Our New Car! (Sort of . . . .)

          Do you know how much is costs to lease a car for a year in France?  Well, it's a lot.  Like $15,000.  That's outrageous right?  You can get a good used car for that price.  So it's a no brainer . . . buy a used car and then sell it before you leave (or keep it for future visits). 

          For the first couple of weeks we didn't have the internet.  One day, when we were feeling enterprising, we went out to look at some used cars and get the lay of the land.  There are a couple of small used car dealers in and near town.  We had to be careful not to go between the hours of 12 and 2 when they are closed.  But we were certain they would be "all over us" when we came in the afternoon.  You know, as if we were walking onto, say, an American used car lot.

              We first went into one dealer.  There were a bunch of employees around.  We went up to the woman at the front desk and told her we were interested in buying a used car.  She said they deal in used cars, yes, but the man that we should talk to wasn't there right now.  She invited us to leave our name and number, which we did.  But no one called the day after that, or the day after that, or the day after that . . . .

            We went into another dealer.  This guy was a real shark.  He apologized that he didn't have much of a selection available.  He suggested the place across the street.

           We went to the place across the street.  We went inside.  There was a nice woman working at the desk.  We asked her about used cars.  "Certainly!" she said.  She suggested that we should go outside by ourselves and look at the used cars and come back inside if we wanted to talk to someone about any car that struck our fancy.  We literally kicked the tires on a few ugly Citroens.  It was hot.  No one came out to talk to us out of leaving, so we went home.

          Then we got the internet and learned that the world was our oyster!  We found vast quantities of used cars to choose from all around the region.  There were great European models of every shape and size.  There were French models:  Peugots, Citroens (and not just the ugly ones) and Renaults!  There were Italian Fiats and Spanish Seats!  There were German VWs, Mercedes (and not just the fancy kinds), Audis and BMWs!  There were Swedish Volvos!

           Naturally, with all the interesting European cars to choose from Averil set her sights on a Korean Hyundai.  

           We went to towns outside of Avignon to check out two of them.  The first was from a private party, who said to meet us in front of the pharmacy at 11:00 in the town square.  We did as we were told.  Her daughter showed up at the same place and at the same time that Averil had understood on the telephone!  Hurray. We took it for a test drive.  She bragged a lot about the "passing power" of the car.  Apparently this is the most desired feature of a car in France: whether it can pass well.  This must explain why everyone always passes me wherever I go.

             Her car was OK, but too expensive.  So we decided to go see a used car dealer in Sorgues who had a Hyundai.  We made a date for 2:00.  We had plenty of time, so we got our game faces on with a two-hour lunch and several glasses of wine while we waited.  We still arrived a little early.  The car guy was still at lunch himself, and his big gate was locked.  But we could see that he had a used car lot with lots of flags and shiny cars parked all around and a little trailer and a big German Shepard.  It looked just like a tacky American used car lot.  Finally we were feeling comfortable.  Maybe he would want to sell us a car!

            The guy showed up at 2:15.  He had skinny pants and pointy shoes and a big tattoo of a winged dragon on his neck, so we knew we were in good hands and that this was someone we could trust.

            We took the car for a test drive.  Then Averil went into his air conditioned trailer to bargain with him and I came in to watch.  It was pretty cool to watch Averil turn the screws to this guy.  I'm not sure what he said, or what she said, or what was even happening, but it had something to do with bargaining for a car.  Then Averil shook hands with him and so did I.  We had agreed on a price apparently!

            Then it was time to buy the car.  Problem is that we don't actually have any Euros to buy a car.  Sure, we have a few Euros, and we can get some from the ATM when we want.  And we have plenty of American money and credit cards too.  But none of that works when you want to buy a car.  You need lots of Euros sitting in your own French bank account.  And, at that time (one week ago), we were still waiting for our letter of reference from our American bank so the French bank would let us have our account and put our money in it.

            So the nice car dealer said he would hold the car for us for 500 Euros and we gave him that in cash and signed a contract of some sort where we agreed to bring in a Cheque de Banque for the balance.  Surely we would have our bank account within a week and get our money transferred from America by then so we could get a bank check . . . . 

            Now it's a week later . . . . we got the letter of recommendation from our bank in the US!  But apparently it's been sent to Marseille for scientific examination.  So we still can't put money in our French bank account.  And our rental car expires on Saturday . . . .

              So, until some unknown future date, our Hyundai waits for us in Avignon:

Our Car (Maybe)

 

 

 

            In other news . . . Ford was recruited to teach some English to the first graders at school and Asha got her first birthday invitation from her new friend Camille:

          UPDATE!  Literally as I was writing this, Averil got a call from our local bank!  Here's the news, straight from the bank lady, hot off the wires:  "Your account has not been approved yet.  I sent the letter of recommendation to our headquarters in Marseille as I told you.  I have not heard back from them yet.  There is nothing more that can be done.  Patience is in order.  Oh, and when you do get approved, be sure to ask for your bank check at least three days in advance as it takes that long to process your request and the bank check must be issued from headquarters in Marseille.  Enjoy your afternoon, goodbye!"