I bought a new car

I bought a new car today.  A Honda Jazz.

I don't think that my wife likes the shade of acid yellow that I've picked.  But at least it's safe.  I read somewhere that yellow is the safest, followed by white.

I just want a small, fuel-efficient car to get me to and from work in comfort.

I had a bright red car once.  I'd only had it for about 3 months when somebody ran into me, on a bright sunny day.  The other driver said that they didn't see me stopped in the middle of the road with my indicator on waiting to turn into another street.   So much for brains registering red.

Unfortunately there's no way that Matthew (our almost 18 year old son) will be able to drive it - the added insurance premium for under 25 drivers  is prohibitive.  It increases the premium from about $500/year to about $1,600.

It's been about 5 years since we bought a car, and its still overly complex, arranging the car loan, insurance, etc.  Everyone in the process is keen on cross-selling you another product.  The car dealer wants to finance the loan, and sell the insurance, and insurance on the insurance.  The credit union wants to lend us the money and also wants to provide the insurance.  Presumably the insurance companies will want to finance the loan as well just to make it more complex.

Karyn did a fantastic job negotiating a price.  She told them what she wanted to pay, and stuck to it.  The salesman said that he couldn't go that low, and wheeled out the sales manager.  The sales manager said that he couldn't go that low either.  He even got to the stage of offering a full tank of fuel and a promise to wash the car every time I brought it in for a service.  But Karyn stuck to her guns.  They (the salesman and the sales manager) then had to go to the Dealer Principal who agreed to go further and meet her price provided they transferred the extra $ to someone else's purchase.

I reckon I should rent Karyn out as a negotiator, except there wasn't any negotiation from her.

Now we have to wait a week to pick up the car.  I just hope that we can get all the paperwork done on time.