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April 23, 2004Cars, cars, cars...
I'm hoping to get my oil changed in about five hours, at 7 a.m., at the Riverside Saturn dealership. If it can't happen in the 45-minute window between 7 a.m. and a quarter to eight, I'll have to drive the following before I can have it changed--and it's already a bit overdue, which isn't particularly reassuring when the car in question is at 158,000 miles:
Riverside to Universal City
Universal City to Venice
Venice to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara to Venice
Venice to Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga to North Hollywood
North Hollywood to Riverside
It's also worth mentioning that all that driving will be taking place in the next 48 hours, but that's almost too daunting to think about.
When I was looking around the Riverside Saturn website for their hours of operation, I happened upon a link for the Kelley Blue Book. Apparently, my '93 Saturn would fetch about $1,140 as a trade-in, and about $3,485 if I were to try and sell it on my own. The KBB states that dealer trade-ins fetch so much less because the dealership has to sink money into getting the car resale-ready. With a difference of about $2,300, it makes me wonder how much a dealer could command for a car like mine as a pre-owned.
Looking at the pre-owned cars listed on the Riverside Saturn site made me feel a bit better about my current car's inevitable, eventual demise. There are entirely reasonable used cars out there, only a few years old, and not so overloaded with miles as to make the purchase an exercise in futility. In our "consumer as caste" system, I'm more than happy to put the stigma of the pre-owned anything to my benefit--be it cars, jeans, books, or furniture.
Posted by patrick at April 23, 2004 02:05 AM
CommentsBack in the day, before I totalled my cute little Honda Civic, I had gone to the Atlanta Honda dealership to get my very first oil change. The service they provided was good. I only had to wait about an hour or so. And I brought a book with me to keep me from getting bored.
Now, the day I went to get my actual driver's license, lol. That's a whole 'nother story! My father and I woke up at 5 a.m. drove down to the nearest GA DMV, got there at 5:40ish, and there was already a line from the door to the parking lot! We waited till 8 for them to open, so I could take a ticket and wait for my number to be called, and finally took my test and got my license at half past noon.
You can't tell me that the CA DMV's are that bad.
Posted by: Cindy at April 24, 2004 09:22 AM
And you didn't make it, did you, y'bastard. Missed out on your chance to see me play an animal onstage. Oh well...
Posted by: Jon Bastian at May 13, 2004 02:59 AM
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