In the US, everything is setup to accommodate people in cars. Without a car the world around seems like a “members only” club and I don’t have a membership. The position of the car in US culture is well documented and did not surprise me, it’s just the limitations that become apparent from the “have-not” position. A lot of businesses include the car in their service model. All the convenience in the world from the seat of your car. Drive through (almost) anything. From fast-food and banks to post-office, emissions test stations and waste disposal. With our foreign drivers’ license, we are permitted to drive for one year. Before the end of that year we have to get a Washington State drivers’ license. This is the same for US citizens with an out-of-state license. We all need a Washington license .. We started looking for a Volvo station-car / wagon, the old style 240DL. These are dependable a solid cars and around Seattle we noticed a large number of Volvo mechanic shops. After I looked at a number of cars, on a weekend we put together a short list of cars with high potential. One of the dealerships we visited was Volvo Finders [website here]. The car we wanted to look at was a 240 wagon.
This was an absolute SOLID car. Feels like you’re driving a tank or a truck or a tank-truck. The engine was 100% and could go another 100.000 miles without a squeak. When we both had been behind the wheel and looked at some of the detail of the car interior we had some doubts. We are not students anymore .. this car was the ultimate example for need-car-no-budget. The guy at the dealership read the situation instantly and put our attention on one of his other vehicles. This was not a wagon but a car that did not have the student look-n-feel. The condition of both interior and body was a bit of a surprise for a 15 year old car with 240.000 miles on the dial.
For one reason or another, I got to the conclusion: this was our car ! The situation got under a bit of pressure when another couple came in and wanted to have a look at this specific car. Their friend from Portland had called to inquire about the car and these people were here to check it out. They looked like serious competition and that made it clear to me .. let’s do this. One look at Jessica was the go / no-go decision; we were both convinced, yes we’ll do it. The guy had to break the bad news to the other couple but was not really in a tough situation, he had these situations all the time, no problem. We’re ready to roll !
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