New Truck or Not New Truck

With the passing of my dad, I inherited his 2015 Chrysler Town & Country mini-van. At the same time, my 2006 VW Jetta TDI's turbo died. After a long hiatus, I decided to start looking at trucks a month ago. Originally I had my mindset on getting a Ford F150. This would allow me to get the EcoBoost 3.5L V-6 and not be forced into a new truck. I drove a 2017 Ford Platinum and 2018 Limited. Both had the 3.5L V-6 EcoBoost. Both trucks were immaculate and within the price range, I was looking for. Yet I was only looking for the Lariat level. The Lariat would be cheaper. The problem is that the 3.5L V-6 was not what I thought it would be. While it had a ton of power, I found the gas pedal to be extremely touchy. Takeoff was not smooth. I guess I am used to a steady gas pedal. Neither truck had this.

The new 2019/20 RAMS caught my eye and I owned a 1999 Dodge Dakota Sport 5spd V-8 extra cab 4X2. That 318 was a great motor and I loved that truck. I took a 2020 Ram Laramie with the 5.7L V-8 Hemi. Talk about smooth and comfortable. The Laramie had all the features I was looking for a just a little more than the price the 2017/2018 Platinum/Limited came in. Yes I know I am not comparing Apples to Apples. I was sold after that first test drive.

A friend of mine from RI recently bought a RAM 2500 Big Horn from a dealership in NC. He highly recommended that I look at them. Kernersville CDRJ in Kernersville, NC. 31Dodge.com. They have 170+ RAM 1500's on-site. Our local dealerships might have 6-10 max. I also found that their prices were well below our local dealers. Finally, when I talked to them about my trade-in, sight unseen they offered me $10,100. Which was just below the bluebook value. Our local dealership offered me only $7000. In the end, I ended up selling the mini-van to my cousin for the $10k the dealership offered.

In the end, I custom ordered a 2020 Ram 1500 Big Horn 5.7L V-8 4X4 Crew Cab White. It arrived at the Winston/Salem railyards last Friday and at the dealership on Monday. They will trailer it 300 miles to a Walmart in West Virginia. That is a 7:30-8:30 minute ride for me. Maybe quicker based on lower levels of traffic thanks to COVIS-19. I meet the driver there and sign the final paperwork. My friend told me that within 30 minutes the driver was gone and had his new truck.

According to the dealership, I'll be ok even if states should close their borders. They are telling me that trucks will still be allowed. I didn't think that a RAM 1500 would qualify as the trucks they meant. The last thing I need is to get stuck in another state for a long period of lockdown. I am very anxious to go pick up the truck, but not at a chance of being stranded somewhere along the way home.

Jason from RI

 

Enjoy! My son just got 15K off a 2500HD Chevy 6.0 4x4 & 84 months at 0%. Nice truck & they're getting desperate to move them.

 

Congratulations! Around here they want so much for used trucks you are better off buying new.

 

your son is a wise young fella'..................................

 

I wouldn't worry about getting stranded because of any sort of lockdown. I'd worry more about a very expensive purchase sitting who knows where for who knows how long....go get your truck.

 

First. I’m very sorry for your loss. Thoughts and prayers to you and yours.

Second. Congratulations on the new truck! Go get it. We need !

 

If you are the least bit hesitant, just wait it out. I went through a few months of considering used, then new trucks. Maybe the prices will drop due to the condition of the shutdowns (shelter in place) orders? I think that only more and more states will join that list. And, once the shut down happens, you may not go anywhere with the truck anyway.

Another thing about buying a truck from an offsite (other than dealership) is there just may be some damage imperfections in the fit and finish you don't see right away, but once you sign, you accepted it.

That's a long way to travel for an unseen truck and you know how easy it is for dealers to give assurance.

My vote is to wait it out; or better yet, talk to your local/closer dealerships and tell them you are about to pull the trigger and find out how much more they'll come down. I used this tactic and ended up saving quite a bit (used truck). They ended up dropping the price and then I called back a few days later and really low-balled them. One dealership accepted the offer.

 

I'm thinking that pricing is going to come down for a while yet. Trucks and chainsaws aren't like toilet paper.

 

I thought he custom ordered it already?

 

Sounds like it.

I guess all we're waiting for are the pics!

 

Yes, it has already been ordered and has arrived at the dealership. Now it's about the final details and picking it up. Which looks like it will be next Thursday. The check for my dad's mini-van does not clear until 1 April. I meet the driver around 2-4 pm and will take some pics. Doubtful I'll post them right away. That day is going to be long with an 7:30-8:30 drive down to the pickup and the same ride home. It's either going to be my son and me or my son, my daughter and me. We are renting a car for the ride down so we will not have two cars coming back. We'll be splitting the driving once I get past NY City coming down and splitting it until we get to NY City coming home.

The topic was going back to when I started the process. I should have made that clear.

I know this probably seems crazy to make this kind of drive to get a truck. The local dealerships still use the old school model. I didn't get into in my first post, but I'll explain here. My dad bought his mini-van at a local dealership in the town north of us. As they are a CDJR dealership, I went there to test drive the RAm 1500. They remembered my dad well and professed that they would take care of me. They were nice, but that does not sell cars in my book. Their RAM 1500 4X4 Crew Cab Lariat had all but 4 features that I wanted. With rebates, it came in at $49K. Kernersville CDJR had that same truck with the 4 features that I wanted listing at $49K. Those 4 features totaled $4K. The local dealership told me they could add them, but it would cost me additional money. Right out of the gate they are behind the eightball $4k dollars.

I purposely did not bring my dad's mini-van with me to the local dealership. My first agenda is to negotiate the price of the truck. Then we'll determine the price of my trade-in. They wanted me to bring the mini-van in right away. I told them that I didn't want the truck they had on the lot. Now from the first post, I told you Kernersville CDJR has 173 RAM 1500's onsite. Paul Bailey's only has 22 to pick from. Outside of that, you have to order. Kernersville had already given me a site unseen value for the mini-van of $10,100. Bluebook value is $10,600. I agreed to bring it in on Tuesday. What I thought should be a quick lunchtime trip there and back was not so quick. I told him I could bring it in during my lunch and would be there at noon but had to get home for conference calls after my lunch break. When I walked in on time for our meeting, he told me to have a seat at his desk. He was in a sales meeting. 15 minutes later he finally came over to start the process. Honestly, I should have left then. Out of courtesy and respect for my dad, I waited. This salesman told me in the beginning that he was not a high-pressure salesman that uses the typical sales gimmicks. He went out and evaluated the van, and all I could do was watch the clock. I was not worried about the price he would come back with. When he finally got back, he told me 7K.

My dad had hit a dear, and I had honestly forgotten all about that. There is a small line on the passenger door that you can barely see. For this, he was deducting 3k. Now that he had given me that amount, (which I did not say a word. I was insulted and was not about to play the back and forth game to get the value up. He had just lost any chance.) he wanted to talk about finalizing the sale price on the Laramie I had test-driven. He told me it was the end of the month and current rebates were ending, and he didn't know what next months rebates would be. I told him again that I was not interested. He asked me to wait while he went and got the sales manager. Who asked me what they could to make the sale work. I told him nothing and explained that I told the sales guy I didn't want that truck the last time we were there. This old school sales style is not for me.

In the end, Paul Bailey's was 7K off between the two trucks and that is without giving me a price to add the features. Most likely they would have done two of the features I wanted and it would have been another 2k making it a 9K difference between dealerships.

As Kernersville and I closed in towards the end on a Laramie, the salesperson provided me with my monthly payment. I chocked. It was well outside of the range I had expected. Honestly, I don't know how I ended up so far off on the numbers. My wife and I called her as we were exchanging emails at the time, and I explained that we could not stretch the budget that far. She didn't miss a beat and shifted to the Big Horn with us right away. We already had given her the specs of what I was looking for and she provided me with a list of trucks to look through. One thing we did differently this time was to work the numbers ahead of time to ensure it would be in our expected range. Even with so many trucks on site, they didn't have what I was looking for. The one feature, 3.92 axle ratio, is not part of their common build. They had a couple, but they were more plain-jane trucks. It was decided that she would need to order it, and I gave her the deposit.

Kernersville CDJR is the second-largest CDJR in the country. My experience with them has been wonderful. They are not a high-pressure dealership. They are looking to move a high volume of vehicles and want to work with you. If a RAM Truck is in your future and you live anywhere near them, I highly recommend them.

Jason from RI

 

How long did you have to wait until your truck was built and delivered? I was looking at new Rams myself, Laramie or rebel with the hemi. There were issues with the supply chain on a few key options I wanted. I ended up buying a used f150 lariat 5.0 with the 502 package.
I think you should have tried a 5.0 Ford. Those ecoboosts are snappy. When those turbos kick in, it's totally different than how v8's behave.

Congrats on the truck, post pics when you get it.

 

How have the 6 cylinder ecoboosts trucks/vans as far as reliability?

 

They said 8-10 weeks and it took them only 5 weeks. It seemed longer, but they were rather quick.

Jason

 

Congratulations on the new truck, boettg33 !
Can't wait to see it!



But I'm a bit confused.
You're in RI
Bought a truck from a dealer in NC
Truck will be delivered to WV?

 

Congrats boettg33 ! My brother would really like to be in your shoes right now as he has always been partial to Dodge and his Chevy is ready for some H.S. kid.

We await the required pics and make sure you have a very safe trip!

 

I will meet the driver who trailers at a Walmart in WV. The dealership will trailer it 300 miles. My buddy met them at a Walmart southwest of D.C. which is a bitch of a ride. D.C. is typically a 10-12 hour ride for us. Instead, they have selected a different Walmart parking lot in WV. This is a 7:30-8:30 drive for me. Far better than going to the dealership. Though that is an option. They will give you up to a 500 credit to fly down and get the truck and drive it home. For me, it's worth driving to WV to save the money I did and not have to do the old world negotiations to get the price down on the truck, and even then I don't think I'd have gotten the truck down to what I paid nor the trade-in up to what they offered. Even though I am not trading the mini-van in.

As I mentioned, they purchased the Newport, RI CDJR. Had all the paperwork been done from there, the truck would have been delivered to Newport. I did all of my work with NC so when it ordered the plant shipped it to NC. Which makes sense. Should I ever get another truck, I'd purchase it through them at Newport CDJR. My dad had his 89 Dodge RAM 250 Cummins for over 20 years. I just kept my car for 10, and it would have been longer if it hadn't sat due to my dad's illness. That car had another 5-10 years in it easily. If I could get 20 years out of this, I'd be 69. Time will tell. I am certainly up to the challenge of making it last 20 years.

Jason from RI

 

A new truck sure sounds nice but with this virus going around I'm afraid of any long term commitments. I don't even buy green bananas now.

 

Sorry to hear of the passing of your dad. Sounds like this truck could be a remembrance every time you look at/drive it.