I’ve been on Craigslist for about three years now. (I’m pretty sure I first heard about it on Sara’s blog)
In the beginning, it was mostly browsing and checking things out- and then I decided to start to sell some old crap that I had.

Old cell phone here, couple of speakers there…and before I knew it, I had racked up a fair amount of great deals on everything from houseplants to an older iMac to an iPod and three Saab’s so far.

To date, my favorite Craigslist deal was bartering with 717 Tattoo an older television for the beginnings of my sleeve tattoo on my right arm.

But today, my friends, the “Holy-Shit-How-Great-Is-Craigslist” factor just jumped up about forty notches.

After driving my Saab’s for upwards of three years now, I grew sort of tired of the huge maintenance bills virtually every time I brought it into the shop.  Few hundred here, couple hundred there….it really started to add up.

So, after a bit of internal debate, I decided I could either a.) put another thousand bucks into my newest Saab and keep it for another year or three, b.) sell my Saab for around a thousand bucks or c.) throw an ad up on Craigslist offering to barter my car for a scooter.

A few weeks went by and I had all but forgotten about the ad I posted when I got an email from a guy in Biglersville who just so happened to have a brand new MotoFino 150CC four stroke scooter which he bought for his wife (he actually bought two- and his wife wound up not wanting the scooter). So it sat in his yard- with twelve miles on it for just about a year.

Which brings this story to the present-tense. His son just turned the ripe age of sixteen and was ready to enter the workforce- but needed a vehicle to get him to and fro. And presumably, Jr. didn’t have the dough to lay out for a car, so when Sr. found my ad in the barter section- it was a match made in heaven.

So after a few back-and-forth emails working out the details and a ride down Route 15 in my friend Chile’s van to pick my new ride up, I’m now a proud owner of a 2006 Moto Fino 150CC four stroke scooter.

It goes about sixty miles an hour, has a two gallon gas tank and gets just over forty miles to the gallon. 

It should go without saying that I’m a VERY happy Craigslist user- and it also should be noted that I’ll likely get FAR less parking tickets this summer.

Four bucks a gallon? Bring it on…