As Peter has mentioned, I had my list of "must haves" for our relocation to Sweden. Well low and behold we started car shopping recently and what an interesting experience it has been. First off, if you know us, you know how much we like to research before committing to anything concrete. So blocket and bytbil have been on our internet histories the last few weeks for a daily visit. We thought, while in Sweden, in an Ikea built house, how perfect would it be for us to have a Swedish made car...like a Volvo!?
This past sunday we thought we found one that ticked all the boxes we were looking for...were we so very wrong. Since coming to Sweden, I haven't had a moment where I was nervous but this area we drove into did give me the heebie jeebies. The gentleman we spoke to told us that his Volvo was a 1997 model with 16000-ish miles and had all his service records. Turns out the car was an import, meaning no service records (or even accurate ones if he actually had them), 30k miles and was actually a 1996 model! What a load of crap!
We took Peter's brother John with us just to be on the safe side as he knows cars and how to haggle. At the end, the guy knew we weren't very impressed with his sale and asked the boys "so how much would you offer" and John politely gave a figure that was more accurate to the car this guy was selling. At this point he turned sour and said "Go home!"...and so we did.
Later that night, I was perusing the market and happened across this wonderful looking Ford Focus. Although it wasn't one of our original ideas, the ad said it was a great family vehicle and I thought it would be worth taking a look. So Peter phoned the owner who was more than happy to talk shop and agreed to meet us the following night near both our houses. Turned out this car was also in our Kommun! How perfect eh?
The following night we met with one of the owners and she was fantastic and so was the car. This couple were in the exact same position when they bought it 4 years prior. One child with one on the way so that was reassuring that they knew what we were looking for. Now it was time to talk price and when it came to haggling, she said she better involve her husband and took us over to their house.
We thought we'd be in for a tough sale and bartering though when we offered our amount to the husband he said "perfect"! Car sold! Ethan played around the house with their kids while we signed some last minute papers. Happy Shaena and off we drove into the sunset!
'The Harrison Ford'
...next up, a dishwasher!
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