We thought that having a second vehicle around might be convienent for us. Mike researched carsoup.com, vehix.com, and craigslist.com for a vehicle in our budget. Obviously we’re a newly wed couple so the budget is pretty slim. Mike and a friend were expecting to have to fix some things on the car we’d finally purchase.

Mike just didn’t find anything in MN that he felt was worth it. I told him I wouldn’t mind a small road trip if we could keep it cheap. Mike found a posting in Chicago on Craigslist that he thought was worth checking out.  Two of our friends happened to have the day off and joined us for a good time on the road.

We had just purchased a GPS system with some gift certificates we received from the wedding (Thank you!). We wanted to test it out, and what a perfect opportunity. We estimated our trip would only take us six hours and we could get there around noon if we left at 6 a.m. and we could be back by midnight or 1a.m. on Saturday. We set our GPS for the trip and made arrangements with the seller of the vehicle to test drive it.

First I must mention that we had a blast and the trip there was so beautiful! I bonded with some great friends and had several good laughs on the way. What we didn’t realize was that our GPS was set to pedestrian mode. We couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t put us on the freeway straight to Chicago. Instead the GPS took us through back roads all through wisconsin. We didn’t really have any other device to consult, so we said “Trust the Garmin!” We traveled over 630 miles and it took us almost ten hours just to get to our destination. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we arrived.

Mike and a friend test drove the vehicle and left me and another friend behind with the seller. It was taking them a long time, and when they finally returned they were walking. Not a good sign! There was just too much wrong with it that we didn’t purchase the vehicle.

A friend had internet on his phone so we looked up other vehicles in the area. Why not take advantage of the opportunity? We found a seller with two vehicles not far from where we were. And, off we were to test drive two more vehicles.

We thought we were really going home with a second vehicle! They test drove the car and our mechanic friend thought it was a good deal. We made an offer to the guy showing us the car and he accepted.  Ready to sign the title over we noticed the title looked a bit strange. Wait a minute! The cars don’t have license plates. We asked “Where are the plates?” and he said he was using them on his new car. That seems odd…aren’t they registered to the vehicle? The guy said “you can just put your plates on it. Or you if you’re pulled over just show them the title” I was skeptical and dialed 411 and got the non emergency police department and asked if this was true. The operator stated “You must apply for the plates through the State Secretary and takes a couple weeks. If it’s a private seller the vehicle should already have plates registered to the vehicle”

 We took it as a sign from God that now is not the time for us to own a second vehicle.