If it seems too good to be true ... or ... Impulse buying can be fun

We're a two car family ... at last. Wife's had her little heart set on a Mercedes Benz. Her first car: a Mercedes Benz. Nothing like starting at the top. I was, shall we say, less than enthusiastic. She is, shall we say, very persistent.

We saw a Merc C230 some weeks ago. Actually, I liked it. Asking price (at the Toyota dealership where we bought our Camry) was something like $24,000, maybe a little bit more. More than I paid for the Camry, but then she hadn't started her "show no mercy; if they're not bleeding, keep negotiating" negotiations. We walked away.

The search continued on and off. We got moved to the new house. We spent tons on furniture and stuff. Things started to settle down. There's a fly-by-night car dealership down the road. On a drive-by we notice a couple Mercedes there. We stop on a Sunday, and kick the tires on a couple C230s. The cars don't even have asking prices on them, but we decide to give it a second try.

We go back the next Friday. Both C230s are gone. In their place is a 2007 C280 4Matic, white, loaded, clean. We talk with Roger. He's asking $25,000 or something like that. We laugh and say, "adios". He says, "Well, maybe $24,550." We say, "We'll come test drive tomorrow."

Saturday: Roger is busy trying to sell a Dodge Viper, so Lenny helps us. We take a test drive in the Mercedes. I, personally, love the damn car. It only has 15,000 miles. It was a lease car originally. It's got everything: four-wheel drive, automatic transmission, electrically adjustable front seats with memory, sun roof, satellite radio enabled, iPod enabled, side airbags, heated seats (OK, stupid for Houston, but the car originally was sold in Colorado), 3-liter V-6 fuel injected engine. Very, very nice. About six times, maybe seven times better than the Camry, I'm afraid.

I turn the process over to Ms. Cut-throat. I walk away and talk to a guy and his girl-friend who just got back from test driving the red Dodge Viper. He says that he's a Corvette man, but thinks the Viper is cooler. He has to cover his jeans with Vaseline in order to squeeze into the driver's capsule. You don't drive this car; you wear it. He's taking pictures with his phone. I say his girl should be laying on the hood to get the full effect. He says that she just posed for Playboy last week. I say that completely changes the image I had of her laying on the hood. I quickly walk back to see if there's anything left of Wife's salesman.

The price is now thousands lower plus tax, title, and license. Wife says, "We're going home." Relieved, I say, "Great."

We get in the car and she says, "I want that car."

I say, "Me too."

We do a minimal sort of online research and find that Wife's price looks really, really good. Really, really too good. Why do they want to sell that car for that price? Well, Landmark Chevrolet, the largest Chevrolet dealership in the world (according to their billboard) is out of business in Houston. Times are tough. We go back and make Lenny show us a clean CarFax sheet: no reported accidents, no flood damage repaired, no problems ... that anyone's publicly reported. We decide Wife will beat on them again on Monday and we'll see what happens.

She beats on them on Monday. Price is the price. She walks away, hopefully, again. She calls on Tuesday, asking "Are you sure that's the price?"

Answer: "Yes."

Rebuttal: "I'll take it." Monday night I show Wife how to write her first check.

Tuesday, I call insurance company and find that the insurance is $20 per year more than the Camry. Very acceptable. Wife hits dealership again and gets them to confirm that factory warranty is still in effect for another 35,000 miles. She also finds out that the car's due for it's 15,000 mile maintenance,which will cost about $300. That's acceptable. She pulls the trigger on the deal and almost writes a check for $1,000 as earnest money, but her hand is shaking so hard that she has to tear up the first check and start over. Second time's a charm. She calls insurance company and gets that process initiated. She can make final payment the next day and the dealership will help get her home with both cars.

Cut to today: deed is done. Final check written on the first try. Dealership only has one key for car so that's probably another $100 well have to spend to get me a key. She picks me up at Park-and-Ride and I don't recognize her in the new car.

She drives us home after filling the tank for the first time ... $25.00. Not bad.

It's a very, very cool car. Now -- is it too good to be true? Time will tell.