I'm not one to go out on NYE. The last time we did, we encountered too many drunks in our short drive home. I don't understand the mentality of drinking and then thinking you can handle a car, but that's a topic for another day.
So instead TheJerseyShoreDad & I went car shopping.
While technically there is nothing wrong with my 2009 Dodge Journey, I never really liked it. Plus it had a major flaw in the design. It's what they call a cross over, I call it a small station wagon. Anyway, they built it on a truck chasis but gave is car brakes, so I had to replace the brake pads & rotors at 20,000 miles. That sucked big time. And it's never been right since. Now it's approaching 60,000 miles and it's out of warranty and it's at the point where we're going to have to put money into it.
I don't want to.
I'm not one to pay off a car & drive it into the ground. If I felt more secure about the economy I might consider leasing a car.
So on NYE afternoon we packed up the kids (ok they're 14 & 11, they pack themselves) and wandered down to Route 37 in Toms River to see what we could see.
First off, the Kia dealership. Cute place, no stock. All the stock in at another lot. Ok that's fine, but they didn't even have an "example" of each new car on the lot. Nevermind...
Then to the Hyundai Dealership which is also the Chevy dealership. The lots are huge & no one ever really came out to talk to us (it was very busy) so we wandered from one dealership to another & ended up really liking the Chevy Equinox. After waiting a bit and almost leaving, we got to test drive it.
I have just 2 demands. well, it's 1 but broken up into two areas. It had to have space. Our 14 year old son is already 5ft 8 and with TJSD being 6ft 2, I suspect that both kids will be at or near 6ft by the time I'm done with this car, so it needs room for their legs in the back. And I need enough cargo space for a craft table a few totes.
Oh and the price should be around $25,000 for us to keep our payments under $350.
While I like the crossovers, it doesn't have to be one, but it can not be a van of any sort.
The Equinox fit both requirements for space, but we could not come to an agreement on price. And in a little retrospect, they were not very forward with the price of the car, just the payments. Never even really discussed the rate of the loan either.
I hate car shopping, and was done at this point, plus it was 5pm and we needed food.
We stopped for dinner on the way home. We were going to go to Outback because we have some gift cards,but they had a 3 HOUR WAIT. Oh Hell No.
We happen to be passing Rivolis in Toms River so we stopped in there and they had a table for us! Rivolis is REALLY good. A bit on the expensive side, BUT you get a ton of food. Think platter size dishes. Did I mention the food is REALLY good?
We are there for a few minutes when my 14 yo son says to me "mom, the cast of the Jersey Shore is here." I don't even look up from the menu and reply "no they're not"
He goes on "No mom, I mean it, look"
I look up and see this:
I nearly choked on my diet coke. There are no words, just no words.
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