First, a tale of incompetence. We dropped off Boy's Jeep for some simple repairs on Wednesday afternoon. At the same time, Boy started pulling me into the idea of getting him a new Jeep, this time with 4x4 and lifted and all the bells and whistles. The nicest one out on the lot had a price tag of $33,000. I thought this was pricey, but between Boy coughing up $200 and the $379 a month that we currently pay for his Jeep plus maybe $3000 from Wife's savings and we get a good amount for his Jeep.... well, yesterday, Friday, three days later we still didn't know the actual price of any of the Jeeps. They are not clearly labeled, like at Ford. The sales guy just said oh no, the lift kit and tires alone are going to make the price go up like $10,000. But no definite quote. Well, I also wanted to know the status of our Jeep, and it turns out, they never did anything to it. Even though the sales guy said he couldn't appraise the Jeep Wednesday night because the technicians already had it up on the lift, and it was up there until we showed up the next day at the same time, almost 24 hours later, they did nothing to it. I guess the appraisal was done, while we were there. Our sales guy, who we told we would be there at three, was busy with another customer. We went over to Ford and looked around for 30-40 minutes, then headed back. Sales guy had told us come back tomorrow, he would have all the numbers ready. Nope, he needed the appraisal, then he needed to talk to his manager, this took a long time, we told him it was fine, we would be back Friday, again at three. We show up, and again, he is with another customer, we never saw him this time. Talked to service, they never looked at our Jeep, the sales guy kept the keys in his pocket. Three days waiting for prices, never got a quote, three days waiting for service, didn't even manage to change the oil. All this after Wife said not this place, when we bought the Jeep, they did so poorly with our Chrysler 300.
We go over to Ford, in the meantime while Jeep was in service at Chrysler, within five minutes, we were offered water bottles, all the vehicles are clearly marked with actual giant price tags on the windows, and I will admit I am a big Ford fan, always have been. I've had 6 Ford trucks, the Excursion, an Expedition, and Wife has been planning her next vehicle to be a Ford. We just don't have issues with them. The Excursion is now 12 years old and we are taking it to Florida in two weeks, we trust it that much.
Anyways, Boy was dreaming with a new Jeep in the near $40,000 range, reality, if we could make it happen was going to be something closer to $20,000. There were a couple of Escapes with the Certified Pre Owned program where they throw in a 100,000 mile warranty and 7 year coverage. This can be better than warranty on a new car. Boy, of course, does not like Escapes, they are the smallest SUV in Ford lineup. He wanted an Edge, all of a sudden it his dream as a little boy growing up on the East side to one day drive an Edge. The first one I noticed had AWD, which made it seem cool, like his Jeep, but he was not crazy about the teal, dull greenish color. Then he found a white Limited Edge, which means loaded from sunroof to fancy brown leather seats and navigation screen on dashboard, identical to my trucks. That one was $24,500 almost too expensive, but we test drove it. It was a nice drive, but Wife said the leather looked stressed, like it might start coming apart at the seams, it had like 45,000 miles, and no extended warranty, unless we paid for one. Then like Moses parting the Red Sea, and helping his people, an Edge I had not seen suddenly was right in front of me. It had just shown up while we test drove the white Edge. I liked this one, it did not have a price tag, and only a couple pics on the website (they don't do the 30+ pics until the vehicle has been there a couple days). This Edge had only 10,000 miles, was a 2014, had the certified pre owned warranty that I wanted, and even the tires looked fairly new, plus the best part, the price was $20,999. Doesn't seem like much, but it is $4000 cheaper than the one he liked, plus warranty is included, and won't need tires for a couple years. Winner winner, chicken dinner.
We were of course upside down on his Jeep, but just getting it off our hands was a big sigh of relief. Not only did it have the things needing repairs, I barely fit in it, the seatbelts were tight. Wife could barely drive it, the pedals don't extend forward and she would drive with the steering wheel on her. Add to that every pothole or bump in the road shivered through your spine. I drive big trucks and they never feel this bad, initially one of the big springs was broken, but even after this was repaired, it was very unforgiving. Never again will I venture out of the Ford family, maybe I'll try a Jaguar for the wife in our later years, but no more Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, and I am never your customer again.
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