Even the "few nice things" are going away.
I just sold the car to the mechanic. On top of the engine issues, I was also hearing some power steering feedback that I did not like and that was going to be another $2,000 job. He doesn't know what all is wrong with the car, but I do, so I got out while I could.
Then I realized. It happened at a good time. I'm right on the transit anyway, so my transportation costs are basically nothing now.
When I lived in Indiana I just figured owning a car was a curse I'd always have to live with. No mass transit system there, no Uber back then.
I drove a Chevy Corsica in 2004 that made horrible noises when I braked. I found out later, after driving it for a couple of months very carefully, barely had any braking power, that there were "holes the size of half dollars" in the rotors. The mechanic was actually impressed.
Eventually I decided I wanted a nicer car. ****'s Car Store had a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP on their lot.
It did not occur to me that this was probably someone else's bankruptcy repo.
They did a "spot delivery". They made it sound like financing was a sure thing, then they called me on the phone two days later and said it fell through and they had "never seen a 700 beacon get turned down".
So I drove it back to them. The manager came out and started throwing a fit at me and I asked what was going on, and he pointed at the passenger door. Someone had keyed it very badly. Like they made a deliberate keying, all over the door, up down, circles, side to side.
Down to bare metal.
Having had 22 years to think on this, I now believe they followed me home and keyed the car in the middle of the night.
I've never had anyone key my car and suddenly someone does THAT to one I just got? In a quiet parking lot at a nice apartment complex, at the end of the row? For no reason? No. I don't believe so.
And another reason I think they did it in the middle of the night to their own car was because it was right before the "financing fell through, come right back" phone call.
It's not a crime to key their own car, so even if I had caught them the police wouldn't have done anything. It was their car. You can key your own car if you want.
So this manager is like "This is serious damage and you're either going to have to sign this new loan..." (which was now at more than twice the interest rate they started out with) "or pay for the damages. That's probably $1500 in paint damage."
So I was with my then-boyfriend, Matt, he was driving my Corsica, and I hopped back in the passenger seat. He had tailed me there because I was just going to drop the Pontiac off and leave.
Without the manager ever talking to any other employees, we get to the other side of the building, and a salesman backs up a pickup truck in front of the entrance, and gets out and smiles at me.
I told Matt, "Screw it, just drive through the lawn." and we sped off and I never heard about the Pontiac again.
A few minutes ago that manager was like "I know where you live and we'll call the police!".
They were very theatrical. The idea is that using intimidation tactics and false imprisonment after vandalizing their own car, they were going to try to get me in a car at over 16% interest. And obviously, the only way to deal with people like this is to do something they won't expect, to flip the script on them.
They probabbly did this to many customers, but I was probably the only one that just drove through their lawn.
They actually tried to get me to trade-in my Corsica when they knew they were going to do the yo-yo scam on the Pontiac. But I said I'd keep it and do private party after buying the Pontiac, so they never did get my car then try to re-negotiate the Pontiac. They just vandalized their own property and gawked when I drove through the lawn.
