New car? New car. in The Devil Beneath My Feet

I’ve been thinking for some good amount of time now, probably about a year actually, that it might be time to trade in the Jeep. I love my Jeep, 4wd is amazing and the cargo space is great, it’s a tank in the snow and at 94,000+ miles it runs like it did the day I got it, and i haven’t put much into it. The heater core did blow, so that was $800 i didn’t want to spend but every single other thing about the engine was totally fine. The rear windshield had it’s fair share of problems, though.

The rear windshield opened by itself, as in, the glass opened separately from the hatch back. The glass had two big clips that held it in place that were on hydraulics. I think some sort of....sealant? or something? was supposed to be applied there, that wasn’t, because the clips themselves corroded down to nothing. Now the back windshield rattles like hell and the glass is in imminent danger of literally exploding if i hit a pothole just right. Also the back bumper has a small crack from when i hit a patch of black ice and did a complete 180, clipping the guard rail.

Still, the car was well taken care of, and at JUST under 100,000 miles i knew the trade-in value was about as good as it was ever gonna be.

SO. Off to Sawyer Motors i went. I bought my Jeep from them, and for the past few months i’ve been looking at cars to downsize. The space was great when we were building the house, and the 4wd was an absolute necessity at the time i bought it because our driveway was literally just a giant mud pit. But, now we have a good driveway, i don’t need all the space, it’s become a gas guzzler that i own for essentially no reason. I’ve been looking at the Chrysler 200’s, and i really like them…

SO I BOUGHT ONE! Today! I went back to Sawyer Motors and spoke to the lady that sold me my Jeep, Macy. For the first time in my life i knew exactly what i wanted, AND i was sort of in a win-win situation. On the one hand, i get a new car. On the other hand, i keep the Jeep, which i was 100% okay with doing, fixing that back windshield would have cost me like $250 installed and taxes, NOT a big deal.

So i came in, sat down, and said, “I’m lookin at the Chrysler 200, but here’s what i need. Payments need to be 289 or less, 290 and i walk out the door. Interest cap is 8%, and i need at least $7500 for the Jeep.” She ran a quick credit report and grimaced a little (DAMN YOU STUDENT LOOOOAAAAANNNNSS) but said “Let me see what i can do, in the meantime lets go look at a couple 200’s.”

She showed me a 2011, sort of base model. It was nice, no real bells or whistles, but it did have a sunroof which was tiiiiight. Then she showed me a 2012 Limited, had a digital display, leather heated seats, it was niiiiice. They were around the same amount of money so i went for that one, obviously. She hit all of my requirements right on the nose. My payment per month is 270, 7% interest, and she came as close to $7500 as she could with the Jeep. Turns out that crack in the bumper is a pretty big deal, entire bumper needs to be replaced, so i took 7000. It really just came down to, i’m not gonna lose the car over $500, that’s just stupid.

I’m in LOOOOOOOOOOVE. I love, love, love it. I just sync’d my phone up to it, so now i can voice command it to play music or call someone. Heated seats are awesome, and it’s got that cool little analog clock that all Chrysler’s have haha. All in all i couldn’t be more pleased, it’s a great car. Wahoo!