I have never purchased an automobile from a dealership before so Saturday was an experience and an adventure. It started early in the morning, not oh-dark early but 7 a.m. was still plenty early for a Saturday. It started that early because my sweetie-wife’s Credit Union was having a used car sale, 1 day only, starting at 8 and I wanted to be there when it open.

So my sweetie-wife and I drove to the sale, located at the Credit Union’s massive head office with nearly 300 used cars for sale, We got the paperwork we needed from the check in process with the credit union and then walked over to the cars. A sales woman took over and proceeded to try and answer my questions.

Now I knew exactly what I was looking for, I wanted a pre-owned, manufacturer certified car with the associated warranty, preferably for a Prius or a Corolla. Well they had Priuses and Corolla’s and all sorts of cars, but the sale woman seemed stumped by the recertified condition I was insisting on. Finally we learned that none of the cars there met that criteria, though for $1200 or more each came with a limited warranty. Not what I wanted.

We left and drove to the Toyota dealership near our home. I guess we arrived about 9 or 9:30 and almost at once we were finding what I was looking for, both in a Prius (they had one pre-certified one left) and Corollas. The sales man tried to talk us into looking at new cars and I did sit in a new Prius, but we stayed with our intentions for a certified used car.

After driving the Prius I removed the Prius from consideration. The cab forward designed, coupled with a driver’s seat that had no vertical adjustments, left me with a kink in my neck from having to drop me head to see properly while driving. We looked at Corollas and test drove the 2009 we eventually decided to buy.

I had no idea the buying process was so long. There were lengthy periods of waiting, and repeated periods of insisting that we would not finance through the dealership. They even had the ‘good news’ that they could match our credit union’s rate, big deal. I’d rather deal with a credit union than the vast corporate webs that are manufacturer banks.

Low about 2:30 in the afternoon we finally signed all the documents, cleaning out the remaining stuff from our old car, and drove off with the Corolla. At this time I had missed breakfast and still no lunch. (My sweetie-wife, bright than your narrator, had not skipped breakfast.)

I’m very happy with the car, but man the process was an endurance test.