How many months has it been since I last blogged? Too long to even remember.
Anyway, a lot of things have happened in the last few months. The MAJOR MAJOR one was when Jan and I decided to purchase our very first car. Buying a car was something that always took a back seat. It wasn't really our priority. We just bought our house almost two years ago and we dind't want to add another expense to our rather large financial obligation (monthly ammortization + 20% downpayment ammortization). But when things started to settling down and seemingly falling into place, we decided that now's the right time to do it.
One of the reasons why we decided to buy a car is becasue of our kids. We live in Novaliches and most of the time, commuting with the kids would be such a hassle. With all of the stuff we had to bring, not to mention the time spent waiting for a cab, plus the ridiculously high cab fare! Imagine, we spend P500 on cab fare just to go to Pasay or Makati from our house!
In the beginning, we wanted to buy a nice second hand car that would fit our budget. We pegged it at around P350-400k. I had car loan options at work with good interset rates. We bought Carfinder and Buy and Sell magazines every week so we can find good deals. The problem was, both of us didn't anything about cars. We both didn't drive and we never had interest in cars.
It was a good thing that my cousin Nainah and her husband Jerry lived near by. Both of them helped us out in checking out the cars. We would spend every weekend just test driving the second hand cars that fit our requirement: low milage, fuel efficient and has four wheels.
We . . . uh . . . Jerry test drived most of the cars we saw (2 or 3 Toyota Vios), while my former officemate Willy test drove a Mitsubishi Lancer. It's really very physically and emotionally tiring to look for a car that you'd want to own. There was a time when we were supposed to buy the a Vios, but when we were about to pay the downpayment, someone else beat us to the punch. We were supposed to get the Lancer but there were some errors on the car's papers.
That's when my wife suggested that we should just buy a brand new car. The idea wasn't really far fetched. It would be bettter for us to buy a new car rather than a second hand one because we both dind't know anything about cars. If the second hand car breaks down for whatever reason, we wouldn't know what to do. Less hassle. But more expensive.
Her officemates applied for car loans at BDO and I think most of them got approved. Since she's from GMA, she was so sure that we could get a loan. We were really gung-ho about it. A few computations here and there, looking for ways to maximize both our incomes. Praying that we make the right decision and for the loan to be approved.
And we did get approved. Now all we had to was choose the car that we want to buy. Oh, and we had to learn how to drive too.
We had two choices: Toyota Vios and the Honda City.
The City was Jan's choice while I wanted the Vios since its one of the more durable cars in the market. The first time I rode in the City at Honda QC, I realized that it was more spacious than the Vios, which was important for me since I have long legs. Price wise, it was ok. We took the manual variant since I wanted to really learn how to drive (Though now, I think we should have gotten the automatic because of the traffic in Edsa).
Nice look. Big trunk. All the space you need. Fuel efficient. Honda City it is. We didn't bother to look a the Vios in Toyota's showroom since we ride a cab everyday and most cabs are Vioses.
Both of us took driving class (another story to write about) and by the time our car arrived, we both knew how to drive.
Sophie and Sam loved our new car. They would always want to go around the subdivision in it. Sophie wouldn't even want to ride in her Lolo's old Corona because she said ours is "mas- maganda. Pangit car ni Lolo!". She used to like to go around with her Lolo with in the car. Now she wouldn't even touch it! Hahaha
We're just thankful that we have our own car now. We were hoping that our companies would give us one (wink, wink mga boss!) but since we really needed one . . .
We're just so greatful that we could afford one. Konting tipid lang . . . for five years, but with the convinience that we're experiencing now, I think its worth it.
Thank you Lord for this blessing!
:)
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