Now, I would definitely get this question – Why would I go for a competitor’s car when I was working for Ford. Well, to answer that question – I would simply say that being not a big car enthusiast, choosing a car wasn’t a big decision for me. Plus, facing all the student loans and the new responsibilities, my focus was on saving more money than ever, and that’s why I went with the cheapest SUV I could find on the market and instead of buying it, I leased it so that I won’t need to maintain it that much.
Now that we have the answer of that question out of the way, let me blabber more about the day I signed papers for my first vehicle in my life – 2017 Nissan Rogue.
Leasing this vehicle was more of a necessity than luxury for me. If you have read my previous posts about my life at Michigan, you would know that I didn’t have a driver’s license back then and had to rely entirely on Uber and Lyft to get me to places and Monika was gracious enough to carpool with me and I was and will be forever grateful to her for that.
The day started quite usually. When I left for work in the morning, I wasn’t planning on leasing this SUV. The day went by without much happening at work and I saw myself staring at the clock at around 3.30 PM. I think that was the moment I decided I was going to the nearby Nissan Dealership and sign the papers for whichever car they had in stock and drive home in it.
I ordered an Uber and requested my Uber driver to take me to the Nissan Dealership on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. While I was on the way, I called one of my friends to join me at the dealership as I needed someone by my side to decide on the vehicle I was going to lease for the next couple years. My friend was graceful enough to accompany me to the dealership but he had to take off as our sales representative was taking longer than expected.
& as I was thinking more and more about it, I was becoming more anxious by every single minute. During the entire process, many thoughts crossed my mind and at one point, I even thought of just going home and coming back to the dealership next day or not at all. I think the car leasing/buying experience for the first time car buyer was definitely not pleasant and if they could have appeased me in some way, I would have loved to go for a higher version of the car or would have spent more money. Anyway, I was taking one of the biggest decisions of my life, so you can imagine the kind of panic I was going through at that time.
After many back and forth, my sales representative and I came to a common number and I knew I was paying more than I should have, but I was just tired of the entire process and wanted to get out of the dealership and drive in my new vehicle.
I must admit the first ride in the new car was something I was craving for ever since I came to Michigan and I was finally realizing that dream.
If you missed reading in my older posts (which I am sure you must have), my American Dream and the reason for coming to the US was to drive on the US roads and experience the kind of freedom that people from the developed countries experience. So, this day definitely was one of the most memorable days of my life and I won’t forget this day until the end of my time.
I remember when my sales rep was walking through the basic functions of the car, I ignored him as I was just waiting for the moment for him to hand over the keys to me so that I can drive it off into the distance. I will not forget the moment I put the SUV in the DRIVE mode and took to the streets of Michigan. It was such a surreal moment, which is etched in my memory forever.
I must admit the drive back home was extremely stressful and nerve wrecking as I didn’t want to cause any accident to my brand new car. Fortunately, the 30-minute drive went without any glitches and I took a breath of relief when I finally parked it outside my apartment.
That night, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and looking out the window to make sure the SUV was still there. I looked outside, found the SUV unmoved from its parking spot, chuckle a little bit, and went back to bed.
It was a memorable day and night!
Next stop is taking a break from the travel for 2-3 weeks and then exploring Michigan and nearby MidWest area during the Thanksgiving break.
stochasticity 