New Car Part III, I Get a Van...Kind of

Stupid DMV!  Now that I got that off my chest, I will tell you the rest of the story....

Driving home from dropping off the accident waiting to happen, I vent about how I should have a nice car because I am the one spending so much time in one.  5 kids with 2 schools and several activities.  I want to be able to go to the beach or camping without having to worry about the car breaking down in the middle of nowhere.  My husband and I discuss how much we are currently spending on our car that is a POC and then we discuss how we will never buy a new car again.  I talk about how I want to drive off the lot with something that is certified by the dealership, with a warranty, maybe a little newer and nicer.  Patrick proceeds to do a U turn in the middle of 99E and we roll on into the Honda dealership with the huge "Certified Used Vehicles" sign waving in the air.  We check it out....and of course the little salesman come a running.
This car lot was night and day difference.  The salesman was personable but business like.  He didn't pull any sweet punches, but was funny and empathetic to our situation.  He obviously knew what he was talking about when it came to his cars.  He also looked like my little brother, so how could I not want to listen to him?
We test drove a car.  It was sweet...like fake wood inlay sweet....like this cool mommy mirror where you could see everyone in the back sweet....like the mommy van extraordinare sweet.  It drove like it was on a cloud. Yes it was more expensive than the first, but still about 5 years old and had 50,000 miles on it.  The car I am referring to is the Toyota Sienna Limited.  Sweet ride.  Leather.  Entertainment unit.  Cruise control so cool that it senses how fast the car in front of you is going and will adjust the speed accordingly...all you have to do is steer!  (this is what it looks like except it has way better rims)

Of course, this car was leaps and bounds better than the last car and I hate to say it, but better than the Honda I owned or the Tahoe.  When we got back, we started going over terms, etc.  And this guy was totally awesome.  See, my credit score isn't half bad...it's Patricks that you could wipe the toilet with, not mine.  And since I am gainfully employed by the Federal Government through the benefits of Social Security, I got the loan on my own.  My rate was great, my payment, far less than what we are paying now for our old Eurovan, with no prepayment penalty.  And I did it all by myself while my husband was on his laptop doing work stuff.  I felt like it was Emily empowerment day.  Should I have maybe looked around?  Probably, but I loathe purchasing a vehicle and this experience was completely opposite from the one I had just had.
I was out of there in an hour.  Unfortunately, do to my small oversight of having an expired license, I didn't drive the USS Enterprise home (my husbands name for the van which he covets by the way).  So the next morning, I went to the DMV.  They need you to do a DNA test, I swear!!!  Really, I had my Social Security Card, original Marriage Certificate, copy of my Birth Certificate, and that was not enough.  Since we are moving, I couldn't provide proof of residency until the 10th.  They wouldn't let me use my current address, as they don't forward the license and I couldn't change it until I got the said drivers license and I had to have the original birth certificate....CRAZY!  Well, I took the test anyway and got a 93% because I skipped two questions...it wasn't difficult at all and I must say that I quite enjoyed it.  Now I will have proof for my back seat driver comments when my husband performs several illegal maneuvers while driving with me.  I have proven that I know my laws!  So I can't even get an appointment for a driving test until I prove my residency (which means, not until I get mail from a utility at my new house or my rental agreement after the 10th) so the moral of this story is, don't let your license lapse for more than a year, because you basically have to start all over again.  Am I a good driver?  Yes...I just didn't want my dang license to have the street   DICK Road as my residence for the next 12 years...  really, you don't know how horrible it was to live on a street with this address.  It's memorable for sure, but not something I want to remember everytime I look down at that card. (the new address sticker goes on the back, not on the front)
So I had my husband call the dealership, explain the situation and let them know that we would have to rescind the contract because we didn't want to pay for a car that we couldn't drive for another few weeks, so they had Patrick "rent" it until I get my license and we brought it home the next day....so yeah!  I have a nice car to haul my kids in.  I have a reasonable interest rate that is way less than the other dealership.  I have a smaller payment than what I am paying currently paying.  All in all, I'm pleased.  I feel like I just conquered a huge fear of mine and came out the other end, victorious.  I think I'll take off my cape now...