Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I should just start a series, entitled "How not to do it."
Anyway, I went down early this morning to look at two Previas. Both were in Tacoma (well, one in Tacoma, one in Gig Harbor). I had arranged to meet with seller #1 at a YMCA in Fircrest, which is a suburb, perhaps, of Tacoma. We were to meet at 9 am, which was early, but made space in the day for other things I had to do.
It happened that I talked to someone about another one in Gig Harbor, which is close enough to Fircrest that it'd be silly to pass up the chance to see it too. I arranged with seller #2 that I'd call him after I was done with #1.
Kristin, in a fit of boldness, decided to come with me, which made the trip a bit easier -- it takes 45 or 50 minutes to drive to Tacoma, even with no traffic.
We arrived at the appointed spot after a bit of confusion -- he'd given me the address as 1102 S Pearl St, but the YMCA was plainly at 1002 S Pearl. Oh well, I got into the parking lot, and cruised up and down. And up, and down. And sideways, and some more up and down. Damn, that's a big parking lot!
We spotted two Previas, but no one was hanging out by either one. I pulled out my phone, and called the number I had for him. No rings, straight to voicemail. Ok, that's not cool. I left a message saying I was waiting for him.
We eventually settled in a parking spot to wait to see if he'd call back. I called him perhaps 5-6 times, each time greeted by his voicemail prompt. Finally, having patiently waited until 9:30, I called him again and left a message saying I was off to look at #2, and he could call me until 10:30. After that, yeah, don't bother.
So, I have to say, if you're trying to sell a car? Maybe try showing up for appointments. And even so, maybe keep the phone on. That kind of treatment is bad enough that I wouldn't buy his van even if it was the perfect thing.
Fortunately, #2 (a 1995 model) turned out to be in very good shape, even though it had 198,638 miles on it. The AC didn't work, and the driver's side mirror wobbled, but those were the only two complaints, really. I was impressed.
Fortunately again, while I was calling dork #1, I got voicemail from someone else who was selling what I'll call #3, a 1991 Previa with about 140k miles. I'll be looking at that tomorrow. Best of all, it's been maintained by Highroad Automotive, who are famous for doing preventative, "keep it running forever" maintenance. Cool! Between numbers 2 and 3, I feel like I've actually got choices. Maybe it'll even be a hard choice.
Posted at 13:53 permanent link category: /misc
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater