A Change of Focus

After spending the last five months or so on things related to our dwelling, we have changed our focus to the abysmal state of our vehicles. This week the driver's seat in the van gave up the ghost and laid flat, never to revive again.  I ordered a salvage yard replacement for it which we picked up yesterday afternoon, but I have been without a car since Tuesday--it's hard to drive without a driver's seat! It has been on its way out for a couple of years, but with all the other things happening in our lives, I had not taken the time to deal with it as I should have.  The van is still fairly mechanically sound, although none of the power windows work on it and the driver door power lock doesn't work--these are mostly just inconveniences.  We recently replaced the tires on it, and not too long ago had the transmission replaced. The air conditioner and radio still work in it--the two most important things on a car as far as I am concerned!

The Jeep, on the other hand, is less than affectionately referred to as "the heap" around here.  The undercarriage is rusted out so water gets inside the passenger side in a car wash, the heat doesn't work on the passenger side at all which means in the winter when you are already cold it is even colder since the heater blows cold air on you! The rear end is shot and leaking fluid on our new garage floor, and the power lock on the passenger side door doesn't work--that is really more than an inconvenience since there is no key hole on the outside!  There is a short in the wiring for the radio which makes a loud rattling static sound most of the time, especially on rough roads (which includes practically every one of Tulsa's streets!)  The ride is quite an adventure, and every time I get in I wonder if it will strand us somewhere!

We bought it from Ryan for about $1,500. two and a half years ago, and other than new brakes and general maintenance, we haven't put any money in it.  The repairs it needs individually cost more than the car is worth, and combined tally up to several thousand dollars. It has more miles on it than the van at +/-175,000 miles to 115,000 on the van, so it is the one that is on its way out.

Ever since we turned back in the leased 2005 Tundra pickup, we have missed it, but we have really enjoyed not having any car payments.  Our reason for letting it go was to get rid of our debt, which we mostly have, but the time has come to take some action.  Hopefully soon we will have a newer pickup in the garage and be happy behind the wheel again!

So, that has been where our focus has been the past few days, doing online searches and arranging our finances to be able to buy.  Tonight we will go test drive a red 2007 Tundra Ltd. with low miles.  If it is all it is purported to be, it will come home with us to Zoe Cottage.  We'll have fun coming up with a name for it, because all nice cars should have names, don't you think?