Comparison shopping when you are not ready to commit
Is a hypothetical purchase the equivalent of a brain teaser? Or perhaps a conundrum. I’m not setting aside the pleasure derived from imagining that you will own a particular thing; rather, I’m curious about the mental process of deciding what to buy because you know you must, but not actually completing the transaction until you have to.
We’re at the point of changing vehicles. It’s already been four long years, and our next buggy will be a car, not a van. Enough of using too much gas to get from here to there. The cohort is smaller, and the compulsion to carry around sheets of plywood has never been satisfied. Something smaller is in view. The catch is the timeline. We have to return the current vehicle to the rightful owners and take our leave. Certain laws have changed, and the requirement to have snow tires for the first ten days of new car smell means buying something rubbery now.
Here’s the catch. We haven’t fixed our choice (completely), so going over to the local dealer and staring at the sidewall is not the best approach. Better that I know what the potential cost will be, do some judicious shopping and then make a precipitated purchase in time for the vehicle exchanges. More complicated than one might imagine.
I tried getting a price at the local Price store; they don’t have a wide range of product, and the young man wasn’t informed enough to tell me how much my bill will come to. This contrasts greatly with my usual (if you only shop there every few years sort of usual) tire dealer. There, they know far too much about the product. In return, the sticker is higher. What to do? I still have a few weeks, so I’m going to put my compulsive nature on hold for tonight.
