And So It Begins (Part III)

 

Full admission.  I hate selling cars.  I feel I have to go out of my way to mention anything that is possibly wrong with a car that I am selling and concerned that I will leave something out.  After I sell a car, I have some irrational fear that some bad major failure is going to happen and that the purchaser will think I am pulling the wool over their eyes.  With some trepidation, I listed the SLK for sale.  I got the typical low ball offers texted to me without even a "hi" attached to them.  All told I had three people come and see it.  The first person said he would think about it but regardless he would contact me the next day to tell me his decision.  I never heard back.  Gee, I hope he's okay.  The second person was looking for his wife.  He seemed very interested in the car and told me he would bring his wife to take it for a drive on the next day.  Again, I never heard back.  The third person seemed even zanier.  He wanted to come look at the car if I had time.  When I said I was available, he said that he was having drinks with friends and would contact me sometime the next week.  I didn't expect to hear back.  A week after that, he did contact me and he took the SLK for a drive.  He liked it but said he would have to think on it.  He would let me know in a couple of days.  After a couple of days I heard nothing.

While I was trying to sell my SLK, I was actively looking at Eurovans.  I decided that the best model in my price range was the MV or Multivan.  The Camper and Weekender models were just too over budget.  The Multivan lacked a "pop-top" but it came with two removable jump seats, a bench seat that folded into a queen sized bed and a small table that folded out.  It had a lot of advantages of being a vehicle that could be used for camping but also could comfortably transport our family of five.

Initially, I spotted a MV for $7K that looked to be in great condition.  Unfortunately without the funds from my languishing SLK, I had to watch as it was eventually sold.  I then noticed two other MVs.  One was a pretty sapphire blue metallic that was listed at $10K and over budget.  Another just happened to be right in my town and was listed at $8K.  The blue MV was a 2003 model and the one in my town was a 1993.  Ten years separated these two MVs but overall they didn't look too much different from each other in the pictures.  Still though, with the SLK not selling, I had to simply watch and wait for them to eventually sell.  

I was surprised that person number three actually texted me almost a week after he said he would to ask me some more questions.  He then told me he wanted to pull the trigger and we worked through the new hurdles of selling a car in the era of Covid.  With the money in my pocket, I realized that I was as close as I have been in a long time to owning a Volkswagen van.  During this time, I kept an eye out for Eurovan MVs.  Still, the two that were the best options were the '03 and '93.  By this point, the '03 had dropped down to $8100 and the '93 to an even $7000.  I knew my wife, who is a very big germaphobe wasn't going to be happy with me traveling two and a half hours south to look at the '03.  I zeroed in on the 1993.  

I made arrangements to see the 1993.  It was white and a little more beat up than in the pictures.  That wasn't out of the norm.  I had gotten $6500 for the SLK and was hoping to get the Seller down to at least $6500 for the MV but he wasn't budging.  I was very tempted to walk away.  The 1993 definitely wasn't in the condition that I thought it was and I figured if I waited a little longer, I might find a better deal.  I also knew though that because of Covid and my wife's fears of us getting it, if I didn't pick up the '93, it would probably be fall before I could shop again.  I kept thinking to myself, 'will this money still be there in six months?'  Life has a way of throwing expenses at me whenever I have a surplus of funds.  I figured six months might be too long to wait.  It was a flip of a coin but I didn't want another VW Van to slip through the cracks again.  I forked over the cash and finally for the first time in my life, became the owner of a Volkswagen.