A Singaporean In Australia

The used car market here ran out of RAV4s and CRVs within my budget. That did not mean there weren't cheap cars around. In fact, there were lots of sedans littered all over Perth under $2,000. I would rather go to work on a skate board than buy one of those. I began to get restless and started looking for cars that my friends drive. 

No, there wasn't any Mitsubishi Nimbus going around at all. I decided Kia Carnival of the age I could afford were generally in crappy condition for some reason. I couldn't afford a Odyssey. By that time, Jen told me it wasn't necessary to get a 7-seater. So my options were wide open again. Obviously, I couldn't even get a sniff at one of those Volkswagen Golfs 2 of my friends were driving. The Suzuki Swift that Joanna was driving was greatly reduced in price since I came here but there wasn't many bargains then. How about the Honda Jazz? I knew someone who couldn't stop raving about her Honda Jazz. Hey but that was the same person who raved about her Kia Carnival. It appeared that raving owners might not necessarily be a good indicator of a good car.

However, there was one of those Honda Jazz listed that caught the eye. 2005, Automatic, 180,000km asking for $3,500 negotiable. That was above my budget but I thought I would just test drive to see what was the hype about the car anyway.

I had to make a really long drive up north to Stirling. Since I had plans to "drop by" Wangara much further north later, I reckoned it wouldn't hurt to view that Jazz. The owner was a dainty Asian lady in her late 20s. There was hail damage on the body (the car, not hers) and her car looked a lot worse than what she posted in the advertisement. "How much are you selling this for?" I asked.

"$3,500."

"Pity about the hail damage," I commented.

"I am willing to reduce it to $3,000, actually," said the lady.

No major problems found on the inspection so I told her, "Let me do a test drive."

It drove well and before long I was back at her house. "Are you from the Philippines? 

"Ah, yes!"

"Are you a nurse?"

"Wow, how do you know?"

"I have a lot of practice in stereotyping people such that I actually became really accurate," I told her.

"Haha. So where are you from?"

"Singapore."

"Ah......"

"Yes," I nodded, proud of my racist origins. "I noticed your ad said your car was a 1.3L but I'm quite sure it is a 1.5L..."

The nurse looked flustered and clearly didn't know much about her car but invited me into her house to take a look at her vehicle documents. I took the opportunity to ask if I could use her toilet for a wee. She had the documents laid on the table when I was done, "You need not remove your shoes actually."

"It's a habit," I thanked her for the toilet. She was alone at home and would have gotten into trouble if I was a crook. Fortunately, I wasn't a crook that day. I was dead sure if that scenario had happened to me in Singapore, I would have to run to the nearest MRT or shopping centre to do the deed. I decided to return her trust in me by giving her some tips how to update her advertisement so that she would have a higher chance to sell the car by the following Tuesday.

She would be moving to NSW after securing a job over there. (She just graduated from her 1-year Nursing degree) I congratulated her and wish her all the best in her new job and life, as well as selling her car.