"New" vehicle

I never thought we'd be getting a "new" vehicle this year. It's just one of those things that presented itself. It seems that there were a few people around us getting into new vehicles recently. The thought was nice, but we can't afford NEW.  We certainly couldn't afford another payment. However, we were stuck in a truck that we were still making payments on and it was getting more miles on it, and it was costing us a good amount in repairs/maintenance. Did I mention we were still paying on it? Did I mention we owed more than it was worth? We needed to get out of it. I decided to do some research. I can be a good little researcher, and do well when I've done my research.   :)

I had looked up all of our vehicle's values awhile back. (1997 Aerostar with 165,000 miles, 1995 Explorer with 199,600 miles and 2001 Sport Trac with 131,000 miles) I didn't have much to work with, not to mention the whole upside down on the Sport Trac thing. But I had to do something. We searched and test drove and haggled.

We went to one place and found this lovely red F-150. We got in to test drive it. I glanced around and noticed a red stain on the ceiling. "Oh look, blood splatter", I joked to my husband. It had a lovely lemony smell and we noticed an air freshener, we also noticed a rock chip in the windshield. If we were to get it, they'd have to fix those things. We decided maybe we'd test it overnight. We had done that before. We agreed that we'd come pick it up the next day. However, that night I couldn't sleep and for some reason I thought... what if that really was blood splatter? What if the rock chip was a bullet hole? Or some sort of "trauma" hole? What if the air freshener was covering up some awful smell??? Well really I was joking around.. but what if?

My husband called me the next day from work and said he just didn't feel good about that truck.. I told him my thoughts. We laughed. Later we went to check out a lot I had been to before. It had 2 F150's I was interested in. They were both the supercrew cab which I had been having a hard time finding.  They were in our price range, etc.  Well we went home that night with a LOVELY gray/silver 2004 F150 with 90,000 miles on it. I am loving that truck!!! It's our "family vehicle" but it can do everything John wants it to do as well. We were able to get what we owed for the Sport Trac and a fair amount for my Explorer. We even decided to keep the van. Our payment is just a little more than what we were paying, but we have a newer vehicle with less miles. We also have one less vehicle to maintain, register, etc. every year.  I am happy! I will post pics soon. I don't know why we haven't taken pictures of it yet. I'd do it now, but hubby has it at work, cuz I'm nice to share...
oh and because he's the one that makes the money.