Hello My Friends!
I am SO excited today! Well, it's actually excitement that's carried over from yesterday. You may recall that I made a vision board and posted it here on my blog to share with you all back on July 6th (one month and 3 days from yesterday).
Here's my vision board again to refresh your memory.
The one in the picture is a 2008. I wanted one a little older.
I requested:
2000 to 2003, white, Dodge Grand Caravan, with the 2 sliding doors, no running boards, no luggage rack, tinted windows, 3 rows of seats, 4 captains chairs, cup holders out the wazoo, CD AND cassette players in a good sounding system, power everything (seats, windows, locks, etc..), great running, very well cared for, like new, and getting a MINIMUM of 25 MPG.
**$4000 or less**
That is EXACTLY what I got. To the letter! My new van is a 2000, everything listed above, getting 28 MPG! and we paid.... drumroll please..... $3000 ... AND, that's not $3000 plus sales tax, title fees, notary, etc.... That's $3000, tax, title, out the door price. I literally counted out $3000 in 50 and 100 dollar bills onto the desktop and was handed a receipt!
It runs fantastic! The only issue was a tierod end. Being married to a mechanic (BIG graditude here!) helpped there. We stopped at an auto parts store on the way home and bought a new tierod end for $15. We also grabbed 5 quarts of oil, an oil filter and an air freshener. Owning cars I've learned that maintanence is key! Hubby took less than half an hour to change the tierod end and oil, and check all the tire pressures (tire's pressure? LOL).
And let me say..... I WAS NOT HUNTING FOR A NEW VAN! I knew I wanted one. About once a week, we'd cruise through a car dealer or 2. We never talked to the dealers or anything. Just kind of drive through and see what's there, knowing that when the time is perfect and the van is perfect, it'll be there.
We dropped our sons off at my Mother's house yesterday afternoon around 3pm because they were going to spend the night. On our way home, we were going to drop off a bunch of recycleables, so we came through town instead of by way of the interstate. On the way through town, we drive by this one car dealer. We've purchased 2 vehicles from him in the last 10 years. He's a good honest guy. Hubby pulled in just to see if anything looked good. It's a very small place and you have to walk through. Not enough room for the truck. So, he got out and walked around the corner to see if any of the maybe 15 cars in the lot were what we wanted.
After a couple minutes, he pops his head around the corner from the inside of the building's garage and motions for me to "come here". I got out of the truck and walked into the garage and there, up on the lift is "The Van"! It was BEAUTIFUL! Was freshly washed and still dripping. Stuck inside the window is a sticker that says, $3995. I walked up to it as Hubby said to the man, "I'm not happy with that price. What's your bottom price, tax, title, out the door? I'll pay cash today." The guy said $3000!! Hubby said, "$3000 total price?" The guy said, "Total price." And Hubby said, "I'll be back in 30 minutes with the money..... Come on Honey" and we walked out the door!
I was stunned! It literally happened THAT fast. I no sooner layed eyes on it and I found out it was MINE! I was in total shock the whole way home. Just stunned into silence. Once we got home, I'd snapped out of it some LOL. I got on Kelley Blue Book's website and looked up this van. We found out dealer price was close to $6000. It even pulled over $4000 as a trade in! We got the money and went back to the dealer. Once we were there, it had been backed out of the garage and we took it for a test drive.
My Hubby, being a mechanic, is pretty picky about vehicles. He drove it down the road and jerked the wheel around and really gave it some hell. Then he pulled over in a parking lot down the road and did a walk around, popped the hood, climed underneith... the whole deal. It had the one bad tierod. That's it. We took it back, paid and drove it home.
Here she is:
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