Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ram it !

After having a little "fun" at new car dealerships and getting close to the best price possible (their best price vs. my "I will buy today at this price"), I knew about what a new truck was going to cost me.

After taking everything into account, I had decided on a Dodge Ram 2500. A lot of things went into this decision but the Dodge just scored higher overall than a Ford F-250. Sorry but I just could not see myself driving a "butt ugly" Chevrolet.

Since I really didn't want to buy from a large dealer, I figured I would drive out of town on Tuesday (my only day off other than Sunday) to a smaller dealership and try to buy (if they would come within $250 of the big dealer price) my truck. Any dealer can get the truck I wanted.

I was looking at either a Bright Silver or Slate Grey truck as they seem to look the best with the minimum amount of chrome that comes standard on a truck. The red and dark red look rather "bland" on the lot. White was out of the question as it looks like a company truck and always will.

One last check of the newspaper on Saturday revealed a 2006 Inferno Red(dark red) for sale "by owner". The price seems right and I made arrangements to see it on Sunday afternoon.

Knowing this was not my preferred color, I wasn't expecting much but the owner said he had added a few extras in the 15 months he had owned it. The best part was it had never pulled a heavy load. He ran a lawn mowing service and pulled a 16ft trailer loaded with his equipment.

When we rounded the corner and saw the truck, it just "jumped out at me". He had added just enough chrome and tinted the windows to really bring out the dark red color.

When I saw it I said, "Well there is the piece of crap". I was joking but my wife thought I was serious since I had stated I didn't want a red truck.

We had a chance to look it over before the owner came out. It was nearly perfect. A couple of small scatches and a very small bb size dent in the rear bumper.

The owner had added several hundred dollars worth of extras to the truck.

He had tinted the windows, added chrome door handles and tailgate lever, a chrome bug shield, a tinted sunvisor on the windshield and black mud flaps. He had also added a high dollar K&N lifetime reusable air filter. Not sure I would have added everything but it sure made the truck stand out.

We talked a little with the owner and everything was to my liking but when he offered to let me drive it, I declined. Before leaving I asked for his bottom dollar and he said $400 less than the price in the paper. His lawn care service was a second job and just needed "pay off" on the truck. I gave him the usual "I will be back to you" and we drove off.

Since I didn't drive the truck Judy figured I was not interested. Not the case, I saw no reason to drive it because it anything was wrong I would just have it fixed because it was still under warranty.

I had written down the serial number because I wanted to check it out at the dealership the next day. They told me it had only had the a/c vent door replaced and a recall on the fuel system fixed.

After talking it over we decided it just made better sense to buy this truck because it was 25% less than the best price I could get on a new one.

I called him on Monday and said we wanted the truck. Really thought it would take a few days to purchase it as it was financed thru Chrysler Credit and it sometimes takes a few days to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed.

He called Chrysler for the "payoff" and needed $153.28 more than he had quoted me for his bottom dollar. I said, "no problem" as I knew he was needing out from under his payments.

Judy and I when shopping for the stuff we needed to add to the truck. It HAD to have running boards so Judy could get in without a step stool. We also wanted a bedliner and a fiberglass lid (tonneau cover). We found the running boards and bedliner in stock but would had to order the tonneau cover. It had to be ordered by Wednesday noon for delivery on the following Friday. Without actually owning the truck (things can happen), everything was on hold. It didn't look like we could get everything done before we go on vacation.

But on Tuesday by 4:30 pm the truck was ours. Wednesday morning before work we head out to Goss Campers for our running boards, bedliner and to order our tonneau cover. While we are at it , we might as well add chrome wheelwell moldings. Peggy (the owner of Goss Campers) said if for some reason our tonneau didn't come in, she would put a black one on for us to use until we returned from vacation.

The tonneau cover arrived on Friday and we are now packed to head for Penn State Sunday morning.

The truck is a 2006 Dodge 2500, 4dr, diesel, automatic with the tow package. It has all the usual "bells and whistles" you would expect on a nice truck. The only thing it did not have was the extending tow mirrors.

The color is called "INFERNO RED".












"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", but we think it is gorgeous.











We sold our 1995 Mercury Sable that we have owned for 12 years.

Hope the Dodge is as dependable.


We will be gone for a week and will catch up with everyone when we return.


I have been trying to save a draft on this for a week.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Congrats, Squire! That's a good looking pickup. All the way through the article I was thinking "but is it a diesel?" because I am kind of a diesel fanatic; and there it was, right at the end. I predict that when that pickup is so worn out that the fenders are falling off, that Cummins engine will still have a lot of life left!

Lilli & Nevada said...

Nice truck and good follow up, hope you have a good time. By the way i love the color, but then red is my favorite color.

Linda said...

Beautiful!! Did you tow a campter on your vacation?

 

Free Web Counters
South Beach Diet Food