I am so anxious.
We started shopping for a van or 2 this week. Our car stalls when the engine is cold or when Norm is driving. Apparently it isn't that fond of him. So we were planning to replace the poor old subaru.
Then last Thursday our van stalled out with an electrical issue. Norm was with the kids and stranded. It could have been worse. He was able to get off the busy road onto a side street and everyone was ok. He was able to get it going again, but then it stalled about a klic (short form for kilometre) from our house. It's a great thing we live on a hill and he coasted right into our driveway.
So now we are looking at 2 new to us vehicles. We thought the van was running quite well and this may be a one-off, but for me, it has tainted my view of this vehicle. How can I trust it anymore? What if it stalls on the Deerfoot? (our major freeway) What if? What if? what if?
Last night we had a date night and went to a used car lot. (yeah, I know. Not very romantic, but I must admit that I really enjoyed myself. It is so nice to just get away from the kids and be with my man in peace and quiet. I really enjoy spending time with him - even if it is in a used car lot.) They had a couple of interesting vans in our price range (very low). And they presented themselves not as salesmen, but as a team of guys just looking to sell some cars and make a few bucks. They appeared honest and down to earth. You could read - not showy.
For the last couple of days, we have been checking kijiji for vans. (That's how we found the lot.) Tonight we found one that seems to be a great deal. It has low kms and a reasonable price. It was just posted an hour before we called about it. It's all I can do to hold myself back from saying to the guy that we will take it sight unseen. We have called him twice already. It seems like we won't get a chance to see it tomorrow either. We have church, then a family birthday party. By the time we get home, it will be getting dark so checking out the van would be difficult. Hopefully it will still be available Monday.
I need to give some background here. We are very good at making quick decisions. It seems like the bigger the cost, the faster the decision. We do a bit of research and then dive right in to the best option at the time.
We have done this quite a bit in the recent past. My surgery was decided within a matter of a couple of weeks. I didn't know all the consequences. I didn't talk to other people who had had the surgery. I didn't find a lot of info other than what the surgeon himself provided. Having said that, it was still the right decision (...I think) but the point is that I didn't take much time to consider all of the facts.
We did this with our business. We were looking into starting a home based business. We found a couple of ads in the paper that sounded interesting. We thought it would be great. We talked to a couple of people and then signed the dotted line. Then in business, we again didn't ask enough questions or do enough research. Someone offered some business coaching. It sounded good enough. So we did it. We didn't look around for what other people were offering, we just took this one. It turned out to be not much of what we needed.
We did a trade with some friends for the van we have now. We traded our car for their van. We were having our 3 rd child and I thought we needed a van. 3 car seats just wouldn't fit in the car. It's true, they wouldn't. We also didn't have very much money (see paragraph about bad business decisions) so a trade where we didn't have to pay would work out for us. And I needed a van. Did I mention I needed a van? So we traded a 2004 car with 75k on it for a 1998 van with almost 200k on it without asking for extra money. Again, all I could see was what was right in front of me. I needed a van. They had one. I could give them my car and it would all be good. It wasn't good.
So, all of this to say that now, I want to try to be better. I don't want to rush into these kind of decisions. Because at the time, all of the quick decisions I made in the past seemed to be really good. Time has showed me that they weren't. I want to take my time and ask questions - the right questions. I want to pray about the decisions we make. I want to make the *right* decision.
But then I encounter a 1999 van with only 115k on it for $3500. It appears to be such a good deal! How can I just not go and buy it right now? What if someone else comes tomorrow? What if someone else will buy it without taking it to their mechanic? What if, what if, what if?
