How We Acquired a Jeep

Our mini-van died. As in it would cost more to fix than it was worth (the ENTIRE electrical system went, and was confirmed by our mechanic). Yes, the mini-van we've only had for about 4 months. We definitely need 2 vehicles that are reliable (including one that can haul a family of 5 and a ton of gear), so I can't just go and buy a $500 piece of crap to get around town in. So Fidget and I discussed it, and decided the only thing we could do was trade the van in. Not what we had planned to do, but it had to be done. Obviously the van wasn't paid for since we'd only had it for 4 months, so we were a bit limited as to what we could do. We couldn't stay in the price range that we set as ideal because we had to roll the remainder of the van loan into the loan for whatever we bought. Keep in mind we live in the middle of nowhere, and our choices were very limited. We went to a dealership who had no vehicles in our price range. The next one we went to had one. Then we went to our favorite dealership and they had 2...well, okay, they actually had 3, but one of the three was a 1997 suburban with a 17 inch lift kit so we were able to eliminate that one right off the bat. We ended up with a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with 131,000 miles on it. It was a sales vehicle and the dealership that we trust had done all the service on it, and was willing to show us the records for it. It gets the same mpg as the van did, so we were okay there (the van got 21 mpg, the Jeep gets 20). Our interest rate BITES. Apparently when you purchase a vehicle with more than 100,000 miles on it they add 3 points to your interest rate automatically.

We did the best job we could with the options we had. Obviously if we could have afforded to make a better deal, we would have. I'm no slouch in dealing with salesman, and I normally walk away from a car deal with Fidget going, "How in the hell did you do that?" Seriously. I get the lowest price, the best interest rate possible, and I usually get them to add features to the vehicle if there's something we want but that it doesn't have--and they pay for it.

One of Fidget's co-workers actually had the balls to ask how much I make in order to afford the Jeep. My favorite comment from a friend was, "You change cars more than more people change underwear." Good grief, are we the only people that something like this has happened to?

We didn't plan this. Shit happens. I'm am tiring quickly of people saying, "do you part for the environment", "why did you buy a gas-guzzler", etc. Oh, my favorite..."Must be nice to trade a vehicle just because you're sick of it." GRRRRowLL.

Didn't we all grow up hearing, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? My response to Fidget's co-worker? I would have said, "Well, as soon as you start taking over the payments I'll make you privy to our personal finances." Of course, Fidget is not as blunt as I. But she still feels the need to explain our every action to anyone who might judge or ask. (Which really aggravates me, but perhaps that's a story for another time.)

My point? I had one. Really I did. Oh yeah. The Jeep was an unexpected purchase. It was more than we had budgeted (as we thought we'd be driving the van for several years). But I LOVE driving it. It's a comfortable ride, it's not a gas-guzzler like I feared it might be (my Explorer only used to get about 16 mpg--OUCH!), and after I cleaned it up it looked pretty nice.

I would like to hear from people who have owned Jeeps...How many miles did you have on it? How long did it go? Things like that. Feel free to comment or email me. Thanks!