Just when you think things have settled down, in walks drama.  Lucky for you, little readers, you get the recap and some of the commentary from my friend the Real Jew (RJ).

So in the wee hours of Sunday morning my car was the victim of a hit and run.  I was with M, the Jew, and the 10 hour date guy.  We closed out the home bar, went to BestWurst for snacks and then I drove us home.  Unfortunately someone decided to create their own lane, as we turned onto the access road to the highway, and they sideswiped the front passenger side of my car.  WTF?

The car proceeded to drive off.  Lucky for me I was still able to drive my car forward.  I got their plate # and I pulled up next to them and asked them to pull over.  They decided to keep driving.  They got on the highway and tried to lose me in the traffic.  I was pissed off.  I decided to take a chance and follow them.  I had nothing to lose and I was hoping the police would catch them as they sped down the highway.  They darted around and managed to exit ahead of us. I wasn’t driving like a grandma that morning.  I managed to chase them for quite awhile before they disappeared.  It wasn’t as dramatic as the helicopter camera shots of the white bronco but I thought I handled the situation pretty well.

Once we lost the dude, I called the police and filed an accident report.  Then I took the kids home and filed a claim with my insurance people.  I haven’t heard anything from the cops yet.

So what did the Real Jew have to say about all of this?

RJ: … but i guess you didnt get a plate or anything?

Me: You know I did.

RJ: oh hells yeah.  so you’re gonna bust the fucker?

Me: I was with M, the Jew and the 10 hour date guy

RJ: the jew? tell my bro i said shalom haha

RJ:  citizens arrest mofo!

RJ: was there a helicopter filming? did your car magically change into a white bronco? did you call AC? so many questions

RJ: i like that you went all vigilante on his ass props to you. my neighbor and i have hunted down people in our hood like that

Me: I was pissed off. The blackness in me came out

RJ:  hahahahahahahahahaha i knew it was in there somewhere . why come im never around when it rears its ghettofabulous head?

Me:  I don’t know. I suppose it is because you never see me get mad;  I have learned to repress it. or oppress it

RJ: hahaha oppress it good one

M says that Meg and I drive like grandmas. It’s true. Driving makes me a little nervous. I was in a head on collision September 24, 2000. After that I became super cautious. I don’t drive my car that much. I only put 9000 miles on my car in the last year (I only went on 2 short road trips). I don’t like making left turns either.

This Wednesday I did one more thing to add to my grandma driving track record. I backed into a parked car when I pulled out of my driveway. I was heading out to watch Project Runway with my peeps. I had a flat that Monday so I am a little more aware of the little tire pressure indicator on the dash. It had popped up again and I was annoyed. Then I heard a little cracking noise. I backed into a car that was just beyond the “hedge” that surrounds my mailbox. Not good.

I pull forward and discover that I have dented my bumper, cracked the reflector, and scratched the other car (it was a 2 inch scratch). I decided to do the right thing and leave a note for the person. I pulled into my garage and decided to stay in for the night. I popped out the dent in my bumper and managed to reattach the bumper clips. I used packing tape to reattach the reflector. Then my doorbell rings. Someone is selling phone service products (I refuse to endorse the company). I ask if the car is hers. It is, then I explain what happened. We call the police to file the accident report. We exchanged insurance info.

So what now. I ended up with a citation. I have to pay a fine or take defensive driving (defensive driving is significantly cheaper). All of that for being a good person and doing the right thing. Most people don’t. Thank goodness for the Accident Forgiveness policy. I don’t have to pay for the damage to her car. I just have to pay for mine. I can either pay $400 to fix the flaw or cover it. I am going with the touch up paint and sticker method. My bumper is subject to future damage. I have already scratched it with my bike.

These last few weeks I have been dealing with things that I hate the most. 1) Spending money and 2) cars/driving.

I’ve dreaded the day that I would have to replace my car. I purchased my Corolla in 2000 after wrecking my original Corolla. It wasn’t the car I wanted but I needed a car and I didn’t really want to shop around and I didn’t want to buy anything that required me to have a car payment. Seven years later I still had the car. 2 years ago I pondered getting a new car but once again, my fear of spending money won out.

This year the Corolla started costing me more money than I wanted to spare so I decided it was time for it to go. I figured out that I could afford a car if I could get the payments down to $200/month. This would require that I actually got around $2000 from my car and I applied for an interest free $5000 loan with the international bank of dad. Money would be tight, but I could do it.

I started test driving cars. I was looking at the Versa and the Fit. On August 10th I surrendered my deposit to the Honda dealership. I was told that I would have my Fit at the end of August or the 1st week of September, and by the way, we will only give you $950 for your trade in.

The race was on to find someone who would pay me more for my car (to lessen the blow of the car payment). I posted the car on Craigslist for the blue book value, $2500. My goal was to get back the $2000 that I lost to my mechanic this year. Selling a car is really difficult when you don’t know the exact date your new car will arrive. I called the salesman at the Honda dealership to see if he had a better idea of when the car would arrive, he told me the same story, he also said he would call me if anything changed.

On 8/26 a few people wanted to see the Corolla. 1 person wanted to buy the car for his teenager and wanted to give it to them on the 1st day of school. I’d have to part with the car on Monday. He offered me $2200. That was enough to recoup my losses and get a rental car for the week while I waited for my car to arrive.

Tuesday I called the dealership to get the VIN# for the vehicle so I could get my insurance and loan paperwork finalized. I spoke with one of the guys in the sales department. He said that the car was just built on the 24th. IT WAS STILL IN JAPAN AT THE FACTORY. This was not good. I felt sick. It would be another 4-6 weeks for the car to get here. From Japan, the car goes on a boat to California, then it gets on a train and slowly inches its way to the dealership. I told the sales guy I was pissed off because I was told my car would be here within the next week. He asked if I wanted to talk to my salesman. I told him that I would speak with him later and that I would be speaking with salesman at OTHER DEALERSHIPS because I had sold my car and had a rental.

More freaking out…. Stress had taken over and my body was shutting down. I started calling other dealerships in Texas. A dealership in Dallas had an orange Fit. Unfortunately he couldn’t hold the car for me. He said he could overnight me the paperwork and attempt to hide the fit, but without my being there he really couldn’t do anything.

Breathe and Reboot… There is only so long that I could be angry with the Honda people. I needed to redirect the anger into productivity. My loan pre-approval was only good until 9/13 and there was a chance that I could loose my rockstar interest rate. I decided that I had to find another car. I had looked at the Mazda 3 but there was no way I could afford a new one. I started looking at used Mazda 3s and then the used Toyota Matrix. I found a few and I was started off on my next round of test driving. I called the Scion Dealership near my house to see if the 2008 Xd was out (I had seen this comparison test and it sparked my interest). They said they would call me back. I didn’t hear back from them.

Thursday I had scheduled a test drive on a Toyota Matrix at Carmax. I also planned to look at the Matrix at the Toyota Dealership since it was next door. I decided to take a chance and call the Toyota Dealership to see if the Scion department had the Xd. They did. They had been on the lot for 8 days and they had one in every color.

I decided to bypass the used cars and check out the Xd. Everything came standard and I could actually afford it. It was cheaper than the FIT. I signed the papers on Thursday night. Friday I took care of the insurance and the bank. I also called the Honda people to tell them I wanted my deposit back. Saturday I drove the car off the lot.

You can check out the Xd here...
I bought the silver one.

It’s nearing the time to say goodbye to my Toyota Corolla. It’s not exactly on its death bed. I just have issues with the fact that the next repair will cost almost as much as its blue book value.

So what am I looking at? I want a hatchback. My ex used to tease me about the hatchback thing but that’s not going to stop me. I want it and I will have it.

The contenders (in no particular order):

• Mazda 3
• Volkswagon Golf GL
• Toyota Matrix (hatchback that is based on the car I have the longest history with, the Corolla)
• Scion XB (aka the toaster on wheels)

Yesterday I took advantage of comp time and went to look at the VW Golf. Meg’s boyfriend has one (the turbodiesel version) so I have already climbed inside it and noted its roominess and standard features. I was taking a chance by stopping in a car dealership on the last day of the month. I was also performing a social experiment to see how a black female wearing a “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt and jeans would be treated. The VW guy was really nice. I told him that I wanted to test drive the golf. He asked for a copy of my driver’s license and my insurance card and handed me the keys. He gave me a brief run through of the controls once I was inside the car and told me to take it out to Spicewood Springs Road so I could really see how it handled. He said that I should take atleast 15-20 minutes to get a feel for the car. Holy Crap, I expected him to be riding with me clutching the dash and selling the car for the entire ride. WOO HOO! FREEDOM! I have to say that it was a nice ride. The drawback was that the view out the rear window was obscured by the 3 headrests on the back seat (those would have to go).

When I got back to the dealership the sales guy asked if I was interested and I said yes. He took the time to give me a quote at the current interest rate and to appraise my car for trade. He got bonus points for that. He warned me that they were down to 2 Golfs on the lot right now. I told him that I would keep in touch. I had a few more cars to test drive.

The next stop was the Toyota/Scion dealership. I went in and asked to drive the Matrix. They didn’t have one available so I asked if I could check out the Scion XB. The sales dude said that he would get a member of the Scion team to assist me. In the meantime was I interested in perhaps the Corolla or the Camry (what part of “I want a hatchback” do you not understand). I said no. The Scion dude was eager to get me into the XB. Unfortunately someone had taken it out for a drive. I was told that they would be right back. After several games of solitare on my palm pilot I was told that the XB was last known to be heading out to Westlake and they weren’t sure when it would be back. I told them that I would call before I came next time and headed out the door.

By this point in time I realized that the traffic had increased and I was tired. I decided that I would head out to the Mazda dealership anyway. The lot was full of Mazda 3′s. Was this a good sign or a bad one? I told the sales guy that I wanted to drive the Mazda 3 hatchback. He said he’d get the keys. He didn’t ask for my insurance or driver’s license so I guessed that I wouldn’t be riding solo. The inside of the Mazda 3 had enough controls to launch a space shuttle. A wee bit intimidating. I took it down 2222 down to the County Line. It was a really nice ride. The Mazda guy wasn’t selling the whole time but I could tell that he felt he was wasting his time. Who was I but a black girl in jeans and a “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt. Anyways, he said that he’d show me a video of the safety ratings and specs once we got back to the dealership. I was not impressed with the service. This is something that is available on the Mazda website. He gave me his card after I told him that I had a few more cars to test drive.

Stay tuned for part 2…