Over the weekend, as I was packing, Justin went out to work on his truck. We knew the truck needed new tires, but he was going to fix the brakes. As he worked, he realized that 1) he couldn't find the problem with the brakes and 2) the truck had more problems than he remembered. I guess a year + of biking to work will do that. You forget your vehicle problems when you don't drive it.
Stressed out, we went to visit my dad to see if he could help. My dad is a mechanic and he can find a cheap way to fix almost any problem a vehicle might have. He also has the benefit of being a people person.
During our visit, Justin and my dad start talking about selling Justin's truck. It was just talk at the time. Nothing set in stone. We just knew that fixing Justin's truck for long commutes would be time consuming and expensive. Since Justin and I had already talked about replacing my vehicle, we decided to go out and look to see what cars were currently available for purchase, not really intending on buying anything.
Let me make a long story short – Justin bought a 2006 Ford F-150.
It's a big truck. Like seriously BIG. It wasn't what we were looking for, and yet it was exactly what we were looking for. The price was right. We paid "cash" (or technically credit card as you'll see in financial updates). It has manual windows, manual locks, a few dings, but overall it is a beautiful, well-taken care of vehicle with (and this part is important!) air conditioning! Oh - and comfy seats. And low mileage! :)
I do have to say that if you know a mechanic, it is definitely preferable to take them car shopping with you. Especially if they are a people person. When I looked up prices later, I felt 95% confident that we could not have gotten the truck anywhere else for a better price. We go to pick it up tonight. (The original owner needed to finish cleaning his truck out.)
So what did you do over the weekend? Anything exciting?
