Car

before we start rambling about our most recent road trip to Yellowstone, I should really touch on one of the factors that made this even possible. Well, shouldn't I? Without it, the trip may still be possible but the higher expenses would have put it off to a later date.

After years (like 2?) of pining and hoping, we finally got our first car in US, in our lives! And I bet this will be the last new car we'll ever own, since we don't foresee getting another car in the next few years, and we definitely won't get a new one if we moved back to SG.

So without much ado, let's welcome Zuki - our newfound buddy and companion!

She has a long story behind...

Being foreigners, its really not easy getting a car in US. There were several roadblocks to overcome, first being the car dealer we were ready to clinch the deal with refused to give us a car quote. Called twice to request for it, but no reply. Why? We don't know, we guessed maybe we don't have US license, no auto insurance, no credit history, he didn't think we were serious?

We resorted to getting a car broker to help us. In the mean time, we started to get quotes from insurance companies, which is a must being in a sue-friendly society. Insurance for foreign license is possible, but at a higher premium. Which brings some to ask: "Why didn't we get a US license before getting a car?" Well, its those kind of chicken-egg scenario - get a car then get license. But now it seemed to be the other way round - get license then get car. This is the way the locals do it. Usually they'll borrow the car from either their parents, or friends and drive to the test center. Yap, the driving instructors whom we learn driving from don't provide cars, not like back home.

And by the way, its not mandatory to engage a driving instructor to learn driving. When you pass the knowledge test you'll get an instruction permit, and anyone who has a valid license can teach you how to drive, meaning I (yes, me! Ahem!) can teach CH how to drive! Hm, I could do the same trick of using stickers on the windshield to do parallel parking, like what my former instructor used to teach me. I guess thats why learning to drive in US is so much cheaper than other places.

Anyways, we got our insurance settled. The broker was almost done negotiating the car. We wanted to get the financing provided by the dealer, but couldn't cos we did not have enough credit history. Its another chicken-egg again - we choose financing to build our credit history yet couldn't. Finally, we scraped the idea totally, pooled all we have + some from our savings in SG :( and clinched the deal.

Grievances aside, we're proud owners of this car! It looks cool (agree?), has a sporty look, and comes with a GPS! Acceleration is great, and it has AWD which can be turned off to boost mileage economy. When I stepped on the pedal, I can hear the engine 'booooooooom', exactly like a Sports car.

As part of the car purchase, we were given free oil change for the first time, and a gas card worth $300 which we used to sponsor our road trip for Yellowstone, to and fro. Cool!