I’ve been trying to sell my Honda Fit for a few weeks. I posted it in a few websites, put signs in the windows, and have been generally promoting it since mid-April. I was getting frustrated that I hadn’t had any luck for nearly 6 weeks. I hadn’t tried eBay motors because I was under the impression that eBay would take a percentage of the purchase price. But once I knew Taylor was coming home for a few days and could car shop with me, I looked into posting on eBay motors.

Once I logged on, I realized that it was a flat fee to post, and another fee at auction end. Since it was affordable, I posted my car at the beginning of last week. I had a bunch of hits and watchers, but no bids. The night before the auction ended, I got a call from Al in Tucson. He said that he wanted to suprise his wife and buy her a Fit. They had seen one on the road a few days prior, and she immediately fell in love with it. All of the Tucson and Phoenix-area Honda dealerships said it was still a month waiting list and a big market mark-up fee. He was waiting to hear back on financing, but agreed to purchase the car at my Buy It Now price.

The next day he called me to say that his financing was pre-approved, and he wanted to move forward with the transaction. As an afterthought, I mentioned that I was willing to drive the car to Tucson over the weekend so he could have the car asap…as long as he paid my travel expenses. He agreed to do so, and I planned all my travel. Even though the transaction was potentially risky, I had a feeling that I needed to go on faith and everything would work out. Talking to Al on the phone was as fun as talking to a girlfriend. He’s a head coach and college sports recruiter, a real jokester, and he plays off my sense of humor perfectly.

I left around 6:45 this morning, had a few stops along the way, and arrived in Tucson around 2:00. I drove to his house, met his wife and kids, and filled out the bills of sale. As I walked into their house, there was a painting on the wall that I used to have a print of a few years ago. We thought it was so funny that we would have the same picture. He wanted to get to know me a little, so I talked about where I’ve lived, what I do for work, etc… I mentioned that I went to college at Ricks. Al started laughing and said he’d been there recruiting before….then he said that he was LDS too…just not currenly active. How odd is it that a total stranger on eBay would be LDS and have so much in common with me?? The similarities kept happening, which helped me feel good about the transaction.

The funniest thing was how Al told his wife that he was getting her the car she coveted. He took her to a nice restauarant and said “I have a confession to make. I met a woman online named Nicole. She has something that I really want, and she’s coming to Tucson to give it to me this weekend.” He kept playing off the story for about a half hour, as his wife got more and more furious. Then he fessed up…Nicole was coming to deliver the Fit, which would be her new car. She was slightly excited but still mad that Al led her on. Apparently, she didn’t believe that I was coming until I called to say that I was a few miles from their exit to drop it off. That would explain why she took a while to open up to me once I arrived

After all the paperwork was filled out, we went to dinner at a place called Las Margaritas. Then they treated me to the Tucson phenomenon called Egees. They have delicious fruity slushies. I enjoyed it immensely. After dinner they dropped me off at the airport for pick up rental car, I checked into my hotel (Marriott…nice!) and relaxed for a while.

Since he gave me $250 cash to cover my expenses, and I ended up breaking even on the car….Taylor and I decided we could afford a laptop since I started school this week. I shopped around at a few electronic stores and found a basic-ish laptop at a decent price. I don’t need a lot of frills, and this one fit the bill. So here I am, blogging away from my hotel room in Tucson. I will have most of the day to sightsee tomorrow, then I’ll fly home in the late afternoon.

Currently listening : X&Y By Coldplay Release date: 07 June, 2005