Well...it's warming up here

I found out what happens when you have a global policy for expats, you could end up with stupid results.  Like me.  I am from Singapore, where the cost of running a car is very high.  I am now in the USA, where the cost of running a car is lower.   Well, the company leases a car for free for one month.  Thereafter I have to contribute, the contribution being based on this "notional man" running a car in Singapore.  Well, my first month finished...and as I haven't bought a car yet, I had to extend my rental.   It then worked out that my contribution to the lease charges would be more than the lease charge itself!  The rental per month was about USD860.  The lease contribution?  About USD1,300.  Not surprisingly, I declined the benefit of the company rental and opted to pay the car rental out of my own pocket.

 

In the meantime, news on my new car....?  Well.  I just applied my usual illogical decision-making process, and narrowed it down to a choice of 1.  So that sort of made things easy...  I wanted an all wheel drive car because of the snow and ice, but the company gave me a rather low budget (I think they expect everyone will want one of those yank tanks everyone drives..).  So I will in all probability end up with an un-sexy Subaru Legacy.  It's the only AWD in the budget..  I could fork out money myself and top-up the company loan, but I don't really want to spend more money than I have to.   The company is giving me an interest-free loan, and I get depreciation protection of up to 14% a year, so I want to keep the amounts small.  I suppose unlike most people, I've always viewed driving as a necessary evil that gets me from A to B.   That coupled with the fact that I only use the car at weekends means really, I'm looking for a utility that keeps me safe.  And as this un-sexy car tops its class in the safety tests run by insurers, plus an AWD, well.. it works for me.

 

I was also debating whether or not to buy an automatic or revert back to driving a manual car.  One test drive with the manual test car has convinced me that the automatic is the way to go:  most of Cincinnati's roads have traffic lights every 100 metres, (or more likely, yards!)  and that gave my under-used left leg a workout just using the clutch!  Okay.  So Subaru it is.  And no, not a station wagon - for some reason everyone in the office thinks that Subaru only produces station wagons...http://www.subaru-global.com/lineup/legacy/sedan/   This Hobson's choice means I avoid the whole thinking process.    So in theory, I should have a car in about a week or two - as soon as I can get payroll to process the loan application... 

 

Well.  While waiting for the arrival of my things this Friday (yippee!!) I've been trying to envision what my place would look like, and what other furniture I need.  After mulling over it a little, I went online and bought some of the stuff that I would need once the rental furniture provided for me by the company is removed on Thursday.  So a dinner set and a sofa set is now on order from Ikea.  Love the stuff from there - most of my bookcases come from them.  No time to keep debating... I suppose the difference is that instead of "settling" into a new home  I am always in a transient mode: so it's more what works, as opposed to buying to keep... I still have to get a few other things, but they can wait until I am a bit more settled.