The Car Acquisition

Now that I have finally graduated, I can focus on things that were put on the back burner: like sleep, eating, and this blog. This lovely picture of my car was taking right after Parking Services put a boot on it the day before my defense. Could care less that it happened, I had a thesis to finish!

By now you probably know that my entire life is a series of belligerent events that somehow tie themselves together to make a story. This story is a series of belligerent events that led me to the acquisition of this car.

In October 2009, my previous car, The Altima, broke down (alternator, duh). After waiting a month to acquire the funds, I was able to purchase a new alternator and replace it. The car still ran funny, but it ran nonetheless. When Winter break came, I decided to go home for it. The second I got home, the car died. RIP Altima (well sorta, the parental units were able to fix it and allow my brother to drive it). Lucky for me, a friend in which I grew up with was also attending the school in Georgia with me and had come home for the break as well and was able to give me a ride back. That was a great car ride, had a big puppy dog in my lap the entire time and I love that dog.

Three months of riding the bus and using Bradley as my personal chauffeur, I was finally able to acquire funds to purchase a new car. At first I was going to just go cheap like I did with the Altima, but then I decided that I should do some harder digging and find a better car and spend a little bit more on it. So that is what I did.

I was going to Mississippi for Spring break, and was going to purchase my car somewhere in between. I narrowed my search down to 3 cars. Due to some unforeseen events in his lab, Bradley had to leave later than we had planned, and I missed out on two of the cars. At this point I could either research more cars, or be content with the last car. I'm lazy so I decided to be content.

Now this is the part you need to pay attention to. I have attached a map that will help guide you as I tell the tale.


Bradley and his family are from Ocean Springs, MS, (red circle) which is where we went for spring break. He had to go on a research cruise, and I needed to work with a nonprofit located in Biloxi, MS (purple circle). The car I was looking at was located in Hammond, LA (blue star) about 90 miles away.

The first day in Ocean Springs, me, Bradley, and his sister hop into a car and drive to Hammond. We get there and meet with the salesman, and we talk about the car. I was disappointed that the car was an automatic, as I thought it was a 5 speed manual. I suck it up because everything else about the car was right. I decide to purchase the car and we make the sale. The windshield was cracked, so I asked if they would replace it and they said they would, and would deliver the car to Ocean Springs once it was finished. I wrote a check for the amount, and they told me it would be delivered on Thursday. Awesome.

Bradley, his sister, and I are driving back to Ocean Springs, me feeling triumphant on finding a decent car at a great price (got them to knock off $800 on it making it even better). Bradley leaves for his cruise, I work with the nonprofit, and everything is great. Thursday rolls around, and this is where the story really begins to happen.

I call the car lot early Thursday morning to confirm that my car would be delivered to me that day. They inform me that the windshield has yet to be replaced, but they would deliver it anyway and I could bring it back on Friday to get it fixed. I thought that wasn't too bad of an idea, so I asked to do that. Well, unfortunately, my check had yet to go through so they would not give me the car until that happened. So I call the bank and ask how long it would take the check to go through, and they said in about a week. I couldn't wait that long because I was banking on this car for my ride back to Georgia, since Bradley was on a research cruise. Instead of consulting adults, I decided that the best idea was to cancel the check, get the cash, pay for the car that way and drive back to Georgia. Didn't quite happen that way...

I get Bradley's sister's car and go to Baton Rouge (brown circle) and stay with my pseudo little brother for the night. I wake up early in the morning, go to the bank, get the money for the car, then drive to Hammond (which is now only 30 miles away). Once I get to Hammond, I am welcomed by friendly and happy people, ready for me to pay the car off in cash. I go to my salesman and make the transaction in the office, we go outside, and the windshield has yet to be replaced. They assured me that it would be done by 5pm and that I should plan on retrieving the car then. Cool. Unfortunately, I could not wait that long as I needed to return the car I was currently in. So my salesman suggests that he takes a lot car, we drive to Ocean Springs, and I drop the car off then come back. Perfect.

He hops in a black 2008 Pontiac G6 and we drive 90 miles to Ocean Springs. I return the car to the sister, and I hop in the G6. He states that he is hungry and wants to know where we can eat. I name a few places, and mention the casinos have great buffets. He wants to go to a buffet, so we decide to go to a casino. He asks me to drive since I know the area, so I do and we go to the Beau Rivage which is in Biloxi. We eat and have a great conversation, and all is well. We had about 2 hours to kill, and he wanted to check out the poker tables since he was an avid player back in his day (as he told me). Now normally, my Antoine senses would've kicked in at this point, but for some reason I was like "YOLO" and let him go.

We walked over to the table, and he wanted to meet there in about 90 minutes so we could leave. I go off and do homework while he plays because I'm responsible. 90 minutes pass, and I go back to the spot where we're supposed to meet. Not there. Not a big deal I thought, he still has 30 minutes, probably went off somewhere. 30 minutes pass, still not there. Hmmmm...this is kinda awkward. I didn't have his cell phone, so I decided to call the car lot to get it from them. I call them, and they state that his cell phone is off and it would do no good to try and call it. Hmmmmm...I think my Antoine senses are kicking in... I have now officially started to freak out. Here I am, in Biloxi, MS, with a car salesman who has disappeared and who is supposed to take me back to Hammond in the car that I still had the keys to...

I wasn't quite ready to call it quits on the guy, so I waited around a little bit longer, keeping Bradley's mom informed of the entire situation. Of the moms I could've possibly chosen, I chose Bradley's mom seeing as how they are from the area and she wouldn't try to destroy half a state in a rampage for justice like Annette would. When 6pm rolled around, Bradley's mom informed me to call the lot, ask for permission to drive the car back to Hammond, and just leave the guy behind. I do just that, and they tell me to drive back and I would get my car when I got there.

I drive to Hammond, and get there at 8pm. When I returned their car, they stated "where is the money"? You have to be sh*tting me right now.
Me: I gave it to the salesperson, he put it in that filing cabinet there (I point to the filing cabinet)
They search the filing cabinet to no avail
Car Lot: We can't give you this car because we don't have the money. I'm sorry.

I exclaimed to them that the only reason why I showed up earlier today was to physically give them the money. They turn a bit mean suggesting that I was lying and that I was trying to con them out of a car. Seriously?

By this point I'm furious and had no way of getting away from Hammond. I call a great dear friend of my who lives in Hammond and she picks me up. I hang with her until my pseudo little brother can make it to Hammond to get me. In the process of me "hanging out", my phone gets in a fight with the sidewalk, shattering itself. Silly phone. It was broken anyway. Pseudo little bro comes and gets me, we head to Baton Rouge, and I sleep.

The next morning, I have to do something about my phone situation. So I go to Radio Shack and purchase the infamous Purple Blackberry, since it was the last one left. Score. I return to Pseudo little bro's apartment, and set up my phone. I was told to call the lot the next day to see if their salesman reappeared and could rectify this hawt mess of a situation. He had not. They had called his family in search for him, but to no success. I was quite fed up with the situation, and was tired of sitting behind idly while I got screwed. For free. I'm pretty sure I could charge for that.

I call Bradley's mom once again, feeling defeated and angry. She tells me to check out my bill of sale to see if there was anything on it that would work in my favor. It was my mistake for not receiving an updated bill of sale (they said that the first bill would be fine). I read off the information on the sheet of paper to her, and when I said "Payment type: Cash", she said "call the police".

Now if you have followed my blog, you should know that I have issues with the police. This sounded like a terrible idea. What is the police going to do, pull a gun on me and arrest me for weed upon arrival to their precinct? I tell her how reluctant I am to do this, but she assures me that they would be able to help. Feeling hopeful, I decided it was time to call Annette to tell her what has happened in the past week. I wasn't even halfway through the second sentence before she exclaims "NU UH I'M COMING DOWN THERE!" No thank you, I don't need the Incredible Mom Hulk, just giving you some information. I felt that this was my test at adulthood, doing this on my own without my mother holding my hand.

I gather all papers and information, hop in Pseudo little bro's car, and drive over to Hammond. I go to the police precinct, wait outside for an hour, then finally am allowed in. I stay in the precinct for two more hours while they do checks on me and the salesman and validates my story. Finally after 3 total hours I am given the fate of my situation:

Police: Well legally, this car is yours. The gentleman was acting as a salesman of the car lot, so he stole the money from THEM, not YOU.
Me: Awesome
Police: Yeah, and he's also wanted in 5 states.
Back up Officer: 6 states now.
Police: You do have a traffic violation that you need to take care of, but you came out squeaky clean otherwise.
Me: Awesome
Police: (Calls car lot owner and tells him same thing he said to me). You have 12 hours to give up his car or we'll come and take it from you.
Me: Awesome
Police: Okay he says he can do it in the morning, do you have somewhere to stay for the night?
Me: I do...but I need to be guaranteed that I will have the car tomorrow because I can not wait any longer, I have school and work on Monday. (this is Saturday)
Police: Oh don't worry, you'll have it.

So I hop back in the car and drive back to Baton Rouge. I tell Pseudo little bro that he's going to have to take me to Hammond early in the morning and that I would buy his gas and his breakfast for being compliant. We go to Hammond, I meet up with the police, we go to the lot, we receive bacon. And my car. MY car. I could sense the hostility, but could care less about that; I had a 9 hour drive to make and finish a project/presentation for tomorrow's class.

Everything went right; I had a hilarious story to tell about my car, me and my group made a 59 slide powerpoint presentation that the other classmates won't let me live down, and I prevented the southeastern tip of Louisiana from being destroyed by Annette. I ran into other troubles like when the car lot refused to notarize my title, and getting a license plate was a hassle, but totally worth it in the long run.

They never did find the salesman, I'm sure he's been hired by another lot in another state. My theory is that he took my money to gamble with and lost it all and was gonna return once he made the money back. I guess I won't have to concern myself with that any longer.

I lost a shoe in Pseudo little bro's apartment and he never found it :( ~!Antoine!~