My Weird Love of New Car Shopping by Susan Sands

I like to shop for cars. It's a strange obsession, I admit. A complete waste of one's time. Possibly. An avoidance of writing? Definitely. But we all have our oddities. Some writers clean to avoid writing. Some go on social media. (Me too, but lately it's such a mood killer that I've begun avoiding it.)

Back to my car shopping. I don't have endless funds to buy cars. Nope. But I love the new technology in them. The smell of them. Driving them. I'm a salesman's nightmare. Or happy dream. I leased my first car almost three years ago and got an email that they would take it back early. I got excited and jumped on the opportunity, ran to the dealership and drove all the new cars. My husband suggested I branch out to other makes and models because they would pay off my remaining lease to get my business.

As you can imagine, this opened up a whole new world of test drives and time wasting. I live five minutes from eight or nine dealerships. I decided I would be open minded about my decision. Not pressured by brand identity. I would pick the car that I loved the most. (Within budget reason)

I have quirks about cars/SUVs. I have to be able to see all around me. Nothing claustrophobic, and the vehicle has to accommodate my shortish arms. My elbow must reach the middle console as an armrest. And the telescopic steering wheel must come out enough so that I don't drive with straight, reaching arms, because my leg length to reach the pedals is normal. And I like a light interior because of heat and dust. The newer trend for all black shows everything and is very hot here in Georgia. Finding all this is all much harder than you think.

I had to rule out over half the cars I drove outright. And you wouldn't (or you would) believe some of the male personalities I dealt with. I asked if there were female sales people. There aren't. The reason given is the six-day-per-week, ten-hour schedule. Part time doesn't allow the sales person to hit any of their numbers. Wow.

So, I found my car. She's beautiful and perfect. She has ALL the new safety features and technology. She has a cream interior and is guaranteed not to show denim transfer. She has seats that have a massage feature (???). Heated steering wheel. All of it. I'm completely in love and my exciting search is over. I get to do it again in about 2 1/2 year. Can't wait...

Now I must write my book. It's getting good, y'all. The whole time I was wheeling and dealing with the sales guy, I was thinking about my book. So, maybe there is a benefit to all the time away from the writing. I've found my aha moment for the story.

Anybody else love to shop for cars?

I'll be in the writing cave if anybody needs me!

Have a great weekend!

Susan