So I Tried This Whole Canada Drives Thing ...

I think everyone has a 'Dream Car'. 

For some it's flashy and expensive.  For some it's the muscle car from their youth.  For others, it may be that convertible they always wanted.

My dream car is the one Tara drove in Sons of Anarchy.  This little beauty.

I've also said I'd like a Charger or a Challenger, some day.

Unfortunately my bank account has different ideas, so I figured when the time came to buy a car, I'd settle on a Chevy Cruze.

I drove one as a rental a couple of years ago.  

It was economical and didn't scream Mom-Mobile like my minivan did back in the 90's, so, yeah, I decided on the Cruze.

Last year, I saved and saved and saved ... then moved across the country.

When I left Nova Scotia, I gave my car to the daughter of a friend, so I've been walking or bussing it since I moved to BC.

When I was in Burnaby last summer, it was fine because busses and the skytrain were only minutes away, and there was always a bus arriving shortly.

Where I am now, while I have a bus stop right across the street from me, the frequency is ... every half hour. Every hour on the weekend.  GAH!

I was definitely ready for a car.

So I saved and saved and saved again, and a couple of weeks ago, was finally ready to buy one.

After checking out a few dealerships, and one private sale I went down to a dealership on a Monday morning (after speaking to them on Friday and seeing a Cruze), cash in hand, ready to buy the car.

Unfortunately for the car buyer, if you're actually paying for the car and not financing it, the dealership won't make any money off you, so they may not be as flexible when dealing with you.

THIS is what I found at the dealership I was ready to purchase the Cruze from.

Because I was paying cash, they wouldn't budge on the sticker price.

What dealership doesn't budge on the sticker price?!?!?!?

One that's NOT going to make any money off you if you're not financing.

So ... since he wouldn't budge on price, and wanted to charge me the additional 'fees' and tax on top of it, with the exception of one sketchy fee, I walked.  

And since he wouldn't make any money off me in the end, he let me walk.

And I was OK with that.

However at this point, I didn't want to look at another car or talk to another car salesperson. 

I was DONE with spending $40 on Ubers to take me to dealerships.  I was DONE dealing with sketchy private sales and I was DONE dealing with car salesmen and their sketchy fees who spoke to my son more than to me, the woman who was buying the car.

This was going to be a huge purchase for me, and I was starting to get anxiety over the bullshit involved in finding something I wanted, for what I could afford.

I did NOT want to finance a vehicle.

I work on contract and I never want to be in a position where my contract ends, I have car payments and NO new contract to begin.

I was not putting myself in that position, so I wanted to buy outright.

GAH! Not as easy as it sounds when going through a dealership.

Until ... 

My son looked over at me in that car dealership parking lot and said, 'What about Canada Drives?'

Now I'm not going to lie.  I'd seen the ads.  I figured it was a scam.

My son had been helping me find a car and I hadn't even wanted to mention it to him, because I figured he'd tell me it was a scam.

How could you actually buy a car from the comfort of your home, without having to deal with a salesperson? Or fees.  Or scams of some sort.

I was soon going to find out. We made the call.

The FIRST thing I will say is ... other than when my mother gave me her car when she was done with it, this was the EASIEST car buying experience I've EVER had!

Canada Drives really DOES make it THAT simple!

Perhaps my experience was a little different, because I didn't have to deal with financing, which they also do in-house, but here's how it went for me ...

After making the initial call, it was really as easy as going to their website and finding the car I wanted.

Having said that, if you're looking for a used car for under $8000 you probably won't find it here, as when you're setting the filter range, the minimum amount you can choose is $10,000, but it did show some in the $8-9000 range, which is what I was looking for.

I scrolled through the cars, looking for a Cruze.

I found one.  It was burnt orange.

Not the actual car

Well, burnt orange wasn't exactly the colour I was going for, but at least it wasn't silver or grey, something I did NOT want.

So I thought I had found my car.

'There', I thought. 'DONE!'

Then, for whatever reason, I scrolled a little further, and I saw her.

A black Dodge Avenger.

Not the actual car

Well now!

Immediately my heart went, 'MINE! MINE! MINE?' 

I looked at the price.  Same as the Cruze.

Hmmmm.  What to do?!?!?!

I checked out the car report.  It was good.

I was determined I was getting a Cruze, but ... this little Avenger was like a baby version of a challenger or charger. Sort of.

She definitely had my heart.

Then my brain went back to one of the Canada Drives policies ... If you don't like the vehicle, you can give it back within 7 days.

A 7 day test drive, if you will.

Alrighty then!

A black Dodge Avenger it is!

My thinking was, get the Avenger.  If I didn't like it after driving it for 7 days, I'd give it back and get the Cruze instead.

It was then as easy as clicking the 'Start Process' button.  Or whatever it was that it said.  

I clicked it.

I chose my car and financing option, chose my delivery date (the next day), agreed to TOS, paid a $500 deposit and that was pretty much it.

I then got a phone call from a Canada Drives representative to verify everything I had chosen online.

They then sent me the purchase agreement, online.

I signed everything electronically and sent it back.

Easy as that, I had bought a new car ... from the comfort of my living room, wrapped in my blankie.

Well, it's a used car, but new to me!

The next step was insurance.

An insurance rep from Canada Drives called me the next morning and we had that set up in minutes, again signing all documents electronically online.

The only thing left to do was wait for the car, and spend the next 7 days driving it!

But then I rescheduled delivery.

It was scheduled to arrive in my driveway between 7-9PM the next evening.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to see my new car for the first time in the daylight.

So I rescheduled to Friday morning.

Just after 11am, I got a phone call.

I looked out the window as I was answering and could see them across the street.

The big blue truck was HERE!!!!

My new (to me) car was HERE!!!!

They backed it out and we went over it inside and out.

We went over the paperwork.

I signed a few more things in person and gave them the bank draft.

They gave me the registration and insurance papers, and put my plates on for me, God luv 'em!

They took a video and a few pictures, then handed over the keys and a $25 Gas Card ...

... then I thanked them and then I drove her into my driveway!

I'm very happy to say, I've had my girl Gemma for almost two weeks.

She did NOT go back!

I know some people will think, 'How could you buy a car without even seeing it?!'

To me, that wasn't really a big deal.  I saw it online.  I read the car report. 

As long as those were accurate, the way I looked at it is that I'd have 7 days to decide.

7 days of actually driving it.

I called her Gemma because she's sleek and Badass, just like THIS Gemma 💖.

Pic taken from HERE

And they even put snow tires on for me!

Which ... considering this, which arrived a couple of days later ... I'm glad they did lol.

So I tried this whole Canada Drives thing, and my honest impression ... 

It was SO easy!

It was NOT a scam!

There really are NO hidden fees.

NO pushy salespeople!

You really DON'T have to leave your house!

VERY quick turnaround from first click to new car!

I absolutely LOVE my new (to me) car!

I would DEFINITELY recommend this company to anyone looking for a new vehicle.

While I tend to be the type of person who is skeptical, and expects a scam around most corners, the whole Canada Drives experience, for me, really WAS just as easy as it promised it would be.

Now if you'll excuse me ... it's time for Gemma and I to hit the road!

And since the Boy & Girlfriend already generously gifted me a GPS system for Christmas, I can (most times) even figure out where I'm going!

Merry Christmas to ME!

And Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all of YOU also.

Now go buy a car!

K.

'You Are the Highest Bidder! Your Last Bid Was ... ' 'NO! WHAT? ...NO! WAIT! WHAT? No No Noooooooo!'

There is a guy with an antique store out in Edmonton that I follow on YouTube.

His business is called Curiosity Inc.

He buys cool stuff.  LOTS of cool stuff.  

And sometimes he brings/sends that stuff to auction.

I don't usually bid on anything he's put through auction though, because he really does find some amazing things that I can only afford to look at, and drool over, but not bid on.

So back in September, he ended up buying a storage unit FULL of vintage comics!

Over 10,000 comic books!  

You can see that video here: 10,000 comics in a storage unit!?! We make a deal! Part 1.

He decided to send the lot of them to an online auction house in New York who specializes in comics, ComicConnect.com.

Before it went live, I checked out the auction to see if there was anything I might be able to actually bid on.

There was someone in particular I had in mind, that if I was able to win, I thought one of these items would make a cool Christmas present for them.

So I went to one of the few lots remaining that didn't already have a bid in the hundreds of dollars, and placed my bid.

It was a set of two comics.  The #1 editions of Rawhide and Gunsmoke.

I was kind of surprised they were still in my price range, so figured I'd go to at least my limit. Right now, they were still fair game.

Then, two days later, the auction went live. 

Since it happened to be on a weekend, I logged in towards the end to see how things were going, and sure enough, SOMEONE ELSE had bid on MY comics!

So I bid again.

And so did they.

And so did I.  And so did they.

Ding. Ding.    Ding. Ding.   Ding. Ding.

Dammit!  STOP THAT!

And on it went.

At this point, I was pissed off because the other person was on auto-bid, to a particular maximum, so it didn't matter how much I increased my bid ... $2, $3, $5 ... they automatically outbid me.

My personal limit was $50.

My next bid would push me over that mark, (I HAD to bid $55 to stay in the game) but what if that was enough to win it?  Then I'd be kicking myself.  

I didn't know what to do, and there was just over an hour left in the auction.

So with resignation, and more than a little crankiness, I said out loud through gritted teeth as I typed into the bidding box, 'FIVE! FIVE! DECIMAL! ZERO! ZERO!' 

and BANGED that enter key with a 'THERE!' and BOOM!  there it was ...

The little sentence I was hoping to see. 

'You are the Highest Bidder! Your last bid was  ... $5500'. 

Yup, you have that right friends, FIVE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

My jaw dropped.

My heart stopped.

I couldn't breathe.

I stared dumbfounded at the screen ... 'You are the Highest Bidder! Your last bid was ... $5500.'

 'NO!  WHAT? ... NO! WAIT! WHAT?  No No NOOOOOOOO!'

I KNEW I hadn't typed in 5500.00.  I knew it with EVERY fiber of my being. 

Yet there it was, staring right at me, 'You are the Highest Bidder! Your last bid was ... $5500.'

Had I started breathing yet?  Breathe, Kim, BREATHE!

I immediately sent an email to the auction house, explaining that I had bid fifty five dollars, not five thousand five hundred, and could they please fix this asap as I didn't want to screw the Curiosity Inc dude out of his sale, but also wasn't about to buy the comics for FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!

Then I hit Send.

And sat.  And waited. And watched the seconds tick by.

No reply.

Damn.  Damn.  Damn.  

I really should have grabbed a screenshot at this point, but I was focusing my attention more on NOT passing out.

Back to the auction page and find a phone number.

My heart was pounding in my ears by the time it started ringing, and I was never so happy to hear a human answer the phone!

I explained my situation and as soon as I mentioned using the decimal point, he said, 'Ahhhh yes, there's a glitch in the system with the decimal point right now, it converts it to a 'thousand'.

'Yeah!', I said, 'IT DOES!'

So with me on the phone, he fixed it.  Immediately. 'OK, refresh your screen and check what it says now ... '

I did.

And then I started breathing again.

NEVER EVER EVER was I so happy to have had a human answer the phone.

I honestly expected to have to stumble through some convoluted automated system until the auction finally ended and I'd be stuck owing over five thousand dollars for these comics!  GAH!!!

So I thanked him, profusely, and decided to walk away from the computer for a bit, with the intention of checking in the last few minutes..

At this point, I was DONE bidding.  If I happened to be outbid now, so be it, least I tried.  I'd just find a different Christmas present.

With a minute to go to the end, I checked ... I WAS STILL WINNING!

Now on one hand, I felt guilty, because I figured that for those 15 min or so until the auction dude and I had straightened it out, I probably scared away a few bidders.  Bidders who would have taken the comics for more than I'd paid for them in the end, but not at five thousand dollars.

On the other hand ... I WAS STILL WINNING!

And win them I did!  For my final bid of $55.00

I honestly went into the auction thinking I wouldn't win anything, but there it was, the 'You have the winning bid' notice, right there on the screen.

Now you would think that might be the end of this story.

Oh nay nay, my friends.  Nay nay.  Not in my world.

It was time to Checkout.

So I went to the checkout screen and started entering my information and then I got to 'Shipping'.  

I had two options.

Option A - Regular ground was going to cost .... $270 ... plus tax.  In US funds.

Option B - Express - Over $300 ... plus tax.  In US funds.

I was SO disappointed.

So I left the website and sent an email explaining that while I would definitely pay the bid amount, and the auction fee, there was no way I could justify $300 shipping for 2 comics from New York to Canada.  

They could give them to someone there who wanted them.

The next day I received an email letting me know the shipping charges were incorrect and they would fix it shortly.

Eventually everything worked out.

Well, almost everything.  

They didn't arrive in time for Christmas, which meant I had to resort to a not as exciting Plan B present, but as soon as they got here last week I shipped them off to their destination and it was a surprise #ChristmasInJanuary!

And the recipient (who had no idea these were coming) was very happy with them as they brought back some great memories, which had been my exact intention. 

It was my first real auction outside of eBay, where I actually won something, and I DID learn my lesson.  

Bidding wars will get you smacked down by Karma.

And never ... ever ... EVER use the decimal point when placing a bid!

Now go check out Curiosity Inc's channel, and their latest adventure where they bought the contents of a house for $10,000 on an instinct and prayer, and turned it into an over $300,00 profit, with another auction to go.

And it couldn't have happened to nicer people!  

K.

The Guilt of Grieving

On Monday morning when I woke up, before I even got out of bed I said to myself, ‘Today’s going to be a GOOD day!’

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Stuart Smalley who gives myself Daily Affirmations, but this was Monday, the beginning of a new week, still the beginning of a new year, and because I’ve had ‘shit’ rolling around in my head lately, I wanted to start the day and week off on a positive note.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.

The first couple of hours of the day were uneventful, until I got the email at work that said, ‘You OK?  Cop cars everywhere out front!’

HUH?  WHAT!?!?

Yes I was OK.  All was quiet on my floor.

Because I’m currently on contract for an organization that, on occasion, has to deal with disgruntled members of the public, I’m on a secure floor in the building.  You can’t get here without a pass and … all was quiet.

We did, however, receive a companywide email stating that yes police were in the building, but there was no threat to employees.

A couple of hours later, I found out what was happening.

We lost a co-worker that morning.

She died unexpectedly.  And yes, she was at work, that’s why there was police presence.

Needless to say, the office was in shock and heartbroken.

*I* was in shock.  And heartbroken. 

By Tuesday, while the shock still hadn't dissipated, the reality of the situation had set in.

My co-worker was gone.  And I was grieving.  And I felt guilty about it.

The office was in a quiet uproar (how's that for an oxymoron).

My co-workers are people who had worked with this woman for over 20yrs.  She knew everyone in the office and everyone knew her.

THEY had the right to grieve for her.  They ‘knew’ her.  Many knew her very well.

I’ve only been there six months.

I didn’t feel I had the ‘right’ to grieve for her.

I didn’t feel right, sitting in my cube crying silently over a lost co-worker I had only known for six months, yet … there I was, doing exactly just that.

And here’s why …

When I started in this office, it was VERY clear to me this was a close knit group of people.  Most had worked together for close to or over 20yrs.  And while most were cordial, I was, and still am, the outsider.

The cube I ended up in was next to this woman we lost.

I sat next to her, and chatted with her EVERY FREAKIN’ DAY about whatever happened to be going on in my life at that moment.

Because she was always willing to listen.

She came to my house to look after my dog when I went away for a weekend in the fall, because my instinct told me I could trust her completely.  And because she was who she was, I came home to find the money I had left her still sitting on my table.  She would accept no money for doing so.

She sat on my couch, and we talked.  Not work talk, but the personal shit.  Yes, I was THAT comfortable with her, I felt I could tell her ‘things’ and she listened.  And offered advice when I needed it.

She helped me carry the boxes of presents down to the post office downstairs at Christmastime, when I was sending presents out to The Boy in BC.  She even waited with me in line, holding a box.

She had a HUGE heart, and was willing to help anyone.

She took care of needy families at Christmas. A LOT of families had a much better Christmas because of her.

She was heavily involved in dog rescues in Nova Scotia.

But most importantly, she took me under her wing. She made me feel welcome, and made me feel like a friend.

And THAT’S why, still three days later, I can’t think of her without catching my breath, and tears springing to my eyes.

But when I think of some of her co-workers that worked with her forever, and who were really good friends with her, I feel that guilt behind the grief.

The guilt of grieving at all.

Like THEIR loss is bigger than mine.  Their grief heavier. Because they knew her longer. Shared more experiences with her.

I don't know exactly how I should be feeling.  I'm still struggling with it all.

But if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve known someone, it’s about how they made you feel. 

How they treated you, and the interactions they had with you is what determine a place in someone’s heart.  Not how long you’ve known them.

So yes.  I will continue to grieve the loss of my co-worker, even if it is riddled with guilt, because I know the world has lost a great soul.

And I sincerely hope this is the kind of entrance to heaven that she was greeted with.

Pic taken from Facebook

Goodbye my friend.  You will be missed by so many, more than you could ever have known.

The ONLY silver lining in all this?  Heaven's just gained a pretty awesome dog walker.

K.