Friday, November 14, 2008
About a month ago, Calvin got a call to inform him that he would be regaining the rightful ownership of his bike. And that means he is able to sell his bike now (*well, this is a long separate story on its own). So, we started shopping for a car some weeks back.
We had wanted to get a Honda Crossroad initially. But after doing our sums, we decided that we shouldn't be splurging on a liability. What we really need is a mode of transport - all we need is a weekend car that can bring Calvin to and from work, fetch 小B around, etc. As long as it's not bad looking, doesn't drown itself in petrol, has a spacious back seat for 小B's car seat and a big enough boot space for whatever needs to go in there, we're contented. One other criteria: no sedan cars. Both Calvin and I are so not into sedan cars, so we're only looking at hatchback options.
So we had Jasmine with us when we went around Ubi for some test-driving. We checked out different makes and ended our car shopping in the afternoon thinking hard to make a choice. 2 days later, we got another expert, Rick, to join us in another round of shopping. By then, our minds were quite set on
Nissan Latio Sport. It's the only hatchback that is spacious enough for our liking. So we finally striked a deal with the salesman and today, we're collecting our new car - our very own black Latio Sport. Both Calvin and I are first time car owners, so we're really excited... just not that excited about the expenses that come along with it... :p
*Story of his bike...
Calvin bought this bike about 3.5 years ago from this bike shop. The financing schemes for bikes and cars are different. With cars, your car loan is a direct loan from the bank. But with bikes, the bike shop takes a lumpsum loan from the bank and your monthly payments go to the bike shop and it's the bike shop's responsibility to pay the bank. Calvin had finished paying his bike loan about a year ago. By paying off his loan, it means that Calvin is supposed to be the rightful owner of the bike.
About half a year ago, through some incidents, he and his colleagues (who bought bikes from the same bike shop) discovered that the bike shop did not pay the bank when they made their monthly payments. In fact, someone from the bike shop actually "ran away" with their money! Because of that, in the bank records, Calvin is still servicing the loan. And that means, Calvin is still not the rightful owner of bike on record, even though he has paid off the entire amount. Worst case scenario, if the bank decides to repossess the properties of the bike shop, Calvin's bike would be implicated!
Thank God he kept all his receipts. So after many rounds of calling and checking and sending in supporting documents to the bank, they finally granted him his rightful ownership of the bike. This whole episode lasted for almost half a year! Now that it's over, Calvin can't wait to sell off his bike.
