Holly Bess Turns 1!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day I got my car. It was a big day for me, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to share the tale.

I previously owned a car named Captain Jack, who was purchased under less-than-ideal circumstances, so he never really had a chance to become beloved. It wasn't his fault. But he wasn't much of a car and started having major problems. I finally realized I could either continue to pour money into repairs, or I could start over with a new car that wouldn't give me trouble. The problem with this idea, though, is that I had no idea how to go about buying a new car.

Luckily for me, I had two friends who were car FREAKS. I casually mentioned to my friend Body that I was thinking about buying a new car. I was immediately bombarded by suggestions and websites to look at and consider, along with his opinions and questions of, "Do you like that one? Do you like that one? Do you want to test-drive that one?" I was really not prepared for any of that, but it ended up being good that he was so enthusiastic, because nothing short of that would have motivated me enough to actually go through with buying a car.

After a lot of thinking and looking at websites, Body convinced me to go test-drive a Toyota Camry and a Mazda 3. I was terrified, because I don't like driving, and I don't like people asking me to make decisions. Yeah, test-driving was the worst thing ever. But Body went with me and asked all the questions, which I'm sure was annoying to the salesman. I liked the Toyota and hated the Mazda.

After the test-drive, I took a few weeks, I think, to gather my wits about me and gear up the courage to really do this. I finally called the salesman and made an appointment to go in for the big purchase. Of course, Body did a lot of the talking, but as I was the actual buyer, I HAD to answer some questions. The guy really wanted me to buy an LE, but I was not to be swayed. I am not so into cars that I was willing to pay a few thousand more dollars for special features. This was discouraging to the salesman. Also discouraging was how unwilling we were to budge on the trade-in price of Captain Jack. I'd looked it up on Kelly Blue Book, and this guy was offering waaaaaaay less than they'd recommended. He actually started to get kind of mad when we wouldn't compromise at all. But, again, I wasn't so excited about buying a car that I was going to settle for a mediocre deal.

In the end, we agreed on a trade-in price, and he went off to find me a car. The CE line only came in a few colors, and I didn't love any of them, but I wasn't going to fork over more money to get a better color. He found a car for me at another lot, and he said they were going to drive it over. Meanwhile, we started on paperwork. But then somehow he found out that someone sold that car while we were doing paperwork, so suddenly they had a deal with me but no car. SO, he said since all they had was LE's, I could have an LE for the agreed-on price of a CE. The three of us went outside, and Body saw one that was the right price, and I said, "That's the color I've been hoping for!" And that became my car.

In the end, it was exciting to buy my very own new car, and that was largely due to Body's guidance and support. I think he was more excited than I was, and he was very proud of me when it was all over.

It took a while to settle on a name, but I decided on Holly Bess. I usually call her Bessie. (If anyone figures out why Holly is her first name, you will understand the depths of my nerdness.) I've had her for a full year now, and we've already been through a lot together. There was the time I spilled hot chocolate all over the front seat and hated life all the way home from the car wash, who only charged $60 to clean it up. There was the night Body drove Bessie when he took me to the ER at 3:00 a.m. (I know he was worried about me, but I'm sure he was partly jazzed to get to drive my sweet car.) And, of course, there was my latest trip to Disneyland with my three good friends. She was there for it all, and I love her for her undying faithfulness.