A Change of Plans

My husband and I have always been agreement about vehicles.  We buy quality, but always used, and then drive them until they are close to dead.  There are many times when we’re driving something ugly, like my husband’s current truck.  This plan has helped our family budget while I was a stay at home mom, a master’s candidate, and especially when I was student teaching.   It worked again a few years later when we helped our two children to go to college debt free.

Our daughter recently graduated from college and we’ve decided my husband’s aging pickup truck is not getting any more repair cash.   A couple of weeks ago we found a used truck.  We were excited to find a replacement before we were forced into a hasty decision.  Wayne’s current truck is still running so there is no urgency in our decision.

We picked up the truck after work on Monday.  Tuesday at noon my husband went to the Secretary of State to complete the title transfer and to pay the obligatory sales tax.  After 24 hours of driving the truck he commented how fun it was to drive a good looking vehicle.  We were pleased with our purchase. 

When he returned to the office he talked to a longtime friend, her husband is a contractor and has occasionally done construction work for us.  In the course of the conversation she confided she just learned that she has a huge brain tumor and will need neurosurgery.  As they talked she also told Wayne her husband’s work truck is aging and now needs expensive repairs!  Facing expensive and uncertain medical treatment, while confronted with a crippling repair debt was adding even more stress to her life as she faces extensive time off work.

That evening Wayne filled me in on the challenges our friends are facing.  He then proposed offering to sell our new truck to our friends.  We got such a good buy on the truck; we’re offering them the vehicle at the same cost we paid.  We’re hoping a replacement will soothe the worry of needing a reliable truck for his work, yet the cost will be manageable for the stressful time they will be facing.

If they decide to purchase the truck, Wayne will have driven his new truck for 4 days.  He’ll return to driving the old faithful but rusting pickup.  We’ll return to looking casually for a replacement, but we know our friends will have one less worry during this nerve-wracking time.