chriskarcher.net

Score:
Chris: 1
Stupid branch that drips sap and leaves crap all over our cars, especially my new truck : 0

Chopped that thing off. Took 3 hours of work to cut it up and “dispose” of it.

Ah, I finally have my truck! It’s everything I was hoping for and then some. I gave them the keys to the loaner and drove it off the lot last night. The loaner I was driving only had the 4.7 liter engine and I can definitely tell the difference with my 5.7 liter HEMI. It’s fantastic. I also decided to not swap the chrome rims out for plain alloys, for the time being at least. I was originally going to have the dealer swap them out for me but realized I could make a little money if I just sold the chromes myself. Now the chromes are starting to grow on me though.

The coolest thing about it I think is the radio/navigation/hands free system. I wasn’t planning on getting the hands free UConnect system but the closest matching truck they could find had it included. The system allows the truck to interact with my new Bluetooth enabled phone. Whenever someone calls me, the system turns down the radio and lets me answer the call by pressing a button on the rearview mirror. All without ever having to even take my phone out of my pocket. I’ve definitely almost wrecked my old truck several times trying to dig out my phone while driving in traffic.

It only has 300 miles on it so far. I’m going to go easy on the engine until 500 miles, then the real fun begins…

P.S. Thanks to Denicia who had an equal part in buying this truck. She was there to help me pick out a color, and for moral support when I thought I was in over my head.

I knew buying a new truck wouldn’t be easy. After I locked in a price and signed a few papers last week I thought I was in the clear. That is, until they sold the truck I had agreed to buy to someone else! It wasn’t my dealer’s fault though. They had found the truck on some other dealer’s lot and were told by that dealer it was available. We did all the paperwork and everything. They found out the next day however that it had already been sold. Crap! There we were back at square one again. I had to stand my ground and tell them that they had to get me the same or better truck for the same price, or I’d be done with all of it. It worked out in my favor as they were able to find a truck with a few more options, for the same price. They assured me there wouldn’t be any shenanigans with this one and they’d have it by Friday night. I’m not going to be able to drive it home until Wednesday or so, but I decided to go up there today and see if the truck was sitting out in the lot. Sure enough, there she was sitting right in front of the dealership. A little dirty from the drive across Texas, but my first in-person impression was good. My camera phone doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a shot:

I’m hoping all the chrome will grow on me…

So I did it. I went to the Dodge dealership after work today and bought a truck! I was nervous going in there, afraid they were going to take me for all I was worth. I think I won in the end though. I got a much better deal than the credit union quoted me for a truck with less options. I’m not nearly as scared of car salesmen anymore either. I don’t think they’re terrible people, they’re just trying to maximize their profits (understandable). You’ve got to go in there with a price you’re willing to pay, pick a price much below that, and then say you can’t afford any more than that low price. The dealer is going to try to make you a deal for much higher and make it sound like they absolutely can’t go any lower. I literally had to get up and almost walk out before he said, “Ok, ok, I’ll go see what we can do.” I also haggled with them on the trade-in value of my old truck and ended up getting $5,000 for it. That’s almost $500 more than the Blue Book value for it. I think I got a steal

The truck is currently on a lot somewhere else in Texas, but they said they could have it in by tomorrow. We’ll see!