A Ride Down Memory Lane

In 1996 I was driving a raspberry colored, 1994 ,Chevy S-10 pickup truck with a five speed transmission and no air conditioning. This was a result of poor financial decisions and being too afraid to ask for help.

I had just broken up with my girlfriend because she was driving me nuts.  The truth of the matter I was driving her nuts and wasn’t growing up fast enough.  When I finally snapped out of my adolescence at the ripe old age of 27 I knew I needed to make some changes quickly.  The first one was to buy a grownup car, the kind of car where your dates make up isn’t going to run and her hair doesn’t flop.

Mike Ruiz had only been on the job a few weeks when I walked into the showroom of a local Pontiac dealership. He had just sold his restaurant and was working in sales so as to be able to spend more time with his newborn daughter.  Now that I think about  it many years later,he was making some changes too.

I explained my situation that I needed to trade my truck in so that I can get my girl back. He showed me a white, 1996, Pontiac Grand Am, with blue cloth interior, automatic transmission and most important, air conditioning. I took it for a ride and within moments I knew I wanted the car, but what was it going to cost me?

My cousin, now and then, works for a company that establishes car values for insurance companies.  He was the help that I was afraid of before but I couldn’t afford not to have his help here.  I called him and explained all of the details.  Within minutes he had me back in my truck and heading for home because as he put it” this guy is hosing you”.

Back then I carried a pager and left it right on Mike’s desk.  Mike picked up the pager and dialed the last number through, it was my cousins number.  While I was heading home, Mike was speaking to my cousin and explaining a few details that I left out.  The most important being that I was upside down on the values.  Does this sound familiar to all of the real estate professionals in the room?

When I got home my dad met me in front of my house and told me to hurry back to the dealership because they had my pager and that my cousin said that I was getting a great deal.  I brought the car home that night.

I have never forgotten Mike for that and thought I would write about it here.  Mike has since moved on to Jerry Haggerty Chevrolet as a very successful manager and I have bought my current car with him. If you ever need a new or used car, consider stopping in and tell Mike you read about him here. You might be asking yourself what ever happened to girl?  That’s her standing next to me.