The cost of cars....

      Well, my purchase price was reasonable for the age and condition of the neon, but now I get to keep investing money, it started with insurance before I even drove the car out of the parking lot.  Then there are the sun shade, the seat covers, the license plate frames, and today the cost of title transfer and license plates, oh, and sales tax.

     Monday the car visits Fisher Automotive, oil change, new tires, if they are in, and brake work, which might just be air in the lines but with my luck, it will be more expensive.  Getting a security key from the Dodge dealership and having that programmed will run me around $170+, but I can send Ben to Jacksonville with the car and not miss work, I sure need that paycheck.  I did order more keys and key fobs from Amazon, but it takes 2 'original' or dealer programmed keys to clone more keys.

     I want to order custom covers for the dash and back deck, or that black interior will really show sun damage here fast.  I will make the back seat cover, am sure I have plenty of fabric for that job.  And I bought a pack of cheap CDs and made the car some music disks.  

     My slush funds savings had over $3800 before buying this car, it is now down to just over $1200.  So, I have spent or invested a lot of money in the car and a bit in the house, lighting in the sewing area, a new, on sale coat for me.  And this does not cover that dealer key and programming it, or the visit at Fisher Automotive.  

     But I do need transportation and I do want something that is more space than my truck, more dry cargo area than my truck and I can afford this car and to have my truck repaired.  I will put my tax refund to good use on the truck repair costs, and other needs.  My wish list for that tax refund had stayed small and now that I bought the neon, it will stay very small.

     And it has been too cold to play with my new car, so I hope to have it warm up a bit and get the seat covers on, the license plates on, start the car and get it turned around, and give Ben a chance to at least sit in it.

     Now, it is time to head for bed, know I get to go to work tomorrow and will again turn down the chance to go home and have a day off, JBS is having our supervisors keep the manning very tight, both Monday and Tuesday someone in our area has gone home soon after start up.  And I will keep saying no, I now have a truck in the shop with a big repair bill and a used car that needs tired and brake work before I can start driving it safely...

Well, at least I got the photo up on my blog.

     But none of the fun stuff, like the brakes are way, way to soft and not very responsive for my liking, the tires look ok but I want far better road gripping tread on tires so they will be replaced also.  The interior is very clean and in very good shape but black, so I will be doing beige or tan seat covers, back deck and front dash cover or the critter will cook here with no garage or car port.  I picked it up off Craig'sList, about as soon as the seller posted it, I was awake and going o try and copy/paste the BMW convertible I was drooling over to share with my pal Mike Ferrin and up pops this for sale car, priced at $1800, good buy at the condition the car is in, below KBB value for private sale.

  The weather looked to get ugly by evening so Ben and I headed out early and it was getting ugly by the time we made it to the PizzaHut meeting place in Lincoln IL.  Met the seller, but not his wife, in their bigger vehicle, with the kids and parked a very safe distance from the little red car.  Very safety smart family. I liked that. But the roads coming home got worse and worse long before we found our way back to Wall St. and parked both the little red car and Jake's jeep.

  Now, I start spending money, title transfer fee, sales tax, current registration, renew the plates on my old truck also, 1 stop spending into the state revenue coffers.  That will be Tuesday.  The car only had 1 key and it is chipped security key, and 1 key fob, so that is a call to the dealership in J-vile to hopefully order a couple correct, chipped, expensive keys and another key fob.  Monday's 'car is costing me money' thing.  And stop by Fisher Automotive to set up appointment about those squishey brakes I do not like, an oil change and please order correct for the car tires with far more road gripping tread for my driving security.

  I will be moving funds from slush funds to support this new to me car, and that will include seat covers, custom dash and back deck covers, I already picked up a steering wheel cover so that is done.  And since the car has a CD player, I need to make some car CDs and get some sort of small storage bin that will fit in that between the seats storage critter.  The back seat will need a cover, I will pull out fabrics and make that. 

     And the truck will still get repaired and come home to be the old house and other jobs truck and the back up for the Back Up,   Buying this car, now, I feel, is a good decision but I know it eats into my hobby/wood/bike building funds.  So, I plan to start out taking good care of this purchase, do have insurance on it, did that at PizzaHut, after paying for the car and while sharing a meal with Ben.  It will impact doll spending funds but the truck has already done that.

     It will not impact my on going old house project, which has ceiling paint drying with wall paint going on soon.  I will cry about the cost and arrange to have 4 sheets of drywall delivered from my 'up the street' place of business, where I also have a paid in full account.  They will deliver, and the fee is not that bad, the cost per sheet is higher than buying it out of town but the truck down did that in and it is either my attic job is on hold for a month or more or I get the needed drywall here in town.  

     A month delay is not workable if I am to remain sane and live in this house.  My sleeping area in the attic is a disaster, I have no sewing area, I have stuff everywhere, dolls are packed up once again and the attic is drafty, or draftier than it will be once all the drywall and osb is installed, seams done, a bit of foam in a can used to seal up some drafts.  And it will be cleaner, better organized and way past time I got that work done.

     Ben is my labor while he is living here, not always the best at getting with the needed work but he does a good job, just drags things out and doesn't put in a lot of work time when he could.  Progress is progress, and he lives here, I am supporting him and he is my 'free' labor for now.

   So, a nice car to drive once again and not bad on gas, I will flag the antenna so I can find it, that will take some time, once I am driving it to work, to recognize my own car.  

New to me car, and old house progress.