Paladin Roaming

six tons of pennies

...is roughly what Wendy's new car cost:

She ordered it over the Internet. Got the word to come by and pick it up at Power VW in Torrance. She sneaks out of work about 11AM, stops by the house to pick me up, and drives us to pick up her new car. As we pull into the customer parking lot in the old Ford Escort we see exactly one blue Beetle on the lot. Must be hers.

We meet Gregg Duncan, who spends many minutes showing us the car. We procede into his office to fill out the paperwork. A *lot* more paperwork than when I bought my last new vehicle (in 1977.)

Unlike 1977, moving from the salesman to the financer did not result in huge increases in the price. The contract is much longer than in '77. And I will admit that the financer did get us to add a couple of items to the total. Pre-paid 3,000 oil changes and the 7-year 100,000 mile extended warranty. With the complex systems in modern cars, I figure this is a pretty good bet.

Paperwork finished, Gregg takes Wendy to her car and she sits in it for the first time.

It has plenty of headroom in the front seats

and a reasonable spacious interior. Standard equipment included power windows, power locks, power mirrors, adjustble steering wheel, and cruise control.

Wendy has to go to work, so she drives off in her new Volkswagen Beetle. I head for the Ford, whip out the cell phone and call Wendy.

Wendy makes a U-turn, and heads back to the dealer -- to drop off the keys for the Escort so I can drive home.