When I met Matt I was on my 7th car, he was on his 2nd.  I’d never had brand new cars though.  I just don’t keep cars more than a few years.  Maybe it has to do with buying used cars with 50k+ miles.  They would always be good for a year or 2 but at the first sign of problems I would trade them in.

Two years ago Matt and I decided we needed another SUV.  I had traded in my old crappy Trailblazer for a cute little new Jetta right before we got engaged.  At the time, gas was almost $4.00 a gallon for regular and I couldn’t continue paying almost $80.00 every week and a half to fill up my tank.  The better solution seemed to be the VW sign and drive deal so that’s what I did.  I got a basic little Jetta and LOVED it!  It was my first brand new car.  It was almost way more economical and the payment wasn’t much more than my crappy old Trailblazer.

When we started looking for SUVs we looked high and low.  The deal was, Matt would trade in his current Audi A4 (which I didn’t care for) for a SUV and I would get said SUV when the Jetta lease was up.  You can read more about that experience here and here.  Anyway we decided on an Audi Q5 which I’ve been driving since about 6 months after we got it.  You can read about how that happened here.

A couple of weeks ago, we realized the Audi lease would be up in a few months and we started talking about new cars.  I really wanted a Ford Escape (foot liftgate, hell yes!) but Matt said they were too small.  He liked the Explorers but I was leaning more towards the Edge.  When it came down to it, they were both around the same price but not the same size, which just didn’t make sense.  Then one day he mentioned someone in his parking lot had a new Jeep and he thought they looked pretty nice.  I grew up with Jeeps since that’s all mom has had since I was 14.  I knew a Jeep would be a great option.  We started looking and found they were in our target price range with a more room, which we also wanted.

Last week we found a Grand Cherokee Limited Diesel with all the options I wanted (the diesel was a bonus).  I ran to the dealership at lunch to take it for a spin and took Matt back on Saturday to buy my new car.  After spending a decent amount of time at the dealership, we realized they weren’t in the mood to make a deal so we walked away.  Matt proceeded to blast emails to several other Jeep dealers in the area in hopes of finding someone to work with us.  On Sunday he received an email back from another local dealer.  The girl emailed him with details and told him she would make sure the car we wanted was on the lot on Monday and let him know.  Throughout the course of the day on Monday, she and Matt worked out the pricing so we headed over there after work.  The car had literally been pulled off the trunk that morning and rushed to get ready for us to see that night.  I immediately loved the car!  I’d been waivering over 2 colors and only that morning decided I really wanted the Granite color.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I’d made the right decision.  It had all the options we wanted plus a ton more!  An hour and half later we were signing the papers and walking out the door with a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland.  YAY!!!!!

I would also like to mention the salesperson we worked with was AMAZING!  Clearly, I’ve had my fair share of car buying experiences and this was by FAR the best!  The girl was amazing!  I felt like I was dealing with a friend and not a stranger.  She was so personable and friendly.  She also made the experience totally painless.  Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to a lot looking for a deal.  This is our 2nd time buying a car from an internet salesperson and I think it’s they way to go.  There seems to be less BS and they probably have to work a little harder to get your business since you aren’t dealing with them face to face.

~k