One More ...

Remember that Clint Black song "One More Payment"? Well, folks, that's me! I am getting ready to make my very last car payment on the first *new* car I ever bought! Yay!

I remember the day I bought my car--it was a sunny Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was in the unfortunate position of really needing a new car ASAP because my former car needed some costly repairs. (Otherwise, I wouldn't have been car shopping--I'm not really one to just go looking at cars for the fun of it.)

Sadly, no one could go with me that day to look at cars, so I did tons of homework and got lots of great advice--especially from Robin and Steven (sister and BIL). Both are fantastic negotiators and excellent with money matters. (Steven was a finance major, and Robin deals with budgets on a daily basis.) Anyway, a friend dropped me off at the Honda dealership--Hendrick Honda. My friend Jamie (also a Honda person) and I love that place! The folks there are great at customer service--or at least they were back in 2003! I had a wonderful sales guy, too. I'm sure he probably rolled his eyes (at least on the inside) when he saw me coming, as I was armed with my very thick folder full of research. LOL! He seemed genuine, and he was very patient and nice, despite my skepticism. Anyway, after a very long day with lots of phone calls for updates and advice, etc., I drove off the lot in my new car. It had only three miles! (Now it has more than 70,000.)

As I said, this was my first new car. It was a better move financially for me to just get a new car, and I got a fabulous interest rate. In fact, later, when we were combining our finances and such, Tanna was quite impressed with my interest rate. On buying day, when I was going through the financing business, the finance guys were telling me what a great deal I got, but I wasn't so sure. I figured they said that to everybody. Anyway, today I will be making my last car payment--via the good old Internet. I've been thinking of that old Clint Black song since I made my payment last month. One more payment and it's mine ...

Life has changed a lot since I bought this car. I've moved three times. I have married and had a child. Been through a couple of jobs. And on and on. It's been on quite a few road trips, and we've had a lot of fun together. I hope this car is around for a good while still. It's a Honda (my third), so I think it will be.