We got it!

I couldn't wait until Wishlist Wednesday to post this update (although you may have seen it on FB or twitter). We FINALLY got a car! SWEET, SWEET, FREEDOM!!!!

So let me back up a bit. I live in NYC. I have not owned a car since January of 2004 when I sold my 1993 Mercury Capri convertible for $500. Since then, my husband, who still does not have a driver's license, and I have not had a car of our own. Public transportation, rentals, mooching off family... that's been us. And its been fine, until recently, when we realized that being car less, and having to get around with a toddler has been more and more challenging. And we are very blessed that financially, a car seemed to be in the cards.

But the process of going from car less, to joyride, is a stressful one. We tried out zipcar, and although we liked it, and its a great option for some folks, we quickly realized that having to always lug the car seat around AND still being tied to someone else's schedule (i.e. the zipcar reservation... there is a $50 penalty for late returns... and if you have a toddler, you know its hard to always be on time) made zipcar less and less attractive. Also, with the car seat and baby, it would be virtually impossible to rent the car to do errands (like grocery shopping or Target) because of the schlepping. And with some family events coming up this summer, it just didn't seem to make sense to rent the car 4 or 5 days out of the month, spending $400+/month on a rental car.

So once we finally (meaning me, hubby has been pushing me to get the car for months) decided to go ahead, where to begin? I knew I always LOVED the 04, 05, 06 model Honda CR-V's. I even wrote about getting one as a pie in the sky dream! I like the boxy, truck look. But at first I researched cars like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic/Accord because they are better on gas. But those cars just didn't jazz me. I even went one Sunday to test drive some stuff at 3 local dealerships. I drove an Accord and then a Corolla. And I was kinda eh about them, and thought they were a bit overpriced for what they were.

So then we went to Craigslist. And I called some people, and NOTHING panned out. People didn't call me back, or email back, or I found one car with a "rebuilt title", which my mechanic told me loud and clear "NO WAY". Enter frustration.

Finally last Sunday, my husband called the dealership where I originally test drove the Accord, Paragon Honda, and instead of going with the "what can you show me in this price range" approach, we looked at their Internet stock and Internet "special pricing" and asked about 3 specific CRV's to test drive. By this point, we upped our budget only a small amount, and realized that 04/05/06 CRV's were within our grasp! So I went in, test drove one of the three cars (of the other two, one was "sold", and one was taken off the market cause it had a defect... which is their lame scam to advertise newer cars at a lower price to get you in the door) but anyway, I went in to the dealership around 1:30pm and left around 3 with a deposit paid on a Dark Cherry 2004 Honda CRV!!!!! Picked it up on Friday and I'm in love!

Open road, here we come!

photos from Edmunds.com, a great site for researching used cars.