He Said to Buy a New Car...

Posted on Mon May 4th, 2020 @ 1:22pm by Captain Ash Shultz

Mission: It's... A Bus Station
Location: Ray's Used Cars, Wake Forest
Timeline: May 5th, 2020 - 1310 Hours

Why a used car? Ash did not make six-figures. However, she could likely buy a lower-cost 30K BMW if she really wanted to. Trouble is, she never really cared to fit in with her peers. And her current peers were the station chiefs. Most of which drove expensive cars. But that was not Ash. She wanted a car that did well on gas, was nice to look at, and could be upgraded here and there with ease.

That brought her an Uber's ride to Ray's Used Cars. According to the Yelp app, the business rarely sold lemons, and when they did, they let you exchange the lemon for something else. And the establishment was not far from Raleigh either. Wake County still. But this place was more hilly and green than the capitol.

About twenty cars filled the lot. Mostly cars from the early 2000s and 2010s. What caught her eye was a grey Chevy 91' Metro LSi convertible. The body and roof looked great but the upholstery needed a bit of work. And of course, she'd have to get it customized with an onboard GPS/Media computer. Finding one that size might be a problem though.

The fog lights had been replaced with Xenon LEDs and the coverings of all lights from the bumper to front looked crisp and clean. So seemed whoever worked on these cars, put a lot into them. She even looked over the car's information sheet on the driver window as one of the salesmen came over.

"Looks like ya found one," the man said jovially and held his hand out to shake her. "Mark Wagoner - Owner and mechanic."

"You do nice work," Ash commented, shook his hand, and read about the new transmission and engine that had been installed. "So you're not Ray?"

"That's my dad. He owned this business before I took over," the middle-aged man spoke with pride. "We don't put any car on the market until we've driven in 50-60 miles to make sure it's ready."

His slightly-stained hands from working in oil along with his grey-blond beard gave the impression he was a typical blue-collar guy.

"Tell me about this one," Ash pointed to the Geo and then pat the black ragtop.

"Does 35 miles per gallon in the city, 40 on the highway," he said. "We put a turbo boost on the engine to give it more four more power, so it uses a bit more gas than the typical 1.3 liter LSi."

"Its history says it was salvage," Ash spoke with a thumb-jerk to the document on the window.

"Most cars we get are bought at county salvage auctions, with histories of car wrecks - no flood or rust cars here. We fix the body and replace parts. In terms of new transmission and engine, it's near-new. Can't really do quality work on high-mileage cars and expect to make an honest profit," the man spoke with full honesty. "We didn't have a good paint match for its original color so we chose to give it a more practical tone."

Ash could recall with a huge grin, the trouble she and her high school friends got into, back in the day when they drove around in a violet two-door hatchback Metro. The colors the 90's used on cars were infamous. Maybe that was why she was drawn to this car.

"I'm guessing it's priced at $9,000 for that reason?" Ash asked with skepticism.

"I sell by what the Blue Book says. It technically has low mileage, so we sell what's suggested. Maybe a thousand more just to cover the added features of a turbo boost," Mark answered honestly. "The A/C is in solid condition. The carburetor is great, as well as the ignition harness. All-in-all, it's a solid car. The major expenses people have with cars, part-wise... All of it is new, or like-new."

"I'd like to test drive her if that's all right," Ash spoke with excitement. "10-15 minutes on the highway."

"That's not a problem," Mark smiled brightly. He knew a purchase when he saw one. "Let me get the keys."

The wait was hard to bear. Almost instantly when the keys touched her fingers, she was in the car, and out of the lot. The engine purred like... well... a car with 4 cylinders. Still have a nice pur though. The radio was coming out, soon as she found a solid kit for supercompact car consoles.

After her test drive was over, Ash had decided. This was HER car. Now to pimp it out.