Car Troubles

In the midst of all my Wild Kingdom drama this week, I failed to mention my Big Girl achievement of the year! I know, it's only February, but I've done gone and grown up loads already!

I officially bought my very own car.

See, I leased my car three years ago when it was brand spankin' new. When the time came to trade it in for a new one, I realized I could pay less for my car than what it's worth. Score! So, after my dad called me a few times to remind me to "Get my car business taken care of", I decided it best to get on it.

Also, it was the last week in December, and my lease was up on Dec. 31. Whatevs.

It's seriously been an eight-week process. It started with phone calls to the wrong places. So, I called all these places to see how I could buy my car. Here's a brief list of terms I needed to look up:

* Title
* Lien
* Credit Union
* APR
* Vehicle Loan Rate
* VIN

After all this, I was basically told to go to a credit union and "get a rate". A rate for what, I couldn't tell you. So I went to the one closest to my house that had a good website. Geo came with me, which was very good.

On my first meeting with Angie, I learned I had to pay $5 just to speak with a person at a credit union and open an account. WTF?! I didn't have any money on me, so Geo forked over the cash. See? I told you it was a good thing he was there...

Blah blah blah, she said a bunch of things I didn't really get. But I came home, called a few more of the wrong companies before finally reaching someone who said they would send me the documents I'd need to present to my bank.

A week later (and one day until the end of the year), the documents came. I filled them out (sort of) and went back to Angie. I applied for the loan. Since I started my job like 3 months ago, the senior loan officer who was called to the case was all "We need more documentation from you, since it looks like you just appeared out of thin air three months ago."

I came BACK home, dug through old crap to find old W-2s and went BACK to see Angie. Yay! I'm approved! But what's this? The company I bought my car from (I'm still not entirely sure what that was) didn't include tax on the purchase agreement.

Back home. Back on the phone. "We don't charge sales tax."

Back to Angie. Call the DMV to get the amount of tax I'll pay on my car. He gives me a number, and Angie gives me a couple checks. One needed to be overnighted to whatever company it was who previously owned my car (a cool $30 charge at UPS) and the other needed to be brought to the DMV.

The woman at the DMV was all snotty. Go figure! "You don't even have your title yet." I said "Okay, well, I just have a check for you. I want to give it to you and get out of here forever." She shoves my paperwork back to me "Honey, you need the title." I shoved the paperwork BACK to her and said "Well, where am I supposed to get that?" Paperwork back to me, "Whoever owns your car will give it to you. Who owns your car?"

Touche, lady.

Weeks later, I got the title. A few days after that, I was back at the DMV. It didn't matter that the other woman who helped me didn't speak English very well, because I didn't know what I was doing anyway. I gave her some papers and handed her my check. Badda bing, badda boom, 25 minutes later she hands me a copy of my title.

FINALLY last night, I brought a copy of the title BACK to Angie. By then, it was time for my first payment, so I also handed her my first payment.

And JUSTLIKETHAT the car was mine!

Then today, I noticed a very obnoxious rattling in the door. Stupid car. This will be a very long five years...