Our New Ride

Back in late May, my car started giving us trouble.  I bought my car in '04 and I take such good care of it, so I was beside myself when it started acting up.   I took it to my trusted auto place in town and they told me that it was the transmission.  Initial quotes said it would be $2400 to fix =(

I was in and out of town so much in May and June and so Julian and I were having to make do with one car, which wasn't all that hard.  The hard part was that I had the car looming over my head, and just when I would decide what to do about it, I would quickly change my mind.  

Julian had this crazy idea that we should trade in his truck.  It did not make any sense to me AT ALL.  Why would we get rid of the car that was NOT giving us trouble?!  But I listened to his reasoning, and it started to make a little sense.  From his perspective, we should trade in his truck and try to find our family car that would last us over the years as something we could grow into.  And we could only do that if we could try to find something where the car payments would be similar to what we were paying for his truck.  

Throughout the entire process, I could not believe how selfless Julian was about it all.  I mean, he LOVES that truck! In his words, he kept saying, "why would I have my wife and kid(s) driving around in an older, unreliable car when I can give up my truck and they will be in our new family car?"  Makes a little more sense, doesn't it?!  He's a good man doing a good thing and sacrificing for our family, and I love him for it.  It doesn't get any more basic than that!

So in between trips, we started looking on the internet, doing our research, and finding out what car would be the right one for our growing family.  I originally wanted a Tahoe, and so that's what we looked for.  I am sure not many of you remember this (even we try to forget about this), but we always swore that if we ever needed another car, we would go to Derek Scott Auto Park.  So I called up there and talked to a salesman and told him what I wanted.  He told me they didn't have any Tahoes, but he asked if I had ever considered a Chevy Traverse or a GMC Acadia.  I hadn't really heard of those cars, but he mentioned that both of those had the 3rd row I was looking for, and that the gas mileage and overall cost was better on those.  

After more research, I really started to focus on those cars instead.  We made a trip out to Derek Scott and we drove a used Acadia, and I started to fall in love with the car.  And then, the salesman does what any good salesman would do, and he had me test drive a brand new one.  S-O-L-D!

I tried to play it cool, tried to convince myself that I wasn't falling for the gimmicks of a brand new car, tried to justify getting this one instead of that one.  But, when we started talking about the financing of it all, it was not going to be much more than what we were paying on Julian's truck.  S-O-L-D!

Ultimately, I am really happy with our choice.  I'll spare you the details of the negotiating, but as always, Derek Scott took care of us.  And we ended up walking away with a 2013 GMC Acadia in what I affectionately refer to as "Cowboys/Yankees blue."  It has some great features that over the past 2 months that we have had the car, I absolutely LOVE!

Check out our new ride!  Guess my push present came a few months early, but it sure is one heck of a present to me and our family!!!

I said we had a good salesman at Derek Scott, not a good photographer!