Over the years, most of the vehicles we have owned were purchased used. Even when we have purchased new vehicles, we have chosen vehicles that were in stock at dealers and that the dealers were eager to sell. Only once in our lives have we specified the color of a vehicle. Years ago we ordered a vehicle through a local dealer and we picked out a blue color from the available choices. The rest of the time, we haven’t had any say ab out what color our vehicles are. We’ve had several blue cars, quite a few silver ones, one that was black, one that was a terrible 1970’s green color, and a while vehicle.

Once, when it was time to trade vehicles, I said to my family, “I’m going to go buy a red pickup.” I never did find a red pickup that was for sale at a price we could afford and I ended up purchasing one that was a different color. When the time came for our daughter to have her first car, we did find one that was red. The little Chevrolet has been totaled in an accident, but had been rebuildable and a many who liked to work on vehicles had put it back together with used parts and had it painted its original color. I liked the look of that car and when our daughter moved to England for a while, I drove it as my commuter vehicle.I liked driving the small red car and felt a little flashy as I drove it around.

My saying that I want a red vehicle and not actually buying one has become a bit of a joke in our family. When we have traded vehicles, I’ve heard, “What color of red did you get this time?” My current red pickup truck is silver. The one before that one was silver too, though a slightly different shade with just a touch of copper in it.

One of the challenges of moving has been finding service providers for our vehicles. Because we lived for a year an hour’s drive from where we ended up, we had our vehicles serviced there before moving, but taking them back to that town to have work done isn’t practical. I think that we have finally found shops that work well for us, but not before having a couple of runarounds with places that provided low quality work at high prices. It has seemed like hassle to me because back in South Dakota we found reputable dealerships that had good shops and we got to know and trust the folks who worked on our vehicles. It was one of the things that I missed when we moved.

Now, however, we’ve discovered a great dealer with a superb service department that works on our car. It has not needed major maintenance other than the regular preventive jobs that are recommended by the manufacturer. It just reached one of those milestones where there is a long list of maintenance that needs to be performed, including the replacement of a timing belt. I took it in to the shop yesterday, but for a variety of reasons, the work did not get completed and it is now the weekend and it won’t be finished until Monday. However, this dealership offers free loaner cars when service jobs go long, so I have the use of an almost brand new loaner car. I suspect that the loaner cars work out well for the dealership, as people like me get impressed with all of the new features and the feel of driving the nice cars.

The car in my garage right now is a beautiful bright red SUV. I’ll be returning it on Monday and will have our usual car back. And we are a long ways from needing to replace our car, so I won’t be shopping for a replacement for several years unless something unforeseen occurs. We are very satisfied with the car we have, which is a very pretty sage green color.

For a couple of days, however, I’m having fun with the red car. I intend to joke with our grandson when I go over to the farm today that I’ve always wanted a red car and they had this one at the dealership that was just the right color. I won’t lie to him, I just will wait a bit to tell him that it is a loaner to see his reaction when he thinks I traded vehicles. He is 13 and starting to pay a lot of attention to the vehicles people drive. In Washington, children must ride in the back seat until they reach the age of 13, so he has only been riding up front with me for less than a month, so he’s pretty aware of vehicles each time we go somewhere together. He has a competition at the coding and robotics club today and I’m his ride and supporter at the event, so we’ll have fun zipping around in the red car.

And, our car will be in the shop on Sunday, so there’ll be a shiny red car in the church parking lot on Sunday in the place where we usually park. I doubt if folks will notice, but if someone does, I’ll be quick to point out that it is a loaner.

Dealers that loan cars for free are uncommon these days. This is the first time I’ve encountered one in my adult life. We had a dealership that had a car rental agency when we lived in South Dakota and a couple of times I rented cars to help us when our cars were in the shop for extended amounts of time. This place, however, makes it easy. They have a selection of loaner cars, take one and all you need to do to borrow it is provide your driver’s license and proof of insurance for the vehicle they are servicing. You sign a contract similar to a rental contract and you are off. It’s very nice - an unexpected luxury. And as a bonus, this time the car I got is red.It amuses me even if it isn’t a big deal.