A Singaporean In Australia

Stargazer wasn't that badly damaged but they decided he was a write-off case. It was a pity to say goodbye to a car in reasonably good condition despite its age. At least, we knew it was an excellent buy, since it shielded Jen from harm and didn't wrinkle up like a crushed aluminum tin can like the car of the guy who rear ended Stargazer. That s.o.b who denied everything and blamed Jen for the accident was found the guilty party and his insurance company paid us the sum insured for Stargazer.

The sum we received was $4,500. We paid no excess and received hundred odd dollars for the remainder of Stargazer's rego. Since we bought Stargazer for $3,250, the payout meant that we weren't worse off financially. That was a consolation at best because it would be difficult to find another Rav4 in good condition and low mileage going for $3,000. I was determine to find a great, if not excellent buy to replace Stargazer.

Stephen generously lent Jen his Dora the Ford Explorer to her to commute for her occasional ad-hoc accounting work and grocery shopping because he had been driving around in his brand new Volkswagen Golf (for $20+k) and declaring, "I should have done this earlier!" Poor Dora went out of favour in a matter of minutes. While we were more than happy with Dora's services, I felt uncomfortable using an asset of that book value in my hands. It wasn't that I didn't treat Steph as a good friend - that had nothing to do with it. It was a personal thing. I felt we should be responsible and solve our immediate problems as soon as possible within our means. Besides, if Steph felt compelled to return any favours I gave in the past, I should give him one big one jialat jialat instead. (Anyone who ask favours from me in future better think twice now) So within a week or two, Dora was back busking in the sun at Steph's beautiful driveway.

We needed a good car like Stargazer for our family car needs but I didn't want to rush my buy. No rush buys turned out to be good. Barry White and Goldilocks were rush buys. Though they were not tragic ones, they were not good buys either. I noticed a trend over the number of used cars I bought these years. The more I did this, the better I became at it. 

So when a Daihatsu Pyzar was listed for $1,300, I went to take a look. Its air conditioner wasn't doing well but everything else seemed to be, in fact, in a better condition than Goldilocks were. No oil leakages, no dodgy CV joints, good tyres and rims, good clutch and gearbox. The only thing I changed was the brakes which didn't cost me much. I bargained it down to about $1,200 eventually (iirc) and thought I couldn't go too far wrong with this. With that, Jen resumed her normal routine immediately. The hunt for Stargazer's replacement eventually took me almost a whole month but the patience paid off.