About a month ago, I took the Escape into TK to have the driver's side baring's looked at because the noise it was making was getting louder and louder. I parked it at Mom and Dad's house and had him take it in one day during the week. Dad gave me a call after a few days and told me that TK couldn't fix it because it wasn't the baring's but something worse. He said the differential was going out as well as the transmission showing signs of aging and will poop out on me if I let it go on for too much longer. I was so upset. I didn't want to fork out the money to fix those things and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a newer vehicle. Ughhhhh! I was really hoping to have the Escape for at least a few more years.
For the next couple weeks I only drove to the grocery store and into Rainier to get stuff done. I didn't do any excess driving like going on longer drives to get geocaches or stuff like that. It was hard staying home knowing that my freedom was limited.
I started the process of looking into other vehicles and finding out how much of a loan I was able to get from the bank. I found another Escape on Korum's website and talked to Trish about it. She was able to get me in touch with one of her people that she's worked with for other 30 years. All I had to do now was to find out if my bank would give me a decent loan and interest rate.
Dad was able to take a day and drive me to the bank. After meeting with a loan officer, we found out that they were able to get me a loan at 12% interest. The reason being is that I was debt free. I got out of debt back in 2014. I thought credit scores stayed with a person once it was established but apparently not. They sent me an email of the contract if I were to choose to go through them. I kept it in mind. I might be able to find a better interest rate somewhere else.
I scheduled a date with Frank at the used Korum lot in Puyallup. I told him what I was looking at, what I could afford, what was available, etc. He said we will find something within my price range. I chose Saturday at 10 a.m. Early but not too early because Ben has to be at the South Sound Speedway for his EMT shift at 4. I knew we would be there for a while.
Ben and I got up early and headed into Puyallup. I made sure to bring all of my paperwork, pay stubs and anything else we thought we would need. I wanted to make sure we left early so we had enough time to get up there and have time just in case something happened. You know traffic or something dumb like that.
We got there a little bit before 10, parked and walked into the building to meet with Frank. We sat down at a desk and took care of some paperwork, you know, my license, bank info, insurance, the vehicle I was interested in, etc. I told him that I went to my bank and got pre-approved for a loan but didn't like the interest rate they were going to give me because I don't have credit anymore. He said they would figure out something for me.
The next step was to test drive the vehicle in question. He put the temporary license plates on it, gave us the key and told us to go drive it around. Ben and I got in and pulled onto the road. Ben said to take River Road because there are different situations we could put the Escape in. We drove it through traffic, used the brakes, drove it fast, drove it through a neighborhood with speed bumps, drove it in circles, drove backwards in circles, stopped quickly, swerved around in it, used the blinkers and even found a nearby park to make sure it was geocaching worthy.
We rolled up to Sam Peach Park and there were lots of kids practicing baseball and softball in every square inch of that park. We got out and it was very cold. The first one, Neighborhood #2 (Laika) (GC7FPDM) was hidden at the bench. So we had to inconspicuously look for it so we didn't draw any attention to ourselves. Ben made the find so we took it back to the Escape to sign our names.
We got back out and put it back as smoothly as we could. We walked around the park to the next one. We assumed that Neighborhood Park #1 (Tunnels) (GC7FJM7) was going to be the same hide since there really wasn't that many places to hide caches in this park. We searched for about 15 minutes and couldn't make the find. We gave up and DNF'd it. I hate not finding caches.
We walked back to the Escape and drove back to the dealership. We parked, got out, met up with Frank again while he took the temporary license plate off and we handed him back the keys. We went back into the office and talked about the next step. We would have to wait a bit for the finance guy to get to us. So we went to the bathroom, had some dried apple slices and some water while we waited.
We went into Aaron's office and he gave us the run down of what we would be doing as far as the financial part of it. He found a institution that was willing to give me a 9% interest rate instead of the one my bank was going to give me at 12%. He said, if I kept at my payments for the next 18 months I could refinance to get a better interest rate. I would have to establish credit to prove I am worth a better interest rate. Hmmm, being debt free sucks in this case. Being responsible also sucks in this case. This sucks altogether! I accepted the rate and the contract because I need a car and was running out of time. I had to put down $5800 to get that rate. It's a good thing I was employed through Covid, got all of those stimulus checks and didn't do anything last year huh? I signed the paperwork, received copies and we were pretty much done. I did say to him, twice, that anything that requires my mailing address/and or getting mail send it to my PO Box, not my parent's physical address, we do not get mail there. He acknowledged me twice.
We thanked Aaron and Frank for their help and I was walking out of there with my very first purchase of my own vehicle. Frank taped in a paper temporary license plate, handed me the keys and Ben took a photo of me with my new Escape. I made a post on Facebook, texted Mom and Dad and asked Ben where we wanted to go have lunch. We drove across the street and had teriyaki. I called Mom, Grandma and Dad on the way home.
Of course we got stuck in traffic at the 512/I-5 junction. The first time I get to drive the new Escape and I have to be stuck in lame traffic. Yay!
We got home in time for Ben to chill for a minute before getting ready for his shift at South Sound Speedway in the aid unit and I took a nap because apparently purchasing a new vehicle makes you tired. I got up about an hour-ish later, ate some popcorn, worked on my blog and watched some movies until Ben came home.
I am now a proud owner of a blue 2017 Ford Escape.
**Update: I got a spare key and my license plates in the mail about two weeks after I brought the Escape home. They put the wrong address on my paperwork (even though I said it twice) for the financial institution in Texas so I never received any paperwork in the mail so I had to call and wait on hold for 35 minutes until it was fixed. I purchased floor mats for the front, back and the trunk because the Escape didn't come with them.**
I am currently getting the red Escape ready to sell as it is to someone who wants a project vehicle. So far I have taken every thing out of it and vacuumed it out. I still need to wipe it out and wash the outside.
Next Adventure: A Hawks Prairie Caching Adventure: The Path Through the Trees
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