Who Needs a Car? You Have Legs, Walk!

Today we decided to go look at some cars in the Footscray area since there were some dealerships not too far from the train stop there. So we hoofed it on foot for about 15 minutes to a Toyota dealership. And I kid you not but when the gates came into view, there was at least 8 salesmen standing around in a loose circle. Like circling hawks! All we could do was groan in disgust and try to sneak around to another gate entrance. But unfortunately they were closer to the used car area than the new car area. We got asked no less than 6 times if we needed help even though we were generally in view of them each time they came up to ask. I can already picture them jumping up and down going "let me try, let me try!"

We gawked at some really nice new Toyota from the Yaris to the Aurion. And even the SUV's like the Rav 4, Land Cruiser, and Kluger. Loved the vans like the Tarago and the Odyssey. Anthony and I looked at each other after we looked at each car and smiled sweetly then gagged and I think I had mini-strokes after each car. Why? Because the prices were almost doubled what they were in the States!!! A base Camry was like $55,000!!!

So we did what we could do, tuck our tails and walk over to the used car area where most cars were in their late 90's to early 00's and still cost $15,000 to $30,000. Ugh!!

It was clearly evident that we're going to have to by a beater of a car to get us by, not that we would use it all the time anyways but it would be nice to have it for the weekends or if I needed to go to the grocery store or a shop to buy lots of stuff or big/bulky stuff. Cuz I tell ya, you can't buy a whole lot to fit into a messenger back to carry on your back, believe me I tried, and I filled it to the gills and it weighed a TON. I thought my back was cracking in half by the time I got home.

Anyways, we left the Toyota dealership and from under the eyes of those greasy salesmen and headed back towards the direction of the Footscray Market. Along the way we passed a Ford dealership and some of the independent used car lots. Now in the States I was always weary of those independent used car lots but here, I didn't know what to expect and the sales guy was even worse than the ones at the dealership. Plus he wore open toes sandals....and boy should he have not. He should have either gotten a pedi first or just stuck with closed toe shoes!

Well, we did some across a vehicle that was in pretty good shape, old, but with decent miles and good shape. Anthony was certainly interested in it but he did the smart thing and instead of making it into an impulse buy he said to me "if it's here in a week or two, then we can negotiate prices and possibly buy it." See, if it were me, I would have just bought it just so I didn't have to car shop anymore, it's just uncomfortable walking into a car dealership. Oh! And get this, we thought it was unnecessary for us to pay registration fees for our cars in Texas, you know, those $50 or $60 dollars or so. Yeah well, I won't complain ever again. It's about $600 a year here for car registration!!! It fluctuates a little depending on the type of vehicle but it's still several HUNDRED!!!

Next post, how scary Footscray Market was!!

- julie