Purchasing a New Car - Essay Example

 Everyone during their lifetime has some form of experience that they go through whether or not anything is learned from it. Personally, I enjoy traveling; however, because I did not know how to drive, every time that I wanted to go somewhere I would have to ask someone to take me to my destination. It came to the point where I became very exhausted having to ask someone to take me to all the places that I want to go. Luckily, I have a great friend that does not mind doing anything for me. He once told me, “Emmanuel, just let me know if you need me to do anything for you.” One day, I decided to take my friend up on his offer. I called him at 5:30 pm on a Monday. I said, “Can I speak to James?” The person on the other line said to me, “This is James, who is this?” “This is Emmanuel,” I said. “Ok, Emmanuel, what can I do for you? I hope it’s not going out, because I have to go to work.” I then replied, “Well, since you’re about to go to work, what time are you going to be available?” He told me that it depended on what I wanted to do. “I just want to drive around, James.” He said, “Well, I really don’t have the time to do that right now as I am busy.” I told him this was fine and that perhaps we could make plans for another time to which he agreed. On Tuesday, I was thinking very deeply about what I was going to do about James and the fact that he did not have the time to drive around with me. It was a difficult situation to say the least. The next morning I called James to ask him for a favor. He sounded wary at first as he asked me what the favor was. I then told him that I wanted to learn how to drive. He sounded surprised by my request since I had previously told him that I was scared to learn. I swallowed the fear in my throat and said, “If I want to go places, I need to learn how to drive myself. It’s too hard having to ask someone for help all the time.” He paused for a long moment before agreeing to help; however, he did have one stipulation: I had to buy my own car first. Purchasing a new car was an interesting experience for me. I had absolutely no idea how to go about it. I knew that I would need James’ help. The next thing I know, I called him and said “James, I have something for you.” He asked, “What is it that you have for me?” I replied, “I have some gas money for you if you will take me to buy my first car.” Fortunately, James was very happy to do this. We drove to numerous car lots that day, but we could not find a car that was good enough for me to crash and just when we were about to give up, we saw a nice little Honda Accord, 1987, driving by with a “for sale” tag on it. Instantly, I said to James, “Look! There’s a car for sale! We need to go after it.” We hurried and made a u-turn. We finally caught up with the Honda Accord and asked the driver to stop. When he stopped, we told him that we were interested in purchasing his car. The name of the owner of the Honda Accord was Broke and we asked him how much he was selling the car for. He said he was selling it for $850.00. I said, “How about $500.00?” He agreed to my price offer. I asked Broke, “Does this vehicle come with any warranty at all?” Broke looked at me and said, “No, you buy it as it is.” I replied, “Well, since I am buying it as it is, I need to make you a lower offer.” Broke then asked me how much. I offered $375.00 and Broke said, “That’s too low man, you need to go a little higher.” I said okay and offered about $400.00 and Broke again said no, that the price I offered was still too low. So James and I turned around and pretended we were about to leave. Broke finally called us back and agreed to my offer: “We have a deal; I’ll take $400.00 cash.” James and I drove off to the ATM and I withdrew $400.00. I put it in my right side pocket and then we drove back to Broke’s location. I gave Broke the money for the car. Since I could not drive yet, I asked Broke to drop off the Honda Accord at my house. When I got home, I washed the car because I wanted to make sure it was nice and clean. The next day I called James and told him that I was ready to learn how to drive. James was very excited and he he immediately came over to my house. When he arrived, he tried to start the car and it would not start up. I asked James, “What happened to the car? Why won’t it start?” James responded that he didn’t know. So, I decided to call a mechanic that lived nearby to see if he would come over to check the car for me. After the mechanic finished checking the car, he said “The car’s engine is bad and you need to replace it.” The mechanic asked me, “Where did you buy this car?” I told him, “From a guy named Broke.” The mechanic said, “What is the name of the guy that you purchased the car from”? I repeated that the person’s name was Broke. The mechanic replied, “Man, I am going to tell you something: don’t you ever buy anything from anybody if their name is Broke. That is why the car already broke-down. The name of the owner says it all. Can’t you tell?” I said, “No man!” The mechanic said, “Okay, from now on, do not purchase anything--I mean anything--from anyone named Broke.” I said, “I get it man, thanks for letting me know about what is going on with my car.” The mechanic then installed a new engine for me. One morning, James called me and asked if I was ready to learn how to drive. I smiled broadly and replied, “Yes! I’ve been ready.” James came by to pick me up; we drove to a parking lot. I was in the driver’s seat feeling very energized. James was explaining to me about the gauges and showed me which one was the brake. James let me sit in the driver’s seat for a while until I became comfortable with the car. A minute later, James said to me, “Are you ready to drive now?” I said, “Yes!” Even someone standing far away could probably see the smile on my face. I was very happy and I held the steering wheel hard. James said to me, “Man, you need to relax. Make a left turn here, make a right turn there, and keep straight ahead. This is a full stop. You need to stop completely.” Well, after a few weeks, I finally knew how to drive my own car. James said to me, “Emmanuel, I think it is time for you to go to the DMV to get your driver’s license.” I said to James, “You know what? I think you’re right on the money.” The next morning, I went to the DMV to take my driving test for my license. When I got there, the line was very long with many people needing to take care of a variety of things. After waiting for a while, it was finally my turn. The DMV officer asked me for my paper work and my permit, which I handed to him. During my driver’s test, the officer asked me to make a u-turn, I did it, and then he asked me to make a right turn and a left turn. He asked me to speed up a little bit. I was very nervous knowing the officer was seated next to me. Then the officer asked me to make a right turn to go back to DMV department. I asked the officer, “How did I do?” He replied, “You did great!” He also informed me that the next time an officer asked me to speed up I should slow down instead. I agreed. I got into line at the DMV and waited patiently. I was very happy and had a huge smile on my face when it came time to have my picture taken. It was the best day of my life having that driver’s license in my hand. I cannot even remember how many times I pulled my driver’s license out of my pocket to look at it. I felt such joy in my heart! I knew that I was free for the first time and that I could go anywhere that I wanted to go without asking someone for a ride. My experience in the past has also prepared me for a better vision for my future which has brought me the freedom of liberty that enables me to better educate myself. As a result, I became a person who didn’t need to depend on someone else for help. Read More