Smile For The Camry

Wednesday October 10th, 2007 - Lake Villa, IL

That little inner voice keeps on talking. Lately it won’t shut up. My business idea is what it screamed to me six weeks ago and I heard it loud and clear. Today it only whispered but I still caught it. I’m glad I did. For years I’ve heard it at times but then thought it over and I went in another direction. That’s when bad things happened. I‘m finally getting smarter.

The last thing I need three of other than testicles would be cars. I’ve got two and they’re both paid for and they’re both running pretty well. I’m happy with them both and I have a limited amount of space as it is. So what did the voice tell me to do? Go to the car auction in Waukegan because it’s Wednesday night and I was off. I enjoy the auction and I always like hanging out but the last thing I thought I was going to do today was buy another car.

But that’s exactly what I did. I’ve been coming to the car auction since at least 1995 and I would have to say this is THE best purchase I’ve ever made. I would say I’ve purchased at least three cars a year since that time so that’s about 36 vehicles. Some were for me and some were for friends but I have a lot of experience in doing it and I’ve seen a lot of tin.

The car I scored today was singing to me as soon as I saw it. It’s a 1995 Toyota Camry that just turned 91,000 miles. It’s champagne color and absolutely IMMACULATE. Right when I saw it I knew I needed to do whatever it took to buy it. It’s amazing how a car can have a vibe but they really do. I saw the Cougar a few months ago and that had a nice vibe right as I looked at it. That’s a great car and I’m glad my friend Will C. was able to have it so he could give it to his son. I enjoyed it very much but I didn’t want to pile comedy road miles on such a clean low mileage older car. I think it found the right home but I loved it.

This is a completely different story. This is a car I can be proud of and I already am. The main reason I buy auction cars is that I enjoy the adventure but the second reason is I blew my credit out in Utah when I bought a house in 2000 and couldn’t pay the mortgage when I got fired a year later. I had a great credit rating before that but not anymore. I bet I can’t even test drive a new car at this point but I never really tried. I just kept buying beaters.

This one is anything but a beater. The interior looks like it’s never been sat in and it’s an eye catcher on the outside too. It looks WAY too clean to be a ‘95 but it is. Again as both cars I have now are, this is also a one owner title. I seem to be able to pick those out well. I was hoping nobody else was interested in it but I knew it would be on everyone’s list.

I just knew I was going to win the bid as it drove up to be auctioned. I have no idea why I knew that but I did. I squeezed my card and the bidding started at $1000 and went up by $100 increments faster than any other car and it got everyone’s attention. There’s a feeling of electricity when that happens and that’s part of what makes it so exciting. I kept putting my card up and the other guy kept doing it and we went back and forth like a prize fight. I ended up getting it for $2400 which I think is by far a record for the amount I every spent for a car at the auction. I knew it was a good deal because the auctioneer even said so as it drove away to make room for the next car. He said ‘Now THAT’S the way to buy a car.’

I have been to this auction literally hundreds of times and I really do think this is my best buy yet. Toyota Camrys are always resellable and their repair record is amazing. It’s fun to win a bid and I’ve done it lots of times. I can feel it when I get a winner and this one was a head turner. I can’t believe everyone else missed it but there were some other good cars in the mix tonight so maybe they were going after those instead. I didn’t need a car at all but I saw about five or six other cars I’d have easily seen myself bidding on. But this was ‘it’.

The other ones weren’t necessarily a trade up. My little Mitsubishi is a sweet little car as well. It’s got a little bit of paint damage and a few rust bumps under the paint but that isn’t a bad thing at all. It doesn’t affect how it runs and minor cosmetic damage keeps the price down. That’s why I shop here. I put lots of miles on a car so cracked paint isn‘t an issue.
This one looks like it just drove off the showroom floor. There is a little fender scrape at the front right wheel well but that can easily be fixed. It’s a little scrape on the paint and a little dent in the fender but other than that it’s stunning. I would have to believe blue book value has got to be more than what I paid for it. Out the door with fees it cost me $2655.

I’ve been saving as much extra cash as I can and drained all my emergency accounts so I could buy this car. I have been making car payments to a bank account each month so that if I have an emergency pop up I have a slush fund. That got drained as did my money from selling all my excess junk last year. I sold books and cds and everything else I could and it was sitting in an account until something came along that I really wanted. Well, this is it.

For once I have a nice car I don’t have to be afraid to fix if it breaks down. I don’t think it will break down any time soon but if it does I will get it repaired. Having a reliable car is a must for a comedian and I could keep goofing around with shuttling them in and out but I know this one is solid and was worth every penny and more. I invested in myself today.

If I watch myself and not abuse it this car should last me two or three years even with all the miles I usually put on a car. These things are known to go for over 200,000 miles so it will take a lot of gigs to wear this one out. Even if I do I’m going to keep making monthly payments to the account so if and when it does blow up I’ll be able to buy a replacement.

As I was standing in the lot waiting for the guy to bring it up from the back a few of the regulars told me what a nice deal I made and that made me feel great. Then the guy drove up with it and he got out and gave me a huge grin and a double thumbs up. He’s Mexican and he said ‘Joo chur got a helluba dill Homes. Dis car is CLEEEEEEAN!’ Then he gave me a high five and I got in and saw that he was right. There is something about this one.

I’ve had this feeling only a couple of other times in my life. Once I bought a super clean Geo Storm which is basically a Toyota Corolla. That was a great car but I paid a lot more than I paid for this one. I bought it from a dealer and it had low miles on it and I kept it for a year until some old coot t-boned me in an intersection and totaled it. I got blue book for it but that car was really a cherry. I still miss it. The other one was a ‘64 Chevy Impala. It also got totaled. I hope this one doesn’t too but even if it does for now I’m flying high.