Conversation with My Wife (147)
“Hi Miguel, I’m Jack, this is Aunt Debbie.”
We’re getting a new car.
A day ago I would have said we are probably getting a new car, at some point; we’d been doing online research, and setting aside money for the eventual purchase, eventually. And we really like our eight-year-old 2012 Honda Fit, so we pretty much had our eyes on a yet-to-be-announced 2020 Fit. For me, it’s the new safety features that have been added. I’ve scared Deb once or twice (or more?) with my driving, so having a car that backs me up with things like better visibility and automatic braking and lane control will make us both ride easier. Plus we want to take more trips when we retire, so adaptive cruise control and a better entertainment system (no more copying podcasts onto a USB thumb drive!) will be nice.
And then I read that Honda had announced the 2020 Fit. For Japan. Only. And it might not be coming to the US at all.
Well… drat.
Okay, I email my wife, let’s head over to our friendly neighborhood Honda dealer after work and see what they have in 2019 vehicles, shall we?
Our salesman was Miguel, a very nice young man, who mentioned during our conversations (auto dealerships still go through the “let me take this back to my manager” routine, so we had a certain amount of downtime to chat, both with Miguel and each other) that he was 21.
DEB: I thought he was older than that.
ME: More like…?
DEB: Maybe 24?
We liked our test drive. (When the car thinks I’m too close to the edge of the road, when traveling highway speeds, there’s a feel in the wheel like the tires are bumping up against a very low curb. Kind of a nudge back into the lane. Subtle. I liked it.) We liked the way the Fit still can fold seats like origami to make room for whatever we’re carrying. We liked that the passenger headroom was still there.
DEB: They took my cup holder. The one by the glove box. And now there’s only one glove box.
ME: So now you’re down to one glove box and only two cup holders instead of three?
DEB: I wouldn’t put a cup on the door.
ME: So one cup holder and one bottle holder?
DEB: (looks at me accusingly) You still have two cup holders and a bottle holder on your side.
Valid point. Not a deal killer, however. Plus, they have a shade of blue that Deb likes. Finally.
So while Miguel was off doing auto sales things, we talked about our next step.
DEB: Let’s do it.
ME: Let them know we’re definitely interested?
DEB: Buy the car. Tonight.
I should mention that, in this life, there are shoppers, and there are buyers. A shopper would hit four different dealerships, drive a dozen cars, and eventually fret about making just the right choice. Deb & I are buyers. We see it, we like it, we buy it. (Okay, yes, we’ve also been looking at Fits for years. Still, just one test drive. See my point?) So this is not new behavior.
DEB: Miguel has to be new at this job, right? He’s a nice kid, he has only told us the truth about the car¹, and he’s married. This could be a big deal to him. This is why we’ve been saving, right?
I should also mention that my wife will go into Aunt Debbie mode on any young person — and yes, at our age 21 counts as a “young person” — who needs help, whether it’s an affirmative word, a boost up onto the swing, or the commission on a new car we’re going to buy anyway so why not now.
DEB: So we make the deposit, they order the car, and Miguel gets the sale. Okay?
ME: Okay, honey!
And we’re getting a new car. Miguel wrote on the sales slip, “MUST BE BLUE!”
¹We let Miguel tell us everything about the Fit, of which I knew 80% already from research. But that meant I believed the other 20% he told us that I hadn’t heard.
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