When my daughter Barbara came in from Wyoming, she pulled a three-horse slant trailer with her crew-cab GMC diesel truck. She's lived in Wyoming for two years, meaning two winters, and that truck wasn't a four-wheel-drive vehicle. So she decided while she was home and dealers were having sales she would try to find a new four-wheel-drive truck.
Let the shopping begin!
Online was the first stop. See what was available in the area. Results? Not much.
I've driven Fords all my life (my dad ran a Ford dealership when I was a kid). My youngest daughter wouldn't be caught dead in a truck unless it was a Dodge. And my older girl loves her GMC/Chevy. Barbara was open at first to looking around, then decided she wanted to stay with what she'd had success with.
So, we went GMC/Chevy shopping. And they were having a 0% financing deal, which made looking at new trucks an option. She was open to a variety of makes and models, trying to keep the price reasonable. But she really wanted a Chevy or GMC crew cab, four-wheel-drive, diesel. It had to be equipped with a gooseneck to tow her trailer home. And we had four days before she returned Wyoming.
One dealership about 45 minutes from where we live, Mike Wilson Chevy near Winchester, Ky., had 15 trucks on the lot; many other dealerships had one or two, and not what she was looking for. Barbara worked the poor salesman like a rented mule. She drove multiple types of each vehicle, from a stripped-down "work model" Chevy Sierra extended cab to a club cab duelly.
She finally settled on what she wanted, and it wasn't in stock at that dealership. So the dealer went online (back to the digital world). He found exactly what she was looking for, except it was a white truck. But, it was equipped as she wanted, so like a good horse, the color often is your last choice.
We made the deal (and Barbara is a top-notch horse trader), and they were to go pick up the truck and get it back to have the gooseneck installed and do some of the other detailing needed.
Next day we get a call from our dealer. Seems the other dealership backed out. Don't panic, another truck had been located. Good news, it wasn't white!
Okay. This seemed like good news for us. We needed to get Barbara's truck back to the dealership to get the running boards removed to speed up the turnaround time.
Once there, more bad news. The other dealer had sold the vehicle out from under us. But, not to worry, they'd actually found two more. A little farther away, but the good news was the black one had all the options Barbara wanted, plus more "bells and whistles." And the dealership was sending a guy up at 3 am the next day to pick it up for the same price as the original.
To shorten the rest of the story, Mike Wilson Chevy got the truck in, had the gooseneck hitch installed by a place we've had do work for us before so we knew it was quality even though it was done quickly. And as dark fell the night before Barbara had to drive back to Wyoming, she got in her truck and drove back to our little farm in Versailles, happy as a clam.
Hitch worked fine. We loaded up the furniture she was taking back with her, and the next day off they went b back to Wyoming in the shiney new black GMC crew-cab, four-door, diesel, with all the bells and whistles!
She said the truck was a dream as she drove it the 21-plus hours home. Cody (her Aussie/Border Collie cross) had plenty of room to lay on the back seat on his new blanket. The seats were comfortable and adjusted to the drivers or for the passenger to lay back and sleep. The satellite radio gave them plenty of tunes. The OnStar was available in case they had problems and weren't in cell phone service. And it was much quieter than her older truck. Those highway miles are supposed to be good for breaking in a new truck.
So, have you taken advantage of the "cash for clunkers" or all the great deals on trucks right now? What's your preference? Do you ahve a "I bought a new turck" story to share?
