We bought our 98 Pontiac Grand Am in 1997, brand new. It was our first “grown up” vehicle. It was to be our family car, for a family that had just barely started. It was the car to go out in, to take trips to the cottage in, a trip to Myrtle Beach, and numerous trips to Lexington Kentucky. It fit this roll well, only to have these duties relegated to a new van when the family grew again.
The Grand Am became the secondary vehicle. Used for single person drives, never more than 60KM. Only seeing multiple occupants during weekly office lunch outings, trips to Karate class with Megan and I, or if the van was in for servicing.
With a 3.1L 6 cylinder engine, midsize body, and the ever increasing costs of gas (a whole $0.65/litre), my eye started to wander toward a smaller vehicle. I had become fed up with North American automobile companies, their lack of quality, and customer service. I started looking at the Volkswagen Jetta. The rule of only 1 car payment at a time held me to only looking.
While on her way to work this past August Linda was involved in an accident in the Grand Am. Linda was the first car in a 3 car pile up, where the tail car pushed an SUV into the back of the Grand Am. Linda was fine, but the Grand Am suffered damage to it’s rear. Thoughts of “write-off” entered my brain and my eye did more than wander. I had chosen a black Jetta TDI as a replacement.
The insurance company had other thoughts in mind. The Grand Am was deemed fix worthy and after 4 weeks of repairs it was returned to us, but it wasn’t the same. With the dwindling lease on the van, the time was ripe to replace the Grand Am.
On October 20, we signed the papers and the search began for the exact car I wanted. 2006 Jetta TDI, black, black leather interior, apparently hard to find, but the dealer thought they had a line on one. On October 27 I was informed they didn’t. The ones they had a line on were spoken for, my car wouldn’t be available until December 13.
November 8th I returned from taking pictures in the fog at the duck pond to a message from the dealer waiting on our phone. They’d found my car, and better yet it was on their lot ready for me to pick it up as soon as the licensing was done.
After amazing feats of getting money transferred, getting insurance, and pushing the dealer to get my license plates transfered, I now have my car, and I love it.
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