tow vehicle decision - part three

Closure is a beautiful thing, and I am here to both obtain it and provide it in this post -- a closure double-play! Using the evaluation criteria from my last post on this topic, I will arrive at the best decision for my 2009 tow vehicle needs by using a method I like to call ''help-I'm-going-all-neurotic-and-overthinking-stuff-again,' or HIGANOSA for those who prefer made-up acronym-type words.

At first, I tried to assign a score to each combination of option and criterium without assigning a weighting to the criteria just to keep it simple, but then I realized that I would definitely need to assign relative weightings to each criterium. For example, it wouldn't be appropriate to give equal importance to potential for disaster and scalable, since (1) I seem to leave a trail of disasters in my wake everywhere I go and then I go all helpless, vulnerable female and I hate it when I do that, and (2) I'm not planning to buy a bigger boat anytime soon.... unless I marry a sailor or otherwise 'marry up' or something. Therefore, I assigned a weighting of 10 to potential for disaster and a 4 to scalable.

Based on this method -- or "methodology," if you're one of those people who prefer to use meaningless, annoying execu-speak [and I'm whistling innocently as I type this] -- I came up with the following:

Each score indicates the attractiveness of the option for each criteria. (I initially screwed this up completely, and I just spent the past 20 minutes still reeling from utter confusion.) For example, for Cost, continue to mooch off friends gets a 9 (because it's mostly free) while buy a honda pilot gets a 0 (because the car payment would feel more like a mortgage payment.)

So after all this flailing and obsessing, here's how things shook out:




I guess I'll be mooching off my friends at the club for one more year! I'll bring the coffee, donuts, and adult-type beverages to express my gratitude for their cheerful generosity! Renting a truck (as suggested by my friend J.P. Clowes, the sailor who taught me humility at my first regatta in 2006 when he crossed the finish line in his Daysailer II before I rounded the first mark in my Capri 18) was a close second. I'm a little surprised that buy a pilot came in 3rd, ahead of buy a beater truck. I'm not sure if the scalability and dependability of the Pilot is really sufficient to support buying a $35,000 vehicle. My checkbook most certainly doth NOT runneth over. As an aside, I recently spent a lot of time at my Honda dealership having my CR-V (178k miles and still running like a dream!) checked out. Just to kill time and have fun with the sales-boys, I went outside to gape at the Pilots, and then I went inside to ask some questions about the towing capacity and stuff like that. All three of the sales-boys were falling all over each other to give me their business cards and brochures and stuff. Good times. Have I mentioned that I like boys? I like boys a lot. Anyway, one of the boys came to see me in the service department waiting room and gave me more of his Pilot pitch and a second business card. I told him that in all honesty I would have a difficult time justifying the purchase of a vehicle that seats seven for just me and my dog. Sales boys have an answer for every objection (because that's their job and all), and his answer to this was that my dog could have the option of sitting in a different seat every time we went for a ride. I told him I would talk it over with my dog, and if she would willing to get a job and help with the payments, I would consider trading in my CR-V right away. Otherwise, I intend to drive the CR-V until the day it dies -- at least another 100k miles or so. Judy Jetson was not open to considering the whole job concept. She was all 'What? Go to work instead of just napping all day? You've got to be kidding me!' Yeah, Mommy knows, bubula.... Mommy knows.

Judy 'take that job and shove it' Jetson

... Anyway, so there it is. The mooching begins sometime after Launch Day, which is April 1st! I hope that you have enjoyed this Journey of Discovery with me. Okay - if you need me, I'll be upstairs cataloging my handbags by 'cubic inches of storage space.'