Ronnie and I have some news...
Haha, it's not what any of you think. And really I think many who read this blog already know our news. No, we're not preggers. Ronnie and I bought a new car!!
I've been wanting to post about it since last weekend when we bought the car, but I just haven't made the time. Besides, we went out of town for a friend's wedding and that took away some of my free time.
But anyway, Jen, your face was PRICELESS when I said, "So, Ronnie and I have some news to share..." Your head popped up so fast with such big eyes. And Dave, I think I saw you catch your breath and hold it... until we said we bought a new car. I know it's mean. We planned it on the way to your house. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face, though, so I buried my face in Ronnie's shoulder as soon as I said it.
Forgive me for having fun!
Our new car is a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. Ronnie continues to be impressed with all of its features everyday, like power locks and windows. He's been without that for over 5 years now. LOL!
I would have to say that buying this car was not as horrible of an experience as I heard it might be. We were fully prepared with an envelope of goodies to prove any points we were trying to make: X-plan print out of the Ford purchase program pricing (~$1200 off invoice price), an email from Ford indicating that the dealership gets fully reimbursed by mother company Ford if they honor the X-plan, the Kelly Blue Book value of our trade-in, the Car Max quote of our trade-in, the title to the truck we were trading in, and that's it. We had already gotten a quote from our bank on what kind of financing they would extend to us, but that's the only thing we didn't have in our envelope. Turns out we didn't need it because they took our word for that we had already been approved for a lower interest rate than what they were trying to sell us.
Many thanks to Trey who suggested we go to Car Max to get a quote on our trade-in. Car Max offered us $4200 for Ronnie's truck. That made it so easy to laugh at the salesman when he offered us $2000!! After three more tries of $2350, $3800, and $4000, Ford finally matched Car Max's quote. We actually got the check in the mail today! I think that's also what prompted me to finally blog about our new purchase. We've been waiting for this check and were hoping that Ford wasn't pulling a scam on us. Whew! But seriously, Ronnie and I (mostly Ronnie) had done our research and we felt like we were in complete control the entire time. When I pulled out the fourth item from our envelope, the salesman just said, "Man, you guys came prepared." Heck yeah!
In other news, Ronnie's dad is doing better and better each day. Today he was able to lift his hand up to his face. That means his bicep is starting to re-form and he's one step closer to being able to feed himself again. He still does not have mobility of his fingers, so holding a fork or knife is not an option right now, but it definitely gives hope! But in sad news, Ronnie's mom had to put down their dog today. Snoeball was 12 years old and really hasn't been doing well over the past few months. Pam took the dog to the vet today, who diagnosed Snoeball with diabetes, extreme dehydration, and eventually found a tumor. At least Snoeball hung in there to see Pam through the worst of the times while Ronald was in the hospital.
Sorry to end on a sad note. Check out this youtube video that Ronnie forwarded me.
Cheers!
I've been wanting to post about it since last weekend when we bought the car, but I just haven't made the time. Besides, we went out of town for a friend's wedding and that took away some of my free time.
But anyway, Jen, your face was PRICELESS when I said, "So, Ronnie and I have some news to share..." Your head popped up so fast with such big eyes. And Dave, I think I saw you catch your breath and hold it... until we said we bought a new car. I know it's mean. We planned it on the way to your house. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face, though, so I buried my face in Ronnie's shoulder as soon as I said it.
Forgive me for having fun!
Our new car is a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. Ronnie continues to be impressed with all of its features everyday, like power locks and windows. He's been without that for over 5 years now. LOL!
I would have to say that buying this car was not as horrible of an experience as I heard it might be. We were fully prepared with an envelope of goodies to prove any points we were trying to make: X-plan print out of the Ford purchase program pricing (~$1200 off invoice price), an email from Ford indicating that the dealership gets fully reimbursed by mother company Ford if they honor the X-plan, the Kelly Blue Book value of our trade-in, the Car Max quote of our trade-in, the title to the truck we were trading in, and that's it. We had already gotten a quote from our bank on what kind of financing they would extend to us, but that's the only thing we didn't have in our envelope. Turns out we didn't need it because they took our word for that we had already been approved for a lower interest rate than what they were trying to sell us.
Many thanks to Trey who suggested we go to Car Max to get a quote on our trade-in. Car Max offered us $4200 for Ronnie's truck. That made it so easy to laugh at the salesman when he offered us $2000!! After three more tries of $2350, $3800, and $4000, Ford finally matched Car Max's quote. We actually got the check in the mail today! I think that's also what prompted me to finally blog about our new purchase. We've been waiting for this check and were hoping that Ford wasn't pulling a scam on us. Whew! But seriously, Ronnie and I (mostly Ronnie) had done our research and we felt like we were in complete control the entire time. When I pulled out the fourth item from our envelope, the salesman just said, "Man, you guys came prepared." Heck yeah!
In other news, Ronnie's dad is doing better and better each day. Today he was able to lift his hand up to his face. That means his bicep is starting to re-form and he's one step closer to being able to feed himself again. He still does not have mobility of his fingers, so holding a fork or knife is not an option right now, but it definitely gives hope! But in sad news, Ronnie's mom had to put down their dog today. Snoeball was 12 years old and really hasn't been doing well over the past few months. Pam took the dog to the vet today, who diagnosed Snoeball with diabetes, extreme dehydration, and eventually found a tumor. At least Snoeball hung in there to see Pam through the worst of the times while Ronald was in the hospital.
Sorry to end on a sad note. Check out this youtube video that Ronnie forwarded me.
Cheers!