Rants and Sagas

Missy Knows-It-All Ah, the stories I could tell you...

iMotors.com I Miss You! I have a mammogram for you!  (coming soon) lazyassrealtors.com (coming soon)

So sit back, light a cig, have a cup of joe and let Missy tell you a few things

iMotors.com I Miss You! Back in 2001 I was in the market for a new car. Well, a new car for me.  Not necessarily the kind of car that depreciates five grand the moment it rolls of the dealer's lot. And being the 'Net Nut that I am, I turned to it to begin my research and stumbled upon iMotors.com.  Not quite prepared to take the final plunge and actually buy a car, I bookmarked it and forgot about it ... until it was time to buy.  And then I stumbled upon it yet a second time. Not a fan of coincidences, I decided to give it a whirl.  Just for kicks and giggles, you know?

Navigation THIS SITE Main Page About Me Goals and Purpose Exercise and Diet Childhood Photos Charts Humor > Rants and Sagas < ________________ iMotors.com I Miss You! I have a mammogram for you! lazyassrealtors.com __________________ OFF SITE Online Journal Short Stories "Journal" DIETING AND BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION HELP SITES FitDay.com CalorieKing.com OTHER WEIGHT LOSS  DIARIES Chubby Mum Eyes Wide Open Jenn Diva Fat-To-Thin Fat Queen Holly NormalToilet Sarah Swirl Girl CONTACT Email Diaryland Notes

The masses were greatly confused and disoriented after news iMotors.com had closed their doors once and for all -- a sad day in history.

It didn't take long to fill out the form and within hours of completing the "order" I received a call from what would become my service manager.  He explained that iMotors.com had several buyer agents throughout the US that were given the specs for the car I wanted to buy and would be looking for it at auctions throughout their area.  If they found one that met my exact specifications, they woud buy it and send it to one of the regional check point centers where it would undergo a mega-point inspection and, if needed, repairs.  From there, it is shipped to the kiosk nearest me and then it's time to come in for a test drive, presentation of the loan documents and you get the car.  Beautiful.  He went on to explain that if a buyer agent found one that didn't exactly meet the specs (different color, more miles, etc.) but was a close fit, they would call into the service manager who in turn would contact me and we would then have a three way conversation to determine whether the car would do or if they should pass it up.  Again, beautiful.

A few days later at 6:30 AM the phone rang. It was my service manager who had a buyer in Washington (state) on the line.  He had a car on his list that met most of my specs, however it had about ten-thousand more miles and was plum color, not forest green. I could handle the plum, but the mileage? Pass on by.  Okay, thank you, have a good day. That easy. A day later, a call from Tennessee.  This time the car had a few more thousand miles (passable) but it was an automatic. Negative. Pass on by.  No problem, ma'am, have a great day!

Missy decided the make and model of this beaut didn't quite meet her specs.  Pass, she said. No problem, have a great day, the buyer agent replied.

A few days later and growing a bit skeptical this may not have been the ideal way to shop for a used car, yet another call came through with a buyer agent located in Florida on the other end.  The miles were a bit higher but only by about five thousand.  It was forest green, just as requested, but had cloth seats.  Manual? Yes, ma'am. Air conditioning? Standard, I believe, but yes, it has a/c.  And just like that, the go-ahead was given and my service manager stayed on the line long enough to explain the process from that point.  Since the car was on auction, there was a chance the buyer agent wouldn't be able to get it.  If he did, they would let me know later that afternoon.  It was nearly five when they called me back ... the agent was able to get it and it was being shipped up to their Ohio check point facility for the mega-point inspection.  In roughly two to three weeks, the car should be ready to go on a test drive unless there were more repairs than anticipated.  Luckily there weren't and in three weeks I was driving my "new" Toyota Camry home.

Interestingly enough, when we were finishing up in the small kiosk in the parking lot of a strip mall, the salesman told us that we had 72 hours in which if we found there was something wrong or that the car just didn't work for us, we could return it and get a full refund.  Now where can you go and hear that?  Still, we headed our past experiences and took the car to our mechanic the following day.  I presented him with the thick inspection booklet with their meticulous records and all the repairs they completed ... and why.  Minor things, like new tires on the front and buffing out the upholstery on the back of the seats from where it appeared a small dog had scratched it -- none of which was noticeable even to the trained eye.  Our mechanic, who used to be the head mechanic for a large car manufacturer and certified used cars for many years, took her for a test drive going from painfully slow to wildly fast, put her up on the rack and went over her with a fine tooth comb.

Missy waited with baited breath ... was it a lemon? Too good to be true? Tell me, tell me do!

He looked at me with wide eyed awe and then, finally smiled widely.  "I have to tell you, Missy," he said with a slight shake of his head that sent my stomach into a rolling motion, threatening to eject my lunch.  "This is one of the cleanest, best looking used cars I've ever laid my eyes on."  And thus he gave it his blessings.  The price was right, the service impeccable and the process was amazingly painless.  Sadly, however, a few months later as we started investigating a replacement truck for my husband's gas guzzling F[ound] O[n] R[oad] D[ead] SUV and looked toward iMotors.com, we were sadly dismayed to learn that they were closing up shop.  The reason? They didn't have sufficient capital to continue providing the service they had given to hundreds, thousands and possibly millions of customers prior to us.  Now as I must once again look for another car and wish it could be a used car that doesn't depreciate by thousands before it even drives off the lot, I'm not willing to risk it with all of the questionable folks out there.  iMotors.com ... come back!  Missy needs you!

Oops!  Missy ran out of room!  The other two articles, soon to be added, will be linked from here.  Thanks for stopping by!  Check out Missy's diary for news and updates (including updates for here!).