But it was funny. Shoot, with a used car, I would have replaced the battery anyway so leaving the lights on was not a big deal. I thought that forgetting to remove the plastic cap on the negative terminal of the new battery was as comical as can be.
Mayhaps you misunderstood my post or I yours. There is nothing wrong with the car, I just forgot to take the protective cap off of the negative terminal when I put in the new battery.
In most cases I would agree about getting what you pay for. Sometimes though you get lucky and get more than you pay for. In this case I paid $1500.00 for a car that blue books at around $4200.00 and is offered on the net for up to $6000.00. Shoot, my insurance even went down $170.00/yr.
Actually I had pretty much decided I was buying the car before even going to the dealership. I was looking local on-line and saw the thing on their site. I have always thought that the Sable was a decent car, it is basically the same as a Ford Taurus. As soon as I saw it on their site and then researched actual value I had already decided I was buying as long as it ran well. I mean this is a car that comes up clean on Carfax (of course that only shows what is reported) including the maintenance which isn't even due for another 2000 miles. It has had only two previous owners and is obvious that all maintenance has been done on schedule.
LOL! Now I get to the lot and find it. It is sitting in a corner of the lot under a tree and covered in leaves with a tag on it for $1800.00. I find a car with only one area of rust on a wheel well but the metal is still sound, pretty easy fix. A few other spots are missing paint such as a few spots along the edges of the hood but the metal is still clean with zero rust. Headlight lenses are 'fogged' but that just takes buffing and polishing to fix.
So now I go to the office and let them know that I am interested. It is obvilus that the car has been just sitting for quite a while, actually it seems since at least since April of 2015 as I will explain later. Yet as soon as I turned the key it was running and running really nice and smooth. Now I'm sure that it had been started at times to keep the battery charged for it to start that easily but it was also obvious that they didn't think a lot of the car. Out of curiosity I reached over and opened the glove box and found a nice leather zippered case. I open it and lo' and behold there is the owner's manual and all other original paperwork along with receipts and a log of all the maintenance. I know right then that I have found a gem.
So I take it for a ride. They told me to keep it for 3-4 hours if I wanted so I had time for the following.
1) I immediately noticed that once it got to about 25MPH there was a light thumping from the front end and think CV Joints. Still, since it is on their dime I take it on the interstate and it scared me a bit in a good way. I felt like I was doing about 60MPH but looked down and saw that I was doing 95.
2) I take it home and do a search for a thumping in the front end of a 2002 Mercury Sable. The results that I found indicated that the symptom was likely to not be CV joints but rather the struts. I don't claim to understand but apparently the symptoms of bad CV joints on this specific model would be a rattle or grinding sound. Again I don't really understand but a thumping from the front end on this model usually indicates struts.
3) Even if it turns out that I need both struts and CV joints (possible) I still make a killing compared to what I pay versus potential worth.
4) I offer them $1500.00 and they accept. I tell them there is one issue... I have the entire price in my 'car slush funds' but also have to do insurance right away. I say that I can write a check that day for $1100.00. They respond that it isn't an issue, just have the other $400.00 to them before the temp tags run out, 45 days. I had it to them in 14 days and we are all happy.
The dealership took in the car as a trade-in and apparently had zero idea as to what it was. Yes, of course, it is a 2002 Mercury Sable, but they did not seem to know that all Sables are not the same. The tag on the thing that had it priced at $1800.00 stated it as a Sable GS but that is not what it is. It is a 2002 Mercury Sable LS Premium There is a BIG difference! The GS has a 153HP 12 valve engine. The LS Premium has an 200HP 24 valve overhead engine. The GS has cloth interior. The LS Premium is leather. The thing has everything except heated seats. Even the outside mirrors are heated.
Now it gets even better... I have a 'car buff' friend in Ohio. I was telling him about the car and he got sort of quiet and then started asking me some questions; such as where the tachometer red-lined and if it had traction control. The answer to both is 7000RPM and yes. He insists that I am the luckiest ^&%$$&(* in the world and the thing does not have the 200HP engine but rather that is a 3.0L DOHC SMPI 24-VALVE V6 "DURATEC" engine "factory tuned" to 260HP that was called the 'Show Engine'. I can't say that I know that he is right but I have NEVER been able to prove him wrong when he said something was fact. All I really know for fact on the engine is that if even mildly punched it will push me in to the seat even though it has 154,000 miles logged.
This car totally rocks! I love it!
At least it explained why the negative cable was such a tight fit. 
