Bye, Bye BMW

It's a sad weekend in the Kehler household. Well, it's really only sad for me. We traded in the BMW for a twin-mobile. After putting together the double stroller, Mark tested (and I hoped beyond hope) that it would fit in the trunk of the BMW. It didn't. We knew what we had to do. I couldn't even bring myself to say good bye when Mark took it for its last, lonely drive to the dealership. I loved that car. That car made me happy when I drove it. It had heated seats. A sun roof. The mirrors adjusted on its own when I parked it. It was the "ultimate driving machine".

However, we're now the proud owners of a GMC Yukon XL. It is a beast of a vehicle. I think it seats 8 or 9. It has a DVD player. The third row of seats. Enough cargo space for a double stroller and groceries and the grandparents (they wouldn't go in the cargo area, silly. They'd go in the third row).

I negotiated the deal by proxy from my bedroom. Mark doesn't have a good history of taking my "negotiation direction" and getting us what we want. When we honeymooned in Jamaica, we visited this awesome jewelry store where I had my eye on a beautiful tennis bracelet and he lusted after a Tag Heuer watch. Making a long story short, I got myself kicked out of the store after the seller through a calculator at me because I was low-balling the deal way too much (hey, it's where you have to start, right). After asking the tour bus driver to hold up the bus for us, I gave Mark specific direction as to what to do to get us the prized items. Specifically, I said, "Go back in and offer them $2500 (or something like that - I really don't remember the exact costs) but know that I'll go as high as $3000". Not two minutes later, did Mark come out of the jewelry store empty handed (and a faint bruise from a calculator on his forehead?). "What happened?" I asked. "Well, I went in there and said, 'my wife really wants this bracelet and she told me to offer you $2500 for it but she said I could go as high as $3000'". If I had a calculator on me I would have hurled it at him at that point. "You never give up what you're willing to pay! Thanks a lot; you just cost me the most beautiful tennis bracelet in the world." We left Jamaica jewelry-free, but he's definitely made up for his fatal mistake every Christmas and birthday since.

But, I must say, he did a great job parroting my words to get us this deal on the Yukon. Especially when he went to pick it up on Saturday and they wanted to charge us $100 more since the payoff on the BMW I had estimated was about $80 more than I thought. (I'm still trying to figure out why an $80 difference would cost us $100 more.) I was ready to walk at that point when he called from the dealership to relay the news. "I'll put a stop payment on the (downpayment) check and we'll forget the whole thing. If they're willing to let a sale go away for $100, then they don't want our business that badly," I said furiously. "Give me a minute," Mark said. I did and in that minute I called the bank to make sure that the check hadn't cleared yet and I was well within my rights of putting a stop payment on the check. It hadn't and I was. (Still hope for the BMW!) The phone rang a few minutes later. It was Mark: "You would be so proud of me. They're not making us pay the difference."

Darn right I was proud. Now for that second honeymoon to Jamaica and to scout out a new bracelet....