I've been car shopping for quite some time now and, of course, as my luck would have it we actually found the perfect car for my wife instead of me. For some background, two years ago we traded in her loaded w/maintenance problems 6 year old BMW 3 series for a newer, low mileage Chevy Trailblazer. We'd just gotten married and she got totally screwed on her Beemer when she bought it, so she had a lot of negative equity and so we didn't have a lot of options. The trailblazer only had 23k on it and was 2 years old when we bought it. Needless to say, it's been a good car, but it's had more than it's fair share of problems that we would've had to pay for if it wasn't for the extended warranty I purchased. So, instead of me replacing my POS but very reliable 98 Nissan Frontier, we picked up a brand new 2007 Jeep Patriot for her. Neither one of us has EVER bought a brand new car, but Jeep just came out w/the lifetime unlimited powertrain warranty for all first person owners of all of their vehicles. Considering we usually drive our cars for 8-10 years, the new warranty held some value with us. Plus, probably about half of all our family members drive one model or another from Jeep, and they've all had really good luck w/them (my sister got 250k out of her Grand Cherokee before it was in an accident and the ins. company totaled it out). And Costco has a new car buyers program w/set prices on all new vehicles from participating dealers, in addition to any rebates/incentives from the manufacturers. So I just wanted to give a shout out to the Jeep dealership we bought our car from, Preston Chrysler Jeep in Dallas, and the benefits of the Costco Program. Between the costco programs set pricing, the $500mfr rebate, and the dealership agreeing to eat some of the post-mfr invoice costs that I wasn't aware of, we were able to get our new car for quite a bit under the Edmunds.com average and the mfr invoice. We love the Jeep, got the limited version w/leather, power windows/mirrors/locks, keyless entry, CVT transmission and sunroof. Enough features to make the car fun and comfortable, but not so many that we wasted $ on crap we don't use (like some BS $500 option package for ash trays and self dimming mirror).
Congratulations on the new car purchase Joshua? Pictures yet? Too bad it was for your wife though. Your turn will come.
