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The Buyer's Remorse Begins

December 5th, 2012 at 02:03 am

I had researched for eighteen months, planned even longer, for affording a vehicle. This Prius is $6500 above my comfort level, but we are likely to have it for twenty years. I took it to my favourite mechanic for inspection: it needs an oil change and that will cost double what I am used to paying.

I may have a vehicle worth $23K more than our old car, but I do not feel $23K happier. I feel poorer. I am trying to enjoy a gimlet so I can brave the call. My husband tried to jolly me through the purchase process: "You're always like this when we buy anything priced over $300." [True. It took me thirty-six months to buy Sure-Fit covers for our catclaw-frayed furniture.] I look at the car in the driveway and do not feel ownership: I feel that I am driving an elderly aunt's or step-parent's vehicle while they are away on holiday.

Today I vowed I would call our insurer to add a policy for our new purchase and I am too much in a caffeine crash to do it. Yet it is against the law to drive the vehicle uninsured. A serious conversation with my family is due. My kid still has a case of the "I want I want". The old heap needs to be sold. I need to get a job but my kid needs to be nagged into doing his homework. Consequences do not affect his tiny but still forming mind. Adjustments must be made all around.

Things I am grateful for:
1. Permission to do the sudoku on the cafe's newspaper. Other people worked on the crossword, someone does the word jumble regularly (I did it too, but I used my own piece of paper to work it out). Someone at this cafe was irked to come in one day, pick up the crossword, and find I had been at it. "Oh, SHE's been here," and walked away. That the irked customer resembled the one who killed four people at the cafe May 30 has not left my mind ever.

2. New Winston Breen book by Eric Berlin. Yes I read middle-school lit based on mysteries and puzzles: a lot of it is clever and well-written and I wish we had more writers like that in the adult fiction camp.

3. Group family hug I got when I said I had a case of the sads giving so much money to the downpayment and to vehicle insurance.

Update My husband called to arrange for insurance while I cleaned up the kitchen. I caught a word on the comments I had not used: "enjoy", as in "enjoy new purchase." I have not yet "enjoyed" the vehicle: I was oh-so-cautious driving it on the test drive, and too much of a mess to drive the Prius home, although my spouse did give me dibs, and still skittish taking the car out of the auto service place. I have never had a new vehicle with a market value this high, never had a car loan this high. I should add that I am a faultfree driver with a long, excellent history.

Sixteen years carry many automotive improvements and new features, and the Prius right now strikes me more as a personal hovercraft with its digital display, bells and whistles. The one feature I thought was really groovy was the km/h-mph converter button: perfect for the spouse when we go to Canada. Me, I do mph/kmh instantly: it is the fluid ounces and millilitres that mess me up. And the USB port for our music. Man I dig it the most!

4 Responses to “The Buyer's Remorse Begins”

  1. My English Castle Says:
    1354677866

    Paulette: I am exactly the same! When we bought my car, instead of enjoying it, it took me weeks to stop looking at my depleted bank balance and sighing. Mine went away; I hope yours does too! Buyer's remorse might be genetic. Kidlet used to start wailing on the way home from spending her $$ at Target. This afternoon she was bothered that she'd already eaten the chocolate snowman from this morning's advent calendar. Sell the old one and start building again!

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1354678488

    I'm enjoying my new car, but am also extremely nervous with the low balance in my checking and savings accounts. If nothing else, it definitely has given me new motivation to curb spending impulses -- gotta rebuild the accounts!!

  3. CB in the City Says:
    1354721446

    Well, cars are necessary, unless you are committed to public transportation, so try to think of it as taking care of a need rather than an indulgence. That's what our bank accounts are there for -- to take care of needs.

  4. Homebody Says:
    1354722103

    Wow I am lucky. I was thrilled with my new used car purchase. My insurance covers it automatically for 30 days. You cannot drive it without insurance so just make the call! I do admit to wondering where all my money went this year and then I remembered paying cash for the car and felt better. Maybe because we get dividend checks 4 times a year that bulks up savings it is easier for me. I don't have to start saving a small amount... Or I should say it is easier to save small because I know I will be getting a check that bulks up the saving faster....am I making any sense?

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