The Vintage Limo Monologues #1: The Purchase

Before I purchased the car my friend said to me, "Let's take it to a mechanic and get it looked at". My response was, "You can do that if you want, but it is a waste of time. The man who owned it for the past 5 years knows more about it than any mechanic and I am going to buy it anyway because I have already fallen in love.

He just shrugged his shoulders as most people do when I go into stubborn mode and said "Ok, Iowa has a 3-day return policy on used cars anyway."

It is hard for people who research things before they purchase them to understand the concept of intuitive shopping. You know that feeling you get when you just passed up that great sale on a leather jacket and then for the next four years you wish you would have purchased it? Or that feeling you get after researching the entire housing market and then when you walk into a house you just "feel" like it is yours? What I have done over the years is to focus my awareness of that "feeling" so it is more and more accurate and to gradually let go of the need to reasearch everything. I always tell people "your intuition is more powerful than you give yourself credit for. Use it". And that is why I don't like shopping for major purchases with anyone else along. They distract my focus and they take the "fun" out of it with all these questions - "don't you think you should...."

In any case, this was a typical big purchase for me. The minute I saw the car I knew it was mine. But I do have a little "fail safe" built into my system. I wait. But then I could not sleep all night. I dreamed about it, I woke up at 3 in the morning thinking about it. I finally called the owner at 9am and said "I would like to see your car".

He was from ______, a very friendly place in Iowa and his way of talking immediately put me at ease. "He is someone like me" I sensed at once. And at that moment I made the decision that the best way to deal with this purchase would be to just be honest. I was not going to try to pretend I didn't like the car so I could get a better price. I was just going to be level and honest with the guy. I sensed he would do the same back.

And he did.

He took me for a drive in the car and along the way told me so much informtion about it and was so honest I almost thought he really didn't want to sell it. And perhaps subconsiously he didn't. He told me about all the work he had put into it and the things that didn't work in it. After 15 minutes I knew more about that car than any car I had ever owned. And my decision was still standing. It was my car.

We arrived at the lot where he was keeping it and I knew this was the time to ask about the price. It was advertised at X but on the way over I had in my head to ask him for Y. but then something told me just to ask. So I did. I said "I want this car. How much will you sell it to me for?" He said, "Well, I have not been offered Y yet, but you can have it for Y". I said "Ok, that is what I was thinking. I will come by later and buy it."

Yet another sign of our "Iowa honesty style transaction" - he took my cell phone number and actually believed me! How did he know that he could believe me? Was it the same way I knew I could trust him? How do we know these things in Iowa? Or are we just to trusting and we get lucky sometimes?

Three hours later, after picking up the check from the insurance agency and visiting the bank, I called him back. "I can give you a check today or cash tomorrow. Which do you prefer?" To my great surprise he said "Either is fine". So I headed down to ________ to pick up my LIMO.

We stood in the parking lot together. It was a nice day, a bit chilly, but no rain like there has been lately. He signed over the title and I signed over a check and we said thank you and parted ways.

Read the next post to find out how this all went...