I believe I mentioned that my truck died. The cost to repair it would have been more than I what I would pay for a new truck. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to replace the truck, but it was Laura who talked me into it, saying that she liked having a third vehicle available. It just had to be a small one she could drive to get gardening stuff. So, we set a budget for that amount and decided to see what we could get.
I had already test-driven a couple of trucks and had some candidates in mind. I had looked through the papers, and I had checked several online websites. Having done my research, I felt like I had a fairly good grasp of the market for small pickups, so on Saturday I set out to see what was really available. I did get a truck, but I’ll save that for last
Used car dealers run the gamut, from cliched plaid jacket wearing caricatures to some decent folks just trying to make a living selling cars. I think I ran into just about all of them. I stopped at one place where the salesman puffed a cigarette the entire time. He apologized, saying that the only time they are allowed to smoke was when they were out on the lot with customers. What??? I left.
I stopped at several little lots along Poinsett Highway. On close inspection, the little trucks on their lots led rough lives. It was a good thing that no one came out to answer questions or let me take a test drive. Eventually I made my way to Toyota of Greer. This is where things really took a turn for the bizarre.