Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Ode to my Land Rover

My Land Rover Discovery SE7 joined my family in the fall of 2008. It had duel moon rooves, heated power front seats, 6 disk changer, and comfortably seated seven. It was midnight blue and had 59,000 miles on it when I purchased it for less than $15,000... Love at first sight... my Hot Ride. God it was beautiful!

We took it to New York, we took it to Gaitlinburg, and driving in the snow was pure joy. Did I mention the heated seats? Moon roof x 2? AWESOME stereo (although I may end up deaf as a result...)

As a kid, when I pictured myself driving across the plains of Africa, I was ALWAYS in a Land Rover.

It was a dream car...

2011 was not a good year for my Land Rover. Bad brakes, worn tires and teenager mess aside, it needed new head gaskets, and there was something up with the electrical system... Head gaskets were a HUGE expense, but brought the car back to life for a while. But Tom (who runs Forest Park Auto) warned me I was on borrowed time. He advised I get out of it as soon as I could. So I started to aggresively pay down the loan. On September 9th, I made my last payment.

The electric problem had me jumping the car on a really regular basis. I replaced the battery, and it still gave me problems. So Mike towed it (even though it started for him) and fixed the front brakes, and I was considering trading it in but I don't want another car loan right now, or the full coverage insurance required.

I also considered keeping it for a while... But even with the fixes, Tom's warning played in my mind... I was on borrowed time. So I decided to sell it while it still had some value.

Driving in for the appraisal, I remembered how much fun and life we had in my very hot ride. But it was time...

Behaving for the appraiser, the Land Rover served me well one last time. I got an offer for more than I thought I could from a dealer. And the car went to someone who can deal with any issues that arise. It is off my insurance today.

Let the celebration begin...

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