The best use of a frigid, wet, snowy day

In 1999 I leased a car. It was a 4 door Chevy Blazer 4X4, and I loved it. Pewter metallic paint, with a charcoal leather interior, it was the nicest thing I'd ever driven. Sunroof, CD player (with a cassette deck I never did put a tape into), power everything, I was in heaven.

By the time the lease was up, things had changed quite a bit, and buying the car made the most sense, so I did. Shortly following that, the engine blew at 59,000 miles. I fixed that, then the alternator, brakes, and a host of other little things, which seemed to keep coming, over the years.

The last time I had it inspected for renewing my tags, the U-joint needed work to pass and the bill was over 600 bucks. I'd also lost a hinge pin from the drivers door, and had run into a deer on the highway. (The deer I hit just enough to skew the grille but not enough to make it worth taking to a body shop).

The point of all this is that until today, I was driving a 10 year old car that had slipped well past unsightly, and squarely into unsafe. It's time to renew my tags again, and paying for another repair (which I knew there would be) seemed silly, when what I really needed was a good used car. So I did my research, and in the end, I got a smokin deal.

My silver LR3 with black interior is a 2006, with 33,000 miles on it. The sales staff at Mercedes Benz of Kansas City couldn't have been nicer, or more professional. What's more, on a rainy, snowy, generally nasty last weekend of the month, they were ready to sell a car and when I left I think we were both happy with the transaction.

Next, Brett's lease is up in June. He's got the bug, we'll see if he makes it that long!