This week, after finally getting rid of 7 puppies and the mother(Yes, I gave away 8 dogs), I bought a new, used car. I shop on eBay for cars so that I don't have to run around and spend money on gas hunting a car. I bought my Cadillac on eBay for $6,000. It's old but has very low mileage which is what I wanted. Well, I turned 60 YEARS OLD (!!!!!) a couple of days ago and I thought I should get a car that will last so I can retire in about 4 years. I checked eBay and found a RAV 4 at a nearby Arkansas dealer that looked good. So I contacted them, sent them all my financial data, etc., and went over there on Monday to get the car. The salesman informed me that I was lucky because they were going to send the car to auction that day! I was seriously pissed about that because, since I sent them all my information, I assumed they thought I was serious about buying the car. Also the web guy from the dealership promised to have all the paperwork done so we could be out of there quickly. Well, we were there from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., mostly sitting around waiting. I got to drive the new car about a block and that was that. Then I waited some more. I was supposed to attend a birthday party here at 6 p.m. Missed that. We finally got home at about 8 p.m. We went to Applebee's and got their sirloin steak. I had to throw it up because it was so tough I couldn't chew it small enough. Lord! What a day! I am seriously hoping that the new car lasts until I die or get put in the nursing home, whichever comes first. I don't care as long as I never, never, never have to buy a car again.

The new car is fancier than my old RAV. It has electric windows. I nearly had two wrecks trying to get the windows in the right spot. Also it has a moonroof. I had to read the manual to figure out how to open it. Once I figured it out, it turned out that the manual isn't exactly correct. You're supposed to punch a button to get it to open up. So I punched the button and the thing scared me half to death because it ratcheted back the little cover and opened up like greased lightning. But I wanted to get it to raise up so the car wouldn't get hot while I was at school. I finally figured out how to get it to do that, but when I returned to the car, I couldn't get it to close up. It's in the 90s here with about 90% humidity and I didn't want to leave the thing open. I finally pushed the button enough times to get it to close, but I still don't know how I did it. I have the feeling the moonroof will be useless. It also has this big thing that is supposed to cover up your luggage to hide it from thieves. I figure that if you have the thing on, thieves will immediately assume there's something to steal. I will have to throw that thing away. It has some sort of curtain too. I don't know what the hell that is for. Some folks told me it was a shade curtain, but I don't know where to hang the thing. We thought that the car didn't have a jack because the salesman was too stupid to find it. It has a jack though I'm familiar with Toyota jacks and I can't work them.

They offered me $1200 to trade in my old car. True, it's 11 years old and has almost 105,000 miles on it, but Toyotas are supposed to last forever. They guy told me my old car had been wrecked. I was very surprised. He figured this out from the paint inside the hood. I said I'd like to know the trick on that so he showed me where there was a paint line inside the hood and said that usually the nuts had lost their paint when the fender was replaced. The nuts still had paint. So he popped the hood on a brand new car. It was a hybrid, but he didn't know that. Amazing that the sales guy doesn't know a hybrid when he sees it. Anyway, the paint was exactly like the paint on my old RAV. It had never been wrecked. What a dunce!!! Later, he told me to ask $4500 for my old car. He thinks I can get that. Jeez!

So now I have to sell my old RAV. I'm asking $5,000 and figure I'll get around $4500 for it. But I had a terrible time buying that new car. Next time, I'll just buy one on eBay and have it shipped to my like the Cadillac. That was a very good deal and it wasn't nerve-wracking in the least.

Congrats on the new car and good luck selling the Rav!

Bitter: Your posts are always entertaining. Car salesmen are something special, aren't they?

My FIL has a used car lot. If the truth be known, he's your stereotypical used car salesman. Except when someone comes to his place to look at a car, he outright asks them if they have any money! They usually wind up buying although I know if I were a customer of his, I'd high tail it out of there as fas as I could.

More than once we have looked at new cars with the intention of buying, only to leave the dealership in total disgust. We could never get a straight answer about how much the car costs. They dance around and waste your time and want to know how you're going to finance it, etc.

Anway, I hope you enjoy your new car and all the gadgets don't drive you batty!

Well, I put the old car in the classified ads for $5000. Then I got a pic of it taken by my old student, Eddie Glenn, whom I love and reduced the price to $4500. I felt bad about asking too much. Eddie is off to get his PhD in Communications. I will miss him. He's a good reporter, but I still have Teddye Snell who is also a good writer. I hope I can sell the old car. I'm worried because no one called tonight, the first night of the ad. Bummer!

P.S. I had the old car cleaned up and today I had to clean up the stuff they didn't clean up. Lord, the world is weird these days. I managed to figure out how to put the garage door opener in the new car and it worked! I was amazed. Not if I can just figure out how to work the cruise control, I will have it whupped.

The add has been in for several and NO CALLS!! I may have to send the car to auction with my old dean who loves cars. But he's the one who cleaned it up and didn't do a great job. Still, I hope I can auction it off. Life just gets crappier and crappier.

Well, I can't believe I spelled ad wrong. Forgive me. I guess I've read it wrong so many times in freshman papers that I have concluded it should be spelled ad. I tried to edit it but got a whole bunch of smiley faces. Strange.

I sold the old RAV and am supremely depressed. That was my favorite car of all time except for my Ford Pinto that I had years ago. Yes, it was the kind that would blow up if you were rear-ended. Luckily a very nice lady bought the old RAV. She needed it because her 86 year old father can't get in cars that are low. My 87 year old mother can't get in cars that are high. So it worked out. She was the only person who called for two weeks, and then I sold it to her yesterday and a guy called this afternoon. She's a much savvier buyer than I am a seller. She wanted to give me her keys while she did a test drive and I couldn't figure out why. It would never occur to me to steal a car on a test drive. Anyway, she kept trying to make sure that I knew she wouldn't steal the car. I finally told her that I didn't think she'd steal the car and if she did, I had her car sitting in my driveway. That seemed to satisfy her. Thank God I'm a professor. I would never make it in business. I'm so gullible and honest that I assume everyone else is too. I'd be broke in a month.

BJean -- I think I have finally figured out all the gadgets though I had to read the manual to do it. I even figured out the cruise control which is rather weird in my opinion. Maybe I should have bought a used car from your husband rather than this crappy dealership. I finally got the title today, but I have to sign for it and was busy selling my old car, so I'll have to go get it Monday when school starts and spend a whole lot of money on taxes to get a car tag. I sincerely hope I either die or get put in the nursing home before I ever have to buy another car.

Actually it's my FIL who has the used car lots. If you were to buy a used car from my DH, he would probably practically give it to you. He is so fair, it is almost to a fault. He doesn't even press the envelope with our Income Taxes, like most people do. Gotta love that man!

I just hate when I have to learn how to use all the new gadgets on a car or DVD or video equipment. We have a TV/DVD that I avoid like the plague. If I can just go turn it on, I'm happy. But if the kids have been up there and hooked up a DVD for the granddaughter, I'm out of luck. And that's where my recumbant bike is. Sorry excuse for a way to avoid exercise, huh?

I had a friend years ago when the Lincoln Navigator first came out, and she got a beautiful new one. It was all computerized and had so many things to learn I would have seriously gotten rid of it if it were me. You had to punch the button twice for this, three times for that and punch and pause and punch, etc., until I would have had the screaming meemies!

I remember how much it costs in Oklahoma to register and tag your cars. It's crazy! I suppose it's still that way? It's higher than anywhere we ever lived. Although Virginia takes the cake for inspections and stickers and all that. Florida doesn't seem to care whether your car belches black smoke or has a major crack in the windshield. Arizona is pickier than Florida. Texas is somewhere inbetween. Doesn't matter where you live though, it's all a colossal pain in the tookus!

I have a car that I love dearly. I had been driving SUV's for years - the bigger the better. Although my friend who drives a RAV and loves it, derided me for driving such gas hogs. My motto (and reasoning) was always, when they take the pickups and semi's off the highways, I'll drive a smaller car. Until then having a big vehicle gave me the best chance of surviving if I got in a tangle with a truck or semi tractor-trailer.

But in 2002 I got the chance to own a new Lexus and I still have it. It took a little while to get used to having the big vehicles tower over me. But it is such a fast and easy to handle car, I feel safer than in the SUV, believe it or not.

Now the DH has suggested I get something new, but I've said that unless and until he's ready to buy me the top of the line Lexus or BMW, I'm not giving up my Lexus. There are many reasons why it is considered the best car (for the money) around. I had a Mercedes once and hated it. Oh it purred on the highway, but around town it wasn't comfortable and wasn't particularly great maneuvering and just in no way compared to the Lexus.

I've heard BMW owners make similar claims, but I've never owned one. Maybe the Mini Cooper? They say those little babies are a blast to drive. I saw a Cooper convertible the other day and it was awesome. My niece just bought one and she's in hog heaven. Works in OKC and lives and commutes to Tulsa.

All things considered, I think you've made a really good choice with the RAV. It's got the luxury, the gasoline economy and safety that a person needs. And they're good looking. I didn't know that the systems were somewhat complicated, but once you get them all down pat, I'm sure you're going to be good to go for another long stretch. There's nothing like a new car!

Congrats for selling your old one. What about the Caddy?

Well, I have gotten used to the new RAV. It has electric everything like the Cadillac. I wonder when I got so lazy. But I like electric everything except the driver's side window which winds all the way down it you press the button too hard. That's a serious drag. I finally figured out how to get the rear seat belt to retract. It doesn't retract all the way but at least it's not in the rearview mirror. By the way, the rearview window fell off the Cadillac, so I had to glue it back on. One wonders why anyone buys American cars. Still, the poor thing is 13 years old and I guess it's normal for stuff to mess up. The tires are low so I have to fill them up. Luckily my dad left me a little air pump thing so that shouldn't be a problem. If I can just fix the mirror, I will be happy.