Car Shopping 2022

This all began in 2019. My wife was leaving her office in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Looking in her rearview mirror of her red 2014 Taurus while driving south on Military Avenue, she noticed a car driving well over the speed limit coming directly at her. There were cars directly in front of her, so she turned the steering to nose into the right lane. BAM! She didn’t want to block traffic so she completed her maneuver through the right lane and pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot. (She detests McDonald’s but her boss went there several times a week for his lunch.) The car was a total with the left rear bodywork pushed in like an accordian. The driving dad with his daughter firmly buckled into his rear seat was distracted and daughter missed her dance class. Police had the car towed to a local car dealer we know well and she got a rental car to get home.

She texted me the photos of the car before it was towed. It looked fine until you saw the rear left quarter of the car. I knew it was totaled. She came home in good health despite the trauma of her car becoming a shock absorber for the dancing girl dad.

On the following day, the dealer service department confirmed it was a total. She collected her few items from the trunk that had to be pried open with a hefty crow bar. She saw a car that could replace her car and did a test drive. She drove home and got me and drove us back to the dealer.

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe was sitting on their lot. I only knew Ford, Chevy and Chrysler cars. I took a test drive around the area and said it looked fine. Put down $2,000 and signed a lease agreement for three years. The sales lady said leases lose money. I said I know. I rather lose money on the lease, than money on buying a car I do not want anymore. $415 per month and we were leasing.

2021 the entire world is in disruption between the Wuhan Pandemic and China messing up freighter ships by holding onto freighter containers longer than normal. We got a huge insurance discount with the Santa Fe because it had the sensors for staying in your lane, radar in grill to avoid ramming into another car by applying brakes via computer and cruise control also did automatic slowdown if radar had vehicle too close on the highway. 40% less on monthly insurance adds up.

Our sales lady called us in November of 2021 to pick out our new Santa Fe 2022. She knew I intended to return the lease and buy a 2022. This is where I know my guardian angel is helping. Return our car before the end of lease date and there will be no penalty, no lease money owed and we will get cash for returning early. Yes, we will get the 2022 Santa Fe we wanted in January of 2022. She had their order list of Hyundai vehicles arriving from Alabama. Hyundai plant looks like a city with their own dock for drive trains from South Korea. We selected a red loaded Santa Fe.

On Friday, January 28, 2022 we drove out with our new Santa Fe. We left a check for $20,000 and payments for the balance from our local credit union. The new features are amazing. There are rear cameras for left and right side that are triggered to turn on by the left turn signal or right turn signal. The image appears on the dash computer screen with the speedometer. When you go in reverse, the entire dash displays the back view. You are parking going forward, the entire dash displays the forward view at the bumper level. And as promised our lease return paid us to return the car. That never happens, but we were lucky to have Joe Biden in office? Insurance for this 2022 has an even lower premium than our 2019 model! This tells me that car crash claims are reduced with safety systems run by computer monitoring. This car supply crisis made me money on returning a leased vehicle.

Used vehicles like my 2019 Santa Fe are selling for $26,000 right now. I helped the dealer get me into a new car and will make them a lot of money. Good hunting folks! (Love our President Joe using “folks”?) Got to watch Used Cars as a classic comedy on the characters in car sales.