Our first car

We have managed to purchase a car, which in itself was a good accomplishment, however this transaction was done completely in French. I had narrowed down the make and model, so it was a question of finding a nice one at the lowest possible price. After exhaustive research on different British and French review websites, i settled on a 2000 to 2002 Peugeot 406 2.0 liter diesel sedan. My favorite research site over here is called "Leboncoin" it has every thing for sale, and in all price ranges. It is an excellent method of finding the value for anything, kind of like ebay over in the states, or a craigs list with photos, but without perverts. It was on Leboncoin that I found our particular car, from a dealer so it comes with a six month guarantee. So we phoned the garage and set an appointment for just after two, one never makes appointments between 12 and 2 as that is the national lunchtime. Then prior to heading over we mapquested the address and took a couple notes, a couple notes to few to be honest. After an hour and a half to drive a half hour away we arrive at the garage, the car in the add was washed, but not since then. We proceeded into the shop and waited fifteen minutes for someone to help us, and I mentioned that I was interested in looking at the Peugeot voiture pour avandre(car for sale) the nice lady smiled and pointed at the garage next door as we had been waiting in the Control Technique, which is the French vehicle inspection location. we proceed out of the shop and into the adjacent garage and after waiting fifteen minutes a man approaches us and asks what he can do for us. I again ask to look at the car, so he motions that he will be with us shortly. He takes care of a few things and then gathers the car keys and we take a walk out to the future workhorse. It is everything and less one could want for a first car in a foreign country, firstly there are thousands upon thousands of them so you don't stick out in traffic or more importantly in a parking lot. Then there is their bullet proof four cyclinder diesel, the main selling point in my mind, that is their equivilent of the chevy v8. The car does have a nice aesthetic in my eyes, so we took it for a test drive, it was a bit spongey but tight for the couple hundred thousand kilometers it had traveled. So we return the car to the lot and tell him that we are interested, Cindy negeotiates for a lower offer, the reply is that he is barely making any money on it as it is. We accept that and tell him that we would like to buy it. We go into the waiting area and he returns with a stack of papers, through the process of filling out the required papers, showing our year long residency visa, bank account,and a bill from a utility company, we discover that included in the cost he will get the car certified and make any repairs required. He has also told us that we will get four new tires, he will register the car and get new plates for it. If you think that buying a car in a foreign language is dodgy, try imagining going to the local dmv and registering it, hearing that bit of news had Cindy and I close to making out in front of the guy; we were so excited. We had shown up thinking that we would pay for the car and drive off with it, but we realised that we would be lucky to get the car next week. Above this entry the photograph is of a simular car, except that ours is a silver gray. We also asked him since it didn't have a trailer hitch on it would it be possible for him to buy one and install it, his reply was a typical "but that is my job." We paid a down payment and left, realising that we now were a lot more independant and able to get around with out the confines of a rented car, not exactly like a teenager with a first car, but close. Which brings to mind Caleigh asking to borrow the car shortly.

If there are any requests for me to write about something specific, something you might find interesting that I haven't thought of please write it in the comments area, and Yes I will write more about Caleigh as I have been very observant of her harried life lately, but wanting to give her privacy. Even though we have signed her up for appearances on the T.V. show as well as us. Hipocrite?