Car Thieves

Hello. Brian here.

For about the past year, Nina and I have been thinking about buying a new car. At first we thought that we might replace my car, but then we started having all sorts of problems with Nina's Beetle. First the temperature sensor went, then the thermostat went, then the water pump, then the head gasket, then the catalytic converter. Oh yeah, I forgot about the turn signal that would just keep clicking whether you were turning or not. After all that, we decided it was time to trade in the Beetle.

For two reasons, we wanted to get an SUV. The first reason is the extra space. With both of our cars being small two doors, its difficult to carry more than 2 guests. There have been three times where we have rented a minivan while we had visitors here. The other reason is for 4 wheel drive. Now I know what you are all saying. "What the hell do you need 4 wheel drive for? It doesn't snow in Arizona." Well, there are reasons other than snow to have 4WD. There are many areas of Arizona where the roads are unpaved. There are many hiking areas that you can only get to with 4WD. Also, for Nina's job, she is often asked to go pick up injured birds in areas where you need 4WD. In the past she has had to turn down these assignments or have someone else drive. So for these reasons we wanted an SUV with 4WD.

If you have been reading our blog, then you know that we looked at the Ford Escape Hybrid, the Honda CRV, and the Toyota RAV4. Eventually we decided to buy a Jeep Patriot. At the end of April we ordered one from a local dealership. When we ordered it, they were offering $2500 in rebates. Sweet. We agreed on a price ($100 over invoice), and they placed the order.

Last week, it finally arrived, so we went to the dealership to do the paperwork and drive off in our new SUV. I had a feeling that it was going to be a struggle. I just knew that things wouldn't be right. I thought that they probably placed the order wrong and the options we wanted wouldn't be on it. I wanted to try to get the $2.99 per gallon gas promotion, and I knew that they wouldn't want to give it to us. For some reason I just knew it wasn't going to go smoothly.

I was right. Luckily it was built correctly. The color was right. All of the options were there. Everything seemed ok, until we sat down to talk about paying for it. First I mentioned the $2.99 gas promotion. Our salesman had told us that we could get the gas promotion, but we would have to give up $500 of our $2500 rebate. It turns out that salesman doesn't work there anymore, possibly because he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. The sales manager informed us that there is no way to mix and match the promotions like that. We could either take the $2500 rebate that was available when we ordered the car, or we could take the $2.99 gas promotion that is available now. There is no way to have both. After some arguing, we agreed to take the $2500 rebate. So then they presented us with the paperwork that had the price. The number was about $2000 higher than what we had agreed on. I had a printed quote that they had given us when we ordered the car to prove it. Turns out our original salesman had screwed that up too. When he gave us that price, he didn't have all the options plugged in. So basically the price was $500 below invoice. We argued back and forth for a while. The sales manager accused us of stealing the car at one point. I'm not even lying. He actually said that. But we held our ground and made them give us the price that we agreed to. After about 2 hours, we finally left in our new Jeep Patriot.

It's a pretty sweet ride. It's nothing fancy. Really the only options that we got are the upgraded tires and rims, side curtain air bags, and 4WD. It's basic, but if fits our needs perfectly. It gets 27 mpg highway, and it cost about $12k less than the Ford Escape Hybrid.

Our New Ride

Look, 4 Doors!

Look, Space For Stuff!

-Brian