A: Not a salt-belt car. Turns out, the majority of used Bolts for sale here in the DC area were sold new in the Northern U.S. The cold isn’t the issue. Multiple winters of driving on heavily-salted roads is the issue. I don’t want a salt-belt car.
B: No accidents, no obvious damage, no ludicrously excessive mileage. I think the rationale there goes without saying.
C: Dealer is not obviously a shithead. And here, I’m not talking about the comments on Yelp (because those are always negative). I’m just looking for a dealer where the majority of comments, on some mainstream site (e.g., cars.com), do not start off with some variation on “If I could give them negative stars … “.
As I sift through what’s listed within 25 miles of me, on Edmunds.com, this is how it shakes out. This is what mathematicians call an over-determined system of equations. Nothing satisfies all the constraints. Or, the intersection of the areas is a null set. Say it any way you like.
If I continue to pursue this, something’s going to have to give. At this point, I’m leaning toward buying a salt-belt refugee, from a seemingly decent dealer. I mean, seriously, how much damage could three winters on salted roads cause? Guess I may find out.
To be continued.
For the literal-minded of you, no, that’s not a proper Venn diagram of the situation. Some circles should overlap others, somewhere. But it doesn’t look like a surprised face then, does it? With the choice between literal mathematical correctness on a throw-away diagram, and some possible humor value, I went with attempted humor. So sue me. This is really more an expression of frustration over what ought to be a straightforward search for a commodity product. But isn’t.
