A few of my chipping friends know that I blew up the engine in my car three weeks ago today. The car was 20 years old and had some other things wrong with it so it just wasn't worth fixing, even if I had the money. How many people lose both their home and car within a six month time frame?!?

I've been doing a lot of walking and became acquainted with the city bus system for survival. I emailed my friends at FastNews Network (the folks I work for/with in drag racing) the night that my engine blew up and asked them if there was any way I might be able to get a loan from them so I could buy another car. Four long days later, they told be they could loan me the money I requested, but they weren't sure when they could do it other than it would be before the end of the month.

A check arrived in the mail Wednesday, and I went car shopping Thursday. I had my eye on a 2003 Kia Rio at a local Kia dealership. They had it as an "internet special" priced at $2150. Blue Book on the car was $3800 so that was a fairly good deal, but still more than I had to spend. The loan was $2000, and I wanted a cushion to cover sales taxes, license plates and insurance, so $1700 was the most I wanted to spend. I went to the dealership and told a salesman exactly which car I was there to see. We went on a test drive, and during that time I told him about my recent problems with both my home foreclosure and the demise of my Isuzu. I was up front with him about my $1700 total spending limit. He didn't think the sales manager could go that low, but he took my offer to him anyway while passing me off to one of their paperwork people to handle that stuff. I quickly found out why the salesman didn't think I could get the car at my price because the dealership, like most dealerships, tack on "dealer handling" and other assorted "fees" which would have driven the total cost of the car up from the $2150 asking price to $3262! The salesman - when telling the general sales manager about my offer on the car - told him of my recent financial difficulties. The sales manager adjusted the selling price down to a point were he could still add the extra dealer fees to the price and make the total come out to exactly $1700! We took the car to the bank, I withdrew $1700 in cash, and the deal was done!

The car is only 7 years old. It has a few minor parking lot dings. It has a relatively low 125k miles on it. It is front wheel drive (a must for Colorado winters if you don't have four wheel drive) and a 5-speed manual tranny (also better in the snow than an automatic). My Isuzu was only 7 years old when I bought it in 1997. If my Kia lasts half as long as the Isuzu, I'll be very happy! A friend who drove me to the dealership told me if it only lasts a year, I still got a good deal!

I almost went shopping for a big red bow! This is the first car I've ever gotten for Christmas!