Big Accomplishment

Today, Heather got rid of the 1995 Plymouth Neon which has been such a albatross around our neck.

We originally bought it for $1200, then had to sink about $3000 in repairs into it, only to find out that it still needed about $1500 more to make the air conditioning really work. Other than that, it's a great car! :)

All this for a car that has a book value of about $1250, and that's if the air worked.

So we took the opportunity to have our first experience with CarMax, and Heather has confirmed what our friends have told us: they are to car dealers as the iPhone is to cell phones -- not even in the same ballpark. Thank goodness.

I have sworn 100 times never to buy a car from a car dealer, but I will publicly make an exception for CarMax. Their operating philosophy and the raves we hear (and have now experienced) from everyone makes them the exception to the rule.

We ended up getting $500 from them for the Neon(not bad for a car in Florida with no air!), which is about twice what I expected them to offer, so we are delighted.

With the tag now transferred to the van and insurance adjusted accordingly, that's one big thing off our To Do list, which now merely includes getting rid of, sellling or storing all the furniture, tons more packing of stuff to do, dismantling our huge and extensive electronics arsenal and cleaning the flat (oh, and getting a PO Box set up, and rearranging the storage unit, and using up all the food, and clearing out my office, and getting all the excess Doctor Who crap to the local fan club, and making sure all the laundry is done, and ...)