Most of you that know me are already aware that I’ve been an Audi fan for several years now, it’s not because my family is from Germany or anything like that, I’ve just been a huge fan from the moment I sat down in my Audi TT Roadster for the first time over 10 years ago. Over the years I’ve owned a couple of Audi’s, primarily the Q7 SUV’s that my wife Donna drives, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to replace my TT Roadster because of it’s sentimental value, it’s an early model w/ all of the options including a rare type of leather seat that they didn’t put in very many models, it’s seriously a showpiece that I’ve driven in numerous parades, etc. carrying pageant winners, dignitaries, etc. Bottom line, I love this car.
Well, fast forward to the present. I have an awesome kiddo now! Totally awesome kiddo, that for the foreseeable future is going to be riding in a backseat facing backwards. This presents a huge problem in that Donna’s car is the only vehicle we have that he can ride in. Her car is a lease that we do w/ Parker Audi in Little Rock (an awesome corporate plan if any of you are interested, a lot of advantages if you own your own business), being that her Q7 SUV is a lease, we are limited to how many miles we can put on the car before we turn it back in. This has never been a problem for us in the past because it’s only been the two of us and we usually drive well under the minimum number of miles. Well, now that we have Spencer and he has places to go and people to see, the need for another vehicle became apparent to me a while back. I’ve put this decision off for a long time until this weekend, upon receiving mounting pressure from my wife and my parents, we went car shopping.
The only vehicle that I’ve ever wanted or have been remotely interested in lately has been the Ford F150 pickup truck, my dad has owned more than a dozen of these over the years and in recent editions they have really hammered their truck design into something I really like. So, with this being the case we headed to a few Ford dealerships and did a lot of online investigating before I located an all-white Ford F-150 Platinum Series pickup in Little Rock that was exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t go into the day looking for the Platinum series but upon inspecting the F-15o’s that I saw on the lots, many of them didn’t have rear seat cooling / heating options available and some didn’t have rear air vents at all (depending on the consoles), so when I finally stumbled upon this Platinum Series on the showroom floor I studied it pretty closely.
After about an hour or so of deliberation between myself and the rest of the gang (my wife and my parents), I decided to talk to the salesman. I will say this, the price on the sticker of the truck was more than I’ve ever dreamed of paying for a pickup truck and it made me a little sick at my stomach, but for some odd reason, call it favor, I don’t know, the salesmen worked up a price and slid it across his desk to me. I looked it over and then I wrote a number down on the paper that was considerably lower (in the ballpark for the series below the platinum that i had been shopping, w/ fewer options) and I slid it across the desk to him to take to his manager. He immediately shook his head indicating that I was most likely out of my mind but then he reluctantly carried my offer to his sales manager. A few minutes later the sales manager walked into the office w/ the salesman and countered my offer, coming down a lot more than I had thought they would. I felt a little sick at my stomach because at this point I didn’t think they would go anywhere near what I was offering and I could go home and put this painful experience off until another weekend, but that wasn’t the case. I stared down the counter offer and handed it to my dad who was standing beside me and we both put on our poker faces and rejected the offer. Now, what happened next was pretty wild, the sales manager asked if we were serious about the offer and that if he agreed to it would I purchase the truck. I said yes. He signed the quote sheet and handed it to me and said we have a deal.
Pretty cool deal huh? Well, I’ll admit I’m totally excited about the new ride, but here’s the thing. I only have a 2 car garage at our home. I’ve got my limited edition TT Roadster w/ low mileage, brand new engine, sitting under the garage on one side untouched (hardly driven) and my wife’s SUV on the other side. This leaves me w/ a few dilemmas, a) What do I do w/ my TT Roadster? I’m not going to sell it unless someone comes to me w/ an amazing offer (and that’s not likely to happen in this economy), and b) where am I going to park my truck? c) Now I have to pay for this bad boy pickup truck!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I love the new truck, I’ve wanted one for a while. I just haven’t had a car payment in so long that it’s intimidating, but ultimately I know that the same God that pulled a miracle out of nowhere to give us our son Spencer, one day before our daughter that we lost in January would have been born, he’s gonna make a way for this truck payment, he’s already opening up some opportunities this morning but to be on the same side, I need to hustle up some more clients, and quick!!! Give Pleth a shout today!!!
I’m posting some photos of the truck in my photo galleries here.
Questions or Comments?