There, it's out: I have recently left the Ford fold and joined the order of Dodge.
This was actually easier than I thought, having been a Ford man all my life. Okay, not exactly all my life, but at least since I've been buying vehicles. Well, that's not even true either: I've run the gamut of buying any brand under the sun, so long as it had four wheels and a radio—and a bucket seat to fit, well, my bucket.
It just seemed that most trucks and cars that I bought in the past few years were Fords. You might say that's the closest I have really ever gotten to a four-letter word that starts with "F."
I'm so old that my first purchase was a Datsun—that's right, Datsun, as in predecessor to Nissan. Over the years I have had two of their pickups (by the time I got the second one, it had become Nissan), as well as a variety of vans and cars.
Many of the wheels I bought were a reflection of where I was at as a father and landowner: few kids (= small van); lots of kids (= extended van); then back to few kids (= seven-seater SUV). Now I'm driving an Escape.
And my little Datsun/Nissan was when I was a city boy. Now I'm in the country, I buy these much bigger pickups—like the one this column is all about.
The way my family is downsizing, my next set of wheels will be a moped. Go figure.
Back to my fuzzy phase Ford phenomena: My thing about them really kicked in only a few years ago, a few years before I moved out here. I really thought I was a Ford lifer. I was happy with them and they with me. I was looking diligently for another F-150, after one of my kids had a close encounter of the worst kind (result: post, 1; truck, 0).
How I ended up with a Dodge is another long story—too long in too little space.
Buying a vehicle is a reflection also of an age. I want to use the word "maturity" for where I'm at now, but that would sound like a putdown of those kids under 55, so I refrain. In short, how I chose vehicles in my early years versus how I choose them in these latter ones is quite different.
So today's column could be considered a brief tutorial on how to buy a vehicle when you're over 55 or so. The rules, of course, apply to anyone younger than that. Whether they listen or not is another discussion. But you know kids these days...
Beyond the obvious factors of condition, colour, brand, and appearance, here are some tips that I want to pass along to the kids in newspaperland: Does it run? Is it well priced? Do the doors shut tight? What is it's mechanical track record? But most importantly of all, what's the owner like?
Maybe you don't get it, or see it that way (fine, go write your own column): I spend as much time checking out the guy who is behind the wheel as I do checking out the wheels themselves. From the seller, one should get the vehicle's history (eg., how long they've owned and maintained it). One needs to get a sense as to whether they are on the level, and if their word rings true.
So then, the key to purchasing a car is tied up in the owner's integrity. Obvously, if the owner is a good man, but the car is garabge, you don't buy it. There are other factors, but a good place to start is with the seller.
I don't recall the last time I bought a car off a car lot. Apart from price, I am thinking that car salesmen couldn't pass the litmus test that I apply to a private seller (look two paragraphs north). I know that's a broad brush, but I think there's more truth than not there.
Back to my Dodge story: I took a shine to to the seller, "Bob" (not his real name). It also helped that the pickup was in great shape, had low mileage for its years, the right price for my bank account, plus other qualities that I was looking for.
Does this mean there will be a fleet of Dodges sitting in my driveway over the next few years? I hope not: I don't shell out major bucks for a vehicle only to replace it every couple of years. That's bad stewardship. That's why I take my time.
However, if you see a great deal on a moped, please let me meet the owner.
http://www.getpostbox.com
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