Ok so I wanted the Rebel and I wanted the technology package. Based on current rebates I was going to wait until May and check back on the rebates kind of thing, but after doing some online searching I found the Rebel I wanted - with the color I wanted - Hydro Blue two tone with the black at the bottom. The truck I was building was coming out at an MSRP of 61k, but it looks like at some point last week you can no longer order the technology package on the rebel I guess due to this chip shortage. So the one I found had more stuff than I was going to order and had an MSRP of $66,845. Ourisman Dodge in Baltimore, MD had a crazy low advertised prize which I knew I would not get but that was the only truck that fit what I wanted within 500 miles. Anyway Saturday morning I messaged them and started talking to them. I am in SC so that is an 8 hour and 15 min drive for me with no stops. I talked about my trade which was a 2008 Ram 1500 with 265k miles on it and a dented rear bumper from backing in to a set of disc harrows one time. I told them to work me up a price. In 15 mins they came back and told me that my out the door price with the trade was 48,700 and that included 8k for my trade-in.
Ok so I know that trade in value was way high and I was fully expecting if I did the deal and drove up there it was going to get lowered once they did a final appraisal on it. It was like 11am Saturday at this point and they close at 7pm. Anyway, they wanted to know if I wanted to make the drive right then and I was like look the drive is gonna get me there after you close plus I need two stops - 1 for food and 1 for gas so I won't get there before 8pm. They confirmed they would wait and hold the truck for me so me and my wife flew out the door and hit the road.
Driving through the DC area was horrible but finally made it in to Baltimore at 8:10pm. Sit down at the desk, they take my keys to check out my trade in, I get my insurance on the phone to add the new vehicle and then they come back and the lady that I have been talking with all along looks a little flustered. At this point the entire dealership knows I just drove over 8 hours to get here as well. So she tells us she apparently mis-heard me when I said 265k miles and she wrote down 65k miles which is why they came back with an 8k trade in. Well I told her well thats fine, I already told my wife that we were not going to get anywhere near 8k on this trade once we got here to expect that. Then they come back with a trade in value of 2k. At that point I was ticked man. Look I do think the lady made an honest mistake and wrote down the wrong number and probably her or the GM who came up with the 8k trade in value maybe should have been a little surprised at how low those miles sounded for a vehicle that was 13 years old man. Perhaps they should have asked for a picture. Anyway it was a shock to me because I knew it was going to go down, but I figured I would get at least 4k for it.
I told them I just drove 8 hours to get here and this puts a bad feeling in my stomach. I know I can sell that truck all day long for 5k easy and here I drive all the way up there in good faith and you tell me 2k on the trade. I said you gotta do better on your dealer discount or something man. The GM would not budge and told me look I got no more skin in the game, since you are from SC I will never see you again then he pulled out the invoice and gave me the old we are selling it at a loss story and he just can't go any lower. So I hemmed and hawed for awhile and everyone was getting aggravated because they closed at 7pm and now its about 9:30 and I still haven't said yes I will take it.
When it comes down to it, they were 2k off of what I would have been content with and they were not budging or willing to make any more concessions even after I drove that far up there. I finally held my nose and did the deal. The truck was exactly what I wanted and then some and I really didn't want to drive 2 trucks home. Also, it was probably the only truck within 500 miles that matched everything I wanted in my truck down to the color scheme.
In the end this how the numbers came out:
MSRP: $66,845
Dealer Discount was $8,451
Dealer added processing fee $500
Additional Rebates: $3000
Price before trade in, tax, title registration was $55,894
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