The best thing that has happened was two weeks ago this Saturday, Steve and I went to the local Ford dealership to test-drive a Ford Edge. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that the Ford Edge is my dream car. It's the car that I've wanted since before they even came out to the general public!
So we went to test drive one and I fell even more in love. Steve wasn't ready to buy yet, so it was more just a "see if you even like the way it drives" kind of visit. So yeah, I liked it a lot. The dealer guy was rather lazy with us and didn't seem interested in selling us a car. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he didn't think we were going to buy so he felt it wasn't worth his time. Whatever the reason, he pretty much dismissed us and didn't put any effort into talking to us.
Steve was given two different sheets with Edge's that were in the Raleigh area and they had the specifics of each car and the price. Kinda like a window sticker for each of the two cars. One was silver and one was black.
So then on Monday, (yes, two days later) we went to Crossroads of Wake Forest to see the one car (the silver one). Steve figured that since it was up there, we might as well go up to see it, rather than have the local dealership bring it to their lot.
We walked in at 6:30ish. Steve is a rock-star... if anyone needs to buy a car-- take him with you, or talk to him before you go!! He had downloaded this spreadsheet program from cars.com and loaded all the information from the sheet that the local dealer guy had given us. When we went to talk to the Crossroads guy, Steve said he was ready to talk numbers. The dealer guy didn't really know what to make of Steve, and after talking for a few minutes, he went to get his sales manager.
The sales manager comes over, sits down and basically told Steve what the asking price was on the Edge. Steve then proceeded to talk to him about dealer incentives from Ford, the percentage amount that Crossroads makes on the car, and a whole bunch of other "inside" information. The manager looked totally perplexed. He laughed a nervous laugh and said, "I really don't know what you're talking about." Then Steve showed him the program. YEAH-- totally different story once he saw the program and numbers that Steve had run prior to coming in. They had been asking for a whole lot of Gs for the car... Steve had it figured to about $6,000 or so less than what they wanted to sell it for. The sales manager said, "Is this the amount that you think is fair? (He pointed to the number on Steve's screen)" Steve said yes, and then he said, "I think we can do that... I just need you to initial right here."
Then they looked at my Escape. Steve did research on that as well, and once again, they tried to offer a VERY low amount for my 2005, Limited Edition, under 60,000 miles, never in an accident car. Steve stayed firm and said he had looked into what amount the dealership can get for the car, how much they'd get if they took it to auction, and how much we could get if we sold it ourselves. It didn't take much to get the guy to come up on the price. We got it for $200 less than what we had hoped they'd offer.
So... all this finishes and it's like 8:15 or so. The dealership closes at 9:00. The poor dealer guy (not the sales manager) just sat there the whole time. He didn't have any say or any pull... he just sat and watched the sales manager and Steve talk. Then our dealer tells us to go and empty out the Escape so we can take the car that night! WHAT??? Steve and I were totally in shock. We were NOT prepared to take the Edge that night! But I jumped up and got right to work emptying everything and was MORE than happy to take the Edge off their hands!!
Whoo hoo!! So I now own a 2009 Ford Edge SEL! It's the most awesome car ever made! It has the SYNC system and I can talk to it and tell it what to do and it'll do it. It has a USB port that I have my iPod hooked up through. I play songs through my iPod and I can say, "Play artist Rolling Stones" and it'll play the Stones. It's pretty cool. It also has a Bluetooth thingy so you can talk on your phone through the car. It's amazing!!
So I named the car "Chuck" because it reminds me of a Chuck Taylor Converse All-Star tennis shoe. So Cleveland is gone and now Chuck is in my life. I am so happy!! I'll post again soon-- I need to go eat breakfast. By the way, the pictures in the above slide-show are all stock pictures. We haven't taken any of Chuck yet, but as soon as we do, I'll post them. He is silver and the inside is just like the pictures. They're pretty close to what he looks like. My favorite part of him is the Vista Roof. SO AWESOME!!
Until next time...
>^..^<
