The Doublewide Husband and I went to a car lot to win a lawnmower and came home with a car. Not a free car, mind you.

So, you know those fliers you get in the mail from local car salespeople touting their “gigantic sale” or “low prices bound to beat the guy down the street” — sometimes the postcard will have a little cheap metal key (or other cheapo thing) attached. It might say something like, “you may have already won — come on down and see if your number matches the winning number on our board!”

Well, we scratched off some boxes on the scratch-off part of the card and, low and behold, we had two matching boxes with pictures of cherries on them.

We’re in the money! We’re in the money!

We just knew a new John Deere was in our immediate future. I could picture it gliding across the yard cutting the tall grass with perfection. (we have a lawnmower, but it’s not a John Deere)

So off we go to the dealership to present our winning card and work out the arrangements to haul the loot home. Dreams of a new lawnmower danced in our heads all the way down the road. I won’t keep you in suspense. We did not win a lawnmower.  Surprise…. surprise!

As soon as we pulled on the lot and parked, a little sales guy was ready to whisk us away to his office to get some information. He was smooth — said it was for marketing purposes. I’m sure it was required for their whole weekend promotional thing, but still. I have to add that we were sort of willing participants, because we were already kinda sorta looking for a new vehicle. My old car, Harold, had a LOT of miles on him and it was time to say goodbye. We just didn’t plan on it being so soon.

Once our sales guy had the information he needed we walked out on the lot to look over the offerings. They were featuring one car that I didn’t care for, but we took it for a test drive anyway. I instantly felt like I was sitting down in a bucket and that confirmed the featured car wasn’t for me.

Eventually we made our way over to the preowned side of the lot. They say “preowned” now – – it seems that there are no more “used” cars out there. Sure enough, we found one we liked and took it for a spin. I liked it so well, I almost drove it home — along with our little sales guy in the backseat!

Back at the lot, we worked out a deal and signed on the dotted line. The new vehicle was ours to drive home. Elvis the Equinox officially became part of the family. The Doublewide husband and I left happy with our purchase. Our car shopping journey ended quickly.

I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom – it’s up to you whether you listen or not.  Beware of car sales promotional cards that arrive in the mail and little car sales guys who tell you that you’ve for sure won something like he’s had that line on repeat all weekend. You’ll leave the lot with a $2 bill and a new vehicle.