There’s just something about a truck

We’re shopping for a new Ram truck.

Let me tell you, when two people who have both been in the auto industry shop together for a truck, it’s an interesting situation.

My husband was in sales, so he’s the negotiator. (He is typically the one who does the research, although in this case it’s a Ram truck, so we’re both fairly well-versed.) He gets all the numbers down, finds the best price, then he comes to me to discuss it. This typically runs concurrently with visits to the dealership and discussions with someone in sales.

I’m the budget-conscious, numbers freak. He knows he’s going to have to make the numbers look pretty good to convince me, but in this case, it’s a Ram truck and I’ve wanted one for a long time. A LONG time. It probably won’t take as much to convince me as he thinks, but let’s keep that between us, okay? He doesn’t need to know.

My husband likes leases. I prefer to drive my vehicles until the wheels fall off.

My husband puts a LOT of miles on his vehicles. (The lease guy … go figure.) I work from home and try to load a trip to town with as many tasks as possible. It’s called multi-tasking.

My husband gets excited about the “new toy.” (Bear in mind, this will be my truck, not his. He gets excited nonetheless.) I tend to be a bit more on the reserved side when it comes to large purchases.

So, we found the ONE. It’s gorgeous. It has nearly every bell and whistle we ever thought we wanted, plus several things that are certainly nice to have, but not deal-killers either way.

Like remote start.

We live in New Hampshire and the Farmer’s Almanac is saying this is going to be a snowy, cold winter. Bundling up and heading out five minutes early every day to warm up the truck is completely doable. On the other hand, remote start would be nice to have. (So would the extra five minutes that allow me to hit snooze again.)

Will we get it? My husband is still working with the guys at the dealership. And he knows the owner.

Just what every sales guy wants – the customer who “knows” the owner. (Insert eye-roll here.)

Yeah, he’s one of THOSE guys. Except my husband really does know the owner – they go back 20 years or so – and he didn’t go in there announcing that he knew the guy or anything like that. The owner saw my husband on the showroom floor. They caught up on old times and then the owner ended up telling his guys to take care of us. It happens.

So, back to the “will we get it?” question. If I were a betting woman, I’d wager a beautiful new Ram 1500 4×4 will be sitting in our driveway by the end of the weekend.

For the record, I don’t make bets I don’t know I’ll win.