Our “new” 2017 Corolla
We knew that we had to get a small car when we got to Fort Myers. Jett continues to refuse to drive the GMC dually and, truth be told, I wouldn’t be comfortable with her behind the wheel of The Beast. So our choice was to either get a “winter rat” – a cheap (under $5,000) car that we would sell at the end of the season – or a better car (under $15000) that we would keep for at least 3 years and would transport to and from New England. Actually, the transport decision is not cast in concrete as we could, conceivably, leave the car in storage in Florida and buy a “summer rat” for use in New England, as we did last year. But that would mean paying insurance on *3* cars and probably tying down the car we leave in Florida. But it would save the cost of transporting it. Another decision for another day.
I looked at some cheap cars and found some that would probably serve, but none as nice as the $4,000 Ford Focus we had this summer. And Jett was strongly in favor of getting a car with more than a 90-day warranty. So we went back to the Toyota AutoNation lot where we bought the Yaris in 2012 to see what they had to offer for under $15,000. The pickings were slim and the choice really came down to which 2017 Corolla was best. The only features that were required were cruise control and a CD player and all 3 had those. We opted for the slate gray one because of the low miles (about 41,000) and the cleanliness of the interior.
With tax, registration and an optional extended warranty, the final price was nearly $17,000. More than I was planning to spend, but acceptable. Within 2 hours we had our winter rat, which was nice enough that we can’t call it that.
We couldn’t actually take it home with us that night because it was dark by the time we finished the paperwork (Jett doesn’t drive after dark), but we got it the next day.