Nope, this is for my sister in law, M. B's wife. The one I wish he'd divorce.
When they separated back in COVID times, when B moved in with us for a short time, they had only one car. A Chevy Cruze. I have no idea what year it was, but it was nice enough. Somewhere between a 2010 and a 2015. It wasn't an LTZ trim, but it has a well optioned LT. When they got it, it was a second vehicle for them as they had their big Traverse. But the financial problems made them give up the Traverse and left them with just the Cruze. When B moved in with us, he left the car with M as she had the kids and he could borrow Mom's car (and eventually my Aunt's car) to get to and from work.
This was in 2020 when I helped B get his 2014 Buick LaCrosse. And all was well for awhile.
The following year, the Cruze died. I honestly don't remember what killed it, but M needed a new car. B and M were back together at that point but they still weren't on the best financial ground. B's shopping criteria was a little tight. Under 100,000 miles, $15,000 or under, 2015 or newer, with a preference of an SUV or Truck or Crossover.
At that time with what prices were doing, those four things didn't go well together. We were searching a little bottom of the barrel and I could easily get cars to match. But the extra you paid for a Truck or SUV or Crossover meant it was either NO options at all or just a POS vehicle.
I vaguely remember that B wanted to get this done in one day. Again, this is a tough sell as my list might cover ten different dealerships in four different cities. But there's one dealership that I generally don't use. Sundance Chevy in Grand Ledge Michigan. They generally carry between 700 and 1000 used cars on their lot. Everything from a $5000 beater to a one year old 'Vette worth over $100,000. The thing I don't like about them is that they are all about moving cars. They don't have good information on line and often get things wrong. I'm a details person when it comes to cars, and details matter. Is it an LT? an LT1, or an LT2? Does it have the automatic climate control? The dual zone climate control? The cruise control? The adaptive cruise control? These are details that they often fuck up.
BUT, in this particular search, B wasn't looking for any features. Just a reasonable ride for his wife. And with the number of cars on their lot, I could at least narrow it down to vehicles that met basic criteria in price, year, miles and model. I still have the list and remember how much time I put into it. Remember... they have like 900 cars on their lot!
I gave B a list of 40 vehicles. 4 SUVs, 8 Crossovers, and 28 cars. Almost ALL of the cars were better equipped, but I wanted to at least give him the choice. According to B, he showed the sales guy the list (it included the car model, year, VIN, and price for each vehicle), and started with the bottom. A 2006 Buick Lucerne CXL with only 82,000 miles for $6900. I had included it because as a Buick, it should look nicer than it's age and price would indicate (but would require an eyes on inspection to make sure it wasn't worn to hell or stained and nasty). Plus it had the GM 6 cylinder 3800 series engine. I had that same engine in Lita and had read a LOT about it as GM used it in tons of their cars. Sure, it was old and didn't get good gas milage... but it ran. It was practically bullet proof. Cars rusted away around that engine before it ran out.
They finally found it and as I was afraid, the interior was trashed. It wasn't an option. But while B was going over the list and they were trying to locate the next car on the list, M spotted an SUV that she liked. It was red, shiny, small, and looked 'brand new'. To be clear, it wasn't brand new. It was a 2014 Chevy Trax. The salesman knew he had a live customer as he'd already seen B's list and knew what his price range was. The Trax would sit at the very top of that list. It had like 90,000 miles on it and it had ZERO options. Now, when I think of cars with zero options, I'm assuming it still has a radio and air conditioning and power windows and cruise control. Stuff like that. This Trax didn't even have all of that. It had a radio (a bad one) and air conditioning (that barely got cold), but it had crank windows and no cruise control.
Understand, for a couple thousand dollars less, for tens of thousands of miles less, I had cars on their that were WELL equipped with not only these 'basics' but heated seats, heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise, panoramic sunroofs, and premium audio. And these were all cars that should fit fine in B's and M's wheelhouse. No Hondas or Mazdas or other foreign cars. Just good old American iron. I even had a GMC Terrain, a mid sized SUV, that wasn't well optioned but it had all the basics. Power windows and locks, cruise, a decent stereo, power seats...
But M found her car and wanted it.
If they'd had consulted with me, I'd have let them know I'd seen that car on the site. I didn't give it a moment's consideration as I heard that the engines in the Chevy Trax were trash. I didn't remember the specific problem or problems that they had, but I remember hearing that they were just bad and expected to fail and fail quickly.
But I wasn't consulted and B, after some rough negotiation, bought his wife that butt ugly Chevy Trax.
And it lasted for all of four years.
Technically, it only lasted a couple years before the turbo in the engine died the first time. They got it fixed for a couple hundred dollars, (they didn't get a warranty), but they found out that it was the purge valve that failed. The purge valve was practically expected to fail within 20,000 miles in those engines. And when it did, if it wasn't caught quickly enough, it would shred the turbo. And worse, when the turbo went, it could take out the whole engine.
So they fixed it, looked at the $10,000 they still owed on it, knew they were fucked and went on with their lives. I think they fixed the purge valve three times and the turbo twice. But when it died this year, it not only took out the turbo again, it took out the engine. The car was now trashed and they still owed $5,000 on it.
Now, to B's credit, and I DO give him credit for this, he still loves his wife. He wants to take care of her. She's seen me get my cars with all their toys. She's seen R get his car with all it's luxury niceties. She's seen me get Mom her cars with all it's niceties (BTW, she's currently driving Mom's Escape). And with B's last car, the Fusion Titanium, she gets to see her husband with a car that's very well optioned. All this time, she's been driving a car with shit for options. So B wants to get her a 'nice' car for once. Not just another car, but a nice one. And he wants to get her what she wants... an SUV, Truck, or Crossover. Lord knows why she wants that, but she does and he wants to accommodate her desires.
B can't swing just rolling $5,000 into the payment of another car. So he talked with Mom and she gave him $5,000 to pay it off. I guess it's not right to say she 'gave' him the money. Both she and B were clear with R and I about how this was going down. Since she'd loaned B money before and gotten screwed (because of M) loaning him money wasn't on the table anymore. And since she bailed him out once before, 'giving' him money wasn't an option either. So this was an advance on B's inheritance. If/When Mom passes away and we split up her money, B will start $5,000 in the hole meaning R and I automatically get $2,500 more. So far as I'm concerned, it's Mom's money and she can do with it as she pleases. But I agree with it, just like B does as he HAS screwed her over on a loan before and he has taken a hand out before (to be fair, we all have).
For car shopping, that means B will be starting off with a clean slate. He now has good credit, so he can get a decent interest rate from his credit union. Humorously, the same credit union that B and I used for his Buick, is now 'his' credit union. It's a semi local credit union that specializes in loans for Michigan residents. Once the Buick was paid off, I was off the loan and B financed both is Malibu and his Fusion through the same credit union. Now he'll finance M's car through it as well. As for trade in value on the Trax, its not able to drive so it wouldn't be a trade in at a dealership. He can junk it, but it will get him a few hundred dollars. Maybe a couple thousand. If/when he does that, he can just put it toward the loan at that time.
So with all that said, B approached me once I got home from vacation knowing that I'd love to do some car shopping. His criteria was simple. $20,000 or under. Lower miles to start (and no, he wasn't more clear than that). He'd prefer local but he'd drive for the right deal. Small or medium SUV/Crossover (not a Trax). He'd prefer a Chevy, Ford, Buick, or Jeep. He'd be open to other cars, but not foreign. I still find that funny as I could get him a Honda or Toyota built in America, but he'd rather go with a Ford or Chevy built in Canada or Mexico. Whatever, it's his purchase and I know his (and M's) preference will sit strongest with Chevy. He did have a list of options this time that he wanted including power windows, back up camera, AWD, heated seats, keyless entry, remote start, and a good radio.
My first step was identifying what specific vehicles would be in the running. For Chevy I knew it would include the Trailblazer, the Equinox, and maybe the Blazer. The Trailblazer would be a little tricky as I think it has the same engine as the Trax. For Ford I could include the Ecosport, the Escape, and maybe the Bronco Sport or Edge. Buick has the Encore and Encore GX, but both of those are Traxs wearing Buick clothes. I might be able to get him into an Envision. And for Jeep I was thinking the Renegade, the Compass, the Patriot, and the Cherokee. Maybe a Grand Cherokee.
Of course all of this depends on the number of miles and the year, neither of which he told me.
I went off to Car Gurus and started putting in criteria. I limited the search to 50 miles from home. That way it should be an hour's drive at most to look at a car and would include the two large cities near us. I then went on an elimination tour, trying to narrow it down from the thirteen models I have listed. I arbitrarily put the year at 2018 and the miles at 90,000 or under. I also searched for $19,000 in price so that we'd have easier negotiation room.
For the options I made sure to include AWD, heated seats, and remote start. I figured only a POS wouldn't have power windows or keyless entry. Any car I looked at would have a federal requirement to have a back up camera. And as for a 'good radio', I'd leave that as one of the variables, knowing that audio is in the ear of the beholder.
I at first saw that there were plenty of Trailblazers and Equinoxs available. Plenty enough that I could eliminate some that were dubious (crappy interior, scratch/dent, bad tires, questionable dealership...) so I didn't need to write any down now. Blazers, however, were a different story. I found only one that met the criteria, and it had been in two bad accidents and was at a stand alone used dealership. I vastly prefer to buy from a dealership that's a franchise to a major car company. Even if I'm buying a Ford from a Chevy dealership, they know the hit they take in reputation can affect their new car sales if they don't do good work on used cars. I'm sure some of the used car lots DO care, but there are so many more that just don't give a shit about their reputation and work on the 'we can finance anybody' to get them customers. So I crossed Blazers off the list.
Next up were the Fords. EcoSports and Escapes were both easily found so I moved on. Bronco Sport was just out of range. I could either sacrifice some of the options or I could go a little over budget, but I couldn't get everything. So I put that in the bin with the Blazer. When I started looking for Edges, I found that they were easily within range... but one of the first ones I found was perfect. I mean... PERFECT.
A really nice Blue Metallic 2018 Ford Edge Titanium with all but one option. It not only had heated seats, it had cooled seats. It also had heated seats in the back. It had the upgraded 12 speaker audio system. It had the panoramic sunroof. It has a heated steering wheel. It even had the built in Navigation. It only had 46,000 miles and it had good records for maintenance during those few miles driven. They had plenty of pictures and its only cosmetic problem was some rough spots on the chrome wheels. No obvious scratches or dents on the exterior, no overt scuffs or use marks on the interior. Even the carpet looked nice. And if you want to talk about a dealership working their reputation.... it's for sale at a Porsche dealership! And the price was perfect. $17,988. You could add sales tax on that and still have almost $1000 for dealer fees without even taking anything off for negotiation. And it was also priced fairly, below Kelly Blue Book value.
This is what B wanted. I suspected he wanted to spoil M (he hadn't told me this yet, so it was still an assumption) and this was just about as loaded as you could get. Beyond a monstrous screen for the infotainment system, or adaptive cruise control, this had everything.
With that in mind, this started my list. I didn't bother narrowing anything else down, I started looking for cars to add to the list. I found two similar Ford Edges and added them. They're both newer (2020 and 2022) but they have far more miles (80 and 90 thousand miles). And they weren't a fully equipped, although they still met all of B's criteria. Both were also Titanium's so they had the upgraded audio.
Next up I found two 2020 Chevy Equinoxs. This sadly felt like the search for B's last car where an equivalent Malibu went for more money than a Fusion even with year, miles, and features being practically the same. In this case, they were lower trimmed Equinoxs that had been optioned up to include what B needed, though they didn't have the upgraded audio.
I did find that the engine in the Trailblazer was the same as the Trax, so I didn't add any of those. I was kind of surprised to find that most of the Escapes and Ecosports actually were missing quite a few features. I don't know exactly what I was seeing on my first try, but once I narrowed it down to 2018 or newer, 90,000 miles or fewer, with heated seats and remote start, I ended up with one Ecosport and two Escapes. One Escape was a steal as it was the plug in hybrid that would get 47 miles per gallon... but it had half of its engine replaced under a customer satisfaction program and that immediately got both B and M nervous. So it not only was pulled off the list, the hybrid Escapes were pulled off the list entirely.
Next up were the Jeeps. I started with the Cherokees and my first find changed everything. On paper, it wasn't that great. Certainly not as good as the loaded 2018 Blue Edge Titanium. It's a 2022 Jeep Cherokee Latitude Lux 4x4. It has 81,000 miles on it, a 3.2L V6 (biggest engine I've looked at so far with the most horsepower and torque), heated front seats, heated steering wheel, remote start and a basic radio. It looked nice in it's grey metallic color. At $18,493 it was good enough to put on the list, but it wouldn't go near the top. BUT, it comes from a dealership that's running something new.
I've heard of factory certified cars. Used cars that meet a standard and lower miles that will come with a years warranty and qualify for a discounted extended warranty. But that's from the factory. That's Ford or Chevy. This dealership group (I think it's like 8 total dealerships spread around the state) has their own certification system. If the used car qualifies for it you get some extras like ten years of road side assistance, free car washes and....
LIFETIME POWERTRAIN WARRANTY!
B bought the warranty on his Buick and had to use it twice. Obviously the Trax blew its engine twice. He's naturally gun shy about this but he knows he's on the cusp and can either get a better car without a warranty or a lesser car and a warranty. But he can't get both. But this solves that dilemma. It immediately put this at the top of the list, side by side with the Edge.
At that point I contacted B and let him know where I was. I also looked for directions on both the year he wanted and the milage. For milage he said he'd like to stay under 60,000 miles and would strongly prefer under 50,000 miles. As for year, he contacted his credit union and found that their interest rate cutoff was at 2018. 2019 or newer got a good rate. 2018 or older added 1% to the interest rate. That's not peanuts and puts a ding against the Edge. BUT, B was in agreement that the Edge is probably worth still considering as it was the ONLY loaded vehicle I've found that met all the other criteria. And knowing what he wanted for milage, I had to toss half of the ones I'd already listed.
B was also intrigued by the lifetime powertrain warranty. We looked over the paperwork for it online and it doesn't seem to have any 'gotcha' catches in it. You have to maintain the car, but duh. It lists what it covers: Engine, Transmission, Front Drive Axel, Drive Shafts, Transfer Case, Rear Drive Axel. If your water pump goes... tough. If your suspension goes? Tough. But as far as we could see, everything that happened to his Buick and everything that happened to his Trax would have been covered. That included warranty is easily valued at $2000 to $3000.
So, going back to my searching I added another similar Cherokee and a Buick Encore GX to the list as they both had that lifetime powertrain warranty on them. I know... the Encore is just a Trax. BUT, its a Trax that would have a powertrain warranty and this particular one only had 34,000 miles on it.
I gave B the list and he shared it with M. She's unfortunately slammed at work so it might be a couple weeks before they can go look at any of the cars. Knowing that, I'm not going to search further as half these cars might be sold by the time she's ready to go looking. I'm just hoping that B can get her to go see that Edge and/or that first Cherokee. I think either of those, so long as the dealer stands up for the warranty, are a slam dunk.
I'll keep you up to date when there are any changes.
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