car buying

My husband's car is eleven years old. He has a long commute to work everyday. It is time to buy him a new car. Actually about three years ago it was time to buy him a new car, but we had another baby instead.

After much research he decided on the Volvo S40. Safe, good gas mileage, should last us another eleven years. After looking at hundreds online he found a year old one that seemed like a good deal. Yesterday, we went to the dealer to check it out. We took it for a drive. I had important concerns like where I could plug in my iPod. After addressing that, all was well until he discovered that the owners manual was missing. Not in the glove compartment. Or the truck. Or the backseat. No owners manual.

We sat down with the salesman. We agreed on the price. We agreed on our trade in. But wait. There was no owners manual. Do you have it? Err, we can look around for one, sure (clearly not grasping the importance of the owners manual). Despite this, we went ahead with the deal.

In the car on the way home and again at dinner my husband brought up the importance of the owners manual. Its absence was clearly stressing him out much more than the large amount of money we had just spent.

Later, in our usual positions on the couch, both on our laptops:

Him: Hey, I can get an owners manual on eBay for $40.
Me: Interesting.

Note to self: find owners manual for car and sell on eBay