A New Subaru

The last time I bought a car was 24 years ago. In Washington. (It was a horrible experience.) So I'm not sure if what I experienced today was how it is now all over the US or if this is the Hawai'i version of buying a new car. Last week Wednesday morning I got online & requested a quote for a 2016 Subaru Outback; it came back $30,461. I was able to drop by Servco Subaru the same day; I asked the salesman Kirk if that was the best they could do. The car online had a moon roof, which I didn't want, so he found another without one; it was $28,766. Kirk said he could reduce it $2000 since it was the end of the year and $250 because Dad was in the military; along with the $500 deposit I put down, the final price after tax & licensing was $28,130. We did a sales agreement, which I took to the credit union, & 15 minutes later Patrick gave me a letter of approval for a $29,000 loan at 2.49%. To make a long story short, today I went in to the credit union just to give Patrick a document for the loan that I did not have last week, I got a new car insurance policy from Arlene over the phone, got a new sales agreement from Kirk with a new price of $27,106 after an unexpected discount, and a new car by 4 pm!


This new car will be a lot better for Mom & Dad than the RAV4. The front seat is lower by about 2", so its easier to get in & out of with less risk of falls; the back seats are similar. I took Mom for a short ride and she loved it! I showed her how to turn on the seat warmer and how to adjust the air to make it as warm as she wanted on her side of the car. The things she can't see are the 7 air bags, which include side curtain airbags.


One annoying thing that happened today was that Arlene said she was having trouble getting insurance for me because of an accident in 2014 that was showing up on my record. I told her I had not had an accident and asked her for details. In the meanwhile, I texted Kai to see whether he was in an accident. Arlene called back and said it was a RAV4 in October 2014; I asked her where it occurred and told her if it was in Hawai'i, it wasn't me because I was in Washington at that time and it must have been Dad. She called and got it corrected. I think what happened is that my address is now the same as Mom & Dad's, which would also be the address for the RAV4, so it was assumed that I was the driver because why would a 90-year old man still be driving? (I do remember being told something about Dad getting into a fender bender in a parking lot a couple years ago.)

Today was the first day I have been able to do the modified Epley maneuver with Mom for the prescribed 3 times a day. After the last set for the day she was feeling less dizzy. Yay! There's a light at the end of the tunnel ... and its not a train!

Happy Birthday to Aaliyah, Tom, & Mason!