But this August, when the tumors in my body
all made a re-appearance, Diana and I were prompted by the sudden impulse to do
something which surprised even ourselves: We went to buy another used car! Our
shopping experience was all-around even more theatrical than the time six years
ago, and so I was unable to resist picking up my pen to write this new article.
Our motivation for buying a car this time
wasn’t because anything had happened to our last one. Our 9-year-old Lexus is
still working perfectly, and has never given us any sort of problems. Add to
that the fact that we rarely drive anywhere aside from visiting the hospital or
buying groceries, our car at the time only had 80,000 miles on it, and was
still in the “prime of its life”, so to speak—it hadn’t changed much in the six
years since we’d bought it, and we could keep driving it for many years to come.
Our reason for buying a car this time arose
from our son Mark’s 2003 Lexus LS350. This 16-year-old, 200,000-mile car was
constantly showing malfunctions. When Mark graduated from medical school this
past May, we’d had a discussion with him, suggesting he buy a used car that was
maybe around three years old. We told him we could help with the down payment
for the car, and for the rest he could borrow a loan from the bank. But Mark
politely turned down our offer, saying that the loans for his four years of
medical school had already put him in huge debt, and he didn’t want to add any
more to that. According to him, this old 2003 car just needed a little fixing
up, and it’d be able to get by for another two or three years.
So this June, before Mark went off to work at
the UNLV School of Medicine, we spent $2,000 on maintenance for the old car,
changed out its cylinders, and made it able to start running again (this car’s
market value is probably only a few thousand itself). Because the car was too
old, Mark wouldn’t let us fix up any of the unnecessary little problems, saying
it wasn’t worth spending any more money on repairing the thing.
Near the end of June, Mark drove off to Las
Vegas, Nevada, to start his new resident job. This was a day worth commemorating
- the day he began his independent life. Watching him load his suitcases into
the car, everything prepared nice and neatly, we two old folks stepped out the
front door to give him goodbye hugs at the entrance; we understood, deep down,
that once he left it would be very difficult for us to see him again as often
as we used to, because America’s resident doctors are incredibly busy, needing
to work even during holidays, and rarely ever finding the time to take a break
and go home. We watched him back the car down the driveway, fix its direction,
then step on the gas—it was at this moment that a black board fell from the
bottom of the car, letting out an ear-piercing noise as it scraped against the
ground. Diana immediately rushed over, gesticulating wildly at Mark to get him
to stop the car. After Mark got out, the two of them both went underneath the
car in an attempt to locate the source of the problem.
It turns out that what fell from the upper
half of the chassis was the engine splash shield. This protective cover had
actually fallen off once a long time ago; according to proper procedure, we
should have taken the car to a Lexus dealer’s repair center, and let
professional mechanics change it out for a new splash shield. But we hadn’t
thought this old car was worth the cost of sending it to a Lexus dealer for
repairs, and decided to do some home repairs instead—we’d used tape to stick
the splash shield back onto the car’s chassis. It was clear now that the tape
wasn’t strong enough to handle the car’s jolting, and had all come loose.
I stood at a distance, watching as Mark pulled
spare tape from the car and, together with Diana under the blazing Southern
California sun, spent a tremendous amount of effort underneath the car taping
that splash shield back onto the chassis. I couldn’t help getting worried as I
watched: What if, during Mark’s five-hour drive to Las Vegas, this tape fell
off again?
One day in July, a guest from Qingdao named
Mr. Fang Liu came to visit me, together with his teenage son. As I chatted with
this fellow Qingdao countryman I was meeting for the first time, I casually
brought up the worry I felt over Mark’s old car. Half-jokingly, I commented
that it was really unbelievable how thrifty my medical school graduate of a son
could be, insisting on driving such an old hunk of junk to work. In truth, this
car had a lot of other little issues as well: For example, the right side-view
mirror was broken in that it could no longer be adjusted, so we’d taped that in
place as well. Another problem was that three of the car’s four doors were
broken, particularly the right side - they’d creak loudly every time you opened
them, making you worry that they might fall right off at any moment. Aside from
that, the front-right door couldn’t be opened from the outside, a fact which
made things particularly inconvenient for our Doctor Chang, who’s currently
dating a beautiful girl studying in a dental school. Just imagine: Doctor Chang
drives over to pick his girlfriend up for a date, only to be entirely unable to
perform that gentlemanly action of opening the door and helping get her seated,
and has to leave the poor girl standing alone on the curb while he goes around
and climbs in through the driver’s side to push the door open from inside. That
would be pretty embarrassingly awkward, wouldn’t it?
When I told the guest from Qingdao the story
of Mark and his car, it was no more than an attempt at finding a casual topic
to talk about; I didn’t have any particular goal behind it, nor did I hope for
any suggestions from him. But to my surprise, after hearing this story, Mr. Liu
immediately turned to his teenage son with a stern look on his face and said:
“Did you hear that? This man’s son finished medical school and is working as a
resident doctor, yet he’s still driving an almost 20-year-old car. Then here
you’re just a high school student and you’re already trying to get your dad to
buy you a new car for college. We need to learn to follow Dr. Chang’s example!”
Mr. Liu’s reaction was far beyond anything I’d expected.
Speaking of Mark stubbornly refusing to
replace the old car, his main reason for it was that he felt his student loans
from four years of medical school had already put him in deep enough debt, plus
American resident doctors do not have particularly high pay, so it would be
another three years before he can finish his residency and gain the financial
ability to start paying it back. Until then, his student loans will continue to
accumulate interests, and will grow to be even greater; he does not want to add
another liability to the pile.
Mark’s first job in residency began in July,
in the intensive care unit of the hospital’s ER ward. The kind of patients one
finds in an intensive care unit are all people toeing the line between life and
death; this is a department with heavy responsibilities, whose residents are
incredibly busy. Because he was a novice in this department, Mark began getting
up early and coming home late to better get himself into working form, his
average work day stretching as long as 12-16 hours. Sometimes when things got
busy, he didn’t have any time to eat a single meal all day. Hearing how
difficult his job was, and knowing there was no way for us two old folks to
help him, all we could do was sit at home and quietly pray to our Heavenly Father,
so that He may grant him the strength and wisdom to succeed in a position with
such heavy responsibilities. We rarely even had the courage to call him on the
phone, afraid we might interrupt what little free time he had to sleep in his
otherwise hectic work day. He rarely called us either, during this time, so we
could only ever get news about him from the short messages he’d occasionally
post on Facebook.
However, in the last week of July, we received
an unexpected phone call from him. Over the phone, he told us that his old car
had suddenly broken down on the way to work, and after being towed to a nearby
repair shop, it was discovered that the alternator had broken. He was now
waiting for a colleague to come pick him up to take him to the hospital. Mark’s
phone call led the two of us to wonder if maybe letting him drive off in that
old car hadn’t been the smartest choice. This aged car with its constantly
occurring mechanical problems didn’t seem capable of keeping up with the frenetic
work pace of a resident doctor working a 12-to-16-hour daily schedule.
What finally completely destroyed what
remaining faith we had in the car was at the end of July, when Mark drove home
from Las Vegas to take part in a friend’s wedding. When he got out of the car,
I saw him pull out a tattered black plate; it turned out the engine plash
shield had fallen off yet again. As I stared at the unbelievably damaged shield
in his hands, a wave of pity towards Mark washed over me. Although I didn’t ask
for the details of his breakdown this time, I could imagine him stopping the
car by the side of the road, in that barren and empty desert wasteland that
stretches between Nevada and California, laying on the burning hot ground
beneath a blazing hot sun to check on an engine splash shield that had fallen
due to loose tape...this was really too unsafe. But Mark didn’t seem to think
it was a big problem at all; he told us that if he drove it to a Lexus dealer
and changed out the shield it would cost him $400, whereas he could buy a
shield online for about $30 and ask a nearby repair shop to install it, thus
saving him $300.
That night Diana and I came to a consensus:
During Mark’s time as an overworked and busy resident doctor, he shouldn’t be
using what little energy he has left to keep fixing this car. We decided to
give our 9-year-old Lexus LS 460 to him, and we could go out to buy ourselves a
new used car with not too many years on it.
Finding used cars online is one of my
specialties. These past years, from my three children learning to drive in high
school, to buying their own cars after graduating college, the cars they got
were all used cars I found online myself. Over time, some of my friends have
heard about my car-buying experience, and often ask me to help them find
good-quality, affordable used cars for them. This time was no exception: On
July 31st, I only needed the one day’s time to set my sights on a used car I’d
found through Carfax. Carfax is a website focused on providing information on
used cars in North America - with its enormous database, it’s known to have
access to twenty billion records from more than 100,000 sources, including
motor vehicle departments for all 50 US states and all 10 Canadian provinces.
What leaves me the greatest impression is the vehicle history report this site
provides, which gives a detailed record of each car’s manufacture date,
maintenance record, whether or not it’s been in an accident, how many miles it
has at present, and a lot of other important information. This site’s founder,
Ewin Barnet III, originally created this database in opposition to the many
used car lots full of cars with falsified miles, a move which was highly
welcomed by consumers.
What I found on this website was a used car of
the same make as the one I’d bought six years ago, a Lexus LS 460; this 2015
car had only run 26,000 miles, and yet the price was half that of a new car.
Its vehicle history report included a complete maintenance, which didn’t show
records of any sort of accidents.
The next morning, on August 1st, I used the
phone number provided on Carfax to call the seller, hoping to ask whether this
car was still up for sale. The dealership representative who answered my call
was Romio Gorgis, an employee with noticeable salesmanship skills; he told me
that someone from out-of-state already had interest in this car (I’m not sure
if this was true or not), but if I came to their dealership today, he could
guarantee that my purchase would take priority. He also said that this car had
no margin for haggling - it had to go out at the listed price of $42,000 (this
was true). I told him over the phone that we didn’t have this much cash
available off-hand, and that aside from our bank savings and what last-minute
money we could borrow off our credit card, we’d have to go to Credit Union Bank
and ask for a car loan; we’d have to wait until the bank approved our loan
before we could look at the car. I checked the map to find that this dealership
was situated in the western end of San Diego close to the border of Mexico, a
2-hour drive away. Driving such a long way just to look at a car we couldn’t
yet afford certainly wouldn’t be a very wise decision. But Romio offered an
attractive suggestion: If my credit score was good, he said, then even if the
bank had yet to approve my loan, I would still be able to take the car home
today.
Romio’s suggestion sounded very attractive,
and so Diana and I decided to drive down to the dealership to look at the car.
As we were on our way out the door, we pulled Mark along into the car with us.
But Mark was at a loss as to our impulsive decision; he didn’t understand why
we would want to go through the trouble of borrowing loans to buy another car
again when we were aging and riddled with illness, or rush into it so quickly
like a troop heading into battle. There was no way for us to explain it clearly
to him at the time, either - we simply implored him to help act as our driver,
because this dealership was too far from our home.
Mark drove for over two hours before finally
bringing us to our destination. The moment we got out of the car, we saw Romio
already standing by the entrance of the building, waiting to welcome us. He
enthusiastically led us to a room with an automatic coffee machine in it,
inviting us to rest a while and drink some coffee. We were told he’d already
brought out the car we were interested in and parked it outside the hall.
The moment I set eyes on this shiny white
Lexus model, she had me hooked. Although this car was also a Lexus LS460, she
wasn’t anything like the LS460 we’d bought six years ago; this was an F Sport
model sports car. The first impression I got from her was that of an art piece
brimming over with inspiration. The fenders on both sides had the distinctive
“F SPORT” label engraved in them, showcasing the car’s special status as a
sports model. The contours of her body were designed in a dynamic, flowing
style, outlining the still-graceful curves of her novelty and fashion.
Romio invited the three of us to sit inside
the car for a test drive, with Diana driving, Romio in the front passenger
seat, and Mark and me sitting in the back. Diana drove very carefully as she
listened to Romio explain different details about the car’s interior,
particularly the central console’s complicated electronic system, with its
navigation, radio, multimedia, phone, system settings, air conditioning, and
other functions. I wasn’t listening to the details of their conversation,
because even if I did put effort into listening, I knew I wouldn’t be able to
understand all this new technology. The only thing I could understand was when
Romio said this Lexus F Sport model sports car was a rare find in the used car
market, because most owners of this sport car model would keep it for many
years.
Once we’d finished the test drive, Romio led
us to the dealership’s financial department, where we were received by a young
finance manager who’d only just begun working this year. After exchanging
handshakes and greetings, this young man got straight to the point, and said to
me: “I’ve checked your credit report, and you have the highest credit score
I’ve seen.”
“What is my credit score?” I curiously asked
him. Having been stuck convalescing at home for so long, I hadn’t bothered
checking my own credit report in years.
“Your credit score is 837, almost 850, which
is really incredibly rare - only 10% of consumers can manage to get a credit
score that high.”
“Then can I take the car home with me today?”
I asked, half-joking.
“Of course you can, your credit is amazing!
I’ll get the contract written up right now, and once you’ve signed it you can
take the car home. But remember, you have to have the bank loan ready within a
week.”
I could barely believe my ears - I’d lived in
America for almost 40 years, but this was the first time I’d been able to take
home a car from a car dealer before ever getting a bank loan. Before we left
the dealership, in order to commemorate this extraordinary car-buying
experience, we took a photo together with Romio.
In the dealership parking lot, I gave Mark the
key of our 9-year-old Lexus LS460, saying: “From now on, you’re going to be the
owner of this car. Thank you for coming with us today - if you weren’t willing
to come, Mom and I would have had to drive these two cars home separately.”
Mark seemed still not to have recovered from
the lightning-quick decision we had made today; he took the key from my hand,
then sincerely said: “Thank you, both of you, but I don’t think I deserve to
have a car this nice.” I thought to myself, it looks like this frugal son of
mine still needs some time to completely forget that old car.
On the way home, I sat in the front-right seat
of the new used sports car, watching as Diana uncharacteristically drove at
high speed down the freeway. Because this was a sports car, it could go from 0
to 60 mph in a span of only six seconds. It seemed Diana wanted to test this
ability, racing down the freeway at top speed, sometimes even getting up to 100
mph. Seeing all the cars that got left behind in our dust, the two of us felt a
great sense of rejuvenation.
Afterwards Diana explained to me that she
actually hadn’t realized how fast she was going; because this car was situated
lower than the average automobile, making people feel closer to the ground and
giving a greater sense of motion, it was very easy to excite the driver into
wanting to drive faster. Aside from that, this particular sports car had an
electronically-controlled adaptive variable air suspension system, which
lowered the center of gravitational force, decreased the jolting you’d get from
high-speed driving, and improved the car’s stability and agility, all of which
combined to cause Diana to push it up to 100 mph and still have us feeling like
the ride was as smooth as ever.
The next day, August 2nd, I joyfully uploaded
a few pictures from our dealership experience onto social media Wechat. Many of
my friends expressed their congratulations, all agreeing that I’d bought a good
quality used car at a real bargain. But my old friend Chen from Shandong Province left a
very curious message. This is what he wrote: “Can someone at your age still
take out loans in America? Here in China it’s impossible.”
I immediately started talking with Chen,
asking why people my age were unable to get bank loans in China. His reply was
that China’s banks had no trust in the repayment ability of people 65 and up.
He went on to say: “We can’t even get a home equity loan against our house, let
alone consumer goods like cars…”
Chen’s words were a stark reminder which got
me worrying about whether my car loan might suffer the same fate of rejection
as the elderly people of China did. After all, I was an old retiree and, even
worse, a late-stage cancer patient. Would the bank feel at ease loaning money
to a sick old man like me, who could go off to see the Lord at any moment?
I quickly called up the bank’s loan
department. A female staff member answered the phone; I sent her copies of the
car’s sales contract, as well as the Lexus finance manager’s contact
information, then told her that I’d only been given a week to obtain the loan
and hoped that she could approve my loan application as quickly as possible.
She told me that, because my credit score was very high, I could get the best
interest rate of 2.7%, and that the process could be completed in only two
days.
After hanging up the phone, I let out a deep
sigh of relief - it looks like American banks only focus on debtors’ credit
history when it comes to judging their ability and willingness to repay, not on
other factors such as my life expectancy as a cancer patient. My guess is that
this is due to Western civilization’s overwhelming belief in spirit of
contract. Because my credit score is extremely high, the bank’s loan department
had no doubt whatsoever in my trustworthiness; even if they knew I was an old
man, a man who could lose my life to cancer at any moment, they still approved
my loan without the slightest hesitation.
The Bible says: “Rejoice always, pray
continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you
in Christ Jesus.” (Thessalonians 5:16-18) These past few days Diana and I have
been overflowing with thanksgiving. We give thanks to the Lord, for giving us a
humble and grateful son who is not obsessed with materialism; we give thanks to
the Lord, for letting us do what little we can as parents in giving Mark our
old car, and letting him focus his energy on his sacred duty as a resident
doctor helping people in need; we give thanks to the Lord, for keeping my heart
full of joy even on the sixth cancer recurrence; we give thanks to the Lord,
for allowing the two of us to feel rejuvenated again, driving a sports car fast
as a wild whirlwind down the freeway…
Originally written in Chinese by Joseph Chang on Aug 22, 2019
Translated to English by Ida von
Mizaner on Sept. 12, 2019
Edited by Joseph Chang on Sept 19,
2019
