1 Week, 3 Cars

I wish the title of this post were a joke.

We have been through QUITE the experience with Michael's car the past 2 weeks.

It has been so insane.

I have already shared some of the story, but in case you missed it, I will start at the beginning.

The Neon hasn't been awesome the past year.

It would overheat anytime you went over 70 mph for an extended amount of time.

Which meant that I couldn't drive it anywhere,

because I kind of have a lead foot. 

Anyways, Michael got hit while driving through a parking lot, and so it was in the shop.

 We had to wait to hear from the lady's insurance, and when we did we found out it was totaled.

This took us by total surprise!

We hadn't even considered that it would be totaled.

So we had 2 choices:

Say goodbye to the Neon and get $4800

or fix the Neon and get $2500, but the estimate was around $3400

We did NOT want to pay anything for this accident that was not our fault, 

so we took the $4800 and said our goodbyes.

We found out all of this on Monday, had sleepovers that night, were dead all day Tuesday, and were leaving for Tulsa on Thursday.

This meant that we had 1 day before we left to see what we could find.

Michael went Wednesday to look, and the next thing I know, 

Michael is picking me up in this.

 Unfortunately, within 1 minute of being picked up, I found about 3 things wrong with it.

Then, when we drove it home from church, and both the oil and coolant lights came on.

It get worse.

When we left for Tulsa the next day, we took it to our mechanic,
who later found some pretty major problems with it.

Michael was beyond disappointed. 

I was just angry.

Our mechanic took it back to the dealership,
and we let them know that we would be back on Monday to discuss it.

By discuss, we meant that they would fix it, or give us a new car.

After talking with the guy for a little while and telling him our concerns,
he told us that they had a replacement for us. 

We walked outside to see this bad boy:

Grandpa to the max!

But even after the first look, it was 10 times better than the Grand Prix.

Getting past the look from the outside, the inside was incredible!

Leather seats, all electric controls, 75,000 miles.

Its a 98, but it was obviously owned by elderly people because it is so well taken care of.

It was great!

We took it to our mechanic and he agreed - this car was in great shape!

BUT, when we got back to the dealership, they told us they had made a mistake, and we were going to have to pay $1000.

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

*Sidenote: I have been called a 'velvet hammer' before. 

I never completely agreed.

However, I now know that it is a spot on description of me. 

Michael says that I am the perfect combination of confidence, anger, and emotion.

And it might have gotten us a job or two in the past.

When they tried to pull the whole $1000 thing on us, I had to bring out the hammer.

Then the store manager was brought in, and there was even more hammering.

Mostly because he tried to lie to me about prices...

But I was actually a very nice hammer.

Much nicer than I thought I would be.

And it worked!

We got the deal, and got the car without paying any extra money!!

So here is our new car Gramps!!

 We LOVE it!!

It is a million times better than the Grand Prix and the Neon!

We definitely got the good end of the deal, and we know that God was working to provide for us in this difficult situation.

God truly has blessed us!