How Did We Get So Lucky?

When it comes to buying a car, it's easy to say "We'll buy a new car tomorrow", but in reality, not everyone understands the process that comes along with purchasing a new/used vehicle.  A few months ago, the hub was lucky enough to have stumbled upon an ad that had only been posted for less than an hour.  The ad was for a used Certified Pre-Owned 2010 Mazda 3 hatchback which was exactly what we had been looking for. Not too long after the ad was posted, my hub and the seller communicated and the following day we hired a mobile mechanic to stop by the seller's house an hour away (even though the seller had informed us the car was in great shape, we still went forward with it which he was fine with it). 

We had planned our whole weekend around purchasing the car since we had the mobile mechanic check the car out first thing in the morning on a Saturday.  Everything was rolling out according to plans as we had picked up our loan from Navy Federal and received a call back from the mechanic who gave us an excellent detailed report of the car.  With everything falling into place, we then drove up to Dana Point from San Diego, met the seller whose name happens to be "Zach Morris" of all names and took the baby for a spin. Both the hub and I instantly loved the car especially for the fact that Zach babied his vehicle keeping it clean and in excellent shape!  

After we agreed on a price point, we headed straight to Chase bank to get a Lien Satisfied document since Zach needed to pay off his car.  The plan had been for us to handle the car purchase there, but our dream to have the car keys in our hands that same day had been demolished all because of a boo boo that was made during Zach's initial car purchase.  While at the bank, the representative that had been assisting us informed us that there was an issue with the Title. Since Zach only had a copy of his Title, we needed an official one so that we could sign it.  According to Zach, when he first got the car, he leased it. A year later, he went back to the dealership to purchase it.  Although he purchased the car in California, he moved to Florida (where he is initially from) and went to a dealership to purchase it there.  The rep from Chase explained that there may have been an issue at the dealership as they did not forward his ownership information to the DMV to reflect on the Title.  Since that didn't happen, Zach was basically driving his car around unregistered and without plates since 2010!  I have no idea how he got away with that, but it's no wonder why his car looked practically brand spanking new when we went to his house to see it!  Does this issue we had to deal with make sense now?  

It was March 28th when we had met with Zach for the first time and since then, we were back and forth with text messages asking for updates.  There were even times when we felt like giving up and looking for cars from other sellers, but I convinced my hub that we should stick with Zach and he agreed.  Finally, around mid June, we received an update from Zach that he was able to take care of what he needed to on his end so we all decided to meet halfway. The hub and I asked Zach to meet us in Oceanside at a local Chase bank. You have no idea how excited I was for this day to come!  When we arrived at the bank, Zach and his fiance arrived not too long after.  

It's Official!

I'd have to say, this process went much smoothly than last time. We had all the documents we needed and the representative whom assisted us gladly notarized an Official document of sale for us.  After all was said and done, we all headed outside for a memorable occasion!  Zach handed us the keys and just like that, the Mazda was now ours!  I'm sure it was a bittersweet feeling for Zach since the Mazda was his baby, but he had his reason to let it go being that he's getting ready to wed his fiance soon and they'll be making their way back to Florida in a few months so it only makes sense for him to let it go.  Since it's not too often we find and meet good folks, we invited them to lunch right after which was nice.  We instantly became friends from this entire ordeal and we all can't help but ask ourselves often, "How did we get so lucky?".. 

Its' been about a month since we've had the car and we are in love with it!  You have no idea how much it has made our lives easier!  I'm happy that we're able to tow around bags of groceries as well as our big boy Sam.  I love that I don't have to shift gears as I've been driving a manual car since I was 16 years old! Goodness gracious, it's time I give my clutch foot and shifting hand a break! Haha... Today was my first day driving it to work.  Luckily, students are on summer vacation right now so I'm not too worried about dings or dents, but I still do what I can to avoid that!  Just yesterday, my hub was asking me what other car I would want to get since my Honda will be our "beater" car. 

Hmm... I wonder....