It seems that we have to be so vigilant all the time to insure that we are not going to be taken advantage of. Even though I have worked with people and their problems during my thirty year career as a social worker I still want to think the best of people. This often times gets me in trouble. I do not consider myself naïve but I do like to believe that people will treat me fair if that is the way I treat them. For some reason I draw the line of trust with used car salesmen. I do not know if I believe that all used car salesmen are dishonest, but it seems that the times I have been taken has been around a vehicle. I do not even pretend that I know anything about cars. I tell people that I do not expect the general public to know where to make referrals for services or to do mediations services, so I should not be expected to know the job of a mechanic; it is not my area of expertise. I needed to sell my mother’s cars, but I wanted to check on

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the used car values before I met with a salesman. I wanted to make sure that I had a concrete number in my head of what the cars were worth prior to going to the sales lot.

My father passed away and he and mom had two vehicles. She wanted to trade them both in and get a newer car. A friend told me that I could look up used car values in blue books. Blue books are what the car dealers use to determine the worth of a vehicle. It gives a general amount and then suggests additions or subtractions depending upon the equipment the car has, the number of miles it has on it and the general condition of the vehicle. I found the current addition of the blue book and looked up the used car values of mom’s car. I realized that she would be able to buy a new vehicle if she wanted to because the two vehicles were in good shape and had very low miles on them. My father always hand waxed the vehicles on a regular basis as well as had regular maintenance done on them.

All of these things increase used car values. I wrote down all the figures that I had come up with and also took along the blue book. I then drove one of the vehicles and my mother drove the other to the car dealer. We explained what we wanted to do regarding trading in the two vehicles for one. The sales person asked my mom some pertinent question about what she wanted in a vehicle. He quoted her very fair prices on the two vehicles. We left the two older cars there and mom drove home in a new model town car.