And the Little Piggy Cried.....

Wheeee.....whe, whe, wheeee.....wheeee!!!!

Yes, Jan and Dave are sooo happy. We have said goodbye to our trusty toad, the '99 Cavalier, and a big "HELLO" to an '07 Chevy HHR. In four years we have driven our Cavalier 35,000 miles, and towed it another 45,000 miles. Guess it's no wonder that we started having serious (read that as "costly") problems with it. If we had decided to upgrade 60 days earlier, we would have $2000 more in the bank (see our last blog entry,) but if we had waited any longer we could have had even less. It is what it is. (Is that a Yogi-ism? )

After a couple months in Orlando and Daytona, we came south to the town of Wauchula, FL - you know, just north of Zolfo Springs. We had started looking at what we could afford in a newer car, and had pretty much decided on the HHR. They have been in production (semi-limited) since '06 and are still part of the Chevy lineup in '11, which is good, with no body-style changes, which is good. Lots of favorable owner opinions to be had, which is good. Lots of them available and affordable, which is good. Lots of dealer deals which means good after-the-sale-warranty, which is good. But the right deal had eluded us.

On the drive down, we passed thru Ft. Meade - you know, just south of Bartow - and Jan noticed a few HHRs on a Chevy dealer's lot. So we made a note to drive back up after we had settled in the Peace River preserve. (Must remember to stay clear of Stumpy, the alligator - a fulltime resident of the park. - STAY IN THE COACH, SUNNY!!!)

A couple days later (the next day, it actually was) we drove back up to Greenwood Chevrolet in Ft. Meade. Couldn't have lucked into a happier choice. You have probably found, as we have, that small town dealerships usually offer better opportunities for good auto deals that big town dealers - not always, but definitely so in this case. (BTW, in talking to the owner, we found him to be conflicted over the GM bailout. On the one hand, he hates the government interference. On the other hand, he would have likely had to close up shop - he's Chevy's only - and put a significant number of long-time employees out of work. Ft. Meade, home of the Fighting Miners, is typical of the small town dependency on car dealerships for the economic health of the whole town.)

While we were looking over three HHRs they had on the lot, we were met by Robby Elliot, the son of the owner, Bob. Told him our situation, and he showed us thru them. One particular one seemed to fit our demands on both condition and price point. However, always the bargain hunters, we told him we might be back in touch. Over the next couple of days, we checked on other dealers in surrounding towns, including Fort Myers 65 miles away, and also checked on the cost of installing the equipment we need to be able to tow the car behind our coach. The Greenwood option was sounding like our best bet, so we went back to Ft. Meade after practicing our "hard sell" act.

We told Robby which one we liked, and said  "Let's make a deal!" Well, we marched right to his office and sat there while he put the ol' pencil to it. And it turned out to be a great deal without our even having to go thru our act. (Whew, I can tell you we would never win an Emmy.)

We had a very good purchase experience and highly recommend Greenwood, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. We feel like we made some good friends there. Even the cost of the tow package we had installed at Camping World in Ft. Myers was at a better price that we had thought.

So that's why we're crying whee, whee, whee all the way home.