Well looks like we’re in the market for a new car

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Kelley Blue Book and DiMe Media. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Our plan wasn’t to be in the market for a new vehicle. At least not now. We had talked about it here and there, but never really being all that serious. A second vehicle would be convenient, of course, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to take the plunge and leap into a second monthly payment for a car. That’s all changed now.

Two weeks ago, I was driving to an early morning meeting with a client. I mean like 5 a.m. early morning. She was scheduled to participate in a live on camera interview I had setup for her, and we were to meet there the morning of to make sure everything was flowing smoothly. That’s when it happened.

One second I was making great time on my 30-minute drive to the TV station, the next I was tugging at my chest and gasping for air in the middle of the freeway with two air bags fully deployed and glass shattered all over the front seat of my car. The rest of that morning was kind of a blur with me landing at the hospital and then being released, thankfully without any broken bones or major injuries. Only a lot of pain and soreness throughout my chest and right leg.

In the days since my recovery has been steady, albeit a bit slow. That’s the thing, though. This experience has really made me appreciate the little things. Like being able to walk at a regular pace without limping or without feeling a shooting pain throughout my entire leg every time I take a step that my body deems is way too wide. To tell you that I’m looking forward to being able to run again. That’s how much this little incident has impacted my everyday life.

It is also why we have decided our next car buying experience will be a new-car smart experience, with a little help from Kelley Blue Book. We’ve actually always used KBB.com for our car purchases in the past. We just didn’t know they had been around for 90 years. It wasn’t until we met part of their team at Hispanicize last year that we found out about all their rich history. If you’ve never heard of Kelley Blue Book, the long and short is that the company provides objective reviews, recommendations and expert pricing information for anyone who is in the market for a new car like we are.

You can bet we’ll be using a lot of the services on KBB.com, including Price Advisor, 5-Year Cost to Own Information, Editorial Reviews and Consumer Reviews & Ratings.

The reality is anything could happen in a split second. And more important than losing your car is losing life or limb. It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but that is in fact what is at stake when we purchase a new vehicle. More than the bells and whistles, is how reliable and safe is our new car?

We’ll keep you posted on the new-car smart shopping experience.