Mrs. THC's wheels are getting up there in age and mileage. So, here at the humble THC home, car shopping has been on our agenda for awhile. For the last several months, we've looked at a few models and rented a couple of others -- all part of Mrs. THC's process of (very) carefully selecting a new car. She tends to keep a car for a decade or so. So, she takes this process very seriously...and slowly.
The latest model under consideration was the Toyota RAV4. It's a stylish, smallish SUV -- right up Mrs. THC's alley. On a Sunday morning errand, we popped into a local Toyota dealership today to take a closer look. We were immediately greeted by a most helpful salesperson. (I don't recall car dealerships being open on Sundays.) He graciously explained that the RAV4 is too hot to keep in stock. None were available today.
After exchanging brief pleasantries with Toyota-man, we were about to head back to Mrs. THC's aging sedan. Suddenly, the salesman pointed to a moving object in front of the dealership and said, "Wait! You just have to drive this." We turned to see a bit of our youth pulling into the parking lot. It was a very '70s Land Cruiser looking thing. I thought it looked like a little Hummer. Mrs. THC said it was "cute".
Toyota-man introduced us to the 2007 FJ Cruiser. We went for a test drive. We liked it. In fact, we really liked it. We almost bought it.
Yes, we came dangerously close to making the biggest impulse purchase of our lives. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. We stepped back, took a few deep breaths, and the search for Mrs. THC's car continues. And, for today at least, we saved thousands.
Still, we're finding ourselves wondering what it would have been like to plunk down $31,000 on a car we'd never heard of and had driven for only a few minutes.
What's the biggest impulse purchase you've made?
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