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The day started so innocently yesterday – picking up some books at the library. And then Jill noticed a new civic on craigslist (we’ve been scouring it daily). I had been talking some to this guy Josh at PDX Inspections, a one man on-site used car inspection service, so I called him up, knowing that he ends his week at 5pm on Fridays and isn’t open again until Monday. It was 3pm, Friday, at this point, and I expected nothing. Coordinating an inspection in a market where good deals don’t stick around long is extremely tricky – point #44393 of why buying a used car is miserable.

We headed over to check out the car, and took it for a drive. It looked great – just enough dents and dings to make me trust it and feel like I wasn’t wasting my money. It drove great and had no cigarette, cigar or dog smell. And then during the test drive, Josh called me and said that yes, he was available, on his way home from his last appt of the week, but could meet me in about 20 mins. We took it as a sign.

Josh arrived and quickly went to work (that photo’s from his site). I cannot recommend this guy’s services highly enough, and do plan to write loads of great reviews about him all over the internet. I already had gotten a great impression from his website, used his tips for calling about used cars, talked to him several times on the phone, but he seemed like an even nicer, more trustworthy individual in person. He does an incredibly thorough review of the car, and as he raced around the vehicle, plugging in and testing various fluids and submachines, speaking his notes into a voice-memo device around his neck, it was very calming. The dealer sent over some little weanie of a guy to watch over his work, and that guy irritated all of us (including leaning over the open engine while smoking a cigarette), but Josh kept calm and did his work.

Josh found nothing major wrong with it, besides some recommendations on what to replace when and noting that the back bumper had been replaced early in the life of the car (no collision damage, though), and gave me the confidence to go ahead and sign the “I acknowledge that once I drive this off the lot, the dealer is not responsible for anything at all ever” paperwork. I talked the guy down $400 from the advertised price, felt I could have probably reached more like $800 if I had been really good, but generally felt that I was getting a great car for a fairly good price.