Lunar Double Cab

If you're the superstitious type, then you might be a little weirded out if you were here right now. Outside it's lighting-ing and thundering. But sitting here in the living room I'm relaxing with a computer on my lap with Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" playing. "...I wanna fall in love..with you..."

I'm in shock. I'm having a difficult time coming to the realization of what I did this evening. Since it's late, I feel like I should just get to bed, but this needs to be documented if for no other reason but so I can look back on it one day in the future.

As many of you know, I've been agonizingly contemplating buying a new truck. Sometimes vocally contemplating. Sometimes silently contemplating. In fact, I told Olivia tonight that I've been doing even more thinking about this decision than even SHE knows...and I'm sure I've bugged her enough with this ordeal. But it all came to a head this evening. I bought a new truck.

I realized this afternoon that today was April 30th which means that today was the last day that Toyota was offering their special 3.9% financing. Over the weekend, I had drooled over a good deal on a truck in Staunton. So today I figured I'd call some local dealerships and see if they were willing to go as low as McDonough in Staunton. And surprisingly, they were. What none of them were willing to do, however, was give me the truck they had in stock with the options that I craved. What one of them, Haley Toyota, did offer was offer to get me a truck with the options that I wanted for the same price as I had found in Staunton. In fact, the truck they found for me is more truck for the same $$deal$$. So, I decided to drive over there after work and see what kind of a trade-in deal they would give me on my truck.

Their appraiser gave the response I expected. A "hey, that's a nice truck..but it's customized..and I'll have a hard time selling that." His only suggestion was that he would have an easier time selling it if it was put back to factory height with factory wheels and tires. When he asked me if I had all of the parts to get the truck put back to factory height, I proudly replied "Yes." His only requirement was that I would take care of getting back to stock. And, his offer wasn't anything stunning, either.

But then it hit me. He wants the truck back to stock. OK, so I keep the wheels and tires. I keep all of the stereo stuff. They become mine to do with as I please, including sell on eBay to make up for the difference in trade-in offer that I was hoping for.

And that's when it all started to seem like it could work.

I went back in and told them that we would have a deal if they would pay to have the truck put back to stock. They declined, but said that they'd split the cost with me. Total cost = $300. My half would be $150. Not too shabby. And, they would take care of taking it to a shop and getting the work done. I couldn't argue too much with that. They told me that I would get free inspections for the life of the truck and that just about sealed the deal. I know..small things.

So the truck is actually in Virginia Beach right now. It will be delivered on Friday and I will be dropping off the lowered Taco at that time. It will be an emotional day. Ever try to be happy and sad at the same time? Not an easy task.

But, before then, I have LOTS of work to do. It is my goal to remove the wheels and tires and all stereo equipment before Friday. The aftermarket intake also needs to come off..but I may let them take care of that if I run out of time. Either way, I'm getting ready to have a butt-load of parts going up for sale soon.

And now I'll go to bed and agonize over waiting for Friday.

Posted by Jeff at May 1, 2003 02:09 AM