As I start to write this, Jim is on the Amtrak heading to Saratoga; I'll leave to pick him up before long and we'll hopefully stop and get a bite to eat before heading home. Jim's had quite the day.
However, the adventure of selling the truck has been going on behind the scenes for awhile. After not getting much of a response with his Albany Craigslist ad, he ventured out and advertised it both on eBay and in the NYC Craigslist. He got a lot of inquiries - the eBay ad got almost 1,000 views before he pulled it!
But one person was very interested. However, they came with lots of scary baggage. The story was that the buyer was located in St. Maarten in the Caribbean. He owned a laundry company and was looking for an Isuzu truck. Of course, when you advertise on Craigslist, you have to be really careful to filter out the scams because there are a lot of them. This one had lots of red flags. However, the guy said that his brother-in-law lived in Queens and would be the intermediary for the sale.
They eventually arranged a time for this guy to look at the truck. Jim met him in the Lowe's parking lot to make sure there were people around. The guy was very nice, didn't dither on the price (another red flag), signed a bill of sale, and gave Jim a 20% cash deposit. He went back to NYC and Jim took the truck and the cash home. Trying to be diligent, we even checked the money with a counterfeit pen - it all appeared to be legit.
Then more craziness began - Jim had agreed to take the truck down to NYC as part of the deal and kept trying to set up a schedule. The Queens guy apparently went on vacation down to St. Maarten, no one returned texts, and the wondering set back in. This went on for a few weeks - Jim would text both of them and not get any satisfaction. At this point, we had their cash and the truck but Jim was also thinking ahead to Plan B.
But Jim was also doing the behind the scenes work in case it went through - talking to the insurance company, getting all the paperwork in order including an updated final bill of sale, and cleaning out the truck. Another great part of this sale was that the guy didn't want Jim to put a new door on the back - but he wanted the old door panels so Jim tied them down to the floor. And waited.
Finally, just yesterday, all the stars aligned, Jim got an address and they agreed that Jim would bring the truck down today. Thankfully, Kyle was a great help in figuring out the logistics of this trip. Like who would know that there are certain roads that trucks can't travel on in the city so you need to use a special truck navigation app? Kyle found a Home Depot near the address and arranged to meet Jim before heading to the guy's house.
Jim got up early and was heading out about 6:45 this morning.
But the trip down was so stressful for Jim once he got close to the city. Jim thought that the traffic would be less on a Sunday and maybe it was, but it was still crazy. It was difficult to hear and see the map in the truck navigation app so Jim basically had to wear his readers and drive with the phone in one hand. Then add to the fact that it was raining the entire way, Jim was driving this huge truck and not having a clue where he was going - Jim called me at one point and said he was never driving to NYC again! We haven't talked much yet but he already told me a few crazy stories - like he was in the middle of 3 lanes stopped at a red light when not one but three cars in the left lane turned right in front of him! He told Kyle that people don't drive like that in Saratoga! Then there was the problem with tolls and bridges - this app took Jim over the George Washington Bridge twice. We had already turned in our EZPass for the truck and they didn't accept cash. They apparently take a picture of your license and bill you - however, Jim saw that it was going to be almost $50 for a trip across the bridge!
Jim finally got to the Home Depot and Kyle came shortly after. They went to the guy's house which was in a pretty terrible neighborhood and eventually it all worked out. The guy gave him cash which Kyle was trying to count out, using a storage tub as a table in their garage, and except for 4 $100 bills the rest was all $20 bills! But finally the deed was done - the guy signed the bill of sale and Jim signed the title over to him.
Here's a picture of the truck in its new, albeit temporary, home. They are apparently going to be making arrangements to ship it to the Caribbean. They said they would send pictures to Jim but we'll see if that happens
Then thankfully Kyle was there to drive! They headed to Yonkers which was an Amtrak station north of Penn Station so they would have some time to get something to eat and visit before Jim had to get on the train.
However, then the train thing was a bit difficult. There wasn't a place to buy tickets in the station; thankfully, the conductor left him on the train and he did it over the phone.
I'll post this once I get home - I'm just so glad this all worked out - I was more than a little worried since we've all heard of one too many Craigslist sales taking a bad turn. But Jim did all the preparation he could ahead of this and then has no fear!
I'm off to go pick him up at the train station! This was such a stressful day that it had seemed like forever since I saw Jim. The Saratoga train station is small and quaint - I sure was happy to see Jim get off the train!
Home again - we went to one of our favorite places to eat, Bailey's, and then to Ben & Jerry's for an ice cream to celebrate. Jim is so happy to be home! It was a good, successful trip and we're so thankful to Kyle for all the assistance - but there's no place like home!
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| High 49/Low 45 - rainy |
