Jan 18 2009
Car Shopping + Pregnancy = Awesome
I learned today that car shopping while pregnant is actually much better than car shopping while un-pregnant. (And yes, I just made up that word.) For instance, we found one car that we liked and was exactly what we were looking for, right down to the color and super sleek interior. While we paced around the outside of the car, peering in the windows, I thought to myself that if the price was right, and it drove well, this was going to be the one.
A funny thing happened when the car salesman came back with the keys and opened up the car. I stepped in (no, we’re not to the funny part yet), and not one second later was overcome with the smell of… dog. Big, wet, nasty dog.
Car shopping while pregnant benefit #1: Super-human sense of smell
I glanced around the car, and sure enough, there were paw marks gouged on the doors and pieces of pet hair here and there. We walked away and I asked Turk if he thought the car reeked worse than the pound and he said he didn’t smell a thing. Pregnancy sense of smell is officially my new best friend. Dogs aren’t.
Next, we perused around another dealer and found the van. This was it, the one we had been looking a whole twenty minutes for. (Okay, we don’t usually jump into things so quickly, but we knew this was a great deal and was exactly what we were looking for, so we went for it.) I opened up the car, took a big whiff expecting dog, cigarettes, something awful. It smelled new. Pregnancy sniff test: Passed.
We test drove it, I fell in love, and we decided to go for it. This part, the negotiating, is by far my least favorite of the car shopping experience. Turk is excellent at it. Me? Not so much.
“So Lindsay, this car is listed for $15,900 but that was really too good of a price, we’re going to bump it up to $17,000, okay?”
“Uh, okay. I guess that makes sense.”
Alright, that’s a little exaggerated, but I can’t haggle to save my life.
So, Turk’s sitting there, going back and forth with the car salesman over numbers, and I’m sitting next to him secretly wishing for the Southwest Airlines announcer’s voice to boom, “Wanna get away?”
Then it occurred to me: I’m pregnant, I haven’t eaten practically all day, and I have had a lot of water.
“You got this,” I said, patting Turk on the leg. “I don’t feel very good, I’m going to the bathroom.”
Car shopping while pregnant benefit #2: Morning sickness, frequent urination, etc. all cause to excuse yourself from the bartering.
I felt guilty, especially since I didn’t really have to pee and I wasn’t feeling that bad. But, it was for the best. If I would’ve stayed, I would have agreed to a lower amount. Turk was better off to fend for himself.
As it turned out, he did pretty well. He talked them down a little on the price, and up a little on the value of our trade-in. At the end of the day and after a whole lot of paperwork (where I think I may have signed away my unborn child’s life), we drove away in a fancy-pantsy new van.
Yes, folks, I am now a van driving Mama! Please, don’t be too jealous. I promise, I won’t let my cool-ness go to my head.
And now, after a day of car shopping and avoiding high pressure situations, I am wiped. ‘Night all!
Oh, man. You’re going to have three car seats (or four???) Good grief, I never even thought about that before. Good luck!