These are my new decals. They might be my favorite ones yet.
It was a toss up as to which kid was which monster—we decided Owen was more robot and Katie was more creepy evil. 🙂
Category Archives: Automotive
A snag with the dealership.
So it’s been 20 days and my car STILL has not been paid off AND we haven’t gotten any information on how to pay for the new car. Tom has been calling on and off the whole time but was never able to talk to anyone (he was out or with a customer, etc.). Today, FINALLY, on about the fifth attempt, he got some answers.
Yeah.
They are missing two forms we need to sign and it wasn’t caught until the audit…which happened TODAY. So hence, we technically have not even bought our car from them yet so they haven’t been able to pay off our car.
WHAT THE CRAP? How incompetent are these people? We were thrilled with them until this. Needless to say Tom is LIVID.
So obviously nothing has been started with our registration or plates or anything, so I’m guessing we’ll need a new temporary plate since the current one expires in two weeks. We were supposed to start paying for this car in May, but who knows if that will happen now.
JUST UGH.
I can’t believe we own a minivan. A MINIVAN.
But of course it wasn’t easy. 🙂
Tom went for the test drive at 8:30am and long story short, that one wasn’t the car. So I was researching cars at home and texting him info—the dealership had a few other Siennas on the lot so he was test driving those as well. In the end, we decided that we were going back to a FWD instead of an AWD because there were a lot more 2012 FWD cars available to choose from. (We’d still have preferred AWD, but figured for the few times we’d really need it—the few times it snows that bad here, I just don’t go anywhere and for the once every year or two that we go to Michigan in the winter—it just wasn’t worth it to spend the extra money.)
On a whim, I had Tom look at a 2014 because, well, why not? A 2012 was cheaper, obviously, but it was already four years old. There happened to be a 2014—loaded, even!—for CHEAPER than the one we had looked at (and had been interested in) last night! And Tom said it was REALLY nice. And it had super low miles—about 6,700! (The lady had bought it new and decided she wanted an AWD!)
There were no crazy addon fees so out the door (and with our trade-in) it was still less than the 2012 we walked out on! YAY!
After a family test drive back to the dealer (they royally screwed up our address so had to redo the paperwork plus we had to give them the second key and pick up our floor mats), these are the major bonuses we’ve noticed thus far:
- I don’t have to duck to get in the car. Plus? The driver’s seat AUTOMATICALLY reverses when you turn the car off to allow more room to exit (and then renter). It freaked me out the first few times and I thought it was stupid. Now I love it.
- Maybe most importantly—and one of my absolute requirements for the new car—was the rear backup sensors/alerts (the Acadia had them and the Mazda didn’t and it drove me insane since I’m horrible at backing up). The Sienna has front, rear, AND side sensors—and they’re amazing!! (Of course it also has the parking assist lines which are cool but will take some getting used to.)
- The lift gate opens more easily via the remote…AND you don’t have to unlock it first! (I was used to that with the Acadia then the Mazda didn’t do it and it frustrated me endlessly!)
- The doors automatically unlock and lock more easily with the smart remote (the Mazda was a crapshoot if it would work nicely or at all).
- There’s a button to fold in the side mirrors. What what?! As someone who can’t judge distances well and is paranoid about hitting the mirrors at drive-up windows—and as such usually ends up having to open the door to reach—this is a total win. 😀
- The bluetooth sync works much, much better. In the Mazda, it seemed like my phone rarely automatically connected and you could either listen to XM or your phones’ directions but not both at the same time (but sometimes it would work…?!). This car does it seamlessly and perfectly. I was also able to transfer ALL my contacts to the car in about 30 seconds with one button press.
- The navigation is amazingly better. It’s not just newer with better map info, but it has more POIs and it’s much quicker to find something. It’s not perfect but I know I’ll use it more than we did the Mazda.
- The kids are BIG fans of the DVD player.
- The floor protector we had for the Highlander—that we moved to the Acadia and then the Mazda even though it wasn’t a good fit—fits nicely (even though it’s the wrong color).
The only meh thing so far is there’s no good place for my magnetic phone mount. I haven’t tried the CD changer spot yet (which was recommended for the Mazda and worked well) because I don’t think I want to cover up the touch screen this time. It fits in the slide out cup holder, but it’s too low to be useful for navigation. But that’s minor.
So overall we’re very happy. Of course we don’t like the bigger payment (we’re back up to what we were paying before we downsized to the Mazda) but it is what it is. 🙂
I finally caved.
About a week ago I thought “Shoot me now. I’m starting to think about a minivan. Just barely, but it’s there.”
I understand the love and convenience…I’ve just NEVER wanted one. Not that I really care what anyone thinks, but I didn’t want to drive a “mom” car. I like my cars a bit sporty-ish. And I’m not good with long cars.
But I’m tired of being packed in like sardines when we take trips. This last trip was a test because it was a smaller car than we had for the last road trip—and we didn’t have the dog (there was just NO way she’d have fit with us this time). And it doesn’t help that I don’t really love my new car. But, overall, the Mazda is just too small for us. We are both big, tall people and both have to crouch and duck to even get IN the car, we both constantly smack our heads on the lift gate (things we didn’t really consider when buying it), and it just feels really cramped inside. And with the kids getting bigger it’s harder for them to get in and out, too (I know kids are agile, but it’s really pathetic the contortions that Owen needs to take to get in and out of the car). And the doors open wider than any of our previous cars… Basically, we don’t love the Mazda and need something else, so we’re moving up to the minivan.
We test drove two (Honda and Toyota) before we got the Acadia and I didn’t love either. But, I reasoned, if we’re going to do it, I want it done before July when we trek to Michigan. But I despise car shopping/buying and don’t want to go through the hassle again so soon (less than a year since we got the Mazda). Ugh.
As one of my friends commented:
I will never love a minivan (nor will I trust a person who claims to 😉 ) but it’s by far the most practical vehicle at this stage in our lives. Just add it to the list of sacrifices we make as parents!
So I had to bring it up with Tom. After he gave me a sufficient amount of grief of all kinds, we researched a bit…found a loaded 2012 Toyota…and Tom went to test drive it today. (I was going to go but Katie was still sick.) He was able to bring it home for me to drive and it wasn’t bad. We decided to see what kind of a deal they could give us, so Tom went back to deal. He was texting me updates and I was Googling and sending him info and basically, my blood was boiling—they added about $4k in stupid fees. Really?! And they wouldn’t budge on ANY of them!
Base $30,988
PDI (“Pre-Delivery Inspection”—it’s Toyota Certified) $1495
Trim package (which we didn’t ask for—they just automatically add it to all used vehicles!) $475
Processing fee $499
…
Total delivered price: $34,874
They won’t take off any of the addons so we walked. Buh bye. And then I started researching more and found some at another local dealer so Tom made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Fingers are crossed.
Around the block in the front seat.
From 9/17. Oops.
We had driven to the playground on the next street over so I let her sit in the front seat on the way home.
NOW it’s my car.
Now personalized!
Robots again—except we’re missing the cats this time.
The Michigan stickers that I got as a Christmas present but hadn’t managed to put on my car yet. I’m glad I waited!
And lastly, a Tardis sticker I’ve had for ages that I also hadn’t put on!
Look who’s turned around?!
Holy crap we have a new car!
It looks like we’re getting a new car today.
Tom went alone so we didn’t have to drag the kids and he just texted me that they agreed to our minimum trade-in offer (they had to come up $500 from their original offer to match that). Tom also got them to halve the “reconditioning fee” but I still hate all those fees—the “online special” price magically becomes the original price they were asking after all the fees, etc.
The cons? Our payment doesn’t go down quite as much as we’d hoped (but anything is better than nothing), I’m not sure my new phone mount will fit anywhere (thanks to that huge nav screen), our insurance goes up by $26/year, and we have to put a hitch on (but at least it’s wired for one) but…YAY I have a new car!
Nothing like talking about it Thursday, test driving Friday, and bringing it home Saturday! Stay tuned for real pics once the weather stops being gray and rainy.
The last pic of our old car as Tom left the lot…
Test drives!
Friends were talking about getting new cars and other friends were talking about cars they were looking at and how much their cars were worth…so just for shits and giggles I researched my car. Kelly Blue Book approximated $25k-27k so that grabbed my attention because I knew our payoff was about $10k less. Now, it’s not that I don’t like my car…but I don’t love it (like we loved the Highlander) and I thought What could it hurt to look? Famous last words, right?? 🙂
I had a few cars in mind from friends’ recommendations, so when Tom came home I told him what I was thinking and he looked at me like I was completely nuts. By the time I was leaving for my PTO meeting an hour later, he was on board for some research and we agreed we’d take a quick look at Carmax tomorrow. By the time I got home from the PTO meeting, he told me we had two test drives scheduled (at two dealers) for the morning! 😯 Well well, look who was suddenly on board!
The reasons for wanting a new car were twofold—our current monthly payments are a little too expensive now that our cost of living is higher (our BAH—the money the government gives us for housing—paid for the house AND car in Jacksonville…here, it doesn’t even cover our rent) and we have realized we miss the AWD (especially with actual winter weather coming). So we just thought we’d see what we could find that might cut our monthly payment a bit while still giving us the size we need.
And then the reality sets in that to REALLY cut our monthly payment like we’d like, we’d have to spend about $10k less than we are looking at…and unfortunately I’m really used to the nicer touches of a little bit more expensive car. (When we were searching for this car, we looked at the Ford version of a similar size (I think the Traverse) and everything about it just felt cheap.) I also really really really don’t want a minivan. We don’t need seven actual seats but we do sometimes need six so when parents come to visit we don’t have to take two cars (critical in this traffic nightmare). And I like the space seven seats affords us with the last row folded down because we fill up the back A LOT (we’re not even carrying strollers and stuff anymore—I’m talking trips to Costco, IKEA, Target—all errands in one day type of thing—plus our road trips to Michigan). We use all that space very frequently.
I was 99% sure that there is not a new/different car in our future because we are not the people who just buy a new car on a whim (I kept my last car for 10 years and Tom has had his Prius for six years), but now we’re both thinking about it.
So…we did our test drives. I’ll skip the majority of the BS that goes along with that, other than to say we had Katie with us and she didn’t do too badly. She LOVED playing in the cars in the showroom while we waited and didn’t mind the test drives at all.
Katie: I want to start it up!
Mazda earned points for giving Katie a balloon—and boy did she love it!
After both test drives, we were pretty sure we were going to go ahead with the Mazda CX-9 if they could get us a bit closer on trade-in value. We liked the dealership and they’ve let us take the car home overnight to really test it out.
Most of the things I don’t like about it are minor (the auto liftgate isn’t quite as good, I don’t love the color (see below), it has navigation which I don’t want, it doesn’t have the backup warning beeps, the shifter pattern is WEIRD, and it doesn’t have the automatic three turn-signal-clicks with one press)…but the Bluetooth is nice, it has lots of pep, the third row seating is easier to get into, it has XM, and while it’s not as tall as my car, it still sits high enough to not feel like a car). The things I don’t like about it are things that my current car has spoiled me for over the past two years. It’s definitely a step down in luxury but not enough to be a deal-breaker.
Dolphin Gray Mica—meh. It totally reminds me of the color of our Birdie house—the siding was gray or blue or green depending on the lighting. At least this car doesn’t have shutters that try to match. 🙂
So stay tuned!
We saw Jeff Corvette at Costco!
Car crazies
The kids did REALLY well on the loooong road trip today…until about hour 10 when they started to get restless. This was on the very last home stretch, a few miles out of town when they were a little slaphappy.
A late night for us
Tom rolled in about 12:05 and we immediately started unloading the car. (We wanted the car empty since he’d have to park elsewhere with the U-haul since these driveways are so ridiculously short.)
Then we got the cats situated in their temporary overnight room (the utility room downstairs)…
And by the time we got in bed and chatted for a bit, it was 1:30. We knew the kids would be up early…so wouldn’t get much sleep.
Are we having fun yet?
😐
My little mess maker.
She usually doesn’t get snacks on the way to school. This is why.
How hard is it to park really?
Apparently VERY hard for these three people on the left.
The long wet road home.
Unfortunately the day got started a little earlier than planned since Katie was a hot mess and woke us up screaming for no good reason. (She had actually done it quite consistently throughout the week, but it never lasted more than 20-30 seconds—even though it happened about 3-4 times a night. But today it never stopped.) So we were ALL up and moving by 4:30 and packed and leaving by 5:45. Katie didn’t stop crying for about 30 minutes, but then when she did…she napped for over three hours! YAY! And Owen finally dozed off about 10am so we had a good hour of pure silence. 🙂
And it was a dreary, rainy day…ALL the way home. And we hit a traffic jam right after lunch—a semi had gone off the road. So our already 13-hour road trip got another hour added to it. 🙁
But, amazingly, both kids were REALLY VERY good. Katie had a few minor tantrums but milk and snacks took care of them. And the iPad got brought out a bit earlier in the trip than on the way down. She’s so cute, too—she will watch the whole movie (including credits) quietly, but AS SOON AS the movie stops, you hear “Mama!” 🙂
Owen dozed for another little bit about 7:30 but Katie never napped again. We rolled in at 8:30 on the dot…
Katie’s first driveway nap
After my eye appointment today on base, we had a 40 minute drive home…right around Katie’s naptime…so yep, she fell asleep. She does not transfer well—a five-minute car nap means her real nap will be postponed for a few hours. If we were going to be at home, we’d try again, but that wouldn’t be possible today because we have Owen’s valentines party.
What was really surprising is that she didn’t wake up when the car stopped OR when I opened my door…either of which typically happens. So for the first time ever, I left Katie in the car to take her nap. (Actually, it was the first time I’ve ever done it with either kid!) And while I know she’s safe—it’s sunny and warm in the car plus I keep checking on her about every 10 minutes (and she hasn’t even moved)—it still feels weird even though I know people do it.
That said, she slept about an hour. I had hoped for even more but an hour was pretty good and better than nothing—and likely as best as I could hope for today. 🙂
And it was warmer in the car than I thought—she was a little sweaty. 🙂
Good little waiting girl
I had an oil change this morning, and Katie was awesome. Pulled out the chairs at the kid table and drank her milk and ate her crackers.
She did play with the iPad, wander a bit, and “talk” to some of the other customers, but she was very cute (and quiet) so no one was annoyed with her. Most actually stopped to chat with her!
Maiden Voyage
New car seat + Tom not here to deal with it = mini panic attack
I’ve read the book and watched videos…but I still get really nervous because he’s ALWAYS done them. I’ve NEVER done them. But it actually took longer to get the old one out and clean out the seat than it took to get the new seat in.
The mess under Katie’s seat:
It seems sturdy enough and I’m sure it’s safe but I’m still anxious.
Well I didn’t kill myself or blow up the car.
Katie’s nap today was my designated time to go out and attempt to get the battery charger hooked up to Tom’s car (I was going to do it yesterday but it was FREEZING).
For reference: BatteryMINDer Charger/Maintainer/Desulfater – 12V, Model# 2012
Of course I read all the instructions—and if I ignored all the DANGER! IF YOU BREATHE ON THIS THING WRONG YOUR BATTERY WILL EXPLODE AND KILL YOU! warnings, it looked pretty easy to hook up. I’ll be using the quick connect first (since I know where those ends are since we just used them to jump the car last week) and then if it’s working and the battery is actually charging, I will change in a week or so to the more permanent hard-wired connections.
And honestly, it wasn’t TOO bad. I mean, I had a few minor snafus but I expect that with everything I do—nothing can ever be dead simple (though this came close).
One of the first instructions was “Keep the charger out of the rain and snow.” Of course. There are waterproof models but I didn’t get one of those.
I thought about trying to get the car closer to the garage (hoping the cables would be long enough to set the charger inside) but no, you cannot put a hybrid car with a dead battery into neutral (thanks Google). So the car was staying where it was.
And I had to use an extension cord—which of course isn’t recommended unless you have one with the correct voltage (what?!)—so I’m assuming a typical orange heavy duty outdoor extension cord is just fine. Ugh.
And it said to hook to the positive and negative, but there is no negative. And the bolt we used during the jumping process was too far away. So I Googled and yes, any similar bolt is fine (and then I saw an identical bolt much closer so used that).
Then the moment of truth—plugging the battery in—and….??? GREEN LIGHTS! Like they’re supposed to be! And the light for the Weak Battery is on. And other lights are blinking and pulsing. YAY! I didn’t blow up me or the car! /knock on wood
And here was my solution to make it weatherproof: a Rubbermaid tub in front of the car.
HOW SOON UNTIL TOM COMES HOME?!
I think I’ve been told it could take anywhere from a few days to a week to build up enough of a charge to start it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
A Dead Prius
So Tom’s car is a Prius. Since he’s deployed, we took off most of the insurance (I think it has “garage” insurance) and it sits in the driveway. We put Stabil in the gas tank and I go out every so often to start it and reposition it in the driveway so the tires don’t sit in the same spot for six months. I have gone though this routine twice before with two other cars—for 12-13 months each—with no issues.
So of course guess what happened?
I went out to start it the other day and the doors didn’t automatically unlock. I thought I heard a very faint single beep when I tried it, but wasn’t sure. Hmmm, okay, I’ll just pop the key out of the fob and manually unlock the doors. Press the start button. Nothing. Oh crap. Put the fob in the ignition. Nothing.
$&!#
I know NOTHING about this car, really, aside from it’s a hybrid and we probably should have done a bit more research before just going along with status quo. Tom has been gone three months. I’ve started it twice for a few minutes. So I am guessing it never ran long enough and the battery is dead (hybrids have two batteries—one regular 12v that starts the car and the more expensive hybrid system battery).
So I called USAA to see if the car is insured for getting a jump (since it just has the most basic insurance on it) and it turns out I had more insurance than I thought I did—though not roadside and not what I thought I had. Turns out USAA does not offer storage insurance in North Carolina, which is what I thought we had. (I asked if North Carolina ever had storage coverage because I was positive our premiums really decreased past deployments…but she said it’s never been offered…so I have no idea what happened before.) So the increased premium to get us back to what we normally carry is a mere $16 a month… So I have to talk to Tom, but it looks like I will just add on full coverage and try to drive it every now and again. (The other inexpensive option is to plug it in to a trickle charger…so I’m researching that.)
My TiVo friends helped me out with info and links and whatnot (i.e. talked me off the ledge) and today David helped me jump it.
It worked and I drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes. I’ll likely go out every day or so now just to start it until we decide on a more permanent solution.
Tom can come home any time now. 🙁
Mini heart failure
We were headed to Sam’s Club and I had Owen get in first while I went back to get Katie. Buckled her in and left. On the way there I noticed in my rear view mirror that he was sleeping so at a light I pulled out my camera to get a picture…and noticed he wasn’t buckled in! I had completely forgotten. After a moment of pure panic, I realized we were almost there so by the time I could manage to pull off, I could almost be at Sam’s Club. Lesson learned…always buckle Owen in first OR leave his door open so I stop to check on him.
A dinosaur in town!
So we had to pick up Tom’s car on the way back from the movie today and I had Owen with me.
While we were stopped at a light:
Owen: Mama! I see a dinosaur!
Me: A dinosaur? Really? Where?
Owen: Over there!
Me: On a sign? Or a wavy tube dinosaur? [We had just seen a wavy tube fox so I thought it was possible.]
Owen: No! Over there!
And by god, I saw it.
Owen: And there’s a guy riding him!
Me: Yep, I can see that, too!
He’s so observant it scares me.
Or, maybe, I don’t know…get a bigger car?!
The last 300 miles.
The only good thing about driving too far the first day is that the second day is a lot shorter. BUT…the day started too early with Katie screaming good morning about 6:15. 😐 But it meant we were on the road at 7:30 again.
As usual, we stopped at our favorite park near Raleigh and Owen had a blast.
He’s getting SO much older. Now, he just takes off across the park without telling us…so we had a few chats about that. 🙂
And here’s how packed in things are—including Maggie! And it’s missing the last outside row that we had to take out at the park (the stroller, backpack, Maggie’s bag, etc.).
Look at that pathetic face. But don’t let her fool you…she’s perfectly happy. We had to literally DRAG her out when we stopped at the park.
Also, does Katie want her bottle at the park, when it’s convenient to do so? Of course not. She wants it 10 minutes later as soon as we’re back on the highway. Babies are annoying. But at least it put her to sleep so both kids thankfully napped almost the last two hours home…
North vs. South
So all my life, our address has been N. Roberts Road. As time passed, we learned that our road was actually made up of North AND South Roberts Road but no one really knew were the dividing line was (though my grandma’s house about 1/4 mile away was a South address).
To make matters more confusing, there is a completely different North Roberts Road in a neighboring city (well, I guess technically it’s a continuation of the road I live on, but there’s a gap in it which creates the confusion, and for those of us who live here, we consider it a completely different road since it’s technically a different city).
Stay with me, I’m going somewhere with all this. 🙂
Well, the county commission put up new street signs on our corner…that say S Roberts Road. Which drove my mom nuts because it’s NOT S Roberts Road. Calls were made and they tried to explain to the county but the county disagreed for whatever reason (I guess their mapping systems claim it’s South)…so my mom took it upon herself to fix it.
I LOVE IT.
And it doesn’t surprise me at all.
This is what happens on car rides when we skip naps.
Owen helped me robotize our family!
I bought these decals for us for Christmas and I’m just now getting around to putting them on the car! Owen helped me pick the arms and legs!
(Oh wow. I just noticed my finger was in the photo. How embarrassing. At least you know I’m human, right?)
I’m a big girl now!
We moved her into the big kid car seat and she loved it!
I’m seeing red.
I love my car…but this is why I prefer unique colored cars.
