Car Hunting

The past few months for me were dedicated to car hunting. Early this year, I decided to retire my 13 year-old Toyota Corolla which I inherited from my Dad. I also thought of replacing my 9 year-old Isuzu Hilander. It was a case of which one I could replace first but of course my priority was the older car.

I discovered photo classified ads and would surf thru them everyday. There was kotse.com, tsikot.yehey.com, autolink.ph, buyandsellph.com, etc. Buying a brand new car was out of the question since my budget was a bit tight. I advertised my two vehicles in these online classifieds and got a lot of inquiries via text message. Actual inspections were also done but buyers were asking for a very low price. I couldn't get myself to accept their offers because of the care and maintenance I gave my cars.

I consulted a lot of people, most especially Mikko, who was in New Jersey. I would chat with him almost everyday to discuss my options. I would send pictures via email to get his comments. He suggested I contact our other cousin Robbie, since he knew some car dealers. Robbie took me to a car dealership to get an assessment of my Corolla and to check out trade-in options. Value-for-money was foremost on my mind since until the last minute, I could not decide whether to spend or not. Nanghihinayang sa pera! It was Mikko who convinced me to enjoy some of my hard-earned money.

After weighing all my options, this was my decision:

1) I decided to keep the Hilander and just upgrade it. I had some body cladding installed. I had the body lifted. I changed the mags with a second-hand set that I got from Evangelista St. in Makati for only Php7000 and brand new 15" tires. I installed power windows and replaced the sound system with Blaupunkt in-dash CD and speakers.


2) I traded-in the Corolla and got a 2000 Honda Civic automatic from Robbie's dealer. I just replaced the car stereo with an in-dash CD player. I replaced the timing belt and some parts of the front suspension. I am just waiting for the fog lamps and rear spoiler that I ordered.

Last week, my Dad asked me to go with him to take a look at some small and fuel-saving cars. We went to the Wheels Car Mall and looked at the Hyundai Getz and the Kia Picanto. He decided to buy the Kia Picanto and ordered one on-the-spot. The car was delivered a few days after. Ganun lang kabilis!!

My car hunting was a long, long process pero in the end ... happy ako!