I Bought the ‘Right’ Car and Still Regretted It

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And so I wanted to share that story with you in hopes that the next time you make a car purchase, you can be better prepared and hopefully not have the regrets that I have. Yeah, car buying happens for many of us every, you know, maybe five to ten years. So it's happening fairly regularly or you've got friends or family looking for a car. So this is going to be a helpful one. Yeah. So in December of 2023, I was pregnant with my second child and I was driving a car that I had been driving for only like four years, I think, which was not, I wanted to keep my car much longer, but I did not do enough research when I bought that car and it ended up being an absolute lemon. Like I was driving, I was trying to make a left turn across a four lane road and I had my three year old son in the car or two, he was two or three at the time. And I, the car let me push on the gas and get out into the middle of the highway, like not in the median, but like in oncoming traffic and it stopped. Like the car stopped. And I had to like literally thank God nobody was coming. I had to turn the car off and started again to be able to finish turning on real. And the car dealership wouldn't do anything about it. And so I had, it was just like, and if there was something else I should have done, put it in the comments because I'm sure I'm not the only one. Like there's somebody else driving that car now, which sucks. So like let me know if there's something else I should have done to fight that in the comments. But so I was like, I cannot do that with a newborn. I'm going to get a new car and I'm going to get a minivan. And that is where the term for me, minivan millennial started in which one of our listeners actually sent me magnets that said minivan millennial. And I have it in my office. I don't have it on the van because it's a magnet and I don't want it to get stolen. Yeah, you said that when you're so afraid someone's going to come up to your car. I'd be like, I want this and I know it's magnetic and I'm going to steal it. I too am a minivan millennial. Why? Even though it's custom made so if they did steal it, I would know. So that's not the part I regret. The minivan is not the part I regret. I am a minivan millennial proudly and I continue to be. Hopefully for a long time. But that's that gets into my first regret. But I regret some of the aspects that went into this car purchase. And there are some parts that I'm very proud of which I'll talk about. But if you caught our commentary on normal, TikTok is normalizing being car poor. This is kind of a follow up to that episode. So we will link to that in the description. But part of the regret that comes from this purchase is that cars are not just transportation anymore. And that's a big point we made in that episode. Yeah, we can attach our identity to the type of car that we drive and brands want us to do that. Right? They're selling us a version of who we are, who we could be if we were to drive this truck, this SUV, this sedan, you name it. Safety, it says a lot about how much we value or are willing to invest in our safety, success, adulthood, all of these things are statements that to be clear, I don't think our statements actually that can be said to be true about you depending on your car. But it's collectively, societally kind of what we've come to agree upon is you can tell a lot about it first and by the car that they drive. Yeah. And I feel I felt all of those things in this decision to get another car, like me being a frugal person, I didn't want another car after four years. I wanted to keep my car for eight years. That was the goal. And so the frugal part of me felt like a failure. But then I also felt this like safety responsibility. That was like really number one. And that and I didn't fight as hard maybe as I should have for that other vehicle, partly because I was pregnant. But also like I feel like my car shows when I show up, somewhere like it takes and my successful is this podcast that people know that I have, is it successful? Am I driving a meter or something? You know, like is it doesn't, I mean I was a little apprehensive about getting a minivan. But ultimately I was like, oh, minivan's are uncool, sign me up. But that was like more of a defiance choice. Yeah. Like because all the moms are getting SUVs because SUVs, the cool mom vehicle. And so I am the type of person that hears that and is like, oh, cool, I'm not going to get an SUV. Thank you very much. So I'm okay with being uncool. Right. I had gotten the SUV, the crossover SUV I was driving like before I had a child. So yeah, like I, the minivan wasn't the thing that like I regretted. But like it is like insane that cars used to just be, can this get me where I need to go? Yeah. Right. It used to be having a car in general. That was the symbol of success. Right. Yeah. Just having one. Yeah. And now it's kind of like everybody has one. So it really is the type of car. Right. The type of car really does say that about you. And so now it says like, what kind of person am I? How successful I am? Am I keeping my family safe? Because sometimes it can see even if the old car is safe, like if it looks old, it can be like, there can be some judgment about like what are the not necessarily the car safety, but like outside of that. Yeah. Is there safety? So yeah. It is just this weird, all of these things are running through my mind. Yeah. And and we all want special things and we want the experience of luxury. However, we can get it. And I think cars for many people are that I might not be able to have the fancy house or the nice vacations or whatever. But I might be able to get a car that both is a status symbol on the outside and feels luxurious to me too. And so there can be that kind of internal. And then just the justifications for it. Well, I had to because this is what's safest. I had to because otherwise people are going to hire me in my business. If I don't show up looking halfway decent, all the things. And then just all of the hundreds of micro decisions that go into the purchase of a vehicle. Now there's so many options for sizing and the type of engine and what's the warranty and all the financing options. And it can just when you're ready to buy a car, it can feel like a very overwhelming decision to make such a condition. It is exhausting. And that is how so many people end up with cars they regret with making decisions. They later regret. And so here is my biggest regret. We'll go top to bottom. So my biggest regret is prioritizing price over longevity. And I don't know why I didn't learn my lesson from the first one. But I went with a brand that seemed pretty safe, like seemed pretty reliable. But ultimately was not. And so this one I did the Chrysler Pacifica. I had to remember like what is what car do I what do I drive? Which was in my budget, my arbitrary budget that I had sent. I did finance the vehicle. And that I don't regret. I was mid renovation for a house that we totally topped bottom renovated. And it was less expensive for me to finance a car, interest-wise, than it was to finance those renovations. Like I didn't have money for both. So we used the cash we had to cash flow renovations and then we financed the car because that was a lower interest rate. So I had a budget in my head. And I knew like my last car I had a budget based on how much cash I had because I paid for that winning cash. And honestly, wish I would have financed it and just paid it off all like later. And the guy told me it would have cost me maybe like 100 extra bucks to do that. So this time I did finance. So I didn't really have like the budget wasn't hard and fast. And so to my like usually people have the opposite problem. If they have the budget and they have no problem going over it. And I have the problem where I have the budget and it's arbitrary and I'm just only going to stick to that. And that was $25,000. And so I was looking and that put me when I'm looking at three-year-old cars, that put me at Chrysler Pacifica territory and that made like Toyota's and Honda's which are typically longer lasting minivans out of my price range. And so I don't know what it was. I don't like the Pacifica was good enough rated where I felt like okay I could take a chance. But I just have always regretted not spending the extra couple grand to choose a car that I know is going to last a long time. We have already had to I think we replaced the transmission. It was something that cost like $2,000. And we cash flowed that. That was you know it was but I will say we went to a local mechanic that does mostly it's called mostly mo bars. It does mostly like US cars. I was sorry that was sorry. I don't know why that tickled me. So it was much cheaper than going to the dealer. I think that was I don't even know how I think was going to cost at least $4,000 to get that done at the dealer. And we paid less just under $2,000. And so that was fine. But yeah I'm still relatively low mileage. I think I'm at like 40,000 something miles. And I just I have anxiety about the future of the car. There's always this underlying anxiety of like what's going to happen. I've had the car now for two years. And I just don't know in two years what we're going to be dealing with. So that I think was my biggest regret it two years. December of 2023. Yeah we got it just a few months before Atlas was born. So yeah. I'm sorry to 2022 we've had it for three years because Atlas turns three in March. So we've had it for three years. I'm sorry. Yeah. I don't remember what I was going to say about. Sorry. So so you're saying well that's not to say that another vehicle like if you would have spent an extra five to $6,000 on a vehicle that that one too wouldn't have had transmission issues or needed a big repair. There's no promise. And so I always recommend the site carcomplaints.com and I always recommend going with a three to four year used car because then it's had enough time for people to submit complaints. And those and car complaints compiles those complaints from all over and will show you kind of the cars that have the most complaints and where the complaints are. And so I feel like I did. And so maybe this is just internal. But I feel like I did the research. But after doing that episode with Hayden I'm like well mate like I'm probably going to have this car. I should have it longer than I anticipated. You know because they're just making new cars worse and worse every year. They're lasting shorter and shorter lifespans. So I should have this man as long as possible. And so did I make the right decision in choosing this balance of price and longevity or should I have just gone with the higher price and more certainly guaranteed longevity? Yeah it's a hard one to know whether or not you're going to be accurate in your research on if I spend $5,000 more does it get me two extra years out of the car or an extra year? Like that's it's kind of hard to decipher but I think yeah as a concept weighing both those things out as an important factor for all of us. And I think the biggest cost for me is the underlying anxiety. I think maybe if I had consulted more people outside of dealers like if I had been able to talk to Hayden like known him then or other people familiar with cars I think if I had just talked to more people that I could have made a more confident decision. And I think that might be the overall like lesson is to talk to more people like outside of your typical small circle more people that know things about cars even like I don't know emailing people like car youtubers I don't know how like responsive these people would be. But yeah like driven mechanics yeah mechanics are going to know yeah I hate working on that vehicle or this is a common problem with that one. Well I mean Hayden and this guy Zach they both have a lot of social media commentary videos about new cars use cars like cars that mechanics work on the most you know stuff like that. So I think I would have like looked at that more too. I don't know if I would have gotten the answers because I don't know like that many vans are super popular on social media not as many people want to talk about their minivan as they do their cool SUV or truck we'll talk about that in a little bit. But yeah so I think my my biggest regret maybe isn't prioritizing the price over longevity but maybe is not being 100% confident in the choice that I made because I inherently don't trust the dealer 100% so so having more outside neutral advice. Yeah honestly one of the best things we can do for our wallets and our health is cook more at home. There's just nothing like it that's easier said than done which is why we love HelloFresh it makes it simple to eat at home even on a busy weeknight plus they offer over 100 recipe options every week with portions big enough to actually satisfy everyone. And here's what actually happens you get options that fit your goals there are more than 35 high protein recipes each week plus Mediterranean inspired dishes the ingredients are wholesome too like sustainably sour seafood and 100% antibiotic and hormone free chicken. 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So let me round that out with what I think is my biggest win and if you've read our book by what you love without going broke I have talked about this story in there so you can skip this right but if you haven't read the book my biggest win and this is where I saved ultimately $4,000 but I mean regardless of how and would have saved 2000 at least but I didn't let a dealer pressure me into a deal that I didn't want and this came specifically so I was between two vans and I had tested in them both but there was one that I wanted more than the other one and ultimately it had more miles but it also had adaptive cruise control which I really wanted but they were the same price because the one with the nice features and the other seats just had more miles so I'm at the dealership with this van that I truly want and this van that was advertised for $25,000 online has somehow gotten like for like to 29,000. Wow and and I'm just like I don't understand what's going on here because the other one was 25 and like they walked me through the whole deal after I test drove and it was $25,000 and that's a sidebar worth stating there are some dealerships that have far more transparent price than others so also asking around and making sure that you're going to a more reputable dealership can be a huge deal. Yeah and it was weird because both of these dealerships have been around and have had great reputations like I grew up here they've been your my entire life and so it was weird it was not like they were shady dealers so I keep trying to negotiate down and negotiate I'm trying I'm trying I sat there for hours I was late to pick up Kai it was just it was a mess and I almost signed on the dotted line for that car because you know when you're buying a car there's pressure you're talking to five different people somehow there are five different sales managers and you're just waiting doing a lot of waiting and it's it's all tactics to get you to push you through to the deal and at the end I was like why am I here I'm here because of the adaptive cruise control how far am I driving I don't like to drive more than 15 minutes for anything right like I am doing a drive to Orlando twice a year what am I doing here and we go we'll go up to Spring Hill every other month which is about an hour so what am I truly doing here and then I was like I feel guilty for taking up all of this young man's time who's trying to sell me this car and I'm like but is it worth four thousand dollars do I feel four thousand dollars guilty and when you're thinking about it in the scope of a car purchase four thousand dollars is not a lot because you're financing it right but then I'm like four thousand dollars is more than I've ever spent on any family vacation I've never spent four thousand dollars to take a vacation and I'm about to sit here and give this man four thousand dollars because I feel a little guilty that's not even including how much more that money you'd pay on that four thousand dollars because of interest so I may I'm like really abruptly I got up and walked out I was like can't do it and it was like I've seen you before I love to say no I just like it's my MO it's the first response I have to everything is just no and so I just like it took me a while but I was like no and I use the excuse that I was late to pick up my son and if I change my mind I'd come back right but ultimately it was just like no I'm going to pick up my kid and we're going to the other dealership to get the other car and I truly did mean it like if they ended up like you know putting the wool over trying to pull the wool over my eyes at the other one I was gonna come back for that car but but they had already walked me through the deal like all the numbers and so we went and got we got the other one that had less mileage but it has like cloth seats and no adaptive cruise control and I googled it later how much it costs to install adaptive cruise control in a van and it was two thousand dollars and so even if I had wanted to install it I still could have installed gotten it installed and saved two thousand dollars by putting it in the other van yeah yeah that's something to be aware of if there are features that you're that the vehicle doesn't have many can be added on like even an automatic start I know that that is something that a lot of people want or like you're saying adaptive cruise control so back up can be added on after the fact for most likely a far lesser price than you might if it already has it as a part of the features but we're not conditioned to think creatively like that we just want the one-stop-shop package like it's like clothing we'll pass on thrifted clothing because it doesn't look good but you can get things hemmed tucked altered for like 10 to 20 bucks right and then it fits perfectly it's tailored to your body it's gonna look better than any brand new shirt or pants that you could have bought off the rack but we just don't think like that yeah and we I don't know why we don't think like that if you know let me know in the comments but so yeah I'm engineered consent yeah engineered desire was it both the things but yeah I mean because things just don't last for as long sometimes it's not it's not worth it if you only bought a shirt for ten dollars and the cost to repair it is ten dollars then it makes more sense to throw it away then to buy and buy new yeah and repair it but what if you repaired it and then that shirt looked better than the other ten dollar brand new shirt that you were gonna buy right sure I'm just saying like part of it is the cheap production of things yeah but yeah so so we went and we bought that the van that I do have and I never ended up getting adaptive cruise control because I went to bed and woke up and was not exhausted anymore but they truly did everything they could to wear me down into a deal and I was like no I I stood my ground and I I wasn't rude but it could have been perceived yeah I mean sure they didn't perceive it as rude but internally I perceived it as a little rude but now that I haven't been like beat down by so many micro decisions I see that it wasn't and they couldn't have thought that that was it because they knew what they were doing to me yeah and it didn't work yeah I think to Mona Mai takeaways from your story is to be prepared for it to be an exhausting process as if if you're going to negotiate if you're going to think critically about the decision that you're making if you're going to do the research which we do think you should do this is one of the biggest purchases that we make aside from our our home buying decisions and so I think really kind of building some of that muscle the the the patients to be able to navigate this and not just expect that I'm going to be able to go do this in and after noon but kind of having some of that fortitude to not be swayed to keep our wits about us to understand what some of the different phrases are is important curious if there's anything else that you would have done differently in this carbying process um I think so there's some something so I'm glad I got the mini band I know like trucks and SUVs are like the number one sellers dealerships and we've said this before but like because everybody wants a big truck or a big SUV dealers do not brands do not have incentive to make small affordable sedans anymore and so people are paying $700 a month for their car payment because they want to that's the cars they want and that's the incentive the the you know dealerships have or the brands have to manufacture those cars so I am happy that I bucked at that trend and did not get an SUV I got a mini band instead but something I would have done differently is held my cards a little closer and we learned this in our episode about being car poor is that um I what I went in and did was tell them like I have a trade-in this is my budget um yada yada I'm gonna finance so what I should have done is just said um you know I want to look at cars I I don't know if I want to do a trade-in or like I don't have anything to trade in that I you know I don't think I have anything to trade in I don't want to lie but pretty much say like I don't think I'm gonna do a trade-in and I wanted you know just test it out zero down all finance because they want to know oh I'm gonna make a lot of money off of you they can negotiate financing a lot more if they're fully focused on it and I learned that in that episode so what I should have that's kind of what I should have led with like no cash no trade-in all finance what deal can you get for me and then once they have the good deal then you can add in things like okay if I added a trade-in how could we make this better because everything you give them is gonna make the deal better but if they already know what they're working with they're less inclined to give you a better deal so I think that's it was counterintuitive for me because I used to think like oh I'll go in and I'll just tell them I'm paying cash and that'll be better for me you get the worst deal when you go in and say that so um I and that's what I did with my my car before yeah I went in I said I had an all cash yeah and I should have kept my held my cards closer do all the negotiations up front and this you know you've got to be a little bit more shrewd about it again not lying but skirting around some of those questions as if you know you're you're unsure what exactly you're going to be bringing to the table what just get get the number before you let them know what all is is going to be in play one of my wealthier friends did this when they actually had cash they were planning on paying for the car entirely cash not financing at all and did not say that until the final number was on the paper and then he's like all right are we gonna finance this and he's like well I have cash and then sounded like the dealer was so bombed he's still making a car sale like if the car can be sold for then that should be allowed that should be transparent like that and I will say more and more dealerships are popping up that have this transparent pricing and are saying there is no negotiation like this is the price we don't work off of commissions there's another kind of payment structure for their sales people so so they're more inclined to be a lot more transparent and open and so so you could also find that too if you're not you just don't want to do all of the different negotiations then then find a reputable dealership where that's the case where just that this is the price and we are super transparent about how we came to that price yeah yeah so yeah final thoughts on this transportation should support your life not define it okay you drive a car to get from point A to point B yeah and something that I am coming to live by is that you should not judge somebody on by what they drive but by how they drive and there's a lot of judgment to go around based on how people drive oh we we are both in Florida and it is rough out here a lot of judgment you had judgment comes cups run it over I have to really employ my baby they're on their way to the hospital maybe there's someone in the car about to give birth like I've got to really assume the best maybe not here drive they're on their phone and that's usually what it is but it can be really frustrating yeah yeah so so be be really judicious do your research hold your cards close get the best deal you possibly can you know follow the people who are going to help you again car complaints.com can be really helpful for knowing the specific make model year to know what are the issues that most people encounter with this type of vehicle do I have the emergency cash to be able to respond to that do I have a savings plan to build up a sinking fund to be able to respond to that yeah to and repair your car more often to again just how we're like you can piecemeal like adding cruise control or a backup camera you should also be accounting to repair a car because just like you know it might be better to repair a shirt or tailor a shirt that's broken and then it's going to end up more tailored to your body than a brand new shirt at the same price would a car that you can replace the transmission with a brand new transmission instead of getting a brand like another new car that's going to have a used transmission that you're going to like that's going to you know die in a couple more years like you just have to kind of do the entire picture of math not just the immediate math do you know what doesn't need to be repaired because from the beginning it was never broken and it never will be broken it is a symbol of wealth the bill of the week that's right it's time for the best minute of your entire week maybe a baby was born and his name is William maybe you paid off your mortgage maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore duck bills but flow bills bill clean this is the bill of the week hi Jen and Jill my name's Natalie and I am from Canada a few years ago I got sick and had a friend while I was off and not really able to do much ask if I could sew her son's name bar onto her hockey jersey hockey's super big here and everyone has sponsor bars or their name bars as they saw on the back I said yes and she dropped it off and then she had a few friends ask if I wanted to do it and that year I in a six week period I made a couple hundred dollars just doing it I had to stop for personal reasons so the next year I made a Facebook page and I started doing it in an eight week period I ended up making about fifteen hundred dollars so fast forward now it's been three years I'm just about to start my fourth season and I am so busy from September to Christmas that I make enough money to cover all of our holidays our new tires when we need them we pay some bills and we do lots of stuff it's a great side hustle and it's an awesome way for me to make extra money and my overhead is about twenty dollars a year so it's awesome I hope you enjoy my bill of the week thanks bye oh my gosh Natalie with your hockey players I love that oh my I love when you really can find such a niche who would think that you could have a small business sewing name tags onto jerseys name bars all right name bars don't know what the difference is in Florida and which actually our hockey team won the Stanley Cup like multiple times so there's no excuse and I used to be an ice skater so I have no excuse name bars onto jerseys wow that is fantastic just responding to it and and this is what we say in a lot of our side hustle episodes is what's already in your hands what are you already good at interested in other people are asking you for this thing or advice on this thing there it is just see what can be done and I love how organically this happens just like sure I'm responding to a friend but you saw that this could be something more and it doesn't have to become a full-fledged take over your regular job kind of a thing but something where you're able to supplement some income for a couple of months and really boost some of your goals and and financial strategies and how amazing and it sounds like you're really good at it hopefully you like it hopefully your side hustle is cathartic that's always the best I mean you can just like sewing like I don't know if it's hand stitching or with the machine but yeah I can be like cathartic no kidding yeah amazing Natalie thanks for sharing that with us if you all are listening and have a bill that you want to submit if it has to do a starting a side hustle and just crushing it or about a bill that you stopped paying your name is bill you just want to say hi to your frugal friends frugalfriendspodcast.com slash bill we can't wait to hear it we cannot stand bank fees overdraft fees monthly fees minimum balance fees it's like getting punished for using your own money that's why chime is such a game changer it's be free smarter banking built for you the new chime card lets you build credit with your own money and earn rewards while doing it no strings attached with qualifying direct deposits you get one and a half percent cash back on eligible purchases this is the card my younger self 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proactive money management simple all year long use code frugal at monarch dot com for half off your first year that's 50% off your first year at monarch dot com with code frugal and now it's time for the lightening round show you all right it is time for the car horror stories no no Jill uh I have so many car horror stories same that's that is what kind of comes with the territory of at the time private sale I feel like private sale the ability to do that well is is tanking um but one of the worst I would say is the vehicle we had before this one it was a Toyota 4 runner I mean loved it was a great vehicle however it was you know rusting out on the underbelly and and that has to do with like we bought it used this is a side tangent but that has to do with maintenance too like if you live in the north and you're not regularly just washing your car you are deeply shortening the life of that vehicle because of all the salt that they put on the roads and the moisture and everything that happens and then particularly if you're going to take that car from the north to the south where there's salt water in the air forget about it rust central um but yeah washing your car regularly in the north is not just like a fun to have it's a must have okay now I'm off my soap box back to the brakes were rusting out and on three different occasions um we like lost lost our brakes the brakes brakes not work break don't break don't go there break on nowhere thankfully every single time Eric was driving and was able to expertly get us out of danger and slow the vehicle down somehow wow I don't know how we got to the point where it ended up happening three times like you think after the first time you're like yeah out of here but we eventually replaced it so so safety safety is not nothing right like we do want a relatively safe vehicle I would say that that is important definitely not brakes rusting out not working while driving yeah oh okay how about you um surprisingly enough stalling out in the middle of the road several times is not my horse worry no mine was I was in college and I was actually living in St. P. and driving back to Orlando uh with my boyfriend at the time and we going midpoint so like an hour or 45 minutes away from St. P. but still like an hour for you evidence ish away from Orlando uh flames come up from the front of the car and I have to pull over on I-4 and the engine had caught on fire because I had an oil leak so I had no more oil and I didn't know and so my mom had to like drive from St. P. to pick us up and I think about that and we were like sitting on the side of the road for so long and uh that ride home with my mom and uh I think about that whenever I never good yeah whenever I passed by the waffle house oh man that I had to stare at for an hour and a half or something yeah that was uh flames yeah that's a situation where you're just like what's causing this I have no way to put it out is it because you know movies make you think flames and a car in an instant explosion yeah it wasn't but that car was done so after that like that was the last time I drove back on and it's so expensive it's such an expensive thing to own that way yeah like really has those problems such a bummer yeah more let us know you're a your car horror stories your car buying horror stories those are the stories we really want to hear uh let us know in the comments and thank you so much for listening watching wherever you are with us we love reading your comments and we love reading your kind reviews about our book by what you love with how coin broke uh if you haven't read it yet by what you love book.com uh and here's an example of one from matchy koi 0414 it happens to be five stars and they say book number five for the year very practical way of controlling your spending tackled the root cause not just bandaid solutions book forces you to look at your inner self and what are your triggers more of a psychological book rather than financial some of the tips can be redundant as other financial book but it's written lightly with real world examples i love how thank you so much matchy koi you know what it's a five star review so you know what there's nothing new under the sun just new ways of presenting old information and if somebody does say they have something new and revolutionary and secret they are scamming you red flag yeah so these are really great words um for this five star review we appreciate it thank you yeah please please leave us a review if you've read the book five five stars is great we love to see those and we'll read our five star reviews on the show and if you are watching us subscribe to the channel we would love that leave us a rating and review on the podcast all the ways to show some love that are free for you is great for us yeah and spread this message further and wider to more people so they can you know get this redundant information in a new fresh way see you next time bye frugal friends is produced by erick syrionny um um i forgot about did i tell you this story before i probably have um when i went when i had a rental car and went to go see a waterfall in washington state and i pulled into the small side of the road parking lot and there were traffic teeth oh protecting this small side of the road parking lot for a tiny little state park with a waterfall because the parking lot had an entrance and an exit that both looked the same again very tiny the the sign that it wasn't an exit and non-entrance was blocked by all of the trees and shrubbery and my punishment for not seeing it was all of the tires getting popped on the rental car fast forward to the fact that it we did this after work so it was close to six p.m sun was beginning to set and we did not have a lot of service but we were able to call the company to come give us a tow typically the tow driver would also provide you a ride tow driver not do that tow driver saying no you stay here you get your own ride so that then left me and my friend shitterand did there was nobody else at this park sun was setting middle of nowhere washington state we now have no access to be able to charge our phones because the car gone it's cold because it's the fall and we have nothing but whatever we were thinking we were about to go on a little hike stranded low service low battery trying to get an uber nobody's picking us up it was to the point where i was almost like i might have to call 911 like i think we're getting to the point where this might be 911 territory we've not seen a single human being no lifter uber drivers coming to get us and we're about to no longer have battery life on our cell phones oh yeah he called him no one what ended up happening is one uber driver decided to come get us and he told us he's like i saw your request continue to come through but apparently i don't know if this is still the case or just at the time he couldn't see where we wanted to go and maybe that is the case i've talked to other people are like yeah you don't see where the ride is going like until you accept it or something like that and we were an hour outside of the city and so he's like i didn't he's like a lot of times people want uber rides just five minutes down the road and he's like i didn't want to drive an hour away just to drive you five minutes down the road and make two bucks off the ride um but he's like i saw that the request kept coming through kept coming through so it was like i just decided to to go on a whim and we're like you are our little hero brought us back to the city we never got to see that waterfall Washington state is out of their minds for putting traffic teeth to get into a probably a parking lot for like six cars a hidden sign that this is the exit not the entry not that there's a huge safety issue with that again it was a very small side of the road parking lot how many times have i said that you needed and it was big enough it was big enough for a car to be yesterday and entering right it wasn't like oh this narrow one way you might get into an accident an accident would have been better than all four tires being popped like you made the wrong turn don't vehicle don't work can't get home stranded you hear that Washington state yeah i hear that phone to pick this was like seven years ago at this point probably you needed this yeah that one resurfaced recently the reminder of that all right i'm shutting shut it down it's time you did it no more renting cars than Washington