wheels

After we found out we were pregnant we decided it was time to buy ourselves some wheels. It's been a plan of ours for a while now, but initially we were going to wait until Judge had a long-term job. The benefits of getting a car now rather than waiting are too many to overlook though:

• We can take the girls to the pool and library once a week (since we don't have a network for them here in the village I am craving more interactions for them)
• We can conveniently to a big grocery shop once a week so Judge doesn't have to come home with the bus each time laden heavy with 3-4 bursting shopping bags
• We can head up to the cabin or up to the mountain or anywhere we want
• We can take visitors to see the area when they come (we have some visitors coming at the end of the month)
• We can drive to the hospital - about 1:30-1:45 hour drive away - when the time comes
• We can conveniently and safely get around with three littles

Neither of us know cars, however, so the process that pretty much everyone and their mother has gone through at least once, perhaps several times, and thus doesn't even warrant a mention for most people, was quite stressful for me, seeing as we are riskily (used car; no car knowledge) and kind of blindly (chance of having to buy a car unseen and without a test-drive was very, very high) investing a huge chunk of cash...way more this time than the last time I bought a car (last time I was 19 and bought a Maui cruiser; I think I went big and paid around US1000 or so).

First it was the task of figuring out the type of car that can fit three rear-facing car-seats in the second row, where a 5-8 years old car of that type would meet our budgetary constraints. Second it was deciding on an insurance company. As we are in Norway, these tasks fell on me, due to the whole language issue.

After calling out for advice from friends and relatives, and reading tons of stuff online, we finally settled on a Toyota Corolla Verso, a Ford S-Max, or a Volkswagon Touran. After some more searching and physically taking a look at a Corolla Verso, we further settled on the S-Max.

Then it was finding a used car. In Norway (as most other places?) there are four sources one can purchase used cars from, auctions (though no shredder sales like they have on Maui), individuals, name-brand car dealerships and 'other' car dealerships. Name-brand car dealerships are the most expensive, as well as the safest as they usually provide a guarantee for a year or so. Initially we wanted to purchase from one of them, but there were so few options that met our requirements that we had to expand to 'other' car dealerships too.

Then it was learning what I needed to ask about when I called them. Again, asking people more in the know than me, and finding info online regarding what is important to look at when buying a used car in Norway.

Some dealerships gave me the 'used car salesman' vibe almost right off the bat, so it was easy to move on.

We finally found one, snazzy red seven seater (seven seats became a criteria for us, as it provides us with more flexibility when a visitor or two comes), and over the next several days I must have called him 10 times with various questions as I was learning what I needed to ask, and he would sometimes need a day or so to get the answer. After a whole bunch of back and forth I was just waiting for the contract to be emailed to me, and then they would meet Judge half-way with the car for the hand-over (they were located a few hours drive south of Oslo, which is itself about 6-7 hours drive from here).

But, he called me late in the afternoon last Friday to say he had discussed it with his boss and his boss didn't want to sell the car to us unseen. I was pretty disappointed, but as I started my search again I found they had adjusted the ad, so I think they had found that they weren't getting a good deal if they sold it to me (as they were going to have to fix some stuff and then we would pay their original asking price).

I got a lot out of this process though, as I now had the complete list of things to ask for. Did another search, short-listed it to 2 potentials with 2 back-up potentials during the weekend, and called the two first ones on Monday. One gave me really good vibes and had no reviews online (I had learned this was also an important step...here no news is good news). The pictures of the car showed really unworn interior and nice exterior, and she said there weren't any real marks on the exterior (just a couple minor things but not all the way through where rust would evolve).

The other one not only gave me used-car-salesman vibes, but back in 2009 their then-boss was jailed for black-market sales of cars, and the car itself wasn't in as nice shape, nor did it come with parking sensors like the first did.

So within about one hour of my first phone-call to Good-Vibes, I called her back (after talking it through with Judge) and said we wanted to buy the car (they were only able/willing to give us a NOK3000 discount...but I wasn't sweating it because when comparing to the others out there in terms of milage, age, gadgets, and the wear of the interior/exterior, this was a pretty solid deal in my starting-to-get-educated opinion).

That evening I had signed the contract, Wednesday they had taken the car in for a used-car test on our dollar, where there were a few minor issues that came to light. They told me they would fix them on Thursday and we could pick it up on Friday.

So I booked Judge's overnight bus ticket to Oslo leaving here Thursday 10pm, plane ticket to Stavanger for early Friday morning, transferred the payment for the used-car test and for the car, and tonight off Judge will go.

They are located about a five min drive from Stavanger airport, so when he lands he will call them and they will pick him up.

Stavanger is about a 10 hour drive south along the coast from our place. That's a loooong first drive for someone who has just gotten his driver's license in Norway.

Stavanger also has the hardest to understand dialect in all of Norway, in my opinion, creating a double challenge for him.

Third challenge he is facing is he may have come down with the bug the girls have had these past few days...sending some paracet and freshed baked banana bread and oatmeal cookies with him on his journey.

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