For Sale!

Meet the Prizm. We love this little car. It used to be my dad's, but he gave it to me after I got home from my mission. (Thanks, Daddy!) It it compact, easy to drive and park, has never broken down or overheated, and gets the best gas mileage ever! The only problem we have ever had with it is last summer, the air conditioner stopped working. It still blows air, it's just not cold. The mechanic looked for a leak in the system for almost an hour and never really found anything definitive. He said that he thinks the leak might be in the compressor, but if there is one, it is a very slow leak. He sent us away with a working air conditioner (he just put new freon in it), but it leaked out again after about 10 days or so. So, we just left the windows rolled down and made it through the summer!
With a baby on the way, however, we decided that we needed a car with a working a/c. Plus that, the Prizm can barely fit her stroller in the trunk, let alone groceries. So we bought a 2000 Toyota Camry with a working a/c, bigger trunk, and a lot less miles. The Prizm is also a 2000 and has 119,600 miles.
We knew we needed to sell our precious Prizm, but couldn't really bring ourselves to do it. However, after me being on maternity leave for 3 months and living off of only Jason's part-time income, it finally needs to go. We put it up on Craigslist for $4,200 (it blue books for $4,400) but didn't get any takers. We lowered it to $3,800 and have gotten several people to come by and look at it.
Of course, with our luck, we noticed a week or so after we started trying to sell it that there was a crack in the windshield! It was down by the windshield wipers and didn't interfere with visibility at all so we didn't think it was that big of a deal. However, everyone who came to look at it was concerned about it passing inspection. Plus that, the inside driver's door handle had been cracked for years and required a little bit of talent to get it open. Nobody wanted to buy our car.
So, we gave it a makeover! The above picture is of the door handle today. Would you ever know it was broken? We got the part from a Chevy dealer for $30 and Jason installed it himself in about 20 minutes. (What a handyman!) I don't know why we didn't do that YEARS ago! Also, we replaced the windshield, got the oil changed, and it just passed Safety and Emissions yesterday! Our Chevy Prizm is all ready for the prom!! We have a guy coming to see it at 1:00 today, so wish us luck!

Oh, and if you know anybody who is looking for a good commuter car for under $4,000, send them our way. It's got new tires (we put them on in December), a Toyota engine, and is all scrubbed and vacuumed inside. (I don't know why it looks kind of dirty in the pictures, I think it's the lighting.) Plus that, the upholstery is in almost new condition. It had seat covers on it for a long time and there have never been any kids in it so there are no Cheerios, crayons, or car seat rubs. =) The Chevy Prizm has an EXCELLENT consumer rating and often runs well past 200,000 miles (see it's reviews at kbb.com). We need to find our baby a good home!