For Sale - 1 Jetta with a burned out clutch

Well, I probably did a dumb thing but after much searching and hemming and hawing, we bought a car for Kyle. We found a '97 Jetta for 4K. It was in very good condition so we jumped on it. The only thing is,... it's a manual. Yes, that's right, Kyle doesn't know how to drive a stick. We had our first lesson today. He did alright but he's very nervous about it. He's not ready for traffic yet so we spent a lot of time just going up and down the driveway backwards and forwards so he could get the feel of it. He had to take several breaks since he was so tense. We took a few trips around the neighborhood so he could get out of first.

He's really torn up about the whole thing though. He loves the car but he doesn't want to go through the whole learning process. In hind site, it probably wasn't real smart of me to go for the manual.

The purchase ordeal was another "adventure". The person selling the car was in Newton which is just outside of Boston so it was a long trip there in the first place. When we got there, the owner asked for my driver's license before we test drove it. Guess what I couldn't find? We had been test driving vehicles at various dealers who all ask for my license. Last time I remembered having it was at a dealer the other day. I called Carly at home to have her look for it in my other jacket but she couldn't find it. Great! The owner was very understanding and took Kyle's license number and let us drive it. We liked it and arrived at a price and then set about the process of taking ownership. First, I had to go find a bank, get a cashier's check, bring that to the owner. She then gave me the title which I had to take to my Insurance Agent to get an insurance form proving to the DMV that it was insured. On the way over, Kyle and I are wondering whether they will ask to see my license for some reason which would, of course, scuttle the whole deal. We got through that OK so then I had to find and go to the DMV to get plates. We got to the DMV and took a number - A062 - and looked up to see "Now serving A020" of course. Again, we are wondering whether we can pull this off without a license. We also note that they no longer take credit cards for payment - cash or check. Hmm, I wonder how much this will be... We decide to run out and find an ATM before they get to our number. I grab $100 extra bucks from the ATM to go along with our $60 or so (you know where this is going don't you). We finally get to a window and the woman asks for my license. "I don't have it with me, my son drove here." She says "Do you always go out without your ID?" "You come to the Registry without your license?" and then proceeds to process the transaction. (and I don't say) "So if you can still do this without my license, why did you feel the need to chastise me for not having it?"

She totals it up - $280!!! Oops. "I don't have that much with me." "Here, come back when you can pay." So we walk out of the DMV with no plates. Do we go back to the ATM to get more money and wait in line again or do we just go get the car, take the front plate from the Camry and put it on the back of the Jetta, and hope we don't get caught? I bet you can guess what we did can't you?

So I'm driving the Jetta home with no license, no registration, and "stolen" plates. I bet you thought you knew where this was going didn't you. Well, we made it home with no incident (think of the blog entry *that* could have spawned!)

I've been razzing Kyle about how I'm going to be driving the Jetta and he'll be stuck with the Camry since he's going to give up on the stick in frustration. I'm trying to use "psychology" on him but I'm a little worried he's going to end up calling my bluff...

eBay is Fun

I know I'm a bit late to the party but I've been having a bit of fun selling various things on eBay lately. I've bought one or two things before but it always seemed that the people selling things were more of a business than just Joe Average trying to off-load some of his own crap so I never felt like I was getting a deal.

I've thought about selling things before as well - you know, those Christmas gifts that you've been meaning to re-gift but couldn't think of anybody you wouldn't be embarrassed to give it to. I always held back on that because there were fees, and shipping, and scams. Man, all the information about the scams is enough to stop you right there. There are so many things to watch out for, it's always been just easier to stack the stuff up in the basement.

Well, after I sold the motorcycle this Fall, we had several sets of motorcycle jackets and pants taking up room so I figured I would try to unload them on eBay. I also had a perfect unregiftable item as well. It was actually easier than I thought. They do a very good job of walking you through the whole process. All you need to do is take a few digital pics of the items and they'll help you upload them and create an auction. I sold four of the five items (1 regift, 2 jackets and 2 pants) and I think I'll be able to sell the fifth by re-listing it. I got a good price for one of the pants, a medium price for the other pants and a very low price for one of the jackets. I probably only recouped a fraction of what I paid for those things but they were of zero value in the basement so I choose to look at it as coming out ahead. I even sold the regift item - people will buy anything!

The packing and shipping are a little bit confusing but you can do everything online - including printing out paid shipping labels so it really is easy. All in all, it's been fun and I find myself going around the house looking for more things to sell... here Skip!