I hate buying cars. What a horrible business. It is one of the few retail systems that mark up their products an average of 15% over their cost (most mark up close to 100%) and it is automatically assumed the price is negotiable. I would hate to be a car salesman – setting traps, manipulating the consumer, doing whatever it takes to get them to leave the lot with a car even if they are not ready to buy. The game that has to be played is cruel and ruthless. No matter how much the internet helps the consumer be prepared these days, unless you’ve got Salesman Defense^® running through your veins, it is always uncomfortable and often unforgiving.

I say all that to say I’ve been shopping for cars. Did I mention I hate doing that? Yes, that’s right, it is time for me to get rid of my conversion van. Not because I want to, but because it is sucking gas, is a beast to drive around town with me the only one in it, and I need to trade it in for a car for my wife. Why does my wife need a new car? Well, that is complicated. The short story is we got into a lease I thought at the time was a good idea, it wasn’t, and now the lease is up and we need to get out of it and put my wife in a car we actually own.

So I’ve been shopping around still trying to find something that can haul my band and my trailer and gets relatively good gas mileage (that is compared to the average 11 mpg my van gets). I’ve looked at used cars, new cars -y ou name it I’ve investigated it. I believe I’ve settled on the Chrylser Aspen and I’m dealing with something I’ve never dealt with in my life. What will people think when they see me driving around in this car? No one will care that it costs me substantially less a month than my van. No one will care that it is way more practical for me making frequent trips from Acworth to Cartersville. No one will care that it IS actually downsizing from my previous vehicle because it doesn’t look like it. In ministry, sometimes perception is everything and this vehicle gives off the perception I am making more money than people know I am making.

So why am I getting it? 1) see above about my wife’s car 2) see above about trailer, band, and gas mileage and 3) if everything works out, I will get a special deal on this car that I couldn’t get anywhere else that, to be perfectly honest, I never even heard of or thought was a possible option on a car a purchase.