Carma

There’s an inspirational saying that goes something along the line, if you can’t get in through the front door, go through the window. Meaning, there’s always a way, don’t give up so easily. 

This saying came to mind the other day as I was in the process of buying yet another used car. I thought I'd hold out and buy a new car this time around, which I really did not want to do, because, let’s face it, cars depreciate the minute you roll off the lot. As good fortune had it, a fantastic preowned car came my way, seemingly out of the blue. 

However not really out of the blue, and I’ll tell you why. It has to do with windows. I think I cracked some kind of used car buying code years ago. And it goes back to that inspirational saying. For this particular scenario it goes more like; If you see the car you want to buy with some stranger sitting in the driver’s seat, knock on the window. 

Herein lie one of those stories I will probably be telling ad nauseum the rest of my life. You know how old people tell the same stories over and over again. That’s gonna be me with this one.

Years ago, eight years ago to be exact, I got rear ended while driving around doing my Saturday morning yard sales. I mean, my car was totaled and I was lucky to be alive. 

I ended up receiving only $6000 dollars from the insurance company and I’d be damned if I was going to take out a loan to buy a new car or spend a penny more than that. Mind you, this was before Covid when used cars were still reasonable, so I began my search. However, since I was intent on purchasing a one owner, well cared for car within my budget, not such an easy find. 

Not knowing what kind of car to get, three of my friends all driving 2004/2005 Honda CRV’s at the time convinced me to try and find that car model. Well, good luck trying to find one. It seemed no one sold them because they last so long. It seemed it was the type of car that was passed down in families until it’s death at 400,000 miles or so.

I was one and a half months into the search, ready to pull my hair out from looking while driving a rental car, when I pulled up into the parking lot at work one morning and lo and behold, right beside me was a 2005 Honda CRV with a man sitting at the wheel. Without thinking, just moving from a blinded by the light, bold desperation, and a whole lot of chutzpah thrown in for good luck, I jumped out and knocked on the guy’s window. He rolled it down as I blurted out, “Will you sell me your car?” 

“Sure”, he said.

Wait, what?!! Really?!! And guess what? It gets even crazier. Turns out I knew his wife and our kids grew up together at school, though a year or so apart. He then proceeds to tell me his wife is selling her car too. So, I call his wife, who then tells me they are also selling her father’s car. 

Get out of here!!! So now, I have three cars in literally one window knock to choose from. 

To make a long story short, I end up purchasing the Honda for a great price, did a few extra repairs and had the exact car I set out to find all within my budget.

Fast forward to last month, 8 years later. My reliable, loved, car, now 20 years old, was starting to fall apart in expensive ways (a little bit like me). Granted, I could probably get another 200,000 miles out of it with a bunch of repairs. Thing is, I was calling Triple A one too many times and forget about highway driving now. 

As fate and maybe carma, I mean karma, would have it, I was literally at a yard sale on a Saturday morning once again, and no, this time, my car did not get totaled, however, I had literally just told my friends I have to find a new car, when I received a text from, guess who?!!!, the family that sold me the Honda. The mom was now selling her 8-year-old car and wanted to know if I’d like to purchase it. 

Hello?!! What???!!! Yes!!!! 

And while the saying goes, “If you can’t get through the front door, go through the window” is metaphorical, and AI recommends you don’t try it literally, I contest AI and say try it! You may end up getting a car or two out of the process and a crazy story you can tell ad nauseum for the rest of your life.