Record Store Day '19

What's up, Internet.

Hey, check out this record I didn't buy today. . .

You know, all I really wanted to do today was head over to Radio Wasteland for Record Store Day.  That's it, nothing crazy.  I wasn't even planning on waking up at the ass-crack of dawn like I did last year, either:  compared to the 2018 release list, the offerings in 2019 were pretty lame.  A couple items that raised an eyebrow, but the only one I was really interested in was a limited release of B-Sides and alternate takes by Weezer from their Blue Album era.

That's about it.

Nevertheless, it's a hell of a lot of fun to putz around in a record store day, and since it's Record Store Day and everything, I figured it was a fitting way to spend one's morning and afternoon.

Buuuuut, Kris' van had other plans.

Emptying out Kris' old 2007 Chevy Uplander. . .

Over the course of the last couple weeks, her minivan - that she's owned since 2009, if you'll be so good to recall - started making strange noises.  Rattles, whistles, you name it.  It would come and go, too, and would vary in intensity and volume depending on the day.  Eventually, she took it in and had it looked at, and, long story short, she needed to have several things replaced and/or repaired.  We're talking upwards of $1,000.  On a twelve-year-old van.

So we had to face the music.  Was it better to a.) dump a couple grand into the Uplander, that we don't owe anything on and have been making zero payments on for almost a decade, in the hopes of getting it to last another couple years, or b.) sell the Uplander while it was still worth something, and use the trade-in value and some of our money in savings as a down payment towards a new van.

We decided to go with B.

Alayna says farewell to the Tactical Family Transport Vehicle. . .

(Was a bit windy out.  And we had to take a break from our time at the dealership to pick her up from a sleepover birthday party, hence the unkempt appearance.)

2016 Chrysler Town and Country

Our good friend Morgan works over Midland City Ford, and had promising to hook us up whenever we needed a new vehicle.  We knew he'd give us a an optimal deal on a new vehicle, and were therefore determined to buy through his dealership.  For a week or so, we perused their website, keeping tabs on all the new and incoming minivans they had in stock.  Eventually, we came across a black 2016 Chrysler Town and Country with only 50,000 miles on it at a reasonable price, and decided to go in today to check it out.

Unfortunately, we ran into a few snags.  First of all, Morgan had the day off, so he wouldn't be in to help us out.  Secondly, the van had two viewings (where potential customers make a scheduled appointment to come in and check out the vehicle) for the day - one in the morning, one around noon.  If the van was truly the catch it appeared to be, we were convinced it wouldn't be around long enough for us to have an opportunity to check it out.  Someone would pounce on it.

We did have a few cards up our sleeve, however.  Morgan, who's an assistant sales manager at the dealership, hooked us up with a trusted salesman who he knew well that would take care of us.  He was also able to get this salesmen to squeeze us in between the two viewing appointments, and even went so far as to have the salesman deter the first customers away from the van in question.  This ultimately proved unnecessary, though: the first couple that looked at the van decided against it because they wanted a minivan with heated seats.

Seriously.

Kris takes the Town and Country for a test drive. . .

We rolled in around 9:30am and met up with the salesman, who showed us the van and went over the fine print with us.  The Town and Country was only two years old and looked brand new, and looked very similar to an older model that we had picked up as a rental when we flew home for Christmas of 2011.

Kris crunches some numbers while waiting for our salesman to return.

Following a test drive and a review of the vehicle's service record, we decided to pull the trigger on it.  We spent the next couple hours negotiating the price of the vehicle down to a few grand below the original asking price, with about $2,000 for our trade-in (R.I.P. Chevy Uplander) and a new set of high-end tires thrown in (the tread on the Town and Country were at about 60%, so we negotiated for nicer ones.)  The entire duration of this back-and-forth negotiating had Morgan texting me, his sales rep, and their boss repeatedly, making the deal as beneficial as possible to everyone.  We're extremely grateful he was able to win us the deal on this that he was - saved us the hassle of having to deal with sleazy salesmen or other dealership theatrics.

Happy wife, happy life.

The Cannonball was pretty excited to get a new car, too.  As can be seen here.

One of the van's features that Kris completely goes ape-shit for is the fold-down seats, which allows for a ridiculous amount of storage room (summer camping trips comes to find, for sure.)  With the back row seats upright, the truck space is nearly triple what we had in the last van (because it opens up below into a sub-floor compartment as well. . . which will come in handy on weekly grocery trips, or whatever the hell Kris does with her van on a weekly basis, I don't know.

Kris and her new ride

So, on what should have been a pretty bitchin' Saturday for Yours Truly, spending a few hours digging through stacks of records and scoring a few treasures, Kris bought herself a nearly-new, top-of-the-line minivan.  The irony in all of this, of course, it that it was me that was supposed to be getting a new car next - we've been snowballing money into our savings account so that I could buy a new car out of pocket (my car being even older than the Uplander, and handling far worse in the snow.)

And now that we pulled a chunk of change out of savings to put the down payment on Kris' new van, we're going to have to make up all that lost ground, and my new car will have to recede further into the distance.

Being an adult sucks.

- Brian