Time to inject some positivity here. Been playing with the idea of ditching the Ralliart for a boring car and upgrading the truck to a crew cab. Recent events have obviously played a role in accelerating that plan.
I saw a sublime green Ram 1500 at the PCA auto cross and I knew I just had to have it. I'm a huge fan of letting someone else take the first big depreciation hit but it was a little hard to find something with around 10-15k miles on it. They only made 1500 of them so that didn't help either. I called around and found a place in NY with 3 of them but they stuck really hard to their guns about selling it right at MSRP even though all 3 had been titled to a leasing company at one point and were sitting next to 2019's for the same damn price. They went so far as to claim they owned the truck, the lot and the bank outright so they weren't losing any money at all with them sitting on the lot (LOL). It was at this point, I gave up for a while until I decided to do a quick "I wonder what's the closest one I can find" search last Friday and found one that fit the bill in Roanoke.
![[Image: YlW2Kwm.png]](https://i.imgur.com/YlW2Kwm.png)
Was priced right at about $10k under brand new and only had 18k miles. Clean carfax with an extensive service history, someone babied this thing. Wasn't really looking to make the jump since I'm between jobs at the moment but I sent it to the gf because we were discussing ditching the Ralliart the day before. She jumped on it and basically demanded I go look at it because she knows I really want this thing (and road trips being shoulder-to-shoulder with a bored 5 year old is basically torture). She called them up and worked her magic on the car salesmen. They were VERY interested in taking the old truck (because they're going to make a ton of money off my impatience and knew it).
The trip was a little eventful. Had a few downpours and came to a dead stop on 81 a few times. The truck had a slight wobble that started around 70mph and got bad around 80. Got there and the lot was packed so I had to do a lap and I saw it when I went around the corner. The dude didn't even really say much, just handed me the keys and told me to have fun while he worked on getting the paperwork in order. My kinda salesman.
![[Image: mZS2lOu.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/mZS2lOu.jpg)
The process was pretty smooth until they wanted to give me $11k for the trade-in. I was pretty pissed at first buuttttt: I did put an ugly ass dent+scrape in the bumper when I grazed the retaining wall, and it needed tires + a wheel bearing or 2. Still it only had 35k miles on it. I would have had a bloodbath in my driveway if I threw this thing on Craigslist for $11k. I still think I could have had it gone for $15k in a week. The salesman of course disappeared for 30 minutes while he discussed the appraisal and I was left with a hungry and bored 5 year old the entire time. He came back and said best they can do is $11,500. It's bullshit of course because they're gonna fix that bumper and throw it on the lot for at least $18k. I didn't have the patience or time to play this game though, so I just went with it. The alternative was driving back home empty handed, dealing with dozens of dipshits trying to talk down the price of the truck "because it's a 2012", dealing with not having the title and a pending inspection knowing damn well it was going to fail for tires. Sooooooo I took it but I'm still not very happy about it. Right as he was handing me the final paper to sign I thought "If I was going to give this thing away for $11k it should have at least gone to someone in the club" and felt even worse about the deal. But what's done is done (and what's dead may never die). The drive back was MUCH more enjoyable. These trucks have come a long way since 2012 for sure. It was great having little man safely asleep in the backseat and not on my shoulder with his face making it's way towards the dash every time I hit the brakes.
![[Image: OT5EIaG.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/OT5EIaG.jpg)
The interior and sound system are super nice compared to the barebones setup in the old truck. Was able to dial in the driver seat so that I didn't end up with a knot in my back after an hour or 2 of driving.
![[Image: 15beLMW.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/15beLMW.jpg)
The black leather + lime stitching looks so damn good too.
![[Image: 6u4R34P.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/6u4R34P.jpg)
Don't think I'll be missing the long bed very often.
TL;DR: don't bring kids to a car dealership that haven't eaten dinner unless getting fucked on trade-ins is your kink
Check out the shot from Stephen:
![[Image: gdLSZaP.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/gdLSZaP.jpg)
I saw a sublime green Ram 1500 at the PCA auto cross and I knew I just had to have it. I'm a huge fan of letting someone else take the first big depreciation hit but it was a little hard to find something with around 10-15k miles on it. They only made 1500 of them so that didn't help either. I called around and found a place in NY with 3 of them but they stuck really hard to their guns about selling it right at MSRP even though all 3 had been titled to a leasing company at one point and were sitting next to 2019's for the same damn price. They went so far as to claim they owned the truck, the lot and the bank outright so they weren't losing any money at all with them sitting on the lot (LOL). It was at this point, I gave up for a while until I decided to do a quick "I wonder what's the closest one I can find" search last Friday and found one that fit the bill in Roanoke.
Was priced right at about $10k under brand new and only had 18k miles. Clean carfax with an extensive service history, someone babied this thing. Wasn't really looking to make the jump since I'm between jobs at the moment but I sent it to the gf because we were discussing ditching the Ralliart the day before. She jumped on it and basically demanded I go look at it because she knows I really want this thing (and road trips being shoulder-to-shoulder with a bored 5 year old is basically torture). She called them up and worked her magic on the car salesmen. They were VERY interested in taking the old truck (because they're going to make a ton of money off my impatience and knew it).
The trip was a little eventful. Had a few downpours and came to a dead stop on 81 a few times. The truck had a slight wobble that started around 70mph and got bad around 80. Got there and the lot was packed so I had to do a lap and I saw it when I went around the corner. The dude didn't even really say much, just handed me the keys and told me to have fun while he worked on getting the paperwork in order. My kinda salesman.
The process was pretty smooth until they wanted to give me $11k for the trade-in. I was pretty pissed at first buuttttt: I did put an ugly ass dent+scrape in the bumper when I grazed the retaining wall, and it needed tires + a wheel bearing or 2. Still it only had 35k miles on it. I would have had a bloodbath in my driveway if I threw this thing on Craigslist for $11k. I still think I could have had it gone for $15k in a week. The salesman of course disappeared for 30 minutes while he discussed the appraisal and I was left with a hungry and bored 5 year old the entire time. He came back and said best they can do is $11,500. It's bullshit of course because they're gonna fix that bumper and throw it on the lot for at least $18k. I didn't have the patience or time to play this game though, so I just went with it. The alternative was driving back home empty handed, dealing with dozens of dipshits trying to talk down the price of the truck "because it's a 2012", dealing with not having the title and a pending inspection knowing damn well it was going to fail for tires. Sooooooo I took it but I'm still not very happy about it. Right as he was handing me the final paper to sign I thought "If I was going to give this thing away for $11k it should have at least gone to someone in the club" and felt even worse about the deal. But what's done is done (and what's dead may never die). The drive back was MUCH more enjoyable. These trucks have come a long way since 2012 for sure. It was great having little man safely asleep in the backseat and not on my shoulder with his face making it's way towards the dash every time I hit the brakes.
The interior and sound system are super nice compared to the barebones setup in the old truck. Was able to dial in the driver seat so that I didn't end up with a knot in my back after an hour or 2 of driving.
The black leather + lime stitching looks so damn good too.
Don't think I'll be missing the long bed very often.
TL;DR: don't bring kids to a car dealership that haven't eaten dinner unless getting fucked on trade-ins is your kink
Check out the shot from Stephen: