Ms Jinx wants to buy a convertible to replace the minivan she’s been driving all these years. I know my mom has always wanted to have a Ford Mustang and she has always had to sacrifice getting a sporty car in favor of something practical, like station wagons and minivans, and now she has an SUV. She Ms. Jinx has taken her around Tampa looking at used cars and they both have found a place that they like, with cars they want.

I never thought my mom would be shopping at a used car dealer in Tampa, but I bet she and Ms. Jinx are having a lot of fun together. This particular auto dealer is lucky to have two very special ladies shopping at his dealership. I think he has a great salesman, but also they have a very cool video blog on their web site and 30 second credit approval. I am very impressed with their web site and I’m not going to be surprised one bit if my mom cancels her plane ticket home and ends up driving her new Mustang home, instead.

Some of the guys have been spending a lot of their extra money and free time on buying truck accessories and fixing up their pickup trucks. Of course, these guys are still young and they have the cash to spend on things like this. Just wait until they get married and start having kids – all that extra money will disappear with a poof!

I used to spend a good part of my early paychecks on truck accessories, too. I can totally relate to making a sweet ride. In fact, my truck in the 1970′s was my priority in life. It was a big deal to customize your car or truck and drive it to the Dairy Freeze on Saturday nights, cruising the parking lot and meeting up with your buddies.

Today’s truck accessories go way beyond the steering wheel covers, and extra chrome from my days. There are all kinds of pipes and electronics to add on and enhance performance as well as good looks.

This may date me, but that’s the way it used to be when I was young and you pulled into a full service gas station. They used to check everything and alert you to needed maintenance. Now I know where to go back when I need great service and lots of attention to my car’s maintenance needs.

This ride for Stubby was when he needed the engine work. II’ve never heard of this towing company – my cell phone road side assistance sent them.

I asked the tow truck driver if he could recommend any transmissions shops, but he said he was new to the area – just moved here from Memphis. So I’m still on the hunt for someone who can help with a tranny.

The problem with buying a used car is that you don’t know it’s history and you take a chance that there will be no serious repairs needed right away. After all the cars I’ve owned, I can say that none of them have been lemons but none of them have run trouble free forever, either.

Part of owning a car is deciding when the maintenance and repairs get to be too expensive to warrant keeping the car. I’m trying to make that decision right now on my Mazda. I just spent $2,000 on a rebuilt engine in January and don’t feel that I’ve gotten my money out of that yet. But now the brakes are acting up and the muffler is starting to rattle. So, I’m looking for repair estimates and trying to decide if I should get rid of the Mazda now or spend more money on it d try to make it last another year or two?

Of course, I don’t smoke, so the car’s ashtray seems like a good place to toss the change when I pay for food at a drive through window. Somehow the change never stay in just the ashtray – there is change under the seat, change in the door wells, even loose change in the trunk. So today I will put someone to work sorting through all this loose change and rolling it up so I can take it t the bank.

When I bought the last dealership car, I told the salesman that I wanted a Car Warranty that gave me bumper to bumper protection for 3 years. I thought that was fair and was willing to pay extra for the peace of mind that my car was going to give me no problems. The only payment I wanted to deal with was the car note. I didn’t want to pay for any major car repairs while I was still paying on the note.

We ended up getting a great Extended Warranty that covered my car for any and everything that could possibly go wrong. The only trouble I’ve had with that car since I bought it 12 years ago is the transmission has now gone out. So it’s sitting in the driveway waiting on me to save up enough for a new tranny. After that, I expect to get another 12 years out of it.

I am totally fine with shopping for my next used car in the Chicago area. I go to Chicago at least 2 or 3 times a year, and it’s a cheap, fast flight to Midway airport from Nashville.  If I can find a Chrysler Jeep Dodge Dealer with a great deal on a Jeep Wrangler, I can take care of all the business online and over the phone, then fly up there and drive it back home. I might even take my third grader grandson with me for the fun of an airplane ride and the thrill of riding home in new Jeep.

This dealer in Napleton has a nice web site that makes their inventory very searchable, with sticker price and photo of the car. For my next car, color is going to be as important as the price and other features. I refuse to drive a red vehicle and I think red Jeeps look stupid. But I really like the black Jeeps, and the olive green Jeeps are the classic military color that I was to try to find. The white ones look funky, not in a good way, and the silver ones are like, “what?” So having photos and knowing the color is a big part of my search.

A horrible squealing under the hood last night and my wife had an engine belt break. She made it home safely and told me about it. Lifting up the hood, I could tell a belt was missing but I didn’t know which one needed replacing. So, I found this diagram on the internet and it clearly shows the engine and the belts.

This would be funny except it is real. I was hoping it was staged, but I found out that it is real. Watch out for kids on weekend nights coming through this neighborhood – the race is on.

I was able to get home by 1:30 – I packed up my briefcase with files from the office and headed home early. Good thing I did, as rush hour turned into a drive from hell for most people. The roads were gridlocked with hundreds of accidents that blocked even the salt trucks. A normal 20 minute drive from downtown turned into a 3 and a half hour ordeal for my secretary. She called from her car several times, giving me updates on her progress – or lack of.

My biggest concern is that she is adding a huge number of miles to her old van and that is her only source of transportation. I helped her buy an old used minivan about 5 years ago, and that is what she drives to go shopping, hauling 3 kids around and now she is loading it up with 500 newspapers every night and driving the streets of Madison tossing the papers into driveways.

Now that he is in the Land Down Under, the news of all the flooding in Australia has me very concerned. I sent him an email message and asked if he and his wife were in any danger from the flooding. He wrote back this evening and tells me that they had enough warning that they could load up their camper and safely drive away. So that gives me peace of mind.

One thing he mentioned previously is that their camping adventure was going to last for several months, traveling the East Coast of Australia. I did not realize at first when he spoke of his caravan that he meant a travel trailer. I thought it was a minivan made by Plymouth or Chevrolet!

But part of his Australian adventure includes driving a camper, and the challenge can be remaining self sufficient when the caravan breaks down in a remote area. But he uses his satellite internet to order parts and within a couple days he is fixed and rolling again. He is especially happy with a place he used to get the RV road ready, a site he found searching for caravan accessories Melbourne.

I suggested he invest in a good caravan cover for when they finish this leg of their adventure and need to park the RV for a while. After all, he is going to have to get back to work eventually. You can only ramble around the countryside for so long.