Back around the middle of January I start thinking about my next vehicle since I was currently leasing a 96 Chevy Blazer and had just made the last lease payment. Chevy had been bugging me for the last couple of months to come and turn in my Blazer and pickup another vehicle. I told them how I was mistreated on a warranty problem in Aug 98 which left me and my kids stranded in New Mexico (I live in Colorado Springs) and out $300 and how I wouldn't be buying or leasing a GM product for my next vehicle.
I had seen the Durangos on the Dodge commercials and have always liked the way that Dodge trucks looked, so I set out to learn all I could about the Durango.
I started by going to the Dodge web site. From there it was off to Edmunds to see what they had to say about it. I liked everything I read about this cool looking vehicle.
I told myself that this buying experience would not be like the ones in the past. I've read Consumer Reports, I've become an Empowered Consumer. I had sold some of my stocks and went to my bank for pre-approval on the rest. I then went and did the AutoByTel thing. I can't tell you enough what a wonderful experience that was.
I submitted my AutoByTel app and waited. In about four hours a sales rep from Cherry Creek Dodge in Denver called me. The first thing he asked me was whether I was serious about this and I emphatically said Yes! John Rausch told me that their policy is a non-negotiable $750 over manufacturers invoice. I told him what I wanted, which was bascially a 5.2L with all the options. He had asked me what colour...oh boy, dilemma struck. I told him that I would have to go look at them in person to determine that. I told John that I would check out the two Dodge dealers here in the Springs and get back with him.
Next thing you know, I've grabbed the wife and kids and off we go. We go to one Dealer and started looking at what was on the lot. Funny how no sales people came out to greet us. Then we head on over to the the other dealer. We looked at every colour except for Light Driftwood only because neither dealer had one at the time. We settle on Platinum. I called John back and told him Platinum with Agate interior, he placed the order and faxed me my buyer's package for confirmation.
Note that I have not yet test driven one. I told this to John who told me to come on up. On the next saturday, we did just that. Got my mother-n-law to watch the kids and my wife and I drove on up to Denver. John met us and then showed us what he had on the lot. That's when we saw a Light Driftwood. My wife told me that this was a much better colour and I had to agree. We told John that we now want our new beast to be Light Driftwood. He said no problem and changed the order.
John then provided us with a Deep Amethist model to test drive. It had the 5.9L in it. My wife drove this all over Denver. I was suffering from a sinus infection and did not drive that day. Debbie really liked it. The best part about her driving it was that I got to play with all the gadgets. After about an hour of driving it around, we were sold. This was going to be our next vehicle.
When we got back to the lot we told John that we wanted the bigger engine. He told me that he had just received the latest VON list and we should go over it to see if there was the model we were looking for already in assembly that wasn't snagged yet. Fate was on my side that day. We found the perfect beast that would be shipping in about three weeks. John went to his computer, made a call, ran out of the office for a bit, then came back in with the VON invoice that had my name on it on which he had written SOLD.
All this time, I'm thinking that this is just too easy. So far this has been the best buying experience I've ever had. *I* was in control.
Then we had to wait.....and wait....boy this was going to be a long three weeks I kept telling myself. Thing was, I was scheduled to pick up my new toy the day before I left to Scotland for business which was Wednesday.
The Saturday before, I was checking my voicemail messages from work when one of the messages was from Cherry Creek Dodge saying that my vehicle that I had ordered is in and when can I come and pick it up. I was eight years old and it was my birthday. I hadn't been this excited about a new vehicle since I bought my first car, a '69 Mercury Montego. I called Cherry Creek Dodge about 4pm that Saturday and asked them if it was too late to come up and get it. John told me it was and apologized for that. I then told him that I'd be there my 9am Monday morning.
Didn't sleep a whole lot Sunday night. Felt like a kid waiting for Santa Claus. Got up around 6:30am, woke up the Deb and the kids, got us ready and we left about 7:30am for Denver. We arrived in Denver and hit McDonalds for breakfast and got to Cherry Creek Dodge around 9:30am.
Walked into the office to find that John had not come in yet and that we would be helped by a salesperson that works with John. Wayne greeted us and told us that our new D was still in the detail shop and would be out soon. He called in the finance person who had me sign all the necessary forms. That took about five minutes. We waited for an additional 20 minutes before our new toy was brought around to us.
I took a few pictures. Wayne showed me around my new toy, shook my hand, said "Congratulations", and went on his way. My boys had already started to climb all around shouting things like, "Neat!", "Cool!" and "Wow!". Deb looks at me and says, "So, you going to let me drive it home?". I looked at her with that 'are you nuts?!' look and politely said "NOPE!" Here it was, the 22nd of February and I'm acting like it's my birthday and Christmas and I wasn't about to share my new toy.
About half way down I-25 Deb calls me on the cell phone and asks if I want to pull over here so we can switch cars. I told her no and that I would be leaving for the UK in two days and that she would have it for a whole week.
Deb has a '96 Chevy Monte Carlo in which her lease is up in about four months. We've been married for 14 years and she has always had a newer vehicle than I. This time would be different! She's jealous. That's good. She is already working on what her next car is going to be.