New used car.

So, once we had warmed up a bit this morning and the outside temps “soared” to 0 degrees, I made a phone call to our mechanic friend to see if he had located any studded snow tires for the Aveo. He had just got in and would be making some calls he said. I told him not to commit to purchase any but to just find out the price as Terry and I were going out to look for a used 4x4 under $5K.

Well, Ryan’s ears must have perked up and his eyes bugged out. “Listen,” he says, “I’ve got a 2000 Ford Explorer here on the lot with 76,000 miles on it that’s for sale for $3,400. It belongs to my grandmother. She’s had it for 4 years and put less than 20K miles on it since she only drove it during the winter. Come on down and take a look.”

“We’ll be right there,” says I.

Less than an hour later we’re down at Ryan’s. He tells me he located some 15” snow tires for the Aveo, but they don’t take studs AND they would cost $165 each without additional rims.

We start looking at a white Explorer that’s two years older than Rick’s Blazer with 25K fewer miles on it. It had been in an accident before Grandma purchased it and Ryan and his crew had fixed it up so you couldn’t tell. It, therefore, carries what’s called an “R-title” which merely alerts the purchaser to the previous damage. The metal all around is sound with no rust. There’s some paint peeling around the trim that looks to be due to poor adhesion to the primer and there’s a burn mark or two in the cloth upholstery. We took it for a spin up on Route 15. She rides well with no shimmies or shakes or rattles. It’s got power windows and doors, AC, CD and tape player in the radio. Everything seems to work (especially the heater and defroster). The tires have plenty of tread on them. (Okay, cruise control is an unknown and doesn’t seem to work, but we hardly use it anyway.)

We get back to Ryan’s and tell him to call his Grandma ‘cause she’s sold her car. And is it okay if the Aveo stays in your lot until we get a thaw and can get it up the hill?

While we went to the notary with his Grandma and Grandpa (who live with several sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, including Ryan, in various houses just down the hill from us) to complete the deal, Ryan pulled the Explorer into one of his bays to do and inspection, oil change, and lube. An hour later we had the temporary registration and a new plate (which Ryan attached) and we were on our way. And here I was prepared to spend the day schlepping all over to look at five or six vehicles of about the same vintage but with considerably more miles and costing about $2K more.

So Terry’s got a white winter car now to go along with her bright yellow summer car. At least I won’t need to go play fetch when we get a couple of inches of snow on the road.

Does this count as spurring the local economy?