We finally picked up Gina from the Wheels Inc. dealership along E. Rodriguez. She was everything we hoped she’d be. Shiny, a joy to drive, and very, very easy on the eyes.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get her without kinks. It’s a real shame, because what should have been a truly joyous occasion was marred by otherwise unavoidable circumstances. I took the day off from work to make sure we would have a smooth transition with our car, and that didn’t happen.

First, we arrived at the dealership at quarter to five, 15 minutes ahead of our agreed time. Ownership papers weren’t quite ready yet. After rounds of signing, we received the keys to Gina at about 615PM, a good hour and a half later. As far as we knew, we were the only customers buying and checking a car out that day at that time. Did it really have to take so long?

Second, we learned that the ‘no plate, no travel’ policy of the LTO was in full effect, and a temporary permit that would allow us on the road while waiting for our license plate would not be ready until Tuesday. We purchased the car with a downpayment on Tuesday. Couldn’t they have filed a request for that permit so that we could have received it already by Friday? If we knew we were not going to be able to drive Gina for two whole weeks, maybe we wouldn’t have rushed getting her so quickly, or at least checking her out.

We don’t have a spare car - someone at the dealership thought we did, which was a little off-putting to me - and to not have a car that can be on the road, especially with Cathy so close to giving birth, was virtually suicidal! Why didn’t they tell us this ahead of time? Grrrrr.

Third and most painfully, we drove off, Cathy, Nathan and I, in our brand-new Gina, only to discover a few kilometers later, that the odometer and speedometer weren’t working! This means tomorrow, I gotta go back to the dealership so they can fix it. The car hasn’t been with us 10 minutes!

We know the Hyundai Getz is the car for us. The service afforded us, however, left much, oh so much, to be desired. I truly hope things will improve in the months, because we love our car and it’s just such a piss-off experience to go through stuff like this when so much of it can be avoided. Grrrr.

(After I was reminded that Ding sold Hyundais, I was so wracked with guilt. I know he would never let anything like this happen to us. If you wanna buy a Getz, try going to Ding; he’ll take care of you.)