Baby you can drive my car

Didja miss me? Sometimes my need to earn a living trumps my hobbies; mea culpa.

You may recall (or maybe I did not report it) the boy threw a rod in his piece o crap car several weeks ago. We have been car shopping since. I hate car shopping. Part of the reason I hate it is the wife is an impossible shopper. She is the kind that goes to the mall and looks at dresses in fifteen stores and goes back and forth comparing them. I ask why she does not buy the first one she likes. She says she might find something better later on. I say I wouldn't because I would have quit looking. Imagine her approach when shopping for cars. We find one we like, test drive it, let the kid drive it, negotiate on pricing and move on to look at others. She cannot understand why the salespeople will not call her back or keeping looking for other vehicles for her. She is looking for that perfect car, but does not know what it is until she finds it.

We found a nice car for the boy. Low miles, fairly new, clean. The price is within 1-2 hundred of our budget. The payments are in the range we expect to pay. The boy likes the car. He wanted a 'dark' car, this one is silver but he says he is OK with that -- he meant he did not want a bright color like red or yellow or gold or blue. Since he did not list silver on his list of wants she thinks he is settling because he has been without a car for more than a month. He says he likes the car. His first choice would be a brand new Civic or Smart Car, but he knows that is not an option so this car is fine. The wife hears that as "OK I will take it". I hear "the car is fine, buy it". The real hidden truth is the car is not what she would want to drive (it is an '05 Malibu). I keep reminding her that the car is for the kid. He has been emphatic he does not want spoilers or anything sporty. He wants a plain four door vehicle and this car fits the bill.

So here we are, negotiating done, financing approved and she wants to keep shopping. I say we are done. The boy says the car is fine buy it. She wants to keep looking. I ask her again what she wants -- she does not know, but when she finds the car she will know. I cannot tell you how frustrated I am about this. She does this every time we buy a car, and she wonders why I hate car shopping.

I told her she has to talk to the sales guy when he calls this morning. I also told her I am done, she can do all of the finding, negotiating arranging for financing etc. if she backs out. I had to explain for the tenth time that you have to redo the financing if you choose a different vehicle (she thinks we are just approved for x amount and we can choose the car based on that budget). I tried to tell he that this particular salesman has been really, really patient. he calls every few days with another car for us to look at. I say he will never call again. She says why not?

She thinks I am being an asshole.

I think I would rather have live chickens stuffed in my pants than spend one more minute buying a car with her.