The Search, Part 2

My wife came to the office one afternoon to pick me up for lunch.  Our goal: test drive a Jeep.  She and I both hate car dealerships.  We got burned once buying a car and have been hesitant to step onto a lot ever since.  We talked about how we were going to not buy anything and just test drive.  As we kept driving to the dealership we thought, well, if they had something comparable to what we found in Arkansas and they'd give it to us at a lower price, perhaps we'd think about it.

I had done all the research.  I knew what option packages I wanted, what the MSRP for that setup was, what the true market value was, what they were going for, what I was willing to spend, I was prepared and ready!  I was ready both to know a good deal when I saw it and ready to know when to walk away.  As we met the salesman and requested the test drive, I made it clear that I wasn't buying, only trying it out.  I had the Arkansas Jeep pretty locked up actually (another more boring story) and I didn't need anything he had to offer - unless, unknown to him, if he'd give me the same thing for less and also save me the drive to Arkansas.

Long story short, in the end he did in fact have a Jeep that matched everything I wanted except a thing or two (actually a tad less of a match than Arkansas) - but he was going to give it to me cheaper!  I had all the dollar info for what I wanted in mind, I didn't know how this different build-out compared.  I tried to do some quick math in my head and probably just looked comatose for a couple minutes, but I ultimately decided it was a win.  The price was good in my estimation and I was getting nearly everything I wanted.  My wife and I decided to go for it!  He left to get some paperwork going.

About 30 minutes passed, maybe more, and there was no sign of our salesman.  We started wondering what was going on, got antsy, it just didn't feel right.  Finally he showed up again and told us that the Jeep we had agreed on had already been sold!  It had been on another lot in town.  But, he had this other Jeep...  Um, bait and switch much?

Perhaps I'm a sucker and a poor judge of character, but I really believed this salesman.  He was a young guy, nice, personable, and I just believed he wasn't trying to pull a fast one on us.  I listened to what he had to say about this other Jeep.  It had no options included to speak of.  It was a really low base model and had a lower sticker price than the price we had already negotiated for the other Jeep that had already sold!  But he said for the same price he'd have the service department throw in all the other options I wanted and essentially I'd get the exact same Jeep - plus an option the original Jeep didn't have to begin with  - for the same price that we'd negotiated already. 

In the end my wife and I did purchase the Jeep.  This was the final tally:

• Yellow, check
• Manual, check
• Bluetooth, check
• Side step rails, check
• 17" wheels, check  (I didn't include that one in my last post, I forgot)
• Premium sound, no joy
• Price, a couple thousand less than I had in mind going into this whole ordeal

There are still some lingering issues I try not to think about.  When gathering my price information, I looked at the price of the option packages.  For instance, the S package (for a Sport S) includes 17" wheels and some other stuff.  I got the 17" wheels, but NOT the "other stuff."  The Bluetooth comes with the Connectivity package.  I got the Bluetooth, but not the "other stuff."  So I'm not sure even now how to value what I bought exactly.  If I think too hard, I start feeling like I made a bad decision.  But, in the end, I did get away under budget and got exactly what I wanted from those packages.  So we'll call it a win.  And we won't think about it too hard beyond that.

Consider me officially Jeeped!  On To Adventure!!!