civics through my Autocheck $25 subscription (Autocheck notified me, threatening to investigate to determine whether I was using their services for commercial purposes). A lot of the cars I looked at had shady pasts, numerous postings had been in accidents or flooded and salvaged (think about the Honda dealerships and their underwater parking lots in the Southern states after Katrina and other hurricanes). I also made two-dozen phone calls, and I looked at just three (my transportation resources were limited).

I bought the Civic Thursday. It was an event. Andy drove me to River Grove around 2 p.m. and we got back to my house at 8 p.m. Powimy, Andy and I sat in the Midas waiting room for 30+ minutes. The mechanic showed that the car checked out entirely, BUT that the front breaks needed to be replaced. $180. Hmmm. The breaks seemed fine when I drove the car and they were going on 5,000 miles. What does Midas specialize in?

The Civic and I are insured by GEICO as of today, February 1st. Thanks to Jesse White's homees in Springfield I only had to pay $50 tax. A new title was $65 and plates were $78. I made it to the Department of Licensing (Libertyville, 25 minutes) without getting stopped by the policia - whew. My stay at the DOL was less than 10 minutes -- no lie.

Car $4700 (Posted at $4900) -- I only talked him down $200.
Cashier Check fee $6
Title Transfer $65
License Plates $80
Tax $50
Midas $43
Thank You Andy $30

TOTAL: $4,974.00
- $2,800.00 (Prelude sold)
= $2,174.00

+ $741.20 (GEICO)
= $5,715.20

(and maybe $180 for breaks in the nearer future)
(and probably used car sales tax of 6.25% on the 4,700)

Time will only tell if this purchase was a good one.