So. Took the car back in. Dropped it off. Waited for a call.

A very nice lady by the name of Carol called me to get some information, faxed me some forms to fill out, and then more waiting.

After work, Mom drops me off at the dealership, I see Phoebe sitting outside the service bays, waiting for me. Go in, pay for the sensor repair, get me key back, then actually meet Carol. The finance guy is still working on the numbers so I wait a little more. Then Carol comes to me with the deal.

It’s not bad. At all. I didn’t get both incentives, but the value their willing to give Phoebe is almost what she would be worth in Pristine condition so, yeah, score there. Plus I did get a sizable Loyalty discount. Enough to cover (with the trade in value) what I owe plus cover the sales tax, so really I’m only financing the actual cost of the car. With 0 down because, after all, not only was I not expecting this I just spent $480 repairing the car I’m trading in.

But still, my car payment would go up about 100 a month and while I can afford it, do I really want to. That’s the big question. So I polled a friend and my mom (which is very unlike me because, hello, I make my own decisions usually without any outward evidence that I’m thinking on making one until I declare my decision). They both agreed that the deal was a good one, more than I would ever get again, really, and did I trust Saturn enough to buy another car from them.

Good points, all.

So I needed to run an errand, pick-up-and-drop-off style, and I realized that when I got into the car I was totally paranoid. Was the light going to come back on? Was that a noise? Did the car just jerk? The flakiness of Phoebe was driving me absolutely bonkers!

That pretty much made up my mind. I knew that once I got back home I’d crunch numbers and if I could truly afford it (not just mentally say, yeah, I can) I would call Carol in the morning and set up a test drive and if that goes well, I’d have a new car. There. Done. And I did and I will. Some months might be tight at first, getting used to the new budget (meh…) but I can handle it and things will equalize out over time. Plus, when I looked back over the suggested maintenance repairs Phoebe also needs, that’s 500-700 more in repairs that, well, now I won’t have to worry about!

I named Phoebe after one of Saturn’s moons, which is named for the goddess of bright intellect. Time I should use some of that, no?