Transportation Dreams

So…. I said I would give myself three months to determine if I nedeed a car. I knew at the end of month two I was done with Uber. It sounds cool not to have a vehicle to worry about, but I started out driving my paw paw’s tractor and my mom’s Fiat up and down Smith Rd in Filbert before I should have been behind a wheel. My dad used to let me drive from the house to the tennis courts behind the library in York. Driving has always been important to me and gave me a sense of independence. The only time I’ve really been without a vehicle is my freshman year in college (That was for the best).

I also wanted to be smart about my purchase and not rush. We are faced with so many decisions on any given day. Anyway, I started looking at three brands: Honda, Volkswagen and Audi. Kia was in the running but quickly fell off. I thought about SUV’S just to help with command and respect on the road. But, my SUV taste is much more expensive than my car taste. Additionally, I thought that tinted windows help, mileage under 100,000 Km and 2014 or newer. As I was looking this week, I found several Audi’s at Elite Motors that I really liked.

They were all a little out of the price range that I wanted to maintain, but were still good deals. I did some price comparisons because certain things are cheaper here than the US and vice versa. I looked on Carmax for the same make, model, year and mileage in Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina. All listing were much higher than what was being asked here. I also did some comparison here for listings and found that they were all similarly priced. So I made my way over to Salwa Rd Saturday and drove all the A3’s.

Next is all the fun steps to complete the purchase. First of all Malek was amazing with my 500 questions about purchasing a car. He diligently answered them as I am sure he could see the mass confusion on my face. Once I selected the car I wanted, I had to take it to the German Specialist to complete a full inspection. Basically they tell you if the car is worth purchasing by completing a multi point inspection and identifying if there are any underlying issues. They also take it out on the road and allowed me to accompany them. Everything came back fine.

I returned to the dealership and Malek reduced the car by 3,000 QR and filled out a quotation for me to drop off at QNB along with the inspection report. Also, the instamra, which is insurance, is valid until June. Malek said if I come back before June he would renew for me. Sunday morning I dropped the quote off at the bank and Tuesday afternoon the funds were in my account. All the bank wants is a salary certificate. All in all I was able to keep my car payment significantly less than my monthly transportation stipend. I’m not worried about petrol because we are in oil central.

I sent Malek a text letting him know that I could pick up the car today and he reported they were washing and cleaning for me. It took less than 20 minutes to complete the paperwork and transaction. In the US they will take your whole Saturday. Running credit checks, asking what you can put down (I did put a down payment down although it wasn’t required), trying to make you purchase something more expensive and signing your life away. Looking back, I was frustrated trying to understand the car buying process. However, between Malek, the guy at the bank and Leslie helping me it was pretty simple.