I for one am fascinated with the stories behind people. It is pretty amazing whether it be your next door neighbor, a church elder, a homeless person, or just a friend when you hear their story what you can learn. What about how you acquired your new Ram? I bet there are some very interesting, even perhaps remarkable stories out there about how you ended up with your Ram? If you don't mind share it. I bet we all will learn something. Here's my story..............
I had no allegiances to any particular brand over the years. I’ve owned one 1981 Ford F150 (well one used ranger for a while but it doesn't count), one 1988 Chevy K2500, and lastly a nice little 2008 Nissan Frontier. All 4x4s and I had good luck with all of them. I generally buy new and keep them for a long time.
In March of 2021 I finally grew tired of being bounced around all the time with my Nissan so decided it might be time to get another truck. At the time I did not realize the supply problems the pandemic was beginning to create with vehicles. Ram won me over this time because of the stellar reviews and to me, great looks. I had pretty specific requirements and am usually very practical (meaning I usually sway towards the less expensive side of things when I can). In mid-March of 2021 they still had the 6-10k rebate programs going on. Our local dealer had about 70 trucks in stock. Almost all were those ghastly night or sport editions
! And loaded with about 10k of options I didn’t want. Must haves at first were a Bighorn 1500, black or burgundy, etorque V8, 33 gallon tank, chrome package (what can I say I’m Old), power trailer mirrors for my very narrow and very short garage, 3.92 rear axle, running boards, tow package, and level 2 package (blind spot monitoring a must for me). No surprise to most of you out there, but that was difficult (and in some cases impossible) to find anywhere as I soon found out Bighorns did not come with power folding trailer mirrors. The local dealer said he had to order and would only do MSRP without any guaranteed rebates. Well to me that was a bit of a gamble so I declined (it ended up being a pretty smart choice unknowingly to me at the time). He also didn’t want to waste time helping me find something on a dealer trade because it wasn’t out there.
Long story made even longer……After several weeks of scouring the websites and numerous phone calls to about every dealer west of the Mississippi i struck out. Well, not completely, as they all had something they wanted to sell me at a price I was not willing to pay. After several weeks of this I ended up finding two, 1500’s at a dealer 60 miles away. One black and one white, both had the exact specifics I wanted plus more , even the chrome package that apparently no one wants these days. But the down side was they were Laramies. Which at the time violated every principle I had for a truck (luxury and exceeding 50k). Never even looked at one before. They had them both priced at 51K (No sales tax in Or). I called and they were both still on the lot so I drove there. I had driven to dealers before but the truck for sale always ended up being a phantom truck (didn't know dealers did that before). When I pulled into the lot I saw them immediately parked side by side in a completely separate area. A white with chrome package Laramie and an identical diamond black with chrome package. It was love at first sight. The salesman gave me the keys to both and said go knock your socks off. It took like 10 seconds and I was hooked. So called the wife and told her a potential change in my plans about a truck and the 51k price tag and she gave me the green light. When I got back the salesman said they had a problem. They had previously made a dealer trade on the black one. Without going into too much detail I started very firmly (and perhaps loudly) questioning their tactics and after a few minutes the manager told me that they just switched the white one to the dealer trade and I could gave the black one.
In the end I guess they just wanted to get rid of that black, chrome eyesore! I still had to suffer through the obligatory financial paperwork hell where they tried to run it up to 61k (MSRP was 58k), but in the end I drove off the lot with it at 51k.........a year later BEST truck I have ever owned by far. I hope to have it for many years.
Gary
I had no allegiances to any particular brand over the years. I’ve owned one 1981 Ford F150 (well one used ranger for a while but it doesn't count), one 1988 Chevy K2500, and lastly a nice little 2008 Nissan Frontier. All 4x4s and I had good luck with all of them. I generally buy new and keep them for a long time.
In March of 2021 I finally grew tired of being bounced around all the time with my Nissan so decided it might be time to get another truck. At the time I did not realize the supply problems the pandemic was beginning to create with vehicles. Ram won me over this time because of the stellar reviews and to me, great looks. I had pretty specific requirements and am usually very practical (meaning I usually sway towards the less expensive side of things when I can). In mid-March of 2021 they still had the 6-10k rebate programs going on. Our local dealer had about 70 trucks in stock. Almost all were those ghastly night or sport editions
! And loaded with about 10k of options I didn’t want. Must haves at first were a Bighorn 1500, black or burgundy, etorque V8, 33 gallon tank, chrome package (what can I say I’m Old), power trailer mirrors for my very narrow and very short garage, 3.92 rear axle, running boards, tow package, and level 2 package (blind spot monitoring a must for me). No surprise to most of you out there, but that was difficult (and in some cases impossible) to find anywhere as I soon found out Bighorns did not come with power folding trailer mirrors. The local dealer said he had to order and would only do MSRP without any guaranteed rebates. Well to me that was a bit of a gamble so I declined (it ended up being a pretty smart choice unknowingly to me at the time). He also didn’t want to waste time helping me find something on a dealer trade because it wasn’t out there.Long story made even longer……After several weeks of scouring the websites and numerous phone calls to about every dealer west of the Mississippi i struck out. Well, not completely, as they all had something they wanted to sell me at a price I was not willing to pay. After several weeks of this I ended up finding two, 1500’s at a dealer 60 miles away. One black and one white, both had the exact specifics I wanted plus more , even the chrome package that apparently no one wants these days. But the down side was they were Laramies. Which at the time violated every principle I had for a truck (luxury and exceeding 50k). Never even looked at one before. They had them both priced at 51K (No sales tax in Or). I called and they were both still on the lot so I drove there. I had driven to dealers before but the truck for sale always ended up being a phantom truck (didn't know dealers did that before). When I pulled into the lot I saw them immediately parked side by side in a completely separate area. A white with chrome package Laramie and an identical diamond black with chrome package. It was love at first sight. The salesman gave me the keys to both and said go knock your socks off. It took like 10 seconds and I was hooked. So called the wife and told her a potential change in my plans about a truck and the 51k price tag and she gave me the green light. When I got back the salesman said they had a problem. They had previously made a dealer trade on the black one. Without going into too much detail I started very firmly (and perhaps loudly) questioning their tactics and after a few minutes the manager told me that they just switched the white one to the dealer trade and I could gave the black one.
In the end I guess they just wanted to get rid of that black, chrome eyesore! I still had to suffer through the obligatory financial paperwork hell where they tried to run it up to 61k (MSRP was 58k), but in the end I drove off the lot with it at 51k.........a year later BEST truck I have ever owned by far. I hope to have it for many years.
Gary
