Another New Old Car

Saturday December 6th, 2008 - Waukegan, IL/St. Charles, IL

Back to the old car auction corral to find a new trusty road steed. Of course today had to be freezing cold with blowing and drifting snow just to make the situation even more of a pain in the rear quarter panel. Nothing like freezing the lug nuts off trying to replace a car.

I kept remembering I’m lucky to be alive and it could have been a lot worse and all that but the more I walked up and down the aisles of cars getting colder and colder the less the whole concept appealed to me. Normally I love the auction but not today. It was too cold.

That being said the first car out of the shoot was a 1995 Toyota Camry that was almost identical to the one I just wrecked. It was a different color and had a sun roof but it was a one owner title and had similar mileage. It looked pretty clean so I focused on getting it.

times in the past I’ve been able to score a nice car in that slot because the auction hasn’t heated up yet. People aren’t used to bidding or whatever the case may be and only a few people end up bidding on a car. I hoped to do the same today and go home quickly.

I was the first bidder and then two dealers started bidding along with me. It’s a positive thing to see the dealers bidding because they think it’s a good car or they wouldn’t bid on it. I’d seen both of those guys there before and I knew they’d know when to stop bidding because they knew what they could sell it for. I’ve been through all this process before.

The bidding stopped at $1750 and I bid once more at $1800 and got it. I was thrilled to get the first car because that meant I wouldn’t have to stand around and freeze. I took the paperwork to the cashier and went through the buying process I’ve gone through so many times before. With the buyer’s fees of $255 I was out the door with a Toyota for $2055.

Thank goodness for credit cards. I had mine paid down so I put it on that and drove my rental car downtown to pick up Jerry Agar from WLS where he was filling in. He agreed to help me drive the car back home and then we went out to St. Charles to Zanies for the shows because his family were all doing other things. It worked out great for everybody.

I could tell driving the new old Toyota that it wasn’t anywhere near the cherry the other one was but there’s nothing I can do about that. The brakes on this one will need work in the near future and it idles a little rough for whatever reason but it does look pretty clean.

Depending on what happens with the other one maybe I can use some of the parts. I had brand new tires on the other one that would fit on this one and the engine just purred. I’ve never had such a smooth running car as that last one but that’s over with. Time to evolve.

I’ll have to let the insurance process play itself out and hopefully I won’t lose too much in the deal. All I want is a reliable car at a fair price so I can get to work and do shows for good audiences. Tonight there were two good shows and I got to hang out with Jerry and the other comedians and life was pretty good. I think I’ve moved past this latest glitch.